Cambodians once again made shameful decisions on the 2008 general elections that will potentially lead to the end of Cambodian history and sovereignty
By: A. Christopher Windsor
London, 28th July, 2008
It was a shame when I read a news article about Cambodian general elections in 2008 and found out that the majority of Cambodians (who were able to vote) voted for a dictator once again. The difference that Cambodian voters made in the recent elections was that they provided almost two-third of the parliamentary seats to the corrupt and unpatriotic party, namely CPP.
What do these results show us? Simply, the more you educate them, the more irrational they become. One should never blame the lack of education for such destructive results of the 2008 elections. Recently, we have seen the improvement in education of human rights and democracy principles. For example, the public forums and human rights trainings conducted by Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) and other organisations have been tremendously effective and have increased the understanding of human rights and democracy in Cambodia.
In addition to that, the outreach of internet has also helped Cambodians living in the city to better understand the outside world and see where the world has been up to. Globalization, on its positive side, has also provided more information to urban Cambodians about the other countries' economies and living standards, compared to which the Cambodian living standard is way below. These are all the advantages that urban Cambodians, namely Phnom Penh residents, have to exploit to make better decisions. Unexpectedly, these people with higher education and better understanding of the outside world made the worst decisions compared to other people across the country. As shown in the unofficial results, CPP has gained more supports in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia—where we would expect better outcomes.
Now let me ask, do you think that the lack of education really played a role in these destructive results? To me, it is obvious that the poor, uneducated countryside voters have stood up for and demanded democracy and change in their homeland more than do the educated Phnom Penh voters. It is also difficult to blame the uneducated for the fact that some of their votes were bought. After all, they are poor and they have the reason to sell their votes for money only to feed their family for one day and ignore the fact that their country will be forever in the dark future. But Phnom Penh voters cannot use the same excuse for the fact that they gave the opportunity to CPP to destroy their homeland.
Who to blame?
Yes, the elections were not transparent. Some votes were bought. Some voters were threatened. And, according to recent news reports, some voters' names were removed from the lists, resulting in an unusually low turnout. However, I would like you to pay attention to the number of votes that CPP received. Do you think CPP could get these many votes only by frauds? I do not think so. It is true that frauds existed in these elections, but without frauds, do you think the
opposition parties, namely HRP and SRP, could together win these élections? I do not think so. CPP would have won the majority seats but probably not as many.
Why do I think so? There are a lot of irrational voters out there who would always ruin the efforts of democracy lovers to pull this nation out of the current darkness. These voters tend to be those who live in the urban areas. They have better living standards and tend to forget that their living standards would be much higher if their country were developed. They have the option to migrate to another country when Cambodia is totally ruined. This group of Cambodian citizens also has acceptable levels of education. With these levels of education—which are not too low but not very high either—these people believe that they are so educated and that therefore they need not to listen to anyone. These people tend to believe that there is nothing beyond their knowledge. What is so sad is that their knowledge is so low.
The followings are what these people believe and why they are wrong:
What Cambodians owe their nation
Because of the lack of both social and economic development, Cambodia is potentially heading to the end of its history. As citizens, Cambodians have the legal and moral obligations to prevent this from happening. Unfortunately, as shown in the recent election results, most Cambodians chose not to. Instead, Cambodians chose to indirectly destroy the land that gave life to them. If anything bad happens to Cambodia in the future, we are to blame no one, but Cambodians.
The Vietnamese's fault? The Thais' fault? No. It is all Cambodians' fault. The Vietnamese and the Thais are not smart, but Cambodians are brainless. Cambodia is the only original nation of the Golden Land that is strong enough to survive from its neighbors' invasions. This nation protected itself from losing its sovereignty so that the current generation of Cambodia could live in its homeland peacefully. Unfortunately, the current Cambodians do not take into account the good this nation has offered them.
Only one day before I wrote this paper, Cambodians chose to take a convenient way to the destruction of their nation. They chose to ignore the great values their nation has always offered them. Surprisingly, these Buddhist Cambodians chose not to pay back what they owed their nation. Such an act is against Buddhist philosophy, which believes that you should always pay back what you owe. But who cares?—when the nation is destroyed, its religion will also be destroyed. Cambodians only took a shortcut to such destruction.
What Cambodians owe their heroes
The spirits of patriotic kings, such as Jayavarman II and Jayavarman VII, deserve an explanation from Cambodians who voted for CPP. These kings sacrificed their lives and their happiness to build a nation known as the Khmer Empire, the greatest power in South East Asia from the early 12th century to the early 13th century. If we look at the current situation of Cambodia, their lives have been sacrificed for nothing. I am sure that when these kings gave their lives to serve this nation, they did not know that their people would one day give this nation to the hands of an unpatriotic leader, such as Hun Sen.
When the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh, the Khmer Republic troops fought until the last drops of their blood to prevent communism from spreading into this historic capital city. The spirits of these troops also deserve an explanation from CPP voters. These troops fought against not only the Khmer Rouge but also the communist Vietnam. Today, their children and grandchildren have forgotten all of their efforts. This current generate has already given the power to a pro-Vietnamese government.
The worst is that this current generation has also ignored the recent hero who was imprisoned not too long ago. I need not to mention his name as we should all know who he is. This human rights activist decided not to leave his nation and Cambodians behind. He sacrificed his own wellbeing to protect freedom of speech for Cambodian citizens. And sure enough, these people have already forgotten him and his patriotic act. Someone told me that if you do not forget your people they will never forget you. This is apparently wrong in the case of Cambodian CCP voters.
How many people have been killed by the current government? Did they already forget monks and protestors who were attacked and killed by the government force in 1998? Did they not remember the FUNCINPEC troops who were killed during the 1997 coup? Some reporters and the former Labour Union leader Chea Vichea were killed, leaving sorrow for their families and friends. What did these people sacrifice for? It was all of Cambodians, wasn't it? Is that how Cambodians pay them back, by voting for the person who killed these heroes?
What do CPP voters owe these people?
Their lives.
To those who voted for CPP: You owe your nation and heroes. And you owe them big. Cambodians who voted for CPP are betrayers. They betrayed not only their nation and heroes, but also themselves. They will have to pay back and we will see this when the corrupt government takes their land away, cuts down trees and ruins the whole economy.
My last words: Who am I to tell you all of these? Well, I am no one. I am only a British economist who happens to have been to Cambodia many times (Cambodia is like my second home). I have once fallen in love with this country and its culture. Please excuse my language and any mistakes I might have made in this paper as I wrote it out of anger and disappointment.
By: A. Christopher Windsor
London, 28th July, 2008
It was a shame when I read a news article about Cambodian general elections in 2008 and found out that the majority of Cambodians (who were able to vote) voted for a dictator once again. The difference that Cambodian voters made in the recent elections was that they provided almost two-third of the parliamentary seats to the corrupt and unpatriotic party, namely CPP.
What do these results show us? Simply, the more you educate them, the more irrational they become. One should never blame the lack of education for such destructive results of the 2008 elections. Recently, we have seen the improvement in education of human rights and democracy principles. For example, the public forums and human rights trainings conducted by Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) and other organisations have been tremendously effective and have increased the understanding of human rights and democracy in Cambodia.
In addition to that, the outreach of internet has also helped Cambodians living in the city to better understand the outside world and see where the world has been up to. Globalization, on its positive side, has also provided more information to urban Cambodians about the other countries' economies and living standards, compared to which the Cambodian living standard is way below. These are all the advantages that urban Cambodians, namely Phnom Penh residents, have to exploit to make better decisions. Unexpectedly, these people with higher education and better understanding of the outside world made the worst decisions compared to other people across the country. As shown in the unofficial results, CPP has gained more supports in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia—where we would expect better outcomes.
Now let me ask, do you think that the lack of education really played a role in these destructive results? To me, it is obvious that the poor, uneducated countryside voters have stood up for and demanded democracy and change in their homeland more than do the educated Phnom Penh voters. It is also difficult to blame the uneducated for the fact that some of their votes were bought. After all, they are poor and they have the reason to sell their votes for money only to feed their family for one day and ignore the fact that their country will be forever in the dark future. But Phnom Penh voters cannot use the same excuse for the fact that they gave the opportunity to CPP to destroy their homeland.
Who to blame?
Yes, the elections were not transparent. Some votes were bought. Some voters were threatened. And, according to recent news reports, some voters' names were removed from the lists, resulting in an unusually low turnout. However, I would like you to pay attention to the number of votes that CPP received. Do you think CPP could get these many votes only by frauds? I do not think so. It is true that frauds existed in these elections, but without frauds, do you think the
opposition parties, namely HRP and SRP, could together win these élections? I do not think so. CPP would have won the majority seats but probably not as many.
Why do I think so? There are a lot of irrational voters out there who would always ruin the efforts of democracy lovers to pull this nation out of the current darkness. These voters tend to be those who live in the urban areas. They have better living standards and tend to forget that their living standards would be much higher if their country were developed. They have the option to migrate to another country when Cambodia is totally ruined. This group of Cambodian citizens also has acceptable levels of education. With these levels of education—which are not too low but not very high either—these people believe that they are so educated and that therefore they need not to listen to anyone. These people tend to believe that there is nothing beyond their knowledge. What is so sad is that their knowledge is so low.
The followings are what these people believe and why they are wrong:
- Cambodia just got out of a huge civil war and it takes time for this country to recover. Why they are wrong: It has been almost 30 years—long enough for any economy to recover if its government is really working. Let us take Japan as an example. The country suffered from the destructive World War II, which was way more destructive than any civil wars Cambodia has ever suffered from. From the 1960s to the 1980s, not too long from the end of WWII, the overall of the Japanese real economic growth has been called a miracle. It did not take Japan longer 30 years to recover its economy and become the world's second biggest economy. We do not have that high expectation for Cambodia, but at least this nation should have shown some real improvement.
- Cambodia has a growth rate of 11%; does it not mean Hun Sen government is doing a good job? Why they are wrong: Yes, CPP is doing a good job in bringing money to its elites' pockets. Yes, the growth rate is 11%, but the inflation rate has already hit 18%. What does this mean? Wake up, Cambodians. This means you are poorer. Even if you make twice as much as you did before, but if goods and services are three times more expensive, it means you are poorer. I am also sure that the 11% growth is distributed only among rich CPP members while the 18% inflation affects all Cambodians, including those who voted for CPP.
- "I'm voting for a different reason this time - my choice is for a government that can protect Preah Vihear temple," 76 year-old Hok Hour in Phnom Penh's Chamkarmon district quoted in a Phnom Penh Post article. The old man, with not much brain, voted for CPP as he thought this party will protect the temple. Why they are wrong: First, let me ask, how could such an old person with life experience be so brainless? Can you not see that the Preah Vihear issue was a trick Hun Sen played to get votes from such brainless voters? You want a government that can protect Preah Vihear temple but not the Cambodia-Vietnam boarder? What would you do with Preah Vihear temple if the land you were living in was taken away from you? A democratic government would be able to protect not only Preah Vihear temple but all of Cambodian territory.
- CPP has built roads, bridges and schools. Why they are wrong: If Cambodia had a better government, the number of roads, bridges and schools built would go up by not twice but 10 times at least. Cambodia accepts a large amount of foreign aid and money from loans. In the case of foreign aid, Cambodian citizens do not have to worry about paying back. In the case loans, however, they all have to pay back. So, watch out, Cambodians! Most of this money does not go to development, but it instead goes to the pockets of CPP members. While the benefits Cambodians receive from such loans are very minimal, they will have to pay back these loans in full amount—plus interest rates in some cases.
What Cambodians owe their nation
Because of the lack of both social and economic development, Cambodia is potentially heading to the end of its history. As citizens, Cambodians have the legal and moral obligations to prevent this from happening. Unfortunately, as shown in the recent election results, most Cambodians chose not to. Instead, Cambodians chose to indirectly destroy the land that gave life to them. If anything bad happens to Cambodia in the future, we are to blame no one, but Cambodians.
The Vietnamese's fault? The Thais' fault? No. It is all Cambodians' fault. The Vietnamese and the Thais are not smart, but Cambodians are brainless. Cambodia is the only original nation of the Golden Land that is strong enough to survive from its neighbors' invasions. This nation protected itself from losing its sovereignty so that the current generation of Cambodia could live in its homeland peacefully. Unfortunately, the current Cambodians do not take into account the good this nation has offered them.
Only one day before I wrote this paper, Cambodians chose to take a convenient way to the destruction of their nation. They chose to ignore the great values their nation has always offered them. Surprisingly, these Buddhist Cambodians chose not to pay back what they owed their nation. Such an act is against Buddhist philosophy, which believes that you should always pay back what you owe. But who cares?—when the nation is destroyed, its religion will also be destroyed. Cambodians only took a shortcut to such destruction.
What Cambodians owe their heroes
The spirits of patriotic kings, such as Jayavarman II and Jayavarman VII, deserve an explanation from Cambodians who voted for CPP. These kings sacrificed their lives and their happiness to build a nation known as the Khmer Empire, the greatest power in South East Asia from the early 12th century to the early 13th century. If we look at the current situation of Cambodia, their lives have been sacrificed for nothing. I am sure that when these kings gave their lives to serve this nation, they did not know that their people would one day give this nation to the hands of an unpatriotic leader, such as Hun Sen.
When the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh, the Khmer Republic troops fought until the last drops of their blood to prevent communism from spreading into this historic capital city. The spirits of these troops also deserve an explanation from CPP voters. These troops fought against not only the Khmer Rouge but also the communist Vietnam. Today, their children and grandchildren have forgotten all of their efforts. This current generate has already given the power to a pro-Vietnamese government.
The worst is that this current generation has also ignored the recent hero who was imprisoned not too long ago. I need not to mention his name as we should all know who he is. This human rights activist decided not to leave his nation and Cambodians behind. He sacrificed his own wellbeing to protect freedom of speech for Cambodian citizens. And sure enough, these people have already forgotten him and his patriotic act. Someone told me that if you do not forget your people they will never forget you. This is apparently wrong in the case of Cambodian CCP voters.
How many people have been killed by the current government? Did they already forget monks and protestors who were attacked and killed by the government force in 1998? Did they not remember the FUNCINPEC troops who were killed during the 1997 coup? Some reporters and the former Labour Union leader Chea Vichea were killed, leaving sorrow for their families and friends. What did these people sacrifice for? It was all of Cambodians, wasn't it? Is that how Cambodians pay them back, by voting for the person who killed these heroes?
What do CPP voters owe these people?
Their lives.
To those who voted for CPP: You owe your nation and heroes. And you owe them big. Cambodians who voted for CPP are betrayers. They betrayed not only their nation and heroes, but also themselves. They will have to pay back and we will see this when the corrupt government takes their land away, cuts down trees and ruins the whole economy.
My last words: Who am I to tell you all of these? Well, I am no one. I am only a British economist who happens to have been to Cambodia many times (Cambodia is like my second home). I have once fallen in love with this country and its culture. Please excuse my language and any mistakes I might have made in this paper as I wrote it out of anger and disappointment.
43 comments:
A. Christopher Windsor
You are on the right target. Bull's Eyes.
Yeah I agree. They are too dumb to keep voting for CPP. They continue to suffer, let them be.
who to blame????? must be uuuuu..and uuuu...because uuuu...and uuuu still vote for a corrupted party..they sold land...cut all trees...destroyed all fish...and ect...but uuuu still vote for them...live with it.....as one say.."kom tveu bon chea muoy monouss kvakk chet...." bravo cpp...bravo yuon...live with it because vote and love yuon...
who to blame????? must be uuuuu..and uuuu...because uuuu...and uuuu still vote for a corrupted party..they sold land...cut all trees...destroyed all fish...and ect...but uuuu still vote for them...live with it.....as one say.."kom tveu bon chea muoy monouss kvakk chet...." bravo cpp...bravo yuon...live with it because vote and love yuon...
May preah sreiy Aar Meitreiy bless all khmers according our Angkor Queen.
"Yothacti khaing vear saing sacvear acnaing thulaing sophear suphaing loké acti naing tchac tcha ti yac ti tac mac-haing prumi preamh naing"
...................................
"He who in this world takes nothing that is not given,be it long or short,small or great,good or bad,_him I call a Brahman.
...................................
Meitreiya!
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh07CBCL7jA&NR=1
Are you all stupid or what, making all these stupid comments. Do you really think these people vote for CPP, or the ballots got manipulated. come one people, we all know that CPP are known for cheating. Do you really think Cambodian people are that stupid, these people know better. We want change, but CPP are too corrupt and they manipulate most of the votes, and do you know who many xmer AKA (Vietcong) living in cambodia? There are million of them there. Who do you think vote for CPP, bulleye, CPP=Vietname's slave.
HI CHRIST,
I AM GLAD YOU SAID IT.
RIGHT ON MY GOOD MAN. THEY CAN'T
SEE ANYTHING LONGER THAN THEIR NOSE UNTIL IT IS ALL TOO LATE. WE
ARE DOWN THE SLIPERY SLOPE ONCE AGAIN. WHAT A SHAME!
I don't agree with Mr. Windsor. Your western idea of democracy does not work well in South East Asia. Look at Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand for example. Cambodia is still young in term of "white" democracy. Having election and people live freely to me is the basic for that. Look at China and Vietnam. They don't even have a quarter of what Cambodia has in term democracy, byt their people are happy about the over all aspects of their country - stability and prosperity. Western democracy works or does not work based on the interest of the west. They don't care about if they make more money on you and your resources. Look at Saudi Arabia, the American best friend. I don't see democracy works there. Why should we Cambodians made decision based on your democracy. To say that we "once again made shameful decisions" is completely undemocratic. Your western human right and democracy idea is the worth in the world. Look at the war in Iraq and Isreal/Palastin.
CPP won! CPP won! Yahoooo! Yes! Yes! Yes!
Mr. Windsor, thank you Sir for expressing your concern about Khmer. For you as an outsider, to feel that much anger and disappointment, you can not imagine how we Khmer abroad feel about the out come of the 2008 election. One day Khmer will see the result of their action and by then, it will be too late. "Vietnamization is inevitable".
Texas, USA
CPP has been persuading all comedians and reporters to advertise their dictatorial targets to people. If those people won't do, they will get shots. That is why even people in PP have chosen the stupid leader who is HUN SEN. boo boo
To Mr Christopher windsor,
Millions thank you for telling the truth.
I am a Cambodian woman who lives in France before the fall of Lon Nol.
I love my country very much. I always support financially our hero Sam Rainsy who is our last hope to save my country.
You are right that Khmers are brainless.Almost of them are ready to destroy, to give, to sell their land to our neighbouring countries just in exchange to women, money, power.. Our history repeat:
-King Chey Chettha II (1618-28) married a daughter of Sai Vuong, one of the Nguyen lords (1558- 1778). Chey Chettah II is a betrayed man to his own country (Cambodia) allowing Vietnam to steal Prey Nokor (Ho Chi Minh city).
Since then many members of our royal family did the same thing to stay in power.
The last famous one King Norodom Sihanouk accepted the support of vietcong and North Vietnam to recuperate the power.
Hun Sen, our present leader does the same.
The democracy hasn't improved our brain.
Majority of our compatriots
intellectual or not, poor or rich
cant'seebeyond the end of their nose.
Sam Rainsy, his wife Saumura, the members of Samrainsy Party have tried their best to save our country from this calamity, the destruction, could they succeed one
day?
FROM NOW CAMBODIA WILL BE THE VIETNAMIZATION IN INDOCHINA.THE LAST CHANCE OF KHMER IN 2008 ElECTION IS ABSOLUTELY TO BE ENDE. THEY HAVE THOUGHT ONLY THE SHORT TERM AND FORGET THEIR GLORY HISTORY. FROM NOW, SRP CAN NOT HELP YOU MORE AND NO COUNTRY IN THE GLOBE CAN HELP THEM MORE. The dark history of Khmer will TURN BACK TO 1863 BEFORE FRANCHE REACHED IN CAMBODIA. More SUFFERING WILL BE COME FOR THE POOR AND POWERLESS PEOPLE. BYE BYE
Dear Mr Christopher windsor,
Thanks so much for spending your time and your knowledge thinking about the future of Cambodia.
CPP won in Phnom Penh because they used several illegal tatics such as:
- Falsify thousand names of their members outside the capital to register as P.Penh voters,but they were not the real P.Penh residents with the help of their CPP Districts.
- CPP members outside P.Penh used faked names of P.Penh residents who left their families and they were not active in the election to vote in P.Penh.
- and many others illegal tactis that we learned already.
I am not a politician,, but I dont think that khmer people are stupids.
The first reason is that the opposition party is too weak: when we are not a politician, we can think that the Sam Rainsy's party has only one man (Sam rainsy and a man cant do everything (foreign minister, Defense minister, Finance Minister ...)efficiently.
In a time of high tension with the Thai army, most of the people don't believe that a party which name is a name of a man can save them.
It is the most stupid thing I ever seen to choose this name for a party.
If nothing will change, Sam Rainsy will stay in opposition for all his life.
Cambodians are very happy to escape the Pol Pot regime . That's why they think Hun Sen is a hero even if he is the most corrupted man in the world and CPP means Cambodian People Party.
Mr. A.Chritopher Windsor thank for you just wake up? or you may just got paid by Hun Sen?
Why by this time you just come out with you supperb knowledge, why not befor the voting?
Mr.Windsor, before you blam us ( the victime)for what happen, I sugest you to look to our past first! not about the big crave suffering of killing field but what happen after the unfinish job of UN 1993 to now!!!
If you can not find the old news please ask SRP to provide you many video to show how Phom Penh people were killed and neatten up by the CPP, and how many our journallist and Monk had punnish by kiiled, prison, or send to Vietname, and how we cried and stoud up and ended just like before killed and imprisoned! and no body care nobody say a word! We give our weapon because we belive UN may help us peace and freedome! But UN give the power to exKhmer Rouge groups instead of us!
There are many more game they play to scare the hell out of us " Carot and stick."
You do not know how the mother fucker can cheat without same and you do not know how is going to happen if the section or our distric lost for CPP?
They may take our home away and you thing your lier Supper power are going to help us? Bullship and most of us may just sell out just like you!
Stop fucking blame on us and make the fucking Killer CPP legide!!!!!
If you get money to write that your parents may never rest in peace!
In 10 years, Cambodia will see the repeat of Khmer Rough. The western democracy idea prevents this from happening best because it gives voices to minority and protection. The Cambodian democracy will cause the poor to rise up again and we will have another blood bath.
This is the doing of selfish CPP. When that happen, don't call the International Tribunal to setup, please just hang Hunsen like they did his other self in Iraq.
Hun Sen always threaten Cambodian people with war and instability if they don't vote for him and who is Christopher Windsor to tell Cambodian people what to do?
It is so easy for Christopher Windsor to say what he want to say because he has a choice to live a thousand miles and not having to deal with all the bullshit in Cambodia while majority of the Cambodian people don't even has basic right!
I never thought it is so wrong for any Cambodian people to vote for Hun Sen to stay in power to protect Khmer Phrea Vihear temple because if Hun Sen still insist on going to United Nations with International Map of Cambodia and Cambodian government can verify all the illegal occupation of Cambodian territory by the Thai government and the Vietnamese government and make all the Thai and Vietnamese military force to withdraw from Cambodian territory!
Sure Cambodian people have nobody to blame except themselves after all Hun Sen Government is a Vietcong puppet government since 1979! Didn’t Cambodian people try to get rid Hun Sen government in general Cambodian election in 1997? But even if Hun Sen lost the election and he can still manage to stay in power through the use of his military and Cambodian people are supposed to be blame for that? Yep! Cambodian people can be blamed for everything! It is so easy to play the blame game and people do it all the time to make them look good! Now I beginning to see an outsider like Christopher Windsor start to play the blame game too and I am not surpised! When Cambodia as a country is so backward, so corrupted, and so poverty stricken and so helpless and it is okay for the world to blame Cambodia for everything until Cambodia become something and only then the world will stop blaming Cambodia for everything!
It seems that Cambodian people never have a choice and the only choice they have is to pick the lesser of the two evils!
The democracy is threatened by ONE man show, and the U.S. and the international community must do everything in their power to prevent the democracy in Cambodia from further eroding, so does not fall into communism. Yes, the domino effect is real, and it needs to be protected.
welcome to the era of communism. In fact, our brothers Chinese and Vietnamese are offering a warm welcome to the club. Now, the U.S. is threatened of the new domino effect.
The erosion of democracy is real!
To comment 2:41PM
As a kone Khmer from Europe I agree with you that the domocracy doesn't work well in South Asia.
But, quote one and only one government of any country in the world who let millions of illegal neighbouring foreigners penetrate, live freely in their country without control.
Quote any people of one and only one country who just complaint but fatally accept that millions of illegal neighbouring foreigners daily penetrate their territory, grab their land, pick work,their fish, to cut their trees, form their own community, their own school, to the prejudice of them.
Do you think South Asia would behave like us because their lack of democracy.
In my opinion, almost of Khmers of academic standard are indifferent of the future fate of the country. As the above comment says,
"we can't see beyond the end of our nose".
WE CAN ACKNOWLEDGE WE ARE BRAINLESS
Dear Poster 2:41AM,
I must agree with this acticle and I like also want to tell you that your comment about Cambodia democracy is better than China and vietnam is totally wrong.
Even they have one party policy, Since 1980 until now many changes have they made in China and in vietnam?
-In China, they have changed the whole generation of leadership from the top to the bottom. Example
1-When Zhang Ji Yang was general secretary, Li Peng was Prime Minister and Qiao Qi was Chairman of the people congress. The whole lot of his ministers have been replaced when they have ran out their term.
2-When Zhang Jemin was President, Jurong Ji was Prime Minsiter and all ministers were also being replaced.
3-NOw President Hu Jintao, Prime Minister is Wen JiaBao and President of the congress is Wu Pang Guo and all Ministers are new and young.
In Vietnam, since 1980 how many president and Prime Ministers have been replaced? How many ministers have been replaced?
How about in Cambodia? we only see the same face of the same monkys since 1980. Cambodia has not only lacking of replacing all incompetents monkys, but Cambodian are lacking in opportunity in participating all kind of economy of their nation. Most profitable sectors of the economy have beeen controled by Hun Sen and his families. They used public security as a weaponary to scare people away from participating the economy. If anyone outside of Hun Sen doing very good in business, that person will be kidnapped or be killed in mistery. Areak Prey
Christopher thank you. The Cambodians voted overwhelmingly to give Hun Sen and his friends another mandate to finish off Cambodia and to continue on the land grab policies. Like you said they are brainless……..what can I say……as a Cambodian I am five times more disappointed of what you feel.
Oh well! Hun Sen took ownership of Cambodia and Cambodian people since 1985 under the watchful eye of the Vietcong government! Hun Sen had committed so much treason against Cambodia and Cambodian people and for Hun Sen to lose any Cambodian election mean that he will be executed for being a traitor!
So Hun Sen must stay in power forever to escape death! I have yet to see anybody escape death and even the greatest escape Magician Harry Houdini couldn’t escape death!
2:41AM, I am ashame to be in the same country as you. Have realized that Hun Sen school of thought is erroneous and illogical. Your words choiced are poored and deviated from the truth. We'll monitor what Hun Sen can do in 5 years time.
What do you think ~ will Hun Sen stopped siphoning public funds?
To 5:35 AM...
My comments were on democracy/human rights only. Immigration is another story. I do agree with you that are many illegal immigrants in Cambodia, mostly Vietnamese and Half-Khmers Kampuchea Krom. All we have to do is to make immigration law work. To do this, we must have more MPs that support it. To get these MPs, we need more opposition members won the vote. But, we fail to do it because our opposition is weak and there are too many of them, with whom never get along. Remember, in Philippines and Indonesia, strong men ruled from decades, but eventually lost power to oppositions because they are smarter and look beyond their noses. I think we can do the same in Cambodia. But, it'll be awhile until our opposition members can look far enough. For me, if we can't win on a face with them, we would join them and find a way later. Ranarith did that, but he was so stupid enough to get mixed personal problem and politics.
to 5:40 AM...
A country that has no opposition party is not a democratic country, and China is an example of this. So, Cambodia democracy (only democracy) is still better.
7:07 AM....Look. I am not supporting CPP. In fact, I did support Sam Rainsy. But, any more. If you think that it is poor to say what I said, it is OK. It is one opinion. But, to say that you are ashame to be in a country like I am, it is none sense. It shows that you don't like democracy.
The end of Cambodia as we know it. 27 July 2008 3PM
Good, I hope all Zimbabwean will pack up and go back to where they came from.
PLEASE, BE INDULGENT WITH KHMER PEOPLE! WE HAVE ENOUGH OF WAR.
OUR COUNTRY HAS NEVER KNOWN REAL PEACE.
I would have guessed why most of Khmer people of all level have been brainless and dull until now.
The principal reason would be the centuries of the regular internal war of succession to the throne in the royal family have demoralized us, upset us and have made us passive resistance.
WE KHMER, WE NEED AN HERO TO WAKE US UP AGAIN.
Since the appearence of the Khmer royal family in our history until now, we never have known the name of our CROWN PRINCE who will mandatory succeed to the throne after the death of King.
As our Kings had a countless mistresses (especially our royal ballet dancers) and never formally married (as far as I know until now) and had hundred of children, every child could pretend to the throne.
So when the King dies, all the pretendants fight each other to the throne.
Often, the corrupt, the worthless, unprincipled, immoral win by treachery, war. At the end nobody is happy. The regular internal war between the royal pretendants would have dragged our empire down for ever.
SIHANOUK is an exemple of the ROYAL FAMILY SQUABBLE.
AS the son of the KING SISOWATH MONIVONG, Prince SISOWATH MONIRETH should inherit the throne from his father. But the mother of NORODOM SIHANOUK ( SISTER of the Prince SISOWATH MONIRETH) CORRUPTED FRANCE THAT GAVE SIHANOUK THE THRONE.
So Sihanouk and his uncle SISOWATH MONIRETH never got on well with each other.
The branch of family SISOWATH and the branch of the family NORODOM HATE EACH OTHER AND ACCUSE EACH OTHER TO STEAL THE THRONE.
Since the fall of Angkor Kings, the TAR TRASAK PAEM GARDENER FAMILY (WITH LESS BRAIN THAN ANGKOR KING)FOLLOW THE SAME TRADITION OF SUCCESSION.
THERE ARE THE SAME DISPUTE, THE SAME WAR,THE SAME CORRUPT AND MOREVER THE CALL FOR NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES TO RECUPERATE THE THRONE LOST has weakened our country.
WATCH OUT!
Our present king is the son of the 7th mistress of Sihanouk!
He is not married.
When he dies, who will succeed him? (if Cambodia still survives!)
I am sure that the future King would be the most corrupt, because he must compete with a lot of pretendants.
Khmer Nostradamus,
There has been a prediction on Cambodia that after the death of Sdach Thmil (the evil sdach: SIHANOUK OR HUN XEN?) who is the cause of the malediction of our country, Preah Bat theurmeuk will reestablish order and prosperity of our country.
We look forward to have him save us.
Gentlemen
First of all, I wish to sincerely thank to Mr Winsor who made the above comment from his heart.
In fact every one is brainful if they had a long hard look of those informations prior to their decision. Unfortunately this did not happen in cambodia.
Worst outcome as you said is unknowingly betray their ancestors who had sacrificed for the sake of the nation. Definately we owe cambodia a respect. This policy of vienamisation, had staged cambodia to killing Field. And cambodians found it very hard to trust one another, and misled to believe that they owe a deep gratitude to killers. The aim to control is setting very low wages in order to prosper corruption which lead cambodia to her destruction.In fact,Cambodia assetts should have been distributed fairly but robbed by corrupt officials.
As a result of that have majorily lost human values, ETHICS. Subsequently cambodians drive themselve away from what they claim as buddhists.
Once again,thank you for your useful comment.
Neang SA
Under the monarchy, I believe that the king has obligations to the kingdom and her citizens.Those stipulates in constitution bound by agreement of Paris Accord in 1991.And I think cambodian heroes have done enough for their country.
Thanks a million for this compelling article.
we are not really brainless, but just most brains have been dyed by corrupted and crook officers.
we still have a hope that we can get out of this hell as long as we are united and educate people rightly.
although this task is tough, we never retreat the present and never give up the future. as long as we have a will, we will have a way.
Just remember who gave you those stars on your shoulders!
Now, you have duties and responsibilities to carry, or your stars on your shoulders will be taken off.
Yeah most of ur statments are right christ! Personally I don't think that applying 'democracy' into this country to change the recent management regime is workable anymore! Cambodia might need another UN intervention with more careful implementation. Democracy takes too long to reach fruitful resutls and I'm afraid that Cambodian people can't wait.
If you mother fucket deliveried us in handcuff to the Conmunist in 1993 and blam us stupid, may you talk to your parents they may stupid to bring the person like you who live in the rich country and willing to brake our moral with ah hun Xen money!
Fuck you mr. Windsore the UN that help the CCP keep the creep on us!
We do not ask UN to monitor the fucking election but UN should help us reforme the army and police and if the UN realy want to introduce us to real democracy please reforme the Cambodia Justice system too!
Think you SUPPER POWERS I think you are not that stupid and Mr. windsore too!
Mr. A. Chistopher Winsore to say we Cambodian stupid to keep voting for Hun Sen it just like, say that your 12 years old kid like to be rape by hoodlump!!!!!!!!!!
Think harder, shame on you!
A. Christopher Windsor
I agreed with most of your comments, but one thing I don't agree is Cambodian people voted for CPP. I think Hun Sen steal and switch the vote. I don't think he can win all of the provinces and Phnom-Penh. Phnom-Penh residents like my cousin loves SRP. They don't like Hun Sen as I talked to them in Cambodia. They hate Hun Sen and his government, but Hun Sen win the vote in the capitol. It's very fishy that he win the capitol.
The problems are:
- The Vietnamese people live in Cambodia with the Cambodia identification card can vote for CPP.
- Hun Sen deletes opposition voter names from the list and allow only CPP voters to cast their ballots.
_ Hun Sen throwed out the opposition votes and replace with CPP votes.
- Hun Sen pays money to the voters to vote for them.
- Hun Sen uses force and threat to poor people to vote for CPP; otherwise, you will see the consequence.
- Hun Sen uses all kinds of tactics to make sure he wins the election.
- He, himself, declares he will win the election a year ago already. It means he knows in advance and he just lets people vote to make sure the world don't blame him for not voting.
Shame on CPP. Let people power to overthrow this government before we lost land and temple to the neighbors.
I tell you one thing 11:51PM the CPP make worst switching than you can think!
After make alot of closed opened crimes and got away proudly with it, and just before the election he openly accept himself as a country's dictator, with French journalist.
Hun Sen is treatning the whold Cambodia population!
To switch the box or all more ballot to the box was eassy since he own the ganster and the police!
and people know that if any thing happen to them no one care but death!
And if they obeye ah Hun Xen they would get $$$$$!
You can understand the situation only if you were poor and lived in Cambodia! And that the majority of the Cambodian are!
That cheap trick the guy Windsor wrote, sticking the miss concept and that write what right! What a Kwack care is the legid nothing else! He would not care if you say he a Hun Xen worst than Pol Pot or Hitler as long as the vote is legal by stupid people!
Hun Xen knows any tricks to win and to crush his own people, but appears foolish and brainless facing yuon and siam.
You wrote a great article, Chris. Hoping that this article can wake up those brainless people.
Hi Chris,
This maybe a little bit late to respond to your article. I do understand that what you've written was out of anger, and believe me, I'm no big fan of CPP either. However, it's quite offensive, I find, for you to blame the people because we're not all like that. Some people are sick and tired of civil wars. Most of them live in fear. And don't forget that a lot of mature age people in Cambodia today, had low educational level. And most who are studying abroad are either doing business or science, not laws and politics. These things need be taken into consideration before making any judgment I think.
Cheers,
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