Monday, December 7, 2009

How is That for Compassion?

This post is especially dedicated to my many detractors in a certain segment of the overseas Khmer community.

This is a story about staunch SRP-followers who, as it happens, are also part of Sam Rainsy’s in-law family. It appears that Sam Rainsy’s wife and Mu Sochua are cousins, of whatever degree. According to another relative of the family, they also have another cousin living in the U. S. The latter and her husband were firm supporters of Sam Rainsy and his party. This sort of would go without saying, wouldn’t it? Eventually, the husband, however, found that Sam Rainsy does not serve the purpose of unseating the Hun Sen government very well and stopped giving donations. He thought it was money wasted. Why? Well, we don’t know but listening to SR’s unconstructive pronouncements, we can only surmise.

The wife having her own business continued supporting her cousin’s party. Nothing wrong with that really. Now apparently the relationship between the wife and her husband became a little strained. It is not known whether the disagreement about their brother-in-law and his politics is the reason or because the husband wanted to help his poor relative and actually gave her money to buy a Cambodian flat (town house). We are talking about roughly $45,000. He also wanted to buy his relative’s daughter a motorbike and new clothes, and possibly set her up in her own apartment. It smacks a bit of ‘srey tha tha’, right? Now the wife became suspicious as the writing on the wall cried out, ‘Infidelity’. After all, it is not completely unheard of that some older men are smitten with younger women, whether she is a grandniece or not. On one of her visits to Cambodia the wife confronted the relative and asked that she sell the house and return the money, which the relative at first refused. It was a gift from the husband, her uncle (blood-relative), what is she – the wife - thinking? How dare she ask the money back, the relative thought. They give plenty of money to the party, but when it comes to helping poor relatives with five children back in Cambodia, all of a sudden their generosity abruptly ends, she said. In the end she did sell her house, though. Normal people are just scared of people with money or with good connections. You never know what they might come up with next. So she paid back the money. She made a small profit on the sale and borrowed money from someone else to get a new place for herself and her children.

Nice folks – and pretty normal too, right? Yeah, but for those people who stand for helping the poor, it would appear a wee bit odd, now wouldn’t it?

Disclaimer: As recounted by my source.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

KJE,

I like your reporting about San Rainsy family tree.
It could be use as supplement to the famous Global Witness report tittled Cambodia's family tree. http://www.globalwitness.org/media_library_detail.php/546/en/cambodias_family_trees

Anonymous said...

KJE,

"Normal people are just scared of people with money or with good connections. You never know what they might come up with next."

Could that be the reason people voted for Vietnam pupet party?

Anonymous said...

So now it is down to personal attacks and reporting of family disagreements? Even if your story was true, what does that have to do with Sam Rainsy or overseas Khmers? Families and individuals have their own ways of dealing with things- some ask for their money back, some throw acid, some even grenades. We all wait to read your reports on acids & grenades. Whenever you do, and there is much dispute if you ever will, it won't be overseas Khmers perpetrating the acts.

Another thing, the husband is supposed to be having an affair with his young relative....who has FIVE kids? Even you ought not to believe this beatup, KJE. But as they say, never let the truth get in the way of a good story, right? You are a model of neutrality.

Anonymous said...

KJE,

You stated that "As recounted by my source".

Is it the same source that you used to defame RFA related to the hearing by the US Congress on the human rights violation in Cambodia earlier?

Anonymous said...

It is her money, so it is normal that she ask it back. The relative in Phnom Penh should thank her for the loans that she was able to make a profit from the sale of the town house.

Nothing wrong for her to support a political party, as long as she does not get back corrupt favors.

Many people, including you, KJE, had given money to the CPP in returns for corrupt favors like the setting up of your rubber plantation.

Timothychhim.blogspot.com said...

SRP as well as HRP-- the oppositions to the ruling party-- have to be better than the CPP in all aspects. However, nepotism, corruption, favoritim, cheating and lying are generally practiced by most leaders of the party. So far, Cambodian voters have failed to see that they are better than the leaders of the CPP; hence the result of the past elections...

KJE said...

8:25
I knew I would get a rise out of you guys. Where is the personal attack? I just recounted a story; and please read it thoroughly before you post. Those people are all overseas SRP members. BTW, I wrote one of the daughters of the relative, not the relative herself.
But in biased view you don't get the gist of the story, although it's spelled out quite clearly. Where is the philanthropy that you guys always espouse so much? It's not me, it's you guys who are the hypocrites.

5:58
You bring this up again. I really must question the clarity of your mind.

10:31
Wrong, it was not her money. It was her husband's money. So I take it you are in the business of asking gifts back? And you are full of B.S., like of many of your ilk, thinking you need to bribe everybody along the way. It just goes to show that you don't know a think what's going on in Cambodia. How can you, sitting overseas and following biased news reports, or just by reading KI-Media?
You guys have no clue.

KJE said...

Timothychhim
Now here is a voice who knows what he is talking about.

Timothychhim.blogspot.com said...

KJE
I had spent many weeks in Cambodia last year running electoral campaign against the CPP. There was a huge different between my imagination fed by Cambodian professional politicians and the reality. I could wright a book about what I saw how the oppositions running their respective organization. Shame.

KJE said...

This is exactly what I am writing about when I criticize the opposition, in particular SR and Ms. Suchua. Their original intentions were laudable, but the reality on the ground is different; implementing reforms in Cambodia is not done by testifying before foreign parliaments, or going abroad and bashing your political opponent; the reality is different not only with respect to the CPP but within their own party and, I guess, it won't be any different in the HRP.
This is what most of the die-hard overseas SRP-supporters don't get. Of course the downside to all this is that there is no credible opposition politician in sight who could bring some innovative ideas to the opposition in Cambodia. So they are stuck with SR and there won't be any change in the foreseeable future.

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