Political Cartoon: "Australian Values" and Open letter to PM John Howard

Cartoon by http://sacrava.blogspot.com

The author of the cartoon, Mr. Bun H., issued a plea for all Khmer-Australians to send the following suggested letter to PM John Howard:

Name
Address

Place and Date

To: The Rt. Honourable John Howard, MP
Prime Minister of Australia
Parliament House
CANBERRA, ACT 2600

Dear Mr. Howard,

It is with heavy hard and great disappointment that I learn that you will be hosting Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen during his official visit in Australia between October 8-14, 2006.

As you well know, Mr. Yash Ghai, the UN Special Representative for Human Rights in Cambodia, has publicly announced on September 26, 2006 in Geneva, that Prime Minister’s Hun Sen party, the Cambodian People Party (CPP), is subverting the democratic process in Cambodia to retain its hold on power. Furthermore, the UN Special Envoy, Mr. Ghai, clearly indicated Mr. Hun Sen’s government had:

• Violated rights at a “systemic scale,”
• Manipulated democratic processes,
• Undermined legitimate political opposition, and
• Used the state apparatus for accumulating private wealth.

The UN Special Envoy to Cambodia, also lists a plethora of other corruptions and misdeeds perpetrated in the name of preserving power in the hands of Mr. Hun Sen. The accusations made by Mr. Ghai on Mr. Hun Sen’s regime, are also corroborated by a close ally of Australia, the US Ambassador to Cambodia, Mr. Joseph Mussomeli. In a speech given on September 28, 2006, Mr. Mussomeli accused Mr. Hun Sen regime of:

• Endemic corruption,
• Paying lip service to the corruption problem but failing to back up its words with action,
• Lack of political will to combat corruption,
• Allowing unlawful land grabbing by the rich and powerful.

Mr. Howard,

While you may think that these are merely accusations made by outsiders of the regime who do not understand too well internal problems in Cambodia, I would also submit to your attention the accusations made one intimate insider of the regime (attached herein): those by a former personal advisor of Mr. Hun Sen, former Phnom Penh police chief, General Heng Pov. Because of the fallout between Mr. Hun Sen and General Heng Pov, the latter has issued from his hideout in a third country, incriminating accusations against Mr. Hun Sen as indicated in General Heng Pov’s statement issued in August 2006. In this statement, General Heng Pov accused Mr. Hun Sen, his former boss, of:

• Involvement in drug trafficking by his close associates,
• Political assassinations during the 1997 coup d’état,
• Philandering and using state privileges to hide the subsequent killing involved,
• Ordering the assassination of opposition party members during peaceful demonstration.

After setting foot on the shores of this promise land of Australia, and after enduring the nightmare and torture of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979, I find it unacceptable and shameful to see the great Leader of the democracy and peace loving Australia, a country I now proudly call my own and that of my children and the children of their children, hosting Mr. Hun Sen, one of the former Khmer Rouge commander.

Mr. Howard,

I had lived the nightmare that took away the lives of many of my loved ones during the Khmer Rouge regime, the fact that you are hosting a former member of this killer regime is tantamount to subjecting me, my family, and my Cambodian-Australian compatriots to relive the nightmare we escaped from. I am certain that you will agree with me that enduring torture, killing, and nightmare once in a lifetime is more than enough for a human being to endure, but to subject someone to relive the nightmare again is a mental torture I cannot bear.

For all the reasons cited above, I respectfully urge you, Mr. Howard, not to host and not to welcome Mr. Hun Sen to Australia.

Sincerely,

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