Kingdom of Cambodia

Light of Justice

Sam Rainsy Party

HOME STATEMENTS PHOTOS FRANCAIS
 
Front cover (A)
Sam Rainsy's biography (B)
Table of contents (page 1)
01 Message of Monk Sam Rainsy to the Cambodian people (page 3)
02 The 10-point political platform of the Sam Rainsy Party (page 7)
03 We must save our nation (page 9)
04 Khmer women future (page 13)
05 Do the people need petty and occasional donations or do they need land and jobs ? (page 15)
06 Why do all the schools in this country bear the name of a corrupt person ? (page 29)
07 Questions and answers related to floods, deforestation, corruption, poverty and unfair distribution of international assistance to flood victims (page 35)
08 Gift or handcuffs (page 39)
09 Three groundless accusations (page 42)
10 Our dream will come true (page 43)
Sam Rainsy Party' s motto and logo (C)
Back cover (D)
 
 
  
STATEMENTS
August 18, 2001

THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO LEGAL GROUND TO SEIZE MY BOOK

In an August 17, 2001 letter from the Minister of Information to the two
Co-Ministers of Interior, the Government decided to seize and prohibit the
publication of my book entitled "Light of Justice" launched on July 3, 2001
(see SRP press release issued on that day).
The Government decision violates my freedom of expression and publication
as a citizen and my immunity as a Member of Parliament.
They alleged that my book "disseminates information attacking and accusing
the Royal Government without proof, thus intentionally creating suspicion
and defaming the Royal Government of Cambodia stemming from the 1998
democratic elections". Therefore, the Co-Ministers of Interior are
requested to "confiscate all copies of the book".

I vehemently protest this arbitrary, illegal and undemocratic decision by
the Government, which shows its really authoritarian face.

In my book I have never accused anybody namely and have never even
mentioned any name of any government official. I have just denounced a
system that I would qualify as an "inefficient dictatorship" (see Table of
Contents).

Instead of seizing my book, I suggest that the Government or any government
official rather confronts me before a tribunal if anybody feels defamed by
any sentence printed in my book. In October 1999, the French magazine
"L'Express" published very serious accusations against Prime Minister Hun
Sen and his wife, but "L'Express" was not seized in Cambodia and nobody
filed any defamation lawsuit against "L'Express" either in Phnom Penh or in
Paris.

Sam Rainsy
Member of Parliament 
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September 3, 2001

 A SILENT MASSACRE

In a front page article entitled “Sam Rainsy Book Banned” in the August 27, 2001 issue of “The Cambodia Daily”, Khieu Kanharith, Secretary of State for the Ministry of Information and Government Spokesman, was quoted as saying that my book “Light of Justice” was banned because it could “stir controversy” and makes allegations against the Government without providing any supporting evidence. “In one part, Sam Rainsy says that after 1979, more people died than during the Khmer Rouge. You can’t say things like that without evidence. That promotes instability,” Khieu Kanharith was reported as saying.

I would like to make a three-point response to Khieu Kanharith:  

1-     My book covers several topics and addresses several problems besides the one raised by the Government spokesman. Why didn’t le Government first try to get me clarify or modify any sentence they don’t like in my book instead of summarily banning the whole book? In a democracy, both Government and Opposition should be open to dialogue in order to reduce tension.

2-     Literally speaking, given the size of the Cambodian population and the natural mortality rate in this country, any demographer or statistician would easily agree with me that more people have died since 1979, i.e. over the last twenty-two years, than from 1975 to 1978, during the Khmer Rouge, who are blamed for the death of some 1.7 million people.

3-     The real issue -- and possible controversy -- concerns the definition of a “natural” mortality rate. During the Khmer Rouge scores of people were summarily executed but many others died of overwork, malnutrition, exhaustion and diseases not matched with any medical care. For this second group of victims, death was natural but premature because it was provoked by cruelty and neglect. Since 1979, poverty associated with corruption and neglect has also led to many natural but premature deaths, as evidenced by figures related to life expectancy and mortality rates published by the United Nations Development Program in its “2001 World Report on Human Development”. We can see that life expectancy is as low as 56.4 years in Cambodia, compared to 67.8 in Vietnam and 69.9 in Thailand, and that infant mortality rate is as high as 122 deaths under age five per 1,000 live births, compared to 40 in Vietnam and 30 in Thailand. We can infer that tens of thousands of people die naturally but prematurely every year in Cambodia now as during the Khmer Rouge. More recently, casualties have been compounded by the tragic and human trafficking-related spread of AIDS, which is considered by sociologists as potentially destructive for the nation as Pol Pot. Moreover, successive floods over the last few years following massive deforestation and subsequent soil erosion have caused crop and property destructions and aggravated poverty and its consequences on the people’s living and dying conditions. Over a long period of time since 1979, the number of Cambodians who die because of malnutrition, diseases and lack of medical care due to poverty associated with government corruption and neglect, becomes more and more appalling and tends to exceed the number of people who were summarily executed during the Khmer Rouge. We must stop this silent massacre.

Sam Rainsy
Member of Parliament