Prince Cleans Up Funcinpec

The grounds at Funcinpec headquarters are looking better these days, thanks to Prince Norodom Sirivudh, and the party’s political machinery is getting cleaned up as well.

Since his appointment as Fun­cin­pec’s secretary-general nearly two months ago, Prince Sirivudh has drawn praise from party members and officials alike for a work ethic many call “fabulous,” taking on tasks ranging from office tidying to commune election strategizing.

“We have to clean our own house before we go to clean outside,” Prince Sirivudh said at a party seminar Monday, referring to his recent efforts at building up party headquarters, both physically and politically.

Soon after rising to the second-in-command slot at Funcinpec, the Prince organized a beau­tification effort at party headquarters, attacking weeds and in­sects and generally sprucing the place up.

At Monday’s session, where Prince Sirivudh spoke privately with 50 Funcinpec election trainers, he also stressed the need to organize the party’s political structure from the headquarters out.

In a move as pragmatic as it was symbolic, Prince Sirivudh chose to live at party headquarters after winning his appointment, in order to directly supervise the party’s working mechanism.

“We have a nicer meeting hall and area environs, don’t you think so?” Prince Sirivudh eagerly asked a group of party members from the provinces Monday.

Keo Remy, a Funcinpec member in the National Assembly, said  Prince Sirivudh’s efforts have been popular across party ranks.

“He is performing well in organizing the headquarters and party affairs, and he is relatively popular among all party members. We all support him to lead the party to electoral victory,” Keo Remy  said.

The prince spoke Monday of plans to set up a “Funcinpec Fa­mily” system in which all senior Fun­cinpec appointed officials at the local level get together and find ways to strengthen the party.

He also said the upper echelons of the party organization—including himself and his deputy secretaries-general—will have to work together on party affairs if Fun­cin­pec is to do well in the elections.