Sam Rainsy Party and NCUB end Manila Missions

(April 8, 2005, Manila)  The week-long Manila Missions of the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) of Cambodia and the National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB) ended yesterday. The missions were jointly hosted by the Council of Asian Liberals & Democrats (CALD) and the Liberal Party of the Philippines (LP) with the support of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF). The missions coincided with the 112th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Manila.

Sam Rainsy Party Mission

Mr. Sam Rainsy was Chairman of CALD from 2000 to 2001. He continues to be a member of the CALD Executive Committee together with Ms. Saumura Tioulong, MP, Son Chhay, MP, and Senator Ung Bun Ang who are also part of the SRP Manila Mission. The other members of the mission are former Minister Mu Sochua and parliamentarians Yim Sovann and Chhai Eang.

Senator Ung, SRP spokesperson, and Mr. John Joseph S. Coronel, CALD Executive Director, agreed that the mission was “very successful, having exceeded expectations.”

The primary aim of the mission was to seek the solidarity of international parliamentarians in view of the lifting of the parliamentary immunity of Sam Rainsy, leader of the Cambodian opposition and two of his colleagues, Messrs. Chea Poch and Cheam Channy. The move, which was initiated and carried out by Cambodia’s ruling parties (Cambodian People’s Party and FUNCINCPEC), has been viewed as political harassment and as having created a dangerous precedence.

Mr. Sam is a vocal critic of the corruption and the culture of impunity of the ruling regime. “(The removal of) my parliamentary immunity will probably be the first step to my arrest and my prosecution before a politically subservient tribunal,” Mr. Sam declared in a written statement. “My only crime is the continuous criticism of the government, especially my denunciation of corruption in which are involved the country’s top political leaders.”

In 1995, Ms. Sam was expelled from his political party (FUNCINPEC) and then was expelled from the parliament.  Since then, he has formed his own party and the Sam Rainsy Party currently has 24 out of the 123 seats in the assembly.

During the SRP Manila Mission, the Sam Rainsy Party was able to reach out to parliamentarians from the Philippines, most of Asia and the rest of the world through the IPU, in particular, the LP-CALD Dinner in honor of Liberal Parliamentarians attending the 112th IPU General Assembly,  which was attended by more than a hundred parliamentarians and senior diplomats, and the CALD sponsored press conference as part of the unofficial media events of the IPU (please see related stories).

Outside these occasions, Mr. Sam also had exclusive interviews with Ms. Girlie Linao, Bureau Chief of Deutsche Press-Agentur (DPA); Ms. Maritess Vitug, editor-in-chief of the political magazine Newsbreak; and Mr. Ricky Carandang, an anchorman of ANC News whose television interview was broadcast live.

Education Secretary (Minister) and former CALD Chairman, Florencio Abad hosted a luncheon reception in their honor. The luncheon was attended by Dr. Neric Acosta, MP, Executive Vice President of the Liberal Party and CALD Execom Member, Education Undersecretary (Deputy Minister) Jose Luis Martin “Chito” Gascon, CALD Executive Director John Coronel and Young Liberals & Democrats of Asia President Jonathan Malaya.

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and Liberal Party Secretary General Benigno Simeon Aquino III, MP, and Senate Majority Floorleader and LP Vice-Chairman, Senator Francis Pangilinan treated Mr. Sam and his parliamentary colleagues for cocktails after the LP-CALD dinner. Among those who joined were former LP Secretary General Rudolfo Bacani, MP, and other LP congressmen, Joseph Abaya and Neric Acosta.

FNF Manila Resident Representative Dr. Ronald Meinardus and CALD Executive Director John Coronel also hosted a lunch and a dinner, respectively, for the SRP mission delegates.

SRP delegates played a crucial role in the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Maynmar Caucus (AIPMC). Mr. Son Chhay, a member of the AIPMC, attended the AIPMC meeting which also launched the Philippine Parliamentary Caucus on Myanmar. Ms. Saumura read the CALD statement during the AIPMC press conference.

The SRP also had a private audience with senior officers of the Manila-based Asian Development Bank.

Aside from these activities, members of the SRP attended the various sessions of the 112th IPU General Assembly.

Click here for more details.

NCUB Mission

This is the 2nd Manila Mission of the National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB). The first one was in September last year. The 2nd mission is supposed to be a follow-up of the 1st mission which campaigned to establish a Philippine parliamentary caucus on Burma; bring the Burma issue into the agenda of the United National Security Council; mobilize the Philippines’ diplomatic networks; call for a revival of political dialogue with the National League for Democracy (NLD) leadership and the immediate release of Daw Aung et. al.; and commence the genuine process of National Reconciliation leading to democracy.

The Philippine Parliamentary Caucus on Myanmar was formally established last week and there have been calls from ASEAN and European parliamentarians during the 112th Inter-parliamentary Union General Assembly to suspend the Myanmar’s chairmanship of the ASEAN pending the release of Daw Aung Suu Kyi and the initiation of other political reforms.

The mission started with a preparatory meeting on April 1 at the joint offices of CALD and FNF between U Maung Maung, NCUB Secretary General and the CALD Secretariat headed by Executive Director John Coronel.

The members of the NCUB delegation, aside from Mr. Maung, are exiled Minister of Finance U Bo Hla Tint, exiled ministers U Tint Swe and U San Aung and Daw San San.

Three CALD member parties—NCUB, Liberal Party of the Philippines and the Sam Rainsy Party of Cambodia—attended the meeting of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) which coincided with the launching of the Philippine Parliamentary Caucus on Myanmar. U Maung Maung and Daw San San (NCUB), Dr. Neric Acosta, MP, (LP) and Mr. Son Chhay, MP, (SRP)—represented CALD and their respective parties. The event was attended by Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Jose de Venecia, the leaders of the Philippine Congress and the third and fourth highest Philippine officials, respectively.

Like the Sam Rainsy Party, the NCUB delegation attended the Dinner Reception in honor of Liberal Parliamentarians attending the 112th IPU which was keynoted by Senate President and Liberal Party leader Franklin Drilon; the luncheon hosted by Education Secretary (Minister) and former CALD Chair Florencio Abad and the farewell dinner hosted by CALD Executive Director John Coronel.

A major highlight for the NCUB was the very successful press conference sponsored by the AIPMC at the Philippine International Convention Center, the official venue of the PICC. Among the speakers of the press conference were U Tint Swe, Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian Saumura Tioulong who spoke in behalf of CALD and Rep. Raffy Biazon who gave the statement of support of the Liberal Party.

Senate Minority Floorleader and former Senate President Aquilino Pimental Jr. hosted a dinner cum press conference for the BCUB delegation in a Manila restaurant. Aside from Senator Pimentel and members of the media, the occasion was attended by the Hon. Jose Atienza, Mayor of the City of Manila and Chair of the Liberal Party and Rep. Loreta Anne Rosales, Chairwoman of the House Committee on Human Rights.

A separate meeting was also held with Senator Francis Pangilinan, Senate Majority Floorleader and Vice Chairman of the Liberal Party.  Senator Pangilinan commented that there have been a sustained and increased advocacy of the Burmese cause, particularly in both houses of congress. He cited the first NCUB mission as having been an integral component in this process.

In another occasion, U Maung Maung reported that the ruling military junta in Rangoon is worried with developments especially in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore where parliamentarians have been calling for the institutionalization of political reforms in Myanmar.

Click here for more details.

Categorised in: News Article

This post was written by CALD