Dear Editor,

Sam Rainsy (The Phnom Penh Post, March 3) chooses to characterise me as a “mercenary” – that is, someone whose actions are determined not by belief but by payment.

That characterisation is a lie. None of what I write on my blog or in letters to newspapers is paid for by anyone.

I do not know whether Sam Rainsy invented the lie or simply repeated a lie he heard from someone else, but neither explanation does him any credit. However, if Sam Rainsy is concerned about people being paid because of their actions or expressed views, he might look a little closer to home.

CNRP deputy leader Kem Sokha is well-known to have received generous funding from the International Republican Institute, and last year told an audience in Long Beach that he had “personally been financially supported by the American government to extend democracy for more than five years”.

Allen Myers

Phnom Penh