Lost Generation

Apocalypse Sleeping

Cambodia went to the polls at the end of July 2003 to choose between several idiosyncratic candidates to lead them into the new Millenium. Opposition leader Sam Rainsy and coalition funcinpec minister Mu Sochua told of impending catastrophe if Hun Sen remained in power. Which he did.

Post-election, Sam Rainsy (SRP) was the new kid on the block. Sam Rainsy got the youth vote and took six seats in Phnom Penh.
In an interview just after the election, he spoke about the state of his nation in blunt terms, “This country is actually going down the drain. If you look at some figures, like death rate and illiteracy rate, Cambodia is the only country in the world where the mortality rate and illiteracy rate have increased over the last ten years.”

Sam Rainsy partly blamed the international community, “Cambodia receives some 600$ million a year and in spite of such massive international assistance, the majority of the Cambodian people get poorer and poorer. We should look at decisions that have been made in the last the years by many donor countries, which have wasted the money of their tax-payers.”

The opposition leader does not accept the election results, “The election observers have been shown what the government wants them to see. It is impossible for an election to be free and fair in Cambodia. Most observers came as tourists and saw nothing.“

Some election observers privately agreed, “CPP cadres went into villages long before the elections, handed out gifts and made the voters swear an oath of allegiance. Village chiefs made sure oaths were complied with.”

Funcinpec Minister for Women’s Affairs, Mu Sochua, added, “The election observers mentioned minor irregularities - 43 people died. Is that a minor irregularity in your country? I have no faith at all in the EU.”

A few years ago, Hun Sen tried to assassinate his counterpart Rainsy. Sam Rainsy, who refused any political deal with the PM, returned the favor with shallow and simplistic historical analogies. Subtlety is not one of Sam Rainsy’s inert strengths,
“Hun Sen is like Saddam Hussein, like Mugabe, like Gaddafi. They have been in power for many years. Saddam has just fallen but Hun Sen has been power for some 20 years They are not models of democracy. Most of them are bloody dictators. They are killers. They are extremely corrupt. They have made their country poor. They violate human rights and democracy. “

Human rights have not been on anyone’s agenda during the elections, it seems. Both Sam Rainsy and Prince Ranarridh played the race card during election rallies, heckling against neighboring Vietnam. Sam Rainsy denies he is racist, “I am not anti-Vietnamese. I am anti Hun Sen. We have lost portions of our territory to Vietnam because the Hun Sen government is too weak. If you want to come to Cambodia you need a visa. Most tourists have a visa. Other people who come from other counties must also have a visa, which is not the case. This is not about one particular country. I want to see the law applied to everybody.”

Nevertheless, scared Vietnamese left Phnom Penh in droves just before the elections.
Hang, an old bar owner from Hanoi, commented, “Cambodia needs a dictator. I am scared of Sam Rainsy because he wants to get rid of the Vietnamese, blaming the state of the country on them. Ridiculous, but someone always has to find a scapegoat. Cambodia needs stability. A dictator who is not too greedy would be the best option.”
So what about democracy?
Hang laughed, “Why would Hun Sen or anyone else be concerned about democracy? Did Bush get in on a democratic vote? It’s the same in the West. If the Americans cheat in their elections – what hope does Cambodia have?”

To induce some serious appreciation of the ways of how the US operate fairly and freely in the global village, several senators offered extra aid if Hun Sen did not return to power. The US, by the way, favored Sam Rainsy.
Sam Rainsy returned the favor, “The US have been more stringent than other donor countries. I think the US is right to let the Cambodian people see the prospects that when there is a more democratic government in Cambodia, the US will be willing to increase assistance. The US want to see new Cambodian leaders who can guarantee that the money will go to the poor people, not to a few leaders who take that money to banks in Switzerland.”

Sam Rainsy also threw some light on the strained relations between Thailand and Cambodia (In January 2003 an armed mob attacked and burnt down the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh. Armed gang’s roamed the Cambodian capital’s streets, smashing up Thai businesses and hunting down Thai nationals), “Hun Sen in under pressure from Vietnam, because Vietnam wants to preserve Cambodia as its exclusive zone of influence. Hun Sen created an incident and pushed some of his henchmen - policemen and soldiers in plain clothes, to attack the Thai Embassy to create tension between the two countries. He also wanted to use this incident to crack down on the opposition. He pushed his people to burn down the Thai Embassy and pointed his finger at me. He wanted to kill many birds with one stone but he failed, he did not kill any bird at all.”

Minister Mu Sochua was equally convinced that Cambodia under Hun Sen only spelled disaster, “Hun Sen is corrupt and incompetent. Corruption is like an addiction. It's like drugs. Free money, corrupt money, it's like taking drugs. The CPP politicians are addicted to greed and power I see more chaos and more drugs in society, in everyday life. I see more rape and I see the perpetrators go unpunished. You have more and more commercial sex workers. I don't expect an independent media developing here. There is no dialogue between people in power and their constituents. What you will see is chaos, and that’s what is happening.”

Sam Rainsy saw HIV and the burgeoning sex industry as one of the toughest challenges facing the country, “Actually prostitution is the most thriving industry in Cambodia. Some government officials are behind the human trafficking - police, soldiers, they act with total impunity. They can buy young girls from parents who are starving farmers in the countryside and they bring them to the city to sell them. They have been doing this for years. There’s no rule of law. There is rampant corruption while the level of education is very low.”

The political horse-trading between Hun Sen and the other parties continued for months after Hun Sen failed to gain a majority large enough to run the country by himself. The Strongman of Asia needed a coalition partner to form a new government but Sam Rainsy and funcinpec initially far refused to cut a deal.

Sam Rainsy concluded, “I can understand Hun Sen wanting to remain in power for the rest of his life. Leaders like this have only two alternatives, either to remain in power or to go to jail.”

Rainsy’s prognosis remains on course. Hun Sen is still in power, in coalition with funcinpec. Sam Rainsy is the sole opposition and recently had his parliamentary immunity lifted. King Norodom Sihanouk abdicated in favor of his son King Sihamoni, a former ballet dancer who lived most of his life in Paris. Cambodia has the largest government (vis a vis population size) in the world. The West continues to pour money into Cambodia. The Cambodian people remain poor and disenfranchised.

The Sam Rainsy interview has appeared in The Far Eastern Economic Review, at www.nthposition.com and in Farang Magazine