September, 2017

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Posted by: | Posted on: September 16, 2017

How the nation became a graveyard for democracy

Op-Ed: Khmer Times

How the nation became a graveyard for democracy

May Titthara / Khmer Times Share:    

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Ear Sophal. Supplied

In two months, three presidents of political parties in Cambodia have been arrested and detained. May Titthara speaks to US-based academic Ear Sophal.

KT: Could you please give an overview of the current situation in Cambodia politics?

Mr Sophal: I think we’re back to square one or close to it. Twenty-five years after UNTAC and it looks like game over. UNTAC lost. The last vestige of western political liberalism has been extinguished from Cambodia. Rest in peace, democracy in Cambodia. It was a nice one-generation ride.

KT: What do you think about the arrest of Kem Sokha?

Mr Sophal: It’s terrible. I guess it means the authorities are going all the way with respect to destroying Cambodian democracy. For them, 25 years is enough. One generation. The end. After 2013 and 2017, it became clear that no matter what was done to the opposition, it only got stronger by gaining votes, so the answer became let’s just decapitate the opposition. We’ve exiled its former leader, now we’ll jail its current leader on some “smoking gun” treason charge. Well, it’s not clear his supporters will consider that to be credible stuff. They’ve known that tricks like this have been used since 1995. Back then it was a voice recording about an attempt on someone with an antique rifle.

KT: As you know, the accusation goes back a long time and has just been revived. What do you think is behind the Kem Sokha arrest?

Mr Sophal: It’s like old wine in a new bottle. You can always come up with some crazy reason. I remember back in 1995, it was Prince Sirivudh and an antique rifle and alleged murder plot that was audio recorded. It’s always the same tricks.

KT: Why has Mr Sokha been arrested at this time?

Mr Sophal: Because someone needs to show Cambodia who is boss. It’s time to crush the opposition in that person’s view. In Cambodia, might makes right.

KT: Do you think Mr Sokha’s arrest is an application of the law or a political trick? And why?

Mr Sophal: It’s not the rule of law. More precisely it’s the rule of man.

KT: If he is found guilty, what is the future of the CNRP?

Mr Sophal: Bleak. One leader was exiled and had to resign. The other was arrested and will no doubt soon be convicted of treason in a show trial. The CNRP will remain alive, like Funcinpec remained alive after July 1997. When your leader is exiled or arrested, how can you operate?

KT: What does such an arrest mean for the ruling party?

Mr Sophal: What it means is getting rid of the ruling party’s biggest domestic enemy. The charismatic leader of the CNRP has been put away under lock and key. Hooray, the ruling party can sleep at night. Or can it? Won’t this infuriate his supporters? They’ve now made a political prisoner out of him. Will Kem Sokha be Cambodia’s Nelson Mandela? If anything happens to him, he’ll be the martyr and the Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino of Cambodia.

KT: Is it fair enough for opposition parties who have no power to take revenge?

Mr Sophal: Not sure what kind of revenge they can enact. It’s not as if they have guns. They come to a fight bringing loudspeakers when the other side has guns. Might makes right in Cambodia. In love and politics all is fair. The only way to ensure victory for the ruling party is to eliminate the CNRP completely before the July 2018 election. The opposition party, even hollowed out, might be able to get votes, and that would be a huge embarrassment if they somehow won despite being decapitated.

KT: How will this affect civil society sentiment?

Mr Sophal: Civil society is already in a funk from all the beatings it has received — metaphorically and sometimes literally — and this is going to further depress them. Civil society’s main allies, The Cambodia Daily, Radio Free Asia, Voice of America, Voice of Democracy, National Democratic Institute, etc., are under assault so they probably feel like someone’s punched them in the gut. Civil society is the soul of Cambodia. Without civil society the country is morally bankrupt. It will be like Year Zero again. In any case, who is next? The Phnom Penh Post allegedly has received visits from the tax man, and I know for a
fact that Transparency International Cambodia has too. Is Khmer Times too free-thinking? Time to go to a re-education camp.

KT: Do you think the upcoming election will be free and fair?

Mr Sophal: No, it will not be free and fair. They’ve never been except for 1993. They are already the un-freest and un-fairest, if such words even exist, of all. You cannot have a skating competition where your boyfriend hires a goon to go and club the ankle of your opponent, as happened in 1994 to figure skater Nancy Kerrigan. It’s just not right, not fair, and not a free competition.

KT: In what way can we rescue such a bad situation in politics right now?

Mr Sophal: Release Kem Sokha, permit the return of Sam Rainsy to politics without conditions, withdraw the $6 million bogus tax bill to the Cambodia Daily (I mean, why not $60 million or $600 million or for that matter $6 billion?). Who doesn’t know the Daily has run at a loss for years and years and its foreign reporters get paid $1,000 a month since the 1990s. This is less than a high official spends on cognac and ladies of the night at an average dinner these days. Stop harassing NDI, RFA, VOA, VOD, and all the radio stations broadcasting them. Expelling the messenger does not solve the problems people face. The problems are still there. They don’t go away because no one is reporting on them. They will still be there tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year, when the election takes place, and even after the elections have come and gone. These are big problems that will take everyone’s imagination and ingenuity to solve, including the opposition’s.

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Posted by: | Posted on: September 14, 2017

The Guardian view on Cambodia: a local crisis and a regional shift

Op-Ed: The Guardian

The Guardian view on Cambodia: a local crisis and a regional shift

The government has charged the opposition leader with treason and silenced independent media as strongman Hun Sen tries to hold on to power. But its actions reflect a broader dynamic
Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen
 Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen: more than three decades in power. Photograph: Samrang Pring/Reuters

Cambodia’s Hun Sen is one of the world’s longest standing leaders. His party has been happy to hold elections as long as it knows it is going to win, and to embrace underhand tactics or outright force when things don’t go quite as planned. Another poll looms next year and, after more than three decades in his post, the prime minister and former Khmer Rouge commander says he has decided to continue for 10 more years to ensure stability.

Voters seem less keen on his unending tenure – and the Cambodian People’s Party knows it. A gradual expansion of space for civil society, activism and political activity went into reverse after the opposition united and did better than expected in 2013’s poll. The process accelerated last year as the CPP grew more nervous. It suffered again in this year’s local elections. It has overseen strong growth and reduced inequality. But there is widespread anger over rampant corruption and land grabs. An overwhelmingly young and increasingly urban population, more knowledgeable and sophisticated than their parents thanks to city life, social media and travel, feel they owe the government little.

Now the government has charged opposition leader Kem Sokha with treason, punishable by up to 30 years in jail, and has threatened to dissolve the Cambodia National Rescue Party if it does not disown him. He is accused of plotting with the United States to topple the government. Hun Sen’s real concern is clear and – as the previous opposition leader Sam Rainsy could testify – the tactics look awfully familiar.

Meanwhile, independent media have been silenced: a staggering $6.3m tax bill forced the Cambodia Daily to close , and radio stations carrying programmes from Voice of America and Radio Free Asia were shut down for supposed technical and administrative violations. Attacks on NGOs are intensifying.

The real shift in Cambodia is towards less western involvement, not more. The economy has grown and aid flows have diminished, reducing the government’s need to placate western donors. Meanwhile, China has pumped up aid, trade and investment without airing inconvenient human rights concern. These dynamics are evident elsewhere – look at the Philippines, Thailand or Myanmar– and the environment for human rights defenders is increasingly grim. The Trump administration’s lack of interest in human rights and own authoritarian tendencies fuel the long-term trend.

Some hope the CPP may yet pull back a little having made its show of strength. Pressure from diplomats has had some effect in the past. But the broad tendency across the region is undeniable and alarming.

Posted by: | Posted on: September 14, 2017

Political repression under Prime Minister Hun Sen has put the fragile democracy at risk

Op-Ed: The Hindu

Political repression under Prime Minister Hun Sen has put the fragile democracy at risk

Hun Sen bioThe crackdown in Cambodia is taking the form of criminalisation of the opposition and the media by Prime Minister Hun Sen ahead of the 2018 national elections. This slide into political regression is particularly troubling, as the country is still recovering from the memory of the genocide at the hands of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. Cambodia has enjoyed relative prosperity in recent years thanks to the boom in garment exports and tourism; it can ill-afford political unrest. Its democracy too is a work in progress, and while the long-ruling Hun Sen has never been an ideal democrat, in recent years his autocratic tendencies have become increasingly more pronounced. The detention earlier this month of Kem Sokha, leader of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), on charges of treason, was accompanied by circumstances that led to the closure of an independent newspaper. In July, the government promulgated a law that enables the banning of political parties with connections to criminal convicts. Mr. Hun Sen, a former commander of the Khmer Rouge, whose lengthy rule since 1985 is often compared to the tenure of other dictators, is anxious to tighten his grip on the levers of power. Recently he declared his intent to carry on for another two terms. But it was the CNRP that made significant gains in the local body elections this June, even as the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) retained a majority of seats.

In his campaign during that election, Mr. Hun Sen barely concealed the instincts of a ruthless dictator when he openly threatened civil war in the event of the CPP losing the elections. Earlier, under its veteran leader Sam Rainsy, who is in self-imposed exile, the CNRP had challenged Mr. Hun Sen’s 2013 re-election and extracted major concessions at the end of a protracted political crisis. The allusion in the latest treason charge is to Mr. Kem Sokha’s comments before an Australian audience some years ago, pointing to the level of desperation in the ruling dispensation. The current political turmoil in Cambodia reflects an ongoing shift in international influence in the decades following the genocide. The U.S. had been closely involved in the restoration of democratic stability in the country, and the Cambodian turnaround is one of the United Nations’ great success stories. But recent years have seen a dramatic rise in Beijing’s bilateral and regional engagement with Phnom Penh, which under Mr. Hun Sen is using the great power rivalry to evade accountability by his regime. Cambodia’s cancellation of the annual joint military exercises with the U.S. this year coincided with the first such engagement with China, underscoring the extent of the changing dynamics of big power diplomacy in Southeast Asia. The ‘America First’ approach under President Donald Trump is not likely to alter this trend. It is left to the international community to keep a sustained focus on Cambodia, and underline how precariously placed the Cambodian recovery still is.

Posted by: | Posted on: September 13, 2017

Some critical political philosophy that you should know

អ្នកគួរគិតដល់ពាក្យពេជ្ររបស់លោកម៉ាទិន នឹមម៉ូឡើដែលនិយាយថា៖
ដំបូងពួកគេមករកអ្នកសង្គមនិយម ហើយខ្ញុំមិននិយាយស្តីអ្វីទេ-
ពីព្រោះខ្ញុំមិនមែនជាអ្នកសង្គមនិយម។
បន្ទាប់មកគេមករកសហជីបកម្មករ ហើយខ្ញុំមិននិយាយស្តីអ្វីទេ-
ពីព្រោះខ្ញុំមិនមែនជាអ្នកសហជីបកម្មករ។
បន្ទាប់មក គេមករកពួកយិវ ហើយខ្ញុំមិននិយាយស្តីអ្វីទេ-
ពីព្រោះខ្ញុំមិនមែនជាយិវ។
បន្ទាប់មកទៀត ពួកគេមករកខ្ញុំ – ហើយមិនមាននរណានៅសេសសល់និយាយស្តីអំពីខ្ញុំទេ។
បើយកមកប្រើសំរាប់បរិបទកម្ពុជា៖
ដំបូង ពួកគេមករកអ្នករាជានិយម ហើយខ្ញុំមិននិយាយស្តីអ្វីទេ –
ពីព្រោះខ្ញុំមិនមែនជាអ្នករាជានិយម។
បន្ទាប់មក ពួកគេមករកអ្នកការពារសិទ្ធិមនុស្ស ហើយខ្ញុំមិននិយាយស្តីអ្វីទេ-
ពីព្រោះខ្ញុំមិនមែនជាអ្នកការពារសិទ្ធិមនុស្ស។
បន្ទាប់មក ពួកគេមករកអ្នកសារពត៍មាន ហើយខ្ញុំមិននិយាយស្តីអ្វីទេ-
ពីព្រោះខ្ញុំមិនមែនជាអ្នកសារពត៍មាន។
បន្ទាប់មកទៀត ពួកគេបានមករកខ្ញុំ – ហើយមិនមាននរណាម្នាក់និយាយស្តីអំពីខ្ញុំទេ។
You should recall Martin Niemöller who said:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
 
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— 
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
 
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— 
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Adapted for the Cambodian context:
First they came for the Royalists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Royalist.
 
Then they came for the human rights defenders, and I did not speak out— 
Because I was not a human rights defender.
 
Then they came for the journalists, and I did not speak out— 
Because I was not a journalist.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.
(Courtesy: Prof. Dr. Ear Sophal)
===========
The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum Phnom Penh Cambodia, chronicling the Cambodian genocide. The site is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. Tuol Sleng (Khmer means "Hill of the Poisonous Trees" or "Strychnine Hill". Tuol Sleng was one of at least 150 execution centers in the country, 20,000 prisoners were killed there. Pol Pot 1925 – 1998) Cambodian politician and revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge from 1963 - 1997. General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea 1963 - 1981. He became the leader of Cambodia 17 April 1975, when his forces captured Phnom Penh. From 1976 to 1979, he also served as the Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea. He presided over a totalitarian dictatorship 1 to 3 million people (out of a population of slightly over 8 million) died due to the policies of his four-year premiership. This image could have imperfections as it’s either historical or reportage. Date taken: 19th December 2016 (Courtesy: alamy.com)

The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum Phnom Penh Cambodia, chronicling the Cambodian genocide. The site is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. Tuol Sleng (Khmer means “Hill of the Poisonous Trees” or “Strychnine Hill”. Tuol Sleng was one of at least 150 execution centers in the country, 20,000 prisoners were killed there. Pol Pot 1925 – 1998) Cambodian politician and revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge from 1963 – 1997. General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea 1963 – 1981. He became the leader of Cambodia 17 April 1975, when his forces captured Phnom Penh. From 1976 to 1979, he also served as the Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea. He presided over a totalitarian dictatorship 1 to 3 million people (out of a population of slightly over 8 million) died due to the policies of his four-year premiership. This image could have imperfections as it’s either historical or reportage. Date taken: 19th December 2016 (Courtesy: alamy.com)

Here were the “Security Regulations” of this place:
1. You must answer accordingly to my questions. Do not turn them away.
2. Do not try to hide the facts by making pretexts of this and that. You are strictly prohibited to contest me.
3. Do not be a fool for you are a chap who dares to thwart the revolution.
4. You must immediately answer my questions without wasting time to reflect.
5. Do not tell me either about your immoralities or the revolution.
6. While getting lashes or electrification you must not cry at all.
7. Do nothing. Sit still and wait for my orders. If there is no order, keep quiet. When I ask you to do something. You must do it right away without protesting.
8. Do not make pretexts about Kampuchea Krom [the Cambodian term for ethnic Cambodians living in the south of Vietnam] in order to hide your jaw of traitor.
9. If you do not follow all the above rules, you shall get many lashes of electric wire.
10. If you disobey any point of my regulations you shall get either ten lashes or five shocks of electric discharge.