An opposition party lawmaker yesterday said he will go forward with a plan to lead a large group to Svay Rieng province to inspect the Vietnamese border there, despite provincial officials’ misgivings.

Cambodia National Rescue Party parliamentarians Real Camerin and Um Sam An last month led a group to Svay Rieng to determine if Vietnam was encroaching on Cambodian land.

The trip ended in a brawl between Cambodians and Vietnamese. Camerin later said they will bring a group of about 1,000 people for the same purpose on July 19.

Svay Rieng Provincial Deputy Governor Ros Chhay yesterday said he invited Camerin to a meeting on Wednesday, to decide if he will allow the group.

“[We] must consult first, so that we can find out their aim,” Chhay said. “If it must be postponed, [we] will ask them to postpone.”

Camerin will send a representative to the meeting, but whatever the decision, he said, the group will go through with the trip as planned.

“If anyone blocks us, they are wrong, because Va Kim Hong, senior minister in charge of border affairs, said that anyone who wants to is allowed [to go there].”