‘LIKE A MATCH’
The government is blocking his return home, a sign that Hun Sen had a “fear of my presence in Cambodia”, Rainsy said.
“Hun Sen knows that my return to Cambodia would be a danger to his regime. This means that the Cambodian people (are) waiting for an opportunity and for a leader, at least a symbolic leader, to rise up,” he said.
“I am the symbol of this resistance, and when the symbol of resistance is on Cambodian soil, that’s like a match being put to a powder keg,” he said.
Rainsy said he thought the Cambodian army, “which is poorly paid, which suffers from injustice”, would join such a movement.
“They will stand with the people and this is how a peaceful revolution, how a democratic change can take place in Cambodia,” he said.
Cambodia ranks 150th out of 180 in Transparency International’s corruption perception index. In Asia, only Myanmar and North Korea rank lower.
After stepping down as prime minister, Hun Sen has said he will become president of the senate and act as head of state when the king is overseas.
“Hun Sen will still be there, he will continue to pull the strings from behind the curtain,” Rainsy said, adding that Hun Manet has “lacks personality and charisma and his father’s authority”.