More of Your Say on "For a Fighting Chance"

[Alternatives Watch]

MORE OF YOUR SAY ON “FOR A FIGHTING CHANCE”


“Scorpions do not change their nature.”

Paul Scott
1 Oct 09


“Only a new Cambodian generation can displace Hun Sen. For the
present, Sam Rainsy or Mu Sochua are only key persons in a political
game that Hun Sen needs to accredit his government to be in power for
every 5 year term; they can't make Hun Sen lose power.

Elections can't change anything in Cambodia. The key point is only
People Power can change Cambodia, including change of political
regime. Cambodian people and Cambodian new generation know well this
point of view; but we really need new leaders who are not connected to
the old generation. Leaders of the new generation will build a new
political regime.”

Sourn Serey Ratha
1 Oct 09


“Thank you so much for your clear explanation.”

Ngin Bunrith
1 Oct 09

[Alternatives Watch]

MORE OF YOUR SAY ON “FOR A FIGHTING CHANCE”

“I believe that HE Mu Sochua has a lot of quality to offer, but I'd
like to project my opinion on the Cambodian context related to winning
elections. My main question is how to make one million Cambodians hear
what HE Mu Sochua or HE Sam Rainsy says. In the absence of mass media
to send the messages of the opposition to voters, the opposition has
to rely on many other people to deliver the messages to a larger
number of people, most of whom cannot read or do not like to read. So
to win more than 30 seats, the opposition needs to mobilise more
capable people and resources to reach and convince voters. So the
opposition leader has to be able to offer not only a convincing
individual calibre but also effective people management skills. He/she
has to be able to gather at least a hundred of capable/talented people
to go out and convince people in order to earn more seats beyond 30.
(It is admirable that they could win a total of about 30 seats now.)
This would probably not necessarily be the case if they had an
effective mass media to reach millions of voters or if Cambodia was an
advanced state with this tool. But for 15 years, I have not even seen
a pro-opposition newspaper that is more or less equivalent to Reaksmei
Kampuchea or Koh Santepheap. Nowadays, I am still annoyed with the
reception quality of FM105 that relays VOA and RFA and broadcasts news
and views independent of the Cambodian government. So whoever comes to
lead the opposition will face the great challenge of making themselves
heard by a million people by either the media or people network.”

Chan Sophal
2 Oct 09