Political comments on the relationships with Japan following the Japanese opposition’s election victory

01 September 2009
By Leang Delux
Radio France Internationale
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Japan’s opposition party recently won the election with a mandate to lead the country. This change leads to diverging comments from Cambodian politicians, in particular regarding the bilateral relationship between Japan and Cambodia, because Japan is the largest donor country to Cambodia.

Up until now, Japan is the largest donor country to Cambodia. Will the new Japanese government affect the bilateral relationships between Cambodia and Japan or not?

The Cambodian government believes that there will be no effect on the bilateral relationships between the two countries, but for Cambodia’s opposition parties, the new Japanese government will pay closer attention to aids provided to Cambodia.

Khieu Kanharith, government spokesman, indicated that the relationship between Japan and Cambodia is a relationship at a governmental level, i.e. not a relationship at a party level. Khieu Kanharith added that: “Furthermore, PM Hun Xen maintain relationships with all political parties. Therefore, Cambodia hopes that there will be no change in regards to the bilateral relationships, and neither will there be any change in the aids that the Japanese government pledged to Cambodia.”

Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Cambodian ministry of Foreign Affairs, explained that Japan has a history of helping to bring peace in Cambodia since 1993. Also, Japan is an ASEAN partner and it is a close partner of Cambodia as well. Therefore, he believes that the relationships between the two countries will not be reduced. Koy Kuong explained that the political party change in the leading of the country is Japan’s internal issue. “However, the foreign policy of the new government will improve with other countries,” Koy Kuong added.

Cambodia’s opposition party believes that it is the opposite. Yim Sovann, SRP spokesman, commented that he used to meet with MPs of the Democratic Party of Japan (the winner of Japan’s election), and they want to see a more efficient use of Japanese aids, in particular, they want to see Japanese aids benefiting Cambodian people directly and that they do not fall into the hands of corrupt officials. Yim Sovann presumed that, from now on, Japan will pay closer attention to its aids to Cambodia.

Kem Sokha, HRP party president, also made similar comments to Yim Sovann regarding the policy of the Democratic Party of Japan which recently won the election. The DPJ’s goal is to strengthen democracy and the respect of human rights. Regarding diplomatic relations, Kem Sokha did not want to say directly that there could be a reduction of relationship between the new Japanese government and the current ruling party of Cambodia. However, Kem Sokha noted that the DPJ does not maintain close relationships with the CPP, unlike the case of the former ruling Japanese party.

Cambodia must wait half a century?

Still waiting for a political change in Cambodia ... because: ex-King Sihanouk said that people wishes him to live more 1,000-year-old, and PM Hun Xen said that he wants to hold onto power until he is at least 90-year-old

31 August 2009
Op-Ed by Sopheak
Originally posted in Khmer at http://sopheak.wordpress.com
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Click here to read the article in Khmer

The Japanese people recently welcome a new prime minister who is issued from the Japanese opposition party which won a landslide election at the beginning of this week. It is a fact that, in Japan, the change of premiership is not a big deal, and for someone to become the prime minister is also not a big deal in Japan. However, what impressed the world was the turning of new chapter in Japan when the opposition party won the election and the premiership position after more than half a century long delay.

Turning back to Cambodia, the situation here is not that much different. In Cambodia, besides the same political party winning the election time after time, the [government] leadership also remains unchanged: always the same man (sic!). Up to now, under four consecutive mandates, the ruling party in Cambodia is still holding its grip on power here. Come to think of it, four mandates is equivalent to a full 20-year of ruling, [and it seems] that this tendency will continue on for several more years to come.

As for the opposition party in Cambodia, questions remain as to whether it has the strength or the ability to replace the current ruling party or not? The path is still very long for Cambodia’s opposition, it could be that it may disappear even before it has the chance to rule (sic!).

This is not normal: it will require another 30 years or 6 legislative mandates to achieve a half-century length! Even though we cannot predict the future, what is foreseeable is that there is no clear sign showing that it would take a shorter period of time for Cambodia’s opposition party to get a grip on power. In fact, in Cambodia, change of leadership or premiership is a strange event (sic!)!

For Cambodia, can we assume that we need to wait for 50 years, or rather that we have to wait, wait, wait, and still waiting?

Note: In Cambodia, one legislative mandate lasts 5 years.