Opposition vows mass protest over Cambodian election deadlock
PHNOM PENH
(Reuters) - The result remains hotly disputed, but Cambodia's recent
general election has put long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen on a
collision course with a resurgent opposition and revealed widespread
unhappiness with his iron-fisted rule.
While analysts aren't writing off the chances of the politically ruthless Hun Sen ruling for another five years, they said the result signals a restive and youthful Cambodian population eager for change.
Both Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) have claimed victory in the July 28 poll. The official result will not be announced until Thursday, at the earliest.
CNRP president and long-time opposition leader Sam Rainsy declared himself prime minister on Monday and called for a mass demonstration in Phnom Penh on Tuesday that could augur months of political deadlock and possibly violent protests.
Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said the CPP won 68 seats, while the CNRP won 55. The CNRP says it won 63 and the CPP 60. It also claimed 1.3 million names were missing from electoral rolls and that Hun Sen's party stuffed ballot boxes with illegal votes.
Even by Hun Sen's own count, the election represents a dismal performance by an Asian strongman viewed during the campaign as all but invincible.
Many Cambodians feel CPP policies have enriched a select few and created a yawning poverty gap, analysts say. Huge tracts of land have been granted to foreign companies while the poor fight eviction with little hope of justice from the police or courts.
CPP policies are "out of step with a more and more open society", said independent social analyst Kem Ley, adding Hun Sen's control of the media was less effective now many that many people get information from internet social media outlets.
Kem Ley believes a CNRP boycott of parliament could lead to mass protests led by young Cambodians. "It's going to be like Egypt," he said.
Frustrations also fester in the civil service, say analysts, where low-ranking officials have watched their superiors grow rich while their own wages have stagnated.
The CNRP's election promises included pay rises for civil servants and garment workers.
HUN SEN DEFIANT
Hun Sen made conciliatory remarks after the election, saying his party was ready to talk to the election commission and the opposition about alleged irregularities.
He has since reverted to a more familiar tone of defiance, warning that if the opposition boycotts parliament its seats will be redistributed to other political parties.
In a recent speech he publicly scorned U.S. lawmakers for their pre-election threats to cut financial assistance unless the election was deemed fair. "Don't talk so much," he said. "If you want to cut, just cut it."
He also suggested the generosity of China, Cambodia's biggest investor and close diplomatic ally, would compensate for any cut in $1 million of U.S. military aid.
But Hun Sen's hailing of close ties with Beijing could backfire with many Cambodians, who resent China's economic and political dominance of their tiny country.
Hun Sen, 61, who once vowed to stay in office until his mid-70s, will focus on retaining power rather than addressing popular discontent, said analyst Kem Ley.
"There is no way (the CPP) will reform to gain popularity," he said.
But CPP lawmaker Chheang Vun, who called the election result "a victory for our people", acknowledged his party must pay greater heed to the youth.
"Their thinking is not the same as the old people like us, so we must turn to them ... and give young people what they want," he recently told journalists.
Despite a poor election result, Hun Sen will not face any leadership challenge from inside the CPP, said Lao Mong Hay, a veteran Cambodian human rights activist.
"He has centralized all power and prevented his colleagues from proving themselves and rising to prominence," he said.
Hun Sen has comfortably won every election since Cambodia returned to full democracy in 1998 after decades of war and turmoil that included the 1975-79 "Killing Fields" rule of the Khmer Rouge.
This time, however, he faced formidable opposition from the CNRP, formed after two parties merged last year and boosted by Sam Rainsy's return from exile in July after a royal pardon removed the threat of a jail term hanging over his head.
CNRP allegations of election fraud are being investigated by the National Election Committee, a government body viewed as dominated by the CPP.
"It is inconceivable to me that Hun Sen would allow any investigation that he couldn't control," said Carl Thayer, a Cambodia expert at the Australian Defense Force Academy in Canberra. "This election result will not be the end of Hun Sen for the next five years. But his pledge to say in office until he is in his seventies looks shaky."
While analysts aren't writing off the chances of the politically ruthless Hun Sen ruling for another five years, they said the result signals a restive and youthful Cambodian population eager for change.
Both Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) have claimed victory in the July 28 poll. The official result will not be announced until Thursday, at the earliest.
CNRP president and long-time opposition leader Sam Rainsy declared himself prime minister on Monday and called for a mass demonstration in Phnom Penh on Tuesday that could augur months of political deadlock and possibly violent protests.
Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said the CPP won 68 seats, while the CNRP won 55. The CNRP says it won 63 and the CPP 60. It also claimed 1.3 million names were missing from electoral rolls and that Hun Sen's party stuffed ballot boxes with illegal votes.
Even by Hun Sen's own count, the election represents a dismal performance by an Asian strongman viewed during the campaign as all but invincible.
Many Cambodians feel CPP policies have enriched a select few and created a yawning poverty gap, analysts say. Huge tracts of land have been granted to foreign companies while the poor fight eviction with little hope of justice from the police or courts.
CPP policies are "out of step with a more and more open society", said independent social analyst Kem Ley, adding Hun Sen's control of the media was less effective now many that many people get information from internet social media outlets.
Kem Ley believes a CNRP boycott of parliament could lead to mass protests led by young Cambodians. "It's going to be like Egypt," he said.
Frustrations also fester in the civil service, say analysts, where low-ranking officials have watched their superiors grow rich while their own wages have stagnated.
The CNRP's election promises included pay rises for civil servants and garment workers.
HUN SEN DEFIANT
Hun Sen made conciliatory remarks after the election, saying his party was ready to talk to the election commission and the opposition about alleged irregularities.
He has since reverted to a more familiar tone of defiance, warning that if the opposition boycotts parliament its seats will be redistributed to other political parties.
In a recent speech he publicly scorned U.S. lawmakers for their pre-election threats to cut financial assistance unless the election was deemed fair. "Don't talk so much," he said. "If you want to cut, just cut it."
He also suggested the generosity of China, Cambodia's biggest investor and close diplomatic ally, would compensate for any cut in $1 million of U.S. military aid.
But Hun Sen's hailing of close ties with Beijing could backfire with many Cambodians, who resent China's economic and political dominance of their tiny country.
Hun Sen, 61, who once vowed to stay in office until his mid-70s, will focus on retaining power rather than addressing popular discontent, said analyst Kem Ley.
"There is no way (the CPP) will reform to gain popularity," he said.
But CPP lawmaker Chheang Vun, who called the election result "a victory for our people", acknowledged his party must pay greater heed to the youth.
"Their thinking is not the same as the old people like us, so we must turn to them ... and give young people what they want," he recently told journalists.
Despite a poor election result, Hun Sen will not face any leadership challenge from inside the CPP, said Lao Mong Hay, a veteran Cambodian human rights activist.
"He has centralized all power and prevented his colleagues from proving themselves and rising to prominence," he said.
Hun Sen has comfortably won every election since Cambodia returned to full democracy in 1998 after decades of war and turmoil that included the 1975-79 "Killing Fields" rule of the Khmer Rouge.
This time, however, he faced formidable opposition from the CNRP, formed after two parties merged last year and boosted by Sam Rainsy's return from exile in July after a royal pardon removed the threat of a jail term hanging over his head.
CNRP allegations of election fraud are being investigated by the National Election Committee, a government body viewed as dominated by the CPP.
"It is inconceivable to me that Hun Sen would allow any investigation that he couldn't control," said Carl Thayer, a Cambodia expert at the Australian Defense Force Academy in Canberra. "This election result will not be the end of Hun Sen for the next five years. But his pledge to say in office until he is in his seventies looks shaky."
11 comments:
Why, Why, Why, so far, Mr Sam Rainsy has not hit back to this incendiary article that could damage his international image?
As a renowned politician, he should have an effective communication teamwork to promote him and his party, and retort quickly to the press.
Take Sihanouk as a model and see how he efficiently reacted to the press that criticised him.
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/columns/bit-re-education-needed
An ethnic Vietnamese villager cleans fish on a floating house on the Mekong River in Kandal province’s Lvea Em district in February. VIREAK MAI
A bit of re-education needed
Mon, 29 July 2013
Roger Mitton
During the campaigning for yesterday’s election, much attention was given to the anti-Vietnamese rhetoric of opposition leader Sam Rainsy and his deputy Kem Sokha.
They both spewed equally shocking racist sentiments, using the expletive term “yuon” to refer to Vietnamese people and even alleging that the Tuol Sleng torture centre never existed but was invented by Vietnam.
Presumably, then, the conviction of Duch, the centre’s commander, and the cases now being investigated by the United Nations tribunal, are all without foundation.
Really, it defies comprehension.
Prime Minister Hun Sen has many faults, from blatant nepotism to media coercion to crudely threatening that if he lost civil war would result.
But he has not descended to spouting the kind of racist bile that issued from Rainsy and his team and which seems to be a key part of their party’s ideology.
Yes, the opposition has been treated unfairly, but that is hardly unusual in this region... (continuation)
Prime minsiter Hun Shit have no crediblity!
his words destroys and his face looks more and more retarded.
I think it time that CPP member and other leaders within the CPP rise up to challenge Hun Sen as leader of their party, this is the best time and best opportunity for CPP to transfer power to a new leader and let Hun Sen rest. In doing so it will ensure CPP stay relevant in Cambodian society , but if not CPP future will be shaky as Hun Sen hands and legs beginning to shake too due to old age and may be like Chea Sim has to carry and wheelchair himself.
Even communist Vietnam and China replaces it leader though it 1 party but in Cambodia why the CPP committee has no successor or any one better to lead the CPP. What if Hun Sen has a heart attack, lung cancer or became blind tomorrow there is no one capable to lead the CPP ..right?
Koh Tral Island must not be forgotten
By “any patriot Khmers”
Why do Koh Tral Island, known in Vietnam as Phu Quoc, a sea and land area covering proximately over 30,000 km2 [Note: the actual land size of Koh Tral itself is 574 square kilometres (222 sq miles)] have been lost to Vietnam by whose treaty? Why don’t Cambodia government be transparent and explain to Cambodia army at front line and the whole nation about this? Why don't they include this into education system? Why?
Cambodian armies are fighting at front line for 4.6 km2 on the Thai border and what's about over 30,000km2 of Cambodia to Vietnam. Nobody dare to talk about it! Why? Cambodian armies you are decide the fate of your nation, Cambodian army as well as Cambodian people must rethink about this again and again. Is it fair?
Koh Tral Island, the sea and land area of over 30,000 square kilometres have been lost to Vietnam by the 1979 to 1985 treaties. The Cambodian army at front line as well as all Cambodian people must rethink again about these issues. Are Cambodian army fighting to protect the Cambodia Nation or protecting a very small group that own big lands, big properties or only protecting a small group but disguising as protecting the Khmer nation?
The Cambodian army at front lines suffer under rain, wind, bullets, bombs, lack of foods, lack of nutrition and their families have no health care assistance, no securities after they died but a very small group eat well, sleep well, sleep in first class hotel with air conditioning system with message from young girls, have first class medical care from oversea medical treatments, they are billionaires, millionaires who sell out the country to be rich and make the Cambodian people suffer everyday.
Who signed the treaty 1979-1985 that resulted in the loss over 30,000 km2 of Cambodia??? Why they are not being transparent and brave enough to inform all Cambodians and Cambodian army at front line about these issues? Why don't they include Koh Tral (Koh Tral size is bigger than the whole Phom Phen and bigger than Singapore [Note: Singapore's present land size is 704 km2 (271.8 sq mi)]) with heap of great natural resources, in the Cambodian education system?
Look at Hun Sen's families, relatives and friends- they are billionaires, millionaires. Where did they get the money from when we all just got out of war with empty hands [in 1979]? Hun Sen always say in his speeches that Cambodia had just risen up from the ashes of war, just got up from Year Zero with empty hands and how come they are billionaires, millionaires but 90% of innocent Cambodian people are so poor and struggling with their livelihood every day?
CNRP live with own people forver!!!!!!
CPP was absolutely lost the election on 28 they should step down for sake of the country, all of the members didn't have any idea how to make the country better. The election showed thaat they didn't have strategy at all. No platform at all. Let someone who wins to do the job for the country, be ashamed yourself. The worst one is foreigners voted, this is absolutely anacceptable.
Those who take too many precautions may not be on their guard.
Sam Rainsy has wasted too much time so far.
Must take enemy by surprise
We are not in a democratic country and Sam Rainsy count too much on UN or America to take power from Hun Xen. He has forgot that Hun Xen has support from China whether it is cash or weapons, so he will have all means to crush Khmer people who have only two hands.
to Khmer People
Keep in mind that all the despots never leave their powers without bloodshed.
we can not make an omelette without breaking eggs
Collaboration brings Khmer Right!
ខ្មែរ ត្រូវតែប្រកាន់ជំហរ របស់ខ្លួនជាដាច់ខាត មិនត្រូវរេដូចចុងស្រល់ត្រូវខ្យល់បក់បានជាដាច់ខាត!
គ្មានអ្នកណាគេជួយយើងបាន បើយើងមិនច្បាស់លាស់ខ្លួនឯង! មិនត្រូវចាញ់ល្បិចកល់ញស់ញង់ ទោះបីជាត្រូវប្រើវេលាប៉ុន្មាន ក៏ត្រូវតែតស៊ូរ ហើយអត់ធ្មត់ បើពុំដូច្នោះទេ កូនខ្មែរមិនអាចមានអនាគត ភ្លឺចិញ្ចាចដូចគេឯងទេ!
(រឿងច្បាស់ក្រឡែត កាលពីឆ្នាំ១៩៧៥ លោក លន់ ណុល បានសម្រេចចុះ ហត្ថលេខា ចុះចាញ់ ហើយប្រគល់ជ័យនះទៅឲ្យពួកខ្មែរក្រហម ព្រោះពួកគាត់នោះមិនចង់ឲ្យខ្មែរបង្ហូរឈាមតរទៅទៀត ដោយមិនបានគិតថា ខ្មែរនាំអាចធ្លាក់ចូលក្នុងរណ្ដៅលពិឃាត ដូច្នោះ ហើយ អាមេរិក ក៏គ្មានលទ្ធភាព បន្តរជំនួយ ត្បិតខ្មែរត្រូវគ្នាហើយ លុះដល់ក្រោយមកទើបពួក លន់ ណុល គិតឃើញថាខ្លួនចាញបោកចខ្មែរក្រហមទាំងស្រុង!)
ខ្ញុំមិនចង់និយាយរឿងចាស់ទេ ន័យរបស់ខ្ញុំគឺ អ្នកដែលចង់ជួយរកយុត្តិធ៌មឲ្យខ្មែរ គេមិនចង់ក្លាយខ្លួនទៅជានអ្នកឈ្លានពានខ្មែរទៅវិញ ដ៏រាបណាខ្មែរនៅតែមិនច្បាស់ខ្លួនឯង!
ក៏ប៉ុន្តែ យើងមិនអាចយល់បាន បើមិនយករឿងពីអតីតកាលមកពិចារណា ឬ មិនដឹងអតីតកាល របស់ខ្លួនច្បាស់លាស់ទេ៖ ដូចក្នុងកាលទេសៈខ្មែរធ្លាប់ឆ្លងកាត់ជាបន្តរបន្ទាប់ យើងមិនអាចដឹងបានថាត្រូវធ្វើយ៉ាងណា សម្រាប់ បច្ចុប្បន្ន នឹងអនាគត់របស់យើងឡើយ។
ដូច្នេះហើយ យើង ត្រូវតែបន្តរ(ព្យាយាមអតធ្មត់) ត្រូវតែសិក្សារ អំពីអតីតកាលរបស់យើង យកជាបទពិសោធន៍ចាស់ ជាមេរៀនមកពង្រឹងបច្ចុប្បន្នកាល ឆ្ពោះទៅកាន់អនាគត របស់យើងអោយបានរុងរឿងទាំងអស់គ្នាជាដាច់ខាត!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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