'The regime is trying to find any reason to silence us'

An aggressive crackdown aimed at government critics threatens to derail Cambodia's frail democracy, GEOFFREY YORK writes

By GEOFFREY YORK
Monday, January 16, 2006
Globe and Mail, Canada

PHNOM PENH -- The handwritten slogan, scrawled in marker ink on an old banner, was so small and faded that few people noticed it.

But the scribbled comments, denouncing the Prime Minister as a traitor, were spotted by the ever-watchful eyes of the Cambodian government. Last month they became the pretext for its latest crackdown. Scores of police swooped down on human-rights offices in Phnom Penh and arrested three activists, accusing them of "defaming" the government.

They were among nearly a dozen activists, politicians and journalists who have been hit with criminal prosecutions in the past four months. A climate of fear has descended on this impoverished nation, forcing dozens of activists to flee. There are mounting anxieties about the possible death of Cambodia's fledgling democracy.

The crackdown has provoked dismay from the United Nations and the international community, which have pumped more than $7-billion (U.S.) in aid into Cambodia over the past 15 years.
Freedom of speech, one of the main achievements of the peace agreements of the early 1990s, is now under severe threat. Many observers believe that Cambodia is on the road to becoming a dictatorship again.

Even though the international community has considerable leverage over Cambodia -- providing annual aid of close to $500-million (U.S.), almost half of its entire budget -- it has failed to halt the drift toward authoritarianism.

The driving force behind this trend is Cambodia's shrewd and powerful ruler, Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has controlled politics with an autocratic grip for more than 20 years.

Nobody doubts that Mr. Sen authorized the crackdown that has been gaining momentum since 2003, when he banned all public demonstrations. Last year he forced the main opposition leader, Sam Rainsy, to flee into exile to avoid prison. The opposition leader was later convicted in absentia and sentenced to 18 months in jail.

Mr. Sen, a peasant's son and chess-playing ex-Marxist guerrilla, was supremely confident when he faced a group of journalists in Phnom Penh late last week. He dismissed the jailed activists as "a few individuals" who had "crossed the line" by "cursing" the government. He accused them of trying to overthrow the regime. "I am the victim," he insisted.

The embattled opposition sees it differently. Dozens of politicians and human-rights activists, fearing arrest, have gone into exile or slipped into hiding in the past several months.

"Almost every group that criticizes the government has at least one person in jail," said Ou Virak, spokesman for the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, one of the leading human-rights groups in the country.

"The situation is going from bad to worse -- much, much worse. A lot of people are scared. Anyone can be thrown into jail. The regime is trying to find any reason to silence us. Cambodia is on the road to dictatorship. Hun Sen is a strongman and he's trying to consolidate his tight control of this country."

The two top leaders of the human-rights centre were arrested in the crackdown last month. Both remain in jail, accused of criminal defamation in connection with the faded slogan that was spotted on a banner at the centre's booth during the annual celebration of International Human Rights Day on Dec. 10.

The main slogan on the banner, which had been printed two years earlier, was: "Protect my vote, protect my life." Dozens of ordinary people had added their own handwritten comments on the banner in marker pen, and the denunciation of Mr. Sen was one of those comments, but nobody seemed to notice it until the police raids began.

The human-rights centre has organized a series of village meetings during the past two weeks, gathering 40,000 names on petitions to seek freedom for the jailed activists. One of the activists was released on bail last week. But at the village meetings, many people spoke of their fear of arrest. Many were obviously nervous, refusing to disclose their names and expressing concern that they could be arrested for attending the meetings.

"When they arrest democratic leaders, it puts fear into all of us," said Prak Senglong, a 25-year-old university student, who spoke at a village meeting in a farmer's field near the Mekong River. Dozens of his friends wanted to attend the meeting, he said, but were deterred by the danger of being arrested.