SpicyTricks

The Hun Sen government must resign because of its inability to effectively defend Cambodia’s territorial integrity in the face of a dangerous aggression by Thailand in the areas surrounding Preah Vihear temple and other smaller temples in the north and northwest of the country.

The only effective way to defend Cambodia against any foreign aggression is through peaceful means, notably by calling for the implementation of the 1991 Paris Agreements on Cambodia.

On several occasions, Members of Parliament from the opposition Sam Rainsy Party have proposed to the Government to call on all the signatories of the Paris Agreements to respect their obligations as stated in the Agreements, but to no avail.

Most recently, on 6 June 2011, a group of opposition MPs officially wrote to Prime Minister Hun Sen asking him to elaborate on the reasons why he had refused to consider this most legitimate and most reasonable proposal (see below our 8 May 2011 statement “Hun Sen to explain why his government has yet to call for the implementation of the Paris Agreements”).

But as of today, the government has not bothered to reply to our request for explanation, a request which we made in our capacity as elected representatives of the people. This constitutes a serious violation of the Constitution, whose Article 96 stipulates that the government must respond to any letter from any Member of Parliament within seven days.

The Hun Sen government has shown its inability to resolve the dangerous border crisis with Thailand, to defend Cambodia’s territorial integrity and to avoid bloodshed. It has shown its incompetence in handling international relations and in ensuring the implementation of relevant international treaties. The Hun Sen government must all the more resign from office after showing its disrespect for the country’s supreme law regarding relations between Government and Parliament.