Democracy in Cambodia is in a Coma

Tuesday, September 28, 2010 Opinion by Pretty Ma Recent political verdict issued by the Prime Minister's court was seen as Mr. Hun Sen's determination, or Hanoi's to say the least, to completely ban Mr. Sam Rainsy from Cambodian political arena given that the case is border encroachment from the East. This highly political judgment came to no one's surprise, especially to the Cambodian public in general. However, it has probably placed the world, especially donors' countries in an awkward position. It is quite a moral dilemma since it calls into question the validity, sincerity and the ability of the large donors to convince their good-hearted citizens that Cambodian democracy no longer qualifies. As likely the case of Mr. Sam Rainsy, Cambodian democracy is in a coma, regardless of whichever way one looks at it. All the major institutions has molded into a one party based operation. The government of Cambodia is operating on this single line of policy, one party service only and it serves only those party members who towed the party's line while punishing another portion of population who believe in running the country otherwise. Pluralistic form of democracy is no longer valid in this case. Should this kind of political menace and scenario is allowed to fly, then Mr. Hun Sen can pick and choose, boot any opposition leaders, today or tomorrow, at his own chosing. He can frame any argument through his party's cleverly designed defamation law, use his courts, accusing and convicting anyone he sees as a real challenge to his power or structure, knowing that he can get away with it through little or no consequence or reactions which he might consider to be a silent support from the world community and donors. It would not be the first assumption and I am sure it's not the last. As long as the world continue to channel my tax dollars and yours, including the generosity of their citizen's hard earned money to this regime with very little conditions or serious guidelines attached, or definite demand of concrete results, then maybe we can say that this is the best "HELL" the world has probably concluded, from my own perception, in the best interests of the Khmer people and nation for regional economic and political reason – it should be understood that stability is the magic word they want you to hear. Getting goods across the land from place to place at a faster pace, corporate profits and individual interests are more important than protecting human rights, enforcing Cambodian democracy, ensuring independence of the 3 major state institutions, enforcing a clear system of check-and-balance, giving official opposition a decent fighting chance, a real operating budget, getting a term limit for Prime Minister office so on and so forth which will lead to long term stability, and solid democratic foundation. It is quite insulting when they have to ask their people and the rest of the civilized world that this is the best they can do with Billions of dollars, 30 years or so after the Killing Fields. Cambodia can only afford a one man's ruling while human rights and democracy has to take the back seat in the eyes and wisdom of our so-called mother or father of democracies. It is just tearing me apart since I was blessed to enjoy my real freedom here in America. I am so sad for all the chances we have had in not only ensuring our territorial integrity and getting our nation free from foreign invaders, we now moving back even much deeper and deeper into the old Vietnamese colonial trap. The world could not care less, since, now, it is not in military uniform. It all comes down to economic and economic: highways will bring all sorts of goods across the borders, and it will end up with the haves and have-nots fighting for survival like beasts. The majority of Khmers are poor, farmers, uneducated, unsophisticated, easy to fool, and they are such an easy prey to all sorts of predators. You know what I am saying. It's legal now, and it will all be legal, but by then what do you have left to sell? I know for sure that those tall buildings and hotels are not mine and not my people, those rubber plantations and the like are for export, and they are not mine or yours. There are farming land concessions now and even more on the horizon that will produce rice or other products to support people in other country. It’s all for export, not for the needy inside Cambodia, so this means that more people will probably end up begging on the street. For those who have lost their farming lands, I can't even imagine what their lives – be they young, old or babies – are going to be like? It's so hard to see a mother or a grandmother raise her hands begging for a little generosity and compassion. You look at them and you can just pass by without giving a bit while inside you, you feel so guilty that you couldn't give enough. And if you pass one without giving, all she has to say: "How could you be so uncompassionate, my child". It hurts like hell. That experience stuck with me until today, and this is why I chose to be the minority against the new social norm that Cambodia is flaunting today. I guess maybe I have been away far too long, and I have remained too Cambodian in my own conservative way, that I seem to find so many flaws in the new Cambodia - a country that has become so morally and materially corrupted than anything I had ever experienced from my memory days as a child back in the mid-60s till I left in 1981. Opportunities to strengthen Cambodian democracy has been lost over the years as each donor countries was thinking more or less of their own country's interest while turning a blind eye on the derailing process of democracy that is taking shape in Cambodia. With so much money to give away, something the Cambodian government can't do without, the donor countries could have forced the system to open up. When you get a loan from a mortgage institution, you will have to meet certain criteria and payment terms. What is there difference for Cambodia? Short term gain and long term pain for the Khmer people? The world has overlooked all credible gathering evidence and pleas from human rights groups, and seem as always readily willing to accept one lie on reform after the other, or lie of this and of that while refusing to politely tell the human right violators that talk is cheap, but show us the real results, and we'll take it from there. At times, I questioned if the world is ever serious about democracy in Cambodia. I know that some of our friends, especially those next door to us, don't want anything to do with that because it can cause a stir in their own communist world. No, freedom will ring in Cambodia. Our constitution was built out of sand, with so many loopholes and misguided interpretation. It has led to all sorts of political misuse, manipulation and, more often than not, it no longer corresponds to the original intent and spirit of the 1991 Paris Peace Accord. As a student of American Government Politics, I have always preferred the American system of check-and-balance because I knew this kind of parliamentary abuse will likely occur, and we have seen that manifested right in front of our very eyes the abuse of elected member of parliaments at the direction of the Prime Minister office, not once, not twice, too many times to even count. The Cambodian People Party was build on such a systemic network of patronage, a party founded on the practice of reward and punishment. As a party member, one has to tow the party line, the party leader or he/she'll pay a hefty price. Way back, a judge was removed to a remote town from Phnom Penh, for ruling against the government's interest. This was done just to intimidate other judges and justices to be careful of issuing their next verdict in any cases that don't go the government's way. The government and the ruling party in Cambodia today has operated on an ideology from the past, i.e. for party members, you can join the party but you can't leave, in another word, this communist party would rather take a prostitute to be its bride, but will not allow its wife to become a prostitute. Good luck to all of those who have politically prostituted themselves to be a part of their new found quick-to-rich scheme, the party of their future. Ironically, some of them should have not left Cambodia from the day of Vietnam’s invasion. It just makes no sense and, I am sorry to say, you would have been much better off by joining that preferred party of yours from the start. Who know? You would probably be challenging your PM for his personal seat. This is where Vietnam knows Khmers best. There are always those who would prostitute themselves to any level to get ahead in their material world. Can't do it on their own, but need to go through the process of corruption, of looting one’s own nation on the back of vulnerable Khmers, the poor, the old, and the have-nots who subsist in large number across the country. Look at the face of those beggars and who do you see: your mothers, yours grandmothers, your fathers and they are all Khmers. This is why it is really so painful to see, especially for us, human. Khmer people must learn from their past, learn to cast their vote strategically and wisely. They need to focus on having a balanced approach to good governance. As I write in my previous post, in our time – such as this one – when we need to ensure our territorial integrity, to account for national revenue and spending, to protect people's lands and interests and the likes, a counter political force is the way to go - a minority government that allow the system to work best in responding to your concerns. People need to start moving away from any form of dictatorship since no man can last forever and history has taught us a good lesson of that. At the end of the day, it's not so much about a leader whom we like or dislike, it is not about Mr. Hun Sen or Mr. Sam Rainsy, but about a country that is truly democratic and a peaceful, respectable elected process. More importantly is a peaceful change of leadership through that revolving door of the PM Office. It should start – a process that is long overdue - with a 2-term limit for the premiership position; a creation of the Office of the Independent Prosecutors Council; an overhaul to the judicial system, and a proper level of operating budget for political Oppositions as legal participants of the process.