A member of Cambodia’s opposition party marked the 67th birthday of King Norodom Sihamoni on Thursday by urging him to stop “ignoring” the country’s political stalemate, prompting the ruling party to dismiss the widely held view that it exerts pressure on him to harden its grip on power.
Prum Lyda, an activist with the banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) who lives in Thailand to avoid politically motivated harassment, did not mince words while calling out Sihamoni’s inaction, despite the threat of stiff penalties under Cambodia’s lèse-majesté law used to punish those who “insult” the monarch.
She said that Sihamoni should exercise his powers enshrined in the constitution, and follow in the footsteps of his late father King Norodom Sihanouk to resolve Cambodia’s political crisis and “end the suffering” of the people under Prime Minister Hun Sen’s leadership.
In full: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/intervention-05142020205944.html
