VZCZCXRO1897
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #0839/01 1230730
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 030730Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6573
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 1420
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM  PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PHNOM PENH 000839 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS; GENEVA FOR RMA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/03/2016 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM CB
SUBJECT: CAMBODIAN ROYALIST PARTY IN TURMOIL -- BUT 
STAGGERS ON 
 
Classified By: Pol/Econ Chief Margaret B. McKean, Reason:  1.5 (b) and 
(d) 
 
¶1.  (C)  Summary.  Conversations with FUNCINPEC royal family 
members and loyalists suggest that some royals, including 
FUNCINPEC leader Prince Norodom Ranariddh, are discussing the 
possibility of forming a new political party.  Former 
Co-Minister of Interior Prince Norodom Sirivudh and Deputy PM 
Lu Lay Sreng, however, say such talk is premature.  Sirivudh 
notes that FUNCINPEC has been hijacked by the CPP, and refers 
to the party as "HUNSENPEC."  King father Norodom Sihanouk 
will return before the end of May, according to Prince 
Sisowath Thomico.  Meanwhile, Prime Minister Hun Sen has 
dismissed more FUNCINPEC officials, which Sirivudh claims is 
aimed more at removing possible obstacles to the 
Cambodia-Vietnam border agreement than the political 
dismantlement of FUNCINPEC within the coalition government. 
End Summary. 
 
A New FUNCINPEC? 
---------------- 
 
¶2.  (C)   Serei Kosal, a senior FUNCINPEC official, told the 
Embassy in late April that upon his return to Cambodia in 
May, Prince Norodom Ranariddh will assess the functioning of 
FUNCINPEC's permanent committee, Secretary General Nhek Bun 
Chhay's leadership, and FUNCINPEC party cadre satisfaction 
with the party and its handling of recent political 
developments.  Depending on Ranariddh's findings, the 
FUNCINPEC leader may insist on a reorganization of the party. 
 If FUNCINPEC Secretary General Nhek Bun Chhay disagrees, 
Serei Kosal said that Ranariddh may try to form a new party. 
Kosal told us that based on FUNCINPEC's statutes, the 
President of the party has the right to dissolve the party. 
Kosal added that he and other FUNCINPEC officials suspect 
that Nhek Bun Chhay is leading the party in the wrong 
direction according to instructions from the CPP.  Kosal said 
that Ranariddh would include Princess Norodom Vacheara and 
Prince Norodom Chakrapong in important roles in any new 
royalist party, but Prince Norodom Sirivudh would likely be 
ignored as he had been problematic while serving in the 
government.  FUNCINPEC DPM Lu Lay Sreng told us Serei Kosal 
was sending up a trial balloon on the idea of a new party, 
but that the idea was premature. 
 
¶3.  (C)  According to Serei Kosal, members of the royal 
family advocating a new royalist party would like to see 
FUNCINPEC returned to the leadership of its original founder, 
the retired King Norodom Sihanouk.  However, Prince Sisowath 
Thomico, secretary to former King Sihanouk, told us on April 
26 that Sihanouk would not become involved in party politics 
again in Cambodia.  Thomico noted that in order to maintain 
his role as a figure of national reconciliation, it is 
important that the former king remain above the political 
fray -- no matter how much it affects his own party or his 
family.  Thomico added that Sihanouk has launched three 
political movements -- and been betrayed by followers in each 
one of his endeavors.  The latest political party involving 
Sihanouk was the formation of FUNCINPEC, and Thomico said the 
former king blames his son, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, for 
betraying the party's ideals and his father wishes in 
governing the party. 
 
¶4.  (U)  Thomico said that Sihanouk would return to Cambodia 
before the end of May, and that he had accompanied the king 
father to North Korea for a recent visit.  While in North 
Korea, Thomico assisted Sihanouk in two film projects:  a 
documentary about North Korea that was shown on Cambodian 
television, and a twelve-minute sketch based on an interview 
with Princess Vacheara, entitled, "Who Does Not Have a 
Mistress?"  The short film is a rebuttal to the Prime 
Minister's attack on FUNCINPEC officials for having 
mistresses, said Thomico, who considers extramarital affairs 
a normal part of Cambodian society and not the exclusive 
weakness of FUNCINPEC members. 
 
Sirivudh's Take on FUNCINPEC's Reversal of Fortune 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶5.  (C)  Prince Norodom Sirivudh, former Co-Minister of 
Defense and ex-Secretary General of FUNCINPEC, met with 
Charge and A/DCM on May 2, and outlined the five demands of 
Hun Sen to Prince Ranariddh in the lead up to the ousting of 
FUNCINPEC from the coalition government.  First, Hun Sen 
demanded that Sirivudh be removed from the government as well 
as any leading role within FUNCINPEC.  Second, the PM 
insisted that Ranariddh's young mistress leave Cambodia. 
Third, Hun Sen threatened Ranariddh, saying that the 50 plus 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000839  002 OF 002 
 
 
one formula meant the FUNCINPEC leader could be removed as 
President of the National Assembly at any time; thus, 
Ranariddh resigned rather than face the embarrassment of 
possible removal.  Fourth, Nhek Bun Chhay should be Secretary 
General of FUNCINPEC -- no one else, according to the PM. 
And finally, Ranariddh must return to Cambodia without his 
mistress.  Sirivudh said that he advised Ranariddh to call 
Hun Sen's bluff on the Prince's possible removal from the 
National Assembly, saying that Cambodians would take to the 
streets if the PM tried to oust Ranariddh.  Ranariddh, he 
continued, buckled under the prospect of being voted out of 
the National Assembly and decided to resign rather than face 
humiliation in the future. 
 
¶6.  (C)  Sirivudh said that the Prime Minister's attack on 
FUNCINPEC is aimed at quietly removing people who might stand 
in the way of the border demarcation between Cambodia and 
Vietnam, now that the border agreement has been ratified by 
King Sihamoni and the two countries are preparing to put into 
place the border posts.  Hun Sen wants to ensure that 
FUNCINPEC officials from any provinces along the border are 
removed over time, and the other FUNCINPEC firings amidst 
charges of mistresses, corruption, and incompetence are 
merely a smokescreen to mask the real CPP objective. 
Sirivudh noted that from a purely practical matter, it made 
managerial and financial sense to remove excess government 
officials whose duties were duplicated as a result of the 
coalition government.  In that sense, he agrees with Hun Sen 
-- although in his position as a FUNCINPEC loyalist, Sirivudh 
said he must publicly object.  The CPP attacks on the royal 
family members within FUNCINPEC and attempts to hijack the 
party under Nhek Bun Chhay are consistent with Hun Sen's 
desire to marginalize the monarchy from any role in Cambodian 
politics.  Sirivudh quipped that FUNCINPEC has become so 
aligned with the CPP that he refers to the party as 
"HUNSENPEC."  He believes that the PM will ensure FUNCINPEC's 
survival (albeit on a short leash) in order to create 
problems for Sam Rainsy and possibly Kem Sokha.  Sirivudh 
lamented the inability of Cambodia's democratic politicians 
to align themselves against the CPP.  He added that his heart 
remains with the "Alliance of Democrats" coalition of 
FUNCINPEC and the opposition Sam Rainsy Party --  a coalition 
which broke apart in 2004.  (Note:  While there is clearly 
considerable truth in Sirivudh's rendition, he also was 
spinning the story to depict himself as the aggrieved 
democrat.  In fact, the use of the term HUNSENPEC long 
predates our discussion and first came into vogue during the 
2003 electoral campaign when the party was seen as a Hun Sen 
puppet.  End Note.) 
 
¶7.  (C)  The way forward out of the current mess for 
FUNCINPEC is not clear, said Sirivudh, who offered no vision 
fr attracting new voters to the party of injecting a new 
life into the party's appeal to the nostalgia of former 
times.  He noted that there has been discussion among royal 
family members of a new FUNCINPEC, but like DPM Lu Lay Sreng 
-- believes that the idea is premature.  In the meantime, 
FUNCINPEC officials continue to be removed from government 
posts.  The latest purge has been FUNCINPEC deputy governors, 
all of whom have been removed from their positions by 
FUNCINPEC Secretary General Nhek Bun Chhay. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶8.  (C)  Cambodia's royal family is a tragedy, comedy and 
melodrama all rolled into one that could have provided grist 
for at least a half dozen Shakespeare plays.  In addition to 
the king father's return in May, Prince Ranariddh and 
Princess Vacheara are also expected to come back to the 
country from France.  FUNCINPEC internal party politics 
should once again take center stage and provide some 
political theater for fans of the royal family.  What is 
noteworthy, however, is that none of FUNCINPEC's senior 
officials has a clear idea of how to return the party to its 
former popularity among voters nor outmaneuver the CPP in its 
attempts to undermine the royalists.  End Comment. 
STORELLA