VZCZCXRO8980
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #0847/01 3201114
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 161114Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1368
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PHNOM PENH 000847 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/16/2019 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KTIA KJUS CB
SUBJECT: NATIONAL ASSEMBLY LIFTS SAM RAINSY'S IMMUNITY IN 
SENSITIVE BORDER CASE 
 
Classified By: DCM THEODORE ALLEGRA FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D) 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY: The National Assembly voted November 16 to 
lift opposition party leader Sam Rainsy's immunity to pursue 
allegations that he destroyed state property and incited 
national/racial hatred against the Vietnamese during an 
October 25 incident on the Cambodia-Vietnam border.  To 
respond to official Vietnamese government claims of 
interference in the border demarcation process, the Svay 
Rieng province prosecutor may issue a summons to question 
Rainsy about his role in removing temporary border markers. 
It appears Rainsy did not directly remove the border markers 
but is obscuring this fact while using the limelight to focus 
on the RGC's border demarcation policy and its conflation 
with sensitive land tenure issues.  To show that the "new" 
cooperative party of just a few months ago has jettisoned any 
semblance of cooperation, Rainsy has thrown into the mix 
charges that the CPP is unconcerned about the monarchy, 
abusive of the constitution, and "subservient" to Vietnamese 
"expansionist" policies. END SUMMARY. 
 
The Whole Truth? 
---------------- 
 
¶2. (C) Two eye-witnesses relayed accounts to us that Rainsy 
did not remove any of six wooden stakes used to delineate a 
square foundation for a planned cement border marker 
separating Vietnam and Cambodia.  Rather, Rainsy spoke 
against the location of the marker when he joined farmers and 
a group of about 50 others in the rice fields on Cambodia's 
southeastern border with Vietnam, and immediately telephoned 
Radio Free Asia to report his efforts.  While Rainsy was on 
the phone, local farmers reportedly removed the markers. 
Rainsy and other party members held on to the markers  before 
throwing them to the ground.  On November 1, Rainsy publicly 
denied uprooting any border markers.  Since then, however, he 
has neither confirmed nor denied his own culpability while 
defending the act of symbolically opposing encroachment.  We 
also learned that two of the six border markers were 
transported to Phnom Penh and, as of November 13, were in the 
possession of high-ranking SRP activists.  Over the weekend, 
some in SRP were considering having the marker posts 
returned, cognizant of the fact the objects were state 
property. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) In subsequent news accounts and radio interviews, 
Rainsy and other SRP members have used the highly offensive 
term "Yuon" to refer to the Vietnamese in an apparent effort 
to stir up long-standing ethnic mistrust and anti-Vietnamese 
resentment.  Rainsy has volubly equated the situation with 
Cambodia's Thai border dispute, also apparently in an effort 
to ratchet up nationalist sentiment. 
 
And Nothing but the Truth? 
-------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Of the 87 Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP), Norodom 
Ranariddh Party (NRP) and FUNCINPEC representatives present 
at the National Assembly, all voted in favor of the motion. 
Calling the vote to remove Rainsy's immunity 
unconstitutional, 24 SRP members boycotted the National 
Assembly meeting and marched nearby undisturbed to the 
Independence Monument, before walking back to SRP 
headquarters and holding a rally with about 100 SRP Phnom 
Penh members in attendance.  Party spokesman Yim Sovann 
denounced the Hun Sen government, reciting the familiar 
charges that the RGC was following Vietnamese orders and that 
it did not care that King Father Sihanouk had expressed 
concern about the issue.  Rainsy himself did not attend the 
proceedings; he is presently in Paris. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The provincial prosecutor, through the Ministry of 
Justice, must seek the lifting of any MP's immunity in order 
to proceed with formal questioning.  Based on two previous 
cases this year -- SRP parliamentarians Mu Sochua and Ho Vann 
-- the prosecutor is likely to issue a summons within the 
next three-five days and the actual questioning will occur 
within the next month.  The summons may mention suspected 
infractions of law.  In anticipation of this summons, some 
SRP insiders say that no lawyer can be found to defend Rainsy 
or answer the prosecutor's questions, but admitted they came 
to this conclusion after making only three phone calls. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) If the two allegations lead to formal charges, 
Rainsy could face at least two counts under the 1992 UNTAC 
Criminal Law: Article 52 on wrongful damage to property, and 
Article 61 on incitement to provoke national or racial 
hatred.  Each count carries a penalty of jail time up to one 
year. 
 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000847  002 OF 002 
 
 
Politics of Borders 
------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) In the meantime, Sam Rainsy from Paris and SRP 
parliamentarian activists have begun a high-volume campaign 
to put a spotlight on what appears to be a poorly implemented 
border demarcation process with the Vietnamese.  Farmers who 
see border posts going up in their fields are not being told 
what will happen to those with long-standing, customary use 
of rice fields situated on the other side, and are not sure 
if they will be compensated or continue the enjoyment of 
their property once the borderline is fully implemented. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Seeing disruptive activities interfering with a 
painstakingly negotiated border agreement reached in 2005, 
the government of Vietnam November 3 formally complained 
about the incident in an exchange between Vietnamese Prime 
Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and RGC Deputy Prime Minister Men 
Sam An.  The Vietnamese complaint carefully referred to the 
uprooting of six temporary poles for Marker 185 and requested 
that the RGC prevent a reoccurrence.  The official inquiry, 
which so far has spotlighted only Rainsy, is the first 
official RGC response.  (NOTE: SRP sources claim that the 
local CPP District Governor is warning all other farmers not 
to support Sam Rainsy. END NOTE.) 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶9.  (C) The Sam Rainsy Party has taken a disruptive approach 
to a major problem and added toxic elements of racism and 
anti-Vietnamese sentiment to make it worse.  This time, some 
involved took steps that by all accounts are illegal and 
disruptive of a sensitive bilateral agreement.  At this stage 
at least, it is unclear whether the proud and unpredictable 
Sam Rainsy will find a way out of the current self-made 
tempest, or whether he will appeal to the international 
community to justify his actions. 
RODLEY