Opposition leader Sam Rainsy raised Finance Minister Keat Chhon's Khmer Rouge history during a tense debate in the National Assembly on December 13 that concerned the 2007 budget.

"You may remember that when you were Pol Pot's secretary and adviser, the regime forced all people out of the city," said Rainsy, who was comparing the Khmer Rouge's policies with the current mass evictions of squatter communities from central Phnom Penh.

The only difference between 1975 and now was that then everyone had to leave, and now it is only the poor who are resettled, Rainsy said.

Keat Chhon responded that he had nothing to hide and would, if called upon, answer to the Cambodian people about his former role under the Khmer Rouge.