The Royal Government Attorney Group this evening issued a statement in response to a Facebook post of the self-imposed exile Sam Rainsy over the term of office of the Chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
“The Royal Government Attorney Group, jointly with the general public, is hugely appalled for the third-generation traitor convict Sam Rainsy’s display of his excessive ignorance and his continued, malicious, unvarying fact falsification nature through the posting on Facebook that SAMDECH AKKA MOHA SENA PADEI TECHO HUN SEN, PRIME MINISTER OF THE KINGDOM OF CAMBODIA, acted as an imposter in using the status as the ASEAN Chairman to be officially welcomed by the French president,” read the statement.
In accordance with the ASEAN Charter, it explained, the Chairmanship of ASEAN shall rotate annually, based on the alphabetical order of the English names of Member States, for a term of office “in a calendar year”, i.e., starting from the 1st day of January of a particular year until the 31st day of December of that year.
The handover of the Gavel of the ASEAN Chair, which takes place before the end of the calendar year, is simply the symbolic and prior transfer of chairmanship at the closing of ASEAN Summits; however, it does not mark the end of the term of office of the incumbent ASEAN Chair, who hands the Gavel in advance to the prospective new Chair, the same source added.
“The role of SAMDECH TECHO HUN SEN as the Chairman of ASEAN has started on 01 January 2022 until 31 December 2022,” it underlined.
“The act of the chief national attacker cum convict Sam Rainsy not only reflects his massive lack of knowledge and his persistent falsification of facts but also is a most profound insult to HIS EXCELLENCY EMMANUEL MACRON, President of the French Republic, and other countries in Europe, European Commissioner, the European Parliament, and the host countries for, according to the international legal norms, diplomatically greeting and welcoming SAMDECH TECHO in his capacity as the Chairman of ASEAN, as well as a highly offensive mockery to the leaders and the peoples of all the ASEAN Member States, including HIS EXCELLENCY JOKO WIDODO, President of the Republic of Indonesia, who were in attendance as the Members of ASEAN under the Chairmanship of SAMDECH TECHO,” said the statement.
Source: Agency Kampuchea Press