*Long Beach, CA; Lowell, MA; Houston, Texas; & Seattle, Washington State are the places that the Son of Dictator plans to visit...sooooo!!!!!*
*Cambodian-Americans Rain on Hun Manet’s Parade* Khmer Times/Taing Vida | Monday, 07 March 2016 [image: http://www.khmertimeskh.com/files/news/22403/1457381486.jpg] Hun Manet speaks at the opening of a new school in Koh Kong province. Facebook The Cambodia-America Alliance (CAA) yesterday said Hun Manet, the Prime Minister’s son, should have no place in a parade in Long Beach, California, next month to celebrate Cambodian culture, calling his visit a “punishment” for Cambodian-Americans. The president of the CAA, Touch Vibol, harshly criticized the decision to include Mr. Manet, who is a lieutenant-general in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces and Prime Minister Hun Sen’s first-born son. “He [Hun Manet] represents the authoritarian regimes that continue their repressive tactics to maintain power,” Mr. Vibol said. “This [the parade] is a cultural program and Manet works for the Armed Forces. He is not an expert in culture... and as far as I know, this visit is to expand the network of support for the Cambodian People Party [CPP] in the United States.” The CAA has threatened to boycott and protest against the parade, which takes place on April 10 and is meant to celebrate Khmer culture. The CAA accused the organizers of the event, the Cambodia Town Committee, of “negligence,” saying the committee should be “ashamed” and issue an apology to the Khmer community in Long Beach. Mr. Vibol said the invitation was meant to raise support for the ruling party, pointing out that CTC committee member Richer San, who is allegedly a CPP supporter, invited Hun Manet. Mr. Manet could not be reached yesterday, but Chum Socheat, a spokesman for Cambodia’s National Defense Ministry, denied that Mr. Manet’s visit was meant to spur CPP support among Cambodian-Americans. He said Mr. Manet’s visit was intended instead to represent Cambodian culture and strengthen relations between the two nations. “Cambodian-Americans are all Khmer, so we should not provocate or confront each other,” Mr. Socheat said. “We should consider the interests of the nation. He [Manet] does not represent the party in this visit and this is also not for political interests, but to promote Khmer culture and tradition in the United States.” This is not the first time the CAA has sparred with the ruling regime. During the US-ASEAN summit in late February, the CAA led hundreds of Cambodian-Americans in a protest against the attendance of Prime Minister Hun Sen, in what they said was an effort to raise awareness of human rights and democracy in the country. -- Best Regards, *Khmer Forum* *A place for sharing community events and public news.* -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cambodia Discussion (CAMDISC) - www.cambodia.org" group. This is an unmoderated forum. Please refrain from using foul language. Thank you for your understanding. Peace among us and in Cambodia. To post to this group, send email to camdisc@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to camdisc-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/camdisc Learn more - http://www.cambodia.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cambodia Discussion (CAMDISC) - www.cambodia.org" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to camdisc+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
