Tyrants don't just cede power [-They just cling to power]

July 22, 2009
A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
Pacific Daily News (Guam)

"It remains to be seen whether Sen's ego will compel him to make a martyr of Sochua, mother of three, by jailing her. That act just might rally proponents of civil rights everywhere."

Some people continue extralegal behavior simply because they can do so without consequences for their actions.

On the international stage, Cape Town-born Israeli diplomat Abba Eban has been quoted as having said, "International law is that law which the wicked do not obey and the righteous do not enforce."

Thailand-based Swedish journalist Bertil Lintner's "U.N. Mission To Nowhere," in the July 2 Wall Street Journal, noted, "History has shown authoritarian regimes never negotiate away their hold on power."

Thus, when North Korea engaged in a nuclear test on May 25, the U.N. Security Council "condemned (it) in the strongest terms, ... and tightened sanctions." And when North Korea test-fired a series of missiles on July 2 and then on July 4, the Security Council "condemned ... and demanded (North Korea) suspend all ballistic missile related activity and reinstate its moratorium on missile launches."

Until the next North Korean missile launches.

When U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised a U.S. policy review on Burma, because, "Clearly, the path we have taken in imposing sanctions hasn't influenced the Burmese junta, ... reaching out and trying to engage them has not influenced them either," human rights activists were relieved and waited.

And continue to wait.

In early July, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Burma with the hope that the junta would be willing to embark on some kind of engagement to make Burma's 2010 election more meaningful. Earlier, U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari had undertaken eight visits to Burma, described by Lintner as achieving "a few cosmetic changes and publicity stunts," followed by "business as usual."

Ban, who was warned against making the visit because it might "play into the hands of the ruling junta," wanted to visit Aung San Suu Kyi in Insein Prison, but "was kept waiting overnight on Friday in the Burmese capital Naypydaw before hearing about the refusal of his visit."

Although Ban later told reporters in Bangkok that he was "deeply disappointed," The Nation, Bangkok's newspaper, reported Ban saying that he was able to convey the world's concerns "very frankly" to Burmese junta boss Gen. Than Shwe, and that the Burmese "have not rejected any of what I proposed."

The Nation's editorial said Ban requested that "some 2,000 political prisoners be released" and "the upcoming general election be free and fair." The editorial stated, "there is nothing to suggest that the military top brass will heed his requests, much less anybody else's, regardless of the threat of more sanctions."

"The Burmese authorities have no qualms about handing out lengthy jail terms to anybody who gets in their way," the editorial stated. "Neither are they afraid to gun down protesters in cold blood. ... And so when the junta snubbed the U.N. chief, it was not a surprise."

While The Nation suggests the world community "needs to think outside the box," like exploring "ideas such as an exit strategy for the generals and power sharing," Lintner said, "Change in Burma is not going to happen through some kind of U.N.-initiated dialogue. ... The 2010 election is only designed to institutionalize the present order. Like other countries in Asia, change will come when someone within the ruling elite turns against the top leadership. ... There is little meaning in the U.N.'s false hopes for Burma."

And so, what difference is there between the North Koreans, the Burmese junta and Cambodia's Hun Sen?

Sen thumbs his nose at international frustration over his regime's lack of good governance, takes Western money but awaits China's unconditional aid rather than listening to Western scolding. He uses the 1991 Paris Peace Accords when they benefit his rule and tramples them when they do not.

In Khim Sarang's Feb. 8 report on Radio Free Asia, Sen boasted of his role in breaking up the royalist Funcinpec Party into 11 splinter groups, and warned all opposition parties that his men are hidden inside them.

Sen declared, "Now I am confirming that whoever that is, whichever party it is, if they dare interfere with the (Cambodian People's Party), then you will not be in peace. I will move in until I reach your last refuge directly. ... Those who attacked the CPP, do you know how many of them vanished? ... Retaliation means that we will hit you inside your last headquarters."

In a speech on July 7, Sen charged "some foreigners" with "unconsciously becoming the spokespersons of the opposition party and causing problems with foreign governments."

Sen's regime survives on lawsuits against citizens and opposition members. His court dismisses lawsuits he doesn't like, but upholds his; his legislature lifts immunity of opposition lawmakers; his executive branch sends people into hiding or runs them out of the country.

Opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua's lawyer, Kong Sam Onn, needs to find some peace by sending apologies to Sen and seeking membership in Sen's Cambodian People's Party.

"He has recognized his mistakes and apologized," Sen said in a speech. Opposition newspaper editor Dam Sith has had to beg Sen for forgiveness and to drop all government lawsuits against him, with the promise to cease publication of the newspaper Moneaksekar.

It remains to be seen whether Sen's ego will compel him to make a martyr of Sochua, mother of three, by jailing her. That act just might rally proponents of civil rights everywhere.

A Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.