Leadership
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Mass demonstration resumed legacy blossomed
Dear Cambodian Compatriots;
Although supreme patriarchs issued direction for monks not to participate with the demonstration, hundred of them came out to the freedom park equipped with ribbons, lotus flowers and yellow umbrellas. Photo Courtesy: Facebook
Today, Cambodia has witnessed the new chapter of its history in nation building process: transforming the culture of violence into the culture nonviolence. I have read this phenomena very long time ago and I am looking forward to seeing its transcendence. Putting aside the prolific speech of Sam Rainsy, president of the CNRP, at his convincing statement at freedom park: “today we are not only witnessing the protest against injustice but we are embracing the new culture of Cambodia: the Culture of Nonviolence”, I am convinced by the peaceful environment of the mass demonstration and the many thousands enthusiastic participants.
Those demonstrators have played good role model of well-informed citizens and well-disciplined political activists to other Cambodians countrywide. The security armed force has also demonstrated their understanding on how to perform duties properly and appropriately. Both demonstrators and policemen have demonstrated maturity and they are on the verge of “well-informed citizenship and well-disciplined political professional”.
Freedom Park was restricted to 10000 participants by the authority while the CNRP asked for 20000 participants, but the real scene has been claimed of half million participants. Photo Courtesy: Facebook
For the preconception of the civil rights and liberty, those who have restrained from all types of abuses such as physical abuses, financial abuses, sexual abuses, verbal abuses and psychological abuses, are considered REAL ACTIVISTS of CHANGE; they are the CATALYSTS for CHANGE. Violence is the change resistant. Violence is stemmed by greed, hatred and delusion. Nonviolence is blossomed by giving or sharing, compassion and wisdom.
In the past, Lord Buddha built democracy by the march for Freedom and Enlightenment. To succeed this goal, He implemented the nonviolence method diligently, intellectually and effectively. Every time, He addressed the audience of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathy, and equanimity. The core stanza of his teaching is “No Other Happiness is Greater than Peace, Nibbana is the Greatest Bliss”.
Youths are courting authority to choose between guns and beautiful lotus flowers. Photo courtesy: Facebook
We must believe strongly on the effectiveness of this message: the message of PEACE. The mantra of PEACE and the mission of spreading PEACE have carried more weigh in bringing benefits to human beings. It doesn’t only help to disperse FEAR but also to increase CONFIDENCE and TRUST. Cambodian people especially YOUTHS have embraced this mantra since the DAWN of election campaign, and we should not allow the DUSK of this embracing mindset diminish from this beloved wonderful land.
With Love and Peace,
Sophoan
Comment on the Letter Answering to Foreign Media Outlet
Comment: reading the letter responding to the media outlet “The Nation of Thailand” by the spokesperson for Cambodia’s undersecretary of state Mr. Koy Kuong, has triggered my thought on the passive reaction or impassive responsiveness of the Cambodia’s political leadership. In school, I take for grant from all comments, feedbacks and critics to actively adopt, adjust and adjourn my presentation. The author has responded into small bullets to explain key point to the former article. Those bullets are clearly exhibiting the good intention of the later but visibly lacking diplomatic maturity and “macro political leadership”. For instance, the rebut on the verge of “Jasmine Spring” mentioned by the former, I think they referred to the turnout of voters to increase the seats of CNRP; but the rebut evidently reflected that the “Jasmine Spring” is the people power or mass demonstration to topple the incumbent leader.
Cambodian people free to choose for themselves
Special to The Nation September 4, 2013 1:00 am
In response to the article entitled “Cambodia: Sliding toward a ‘Jasmine Spring?’ by Lawrence Gundersen and Scott Mikalauskis, published on August 31:
First of all, after His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is Asean’s longest-serving leader. He has been in office for so long due to the fact that the Cambodian people democratically elected him to power.
Second, how could Hun Sen and his political party have won the election on July 28 if his political base is simply “made up of the Lexus-owning class” of Cambodian society? To have won 68 out of 123 seats, an absolute majority in any democratic election, Hun Sen and his party certainly still have a broad base of political support. How could Gundersen and Mikalauskis have committed such a serious fallacy, unless they have lied or simply manipulated facts to serve their political agenda?
Third, with regard to the allegation that China “has been successful in using Cambodia to splinter ASEAN unity over the South China Sea”, I wish to remind you that Cambodia is not a “banana republic”. Cambodia is a sovereign and independent nation and a member of the United Nations, like the Kingdom of Thailand and the other 191 member states of the UN. No country, including China or the US, can use Cambodia to serve its political purpose.
Fourth, it is true that the joint communique (JC) of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting could not be issued last year. The reason was that two out of ten ASEAN member states had made their own respective claims to be included in the JC. Despite the efforts of Cambodia, as chair of ASEAN in 2012, to reach a political compromise in order for the JC to be released, there was no consensus. Therefore, it was the first time in the 45 years of ASEAN that two ASEAN members effectively blocked the issuance of the JC.
Fifth, it is normal in a democratic election process to see some technical irregularities. In the case of the US elections not many years ago, there were also electoral irregularities, which led to a ruling by the US Supreme Court. Therefore, if the US elections cannot be perfect, please do not impose a double standard on Cambodia. Cambodia has its own institutions, such as the National Election Committee (NEC) and the Constitutional Council (CC), which legally deal with electoral issues. Just last week, the CC ruled that electoral irregularities would not affect the results of the election.
The letter from the King of Cambodia and the public doubts
Recently, there are debated on the letter of Cambodia’s King, Norodom Sihamoni, issued on August 30th, 2013 regarding its originality and genuine. People and expert posed a lot doubts on new practices of the letter such as placing the date differently, no issued place was mentioned, the use of different font, the signature is like a copy and paste, and the context is not consistent relating to the letter issued on August 17th, 2013.
Courtesy: Facebook
Some suggested that to prove the letter is genuine or not, the verification and confirmation should base on four main factors such as verification from the Office of the King, the Major Foreign Media, the Official Media and the Government’s Spokesperson. However, latter the opposition leader wrote letter to the King regarding this letter; and the King responded to the opposition leader. The doubts is eventually ended.
However, I think there are huge benefit from closely investigating into the behavior of Cambodian politicians including the King of Cambodia. See above here for his change of habit in placing the date into his letter. I think the analysis into the meaning and context of the letter and signature, is another challenge. And to place suspicion as well as the weigh of the letter is required a lot of courage and diligence. Previously, I have learnt a lot from placing doubts into the genuine and originality of the letter discussed by Dr. Lao Mong Hay through the media.
Political Analysis: State and Society, Power Kills
I would like to call for those participants in the upcoming demonstration to chant this mantra together “Natthi Santi Param Sukham, Nibbanam Paramam Sukham នត្ថិ សន្តិ បរំ សុខំ និព្វានំ បរមំ សុខំ”.
This is the stanza of nonviolence and tolerance!
As I am contemplating on the “Political Leadership”, this analysis will elaborate on new paradigm shift of Cambodia’s political challenges and the reflection of its leadership. The two premises will be discussed here: State and Society and the “Power Kills” perspective.
State and Society
30 years have been swiftly passed, Cambodian politicians are gradually influenced by the Cambodian people especially the young energetic and innovative youth. The 30% of Cambodian population is the “youth bulk” which is considered the never-dry force of society. Politicians from both parties must listen to the demand of the youth. They must not miss the important episode of youth movement to chapter new page of history in this country.
While the CNRP has been clearly confirming its goal on setting public mass demonstration, the ruling party is likely running around the bush. The goal is to demand for an independent body of a commission to investigate the Election Irregularities. However, the rhetoric is still dichotomous between the CNRP and the CPP. As the set date of demonstration is looming, the rhetoric is somehow out of context. CNRP has firmly stood on its principle of civility and the mass power of non-violence. The need for the reform as well as the independent body of the National Election Committee (NEC) is their impetus. To reach that independent solution, CNRP has called for the participation of civil society and the United Nations to co-host this investigation. But the CPP has seen the Cambodian National Constitution has allowed only NEC to task this election and the participation from other groups including the United Nations is a infringement to the National Constitution.
Nonetheless, the CPP has been seen as taking for grant from the Royal Message dated on August 30th, 2013 that it is paralleling with its former argument. Recently, the Royal Message has been criticized on its originality and authenticity.
Hence, the argument made by the CNRP has absorbed more intellectual and liberal approaches:
1. The public demonstration is guaranteed by the National Constitution. Cambodian nationals of both sex can exercise their freedom on things they have seen irregular or injustice. Their freedom of expression including the freedom of assembly and demonstration must not be deprived by any mean or restriction.
2. The democracy has been built by the concept of State and Society in which these two components are inseparable. State roughly means Elected Government from a free and fair electoral mechanism and it is distributing authority and power through servant leadership as the people are considered their master. Society legally means civilians who are actively engaging in monitoring as well as questioning the wrongdoing of the state. The important ingredient of a successful democracy is the competent participation of the civil society. I can say that Cambodian civil society has not only discouraged from the government, this important country pillar has been neglected by the government in helping to solve the national disputes.
At the moment, the Cambodian politicians must develop their political maturity by implementing rightly the provision of the National Constitution, the Principle of Democracy and the Demand of the Youths.
Power Kills
When I was enrolling “Political Leadership” for my Master’s Degree in Political Science at the University of Hawaii, I was struck by the term “Power Kills” coined by R. J. Rummel for his book “Democracy as a Method of Nonviolence”. Further to this descriptive and qualitative research of this long life masterpiece, he observed that authoritative, dictatorship, or totalitarian regimes have been gradually defeated by the growing up of democracy. Some of his examples are Idi Amin of Uganda, Augusto Pinochet of Chile, Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya, or Park Chung Hee of South Korea.
He endorsed the nonviolence which has been successfully conducted by previous leaders such as Ghandi or Luther King. Of course, this nonviolence approach is not new, Lord Buddha utilized it effectively during his period to counter with those dictators and greedy powerful entities.
I would like to call for those participants in the upcoming demonstration to chant this mantra together “Natthi Santi Param Sukham, Nibbanam Paramam Sukham នត្ថិ សន្តិ បរំ សុខំ និព្វានំ បរមំ សុខំ”.
This is the stanza of nonviolence and tolerance!
By Sophoan
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