________________________________________________________________________
Cambodian strongman Hun Sen enters cyberspace
____________________________________________________________________________
Copyright ) 1997 Nando.net
Copyright ) 1997 Agence France-Presse
PHNOM PENH (December 2, 1997 11:11 a.m. EST http://www.nando.net) -
Cambodian strongman Hun Sen is going into cyberspace, with his party
posting a homepage on the Internet to soften its image and widen its
appeal.
The Cambodian People's Party (CPP) site on the World Wide Web is to be
launched soon with the release of the text of a speech given Tuesday by
low-key party president Chea Sim to mark the 19th anniversary of the
founding of the anti-Khmer Rouge resistance.
"This is just to give people much better information about the CPP,"
said Svay Sitha, the senior party official whose office created the
site.
"We will put on it background about the CPP leadership, especially about
the CPP political line and our platform."
The site, in English, was proposed by the party's central committee
following fierce fighting in the capital which effectively ousted First
Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh, another official said.
The fighting, widely seen as between CPP troops and soldiers loyal to
the prince's royalist FUNCINPEC party, tarnished the image of Cambodia,
the government and the formerly communist CPP.
"Now everybody is paying special attention to the CPP, so we have to
allow them access," the official said.
Svay Sitha acknowleged that few people in computer-scarce Cambodia would
be able to see the website but said he hoped it would attract Internet
surfers from around the world.
"Our policy is to get as many friends as possible," he said.
The address of the homepage on the world wide web is www.cpp.com.kh.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Apr 13 2001 - 12:54:29 PDT