December 13, 2010
ABC Radio Australia
"I think that they have done a lot of damage because when FUNCINPEC arrived on the Cambodian scene, after the Paris agreement, people were expecting a lot from them. They were expecting clean government and transparency and so on. And then there were a number of scandals in which the party was involved and that, I think, destroyed the fundamental foundation of the party with the people because the people could not trust them any more." - Julio Jeldres
Cambodia's former prime minister, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, has returned to the country and says he wants to reunite all royalist parties and contest the next election in 2012. Prince Ranariddh left Cambodia two years ago after his party split and he was convicted in absentia of embezzlement. His return has prompted the current prime minister, Hun Sen, to warn any possible defectors they will be immediately sacked from their government posts.
Presenter: Liam Cochrane
Speakers: Prince Norodom Ranariddh, former Cambodian prime minister; Julio Jeldres, official biographer of Prince Ranariddh's father Norodom Sihanouk, and research fellow, Monash University; Son Chhay, Cambodian opposition MP, Sam Rainsy Party
COCHRANE: Two years ago, Norodom Ranariddh left Cambodia in disgrace, with his political party split and facing charges of illegally selling the prime city real estate of the party headquarters.
Now he's back with a grand vision.
PRINCE RANARIDDH: (speaking Khmer)
COCHRANE: At a press conference in Phnom Penh, Prince Ranariddh says the royalist parties are hopeless separated and he wants to see them reunited as one big family. He wants the party that has carried on in his absence under the name the Norodom Ranariddh Party to unite with FUNCINPEC, the royalist party that won Cambodia's first election in 1993. The new party would be called FUNCINPEC 81, says Prince Ranariddh.
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Now he's back with a grand vision.
PRINCE RANARIDDH: (speaking Khmer)
COCHRANE: At a press conference in Phnom Penh, Prince Ranariddh says the royalist parties are hopeless separated and he wants to see them reunited as one big family. He wants the party that has carried on in his absence under the name the Norodom Ranariddh Party to unite with FUNCINPEC, the royalist party that won Cambodia's first election in 1993. The new party would be called FUNCINPEC 81, says Prince Ranariddh.
Please click here to read more...
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