Cambodian Prime Minister seeks political truce with Opposition

Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy talks to the media upon his arrival at Phnom Penh International Airport, 10 February 2006 (Photo AFP)

Correspondents Report - Sunday, 12 February , 2006

ABC Online Australia

Reporter: Peter Lloyd

This is a transcript from Correspondents Report. The program is broadcast around Australia on Sundays at 08:00 on ABC Radio National.

Click here to listen to the interview (MP3 format)

TONI HASSAN: To Asia now, and what should the international community make of an apparent truce between Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen and his political rivals?

Hun Sen, known for his authoritarian rule, this month organised a royal pardon for Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who's been living in self-imposed exile in Europe.

Mr Rainsy was last year sentenced in absentia to 18 months in prison for remarks he made about the governing coalition.

The surprise pardon tops a list of concessions by Cambodia's Government, as Hun Sen comes under pressure from the international donor community to stop using the courts to silence critics.

South East Asia correspondent Peter Lloyd:

PETER LLOYD: Cambodians have a saying about their King - that he reigns but does not rule. The most powerful man in the kingdom is, without dispute, long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen, the irascible former Khmer Rouge cadre-turned-politician. According to legend, he once shot a television set in a rage triggered by a broadcast that displeased him.

The evidence of repression in Hun Sen's Cambodia is always chilling. Murdering government critics is still a common enough practice, especially at election time. But the modern South East Asian tyrant has another weapon in their arsenal - the law.

Like his counterparts in Singapore and Thailand, Hun Sen has been favouring the tactic of suing into silence those who dare to challenge his government.

Last year, Opposition leader Sam Rainsy fled to Paris after being stripped of his parliamentary immunity along with two fellow MPs, one of whom was jailed for seven years after an unconvincing show trial for supposedly plotting to topple the Government. Rainsy was tried in absentia and sentenced to 18 months in jail for defaming Hun Sen.

The charge related to the Opposition's claim that the Prime Minister was behind a deadly 1997 grenade attack on the Opposition.

In the last fortnight though the atmosphere suddenly changed.

Hun Sen organized royal pardons for seven activists he'd sued for criticizing a border deal with Vietnam along with a jailed Opposition MP.

Then he made peace with Sam Rainsy. In exchange for a grovelling apology from Rainsy, Hun Sen orchestrated yet another royal pardon that paved the way for the Opposition leader's return from Paris.

Sam Rainsy is in no doubt that pressure on Hun Sen from the donor community paid huge dividends.

SAM RAINSY: Friends of Cambodia, all over the world, have expressed their concerns about the deterioration in this situation in the country. Eventually Mr Hun Sen and I have understood that we must establish a dialogue.

PETER LLOYD: Was donor money at risk if you two didn't resolve your differences?

SAM RAINY: Yes. Cambodia will be in the bad situation and responsible politicians realise that we have to break the stalemate and to come together.

PETER LLOYD: This deal required you to make a significant political climb down. That must have been difficult for you?

SAM RAINY: You know, we have to make concessions. We have to reach a compromise. You cannot achieve 100 per cent of what you first wanted. Mr Hun Sen has made a step towards me and I have made a step towards him.

PETER LLOYD: Well do you now say that he wasn't involved in that 1997 grenade attack?

SAM RAINY: I want to put that aside. I want to put that behind because I don't want to concentrate any more on personal disputes. I want to concentrate on national issues. I am happy that Cambodia is moving from a facade of democracy towards something with more democratic substance.

PETER LLOYD: How can you say it's going to be more democratic? Isn't this just the strong man doing a deal to keep the donors happy?

SAM RAINSY: You know, eventually it is the Cambodians who have to decide for themselves. And it is what we have decided, Mr Hun Sen and I.

The very fact that political prisoners have been released, the very fact that parliamentarians will be allowed to work in a normal way with their parliamentary immunity restored, the very fact that we have guaranteed that there will be a real and effective opposition - I think this is a good evolution that we must applaud.

I want to devote all my time and all my energy to resolve national problems.

PETER LLOYD: You've been pardoned, but will you return fully to politics with all your rights reinstated?

SAM RAINSY: Yes. Definitely. This is part of the deal.

PETER LLOYD: So from now on, business as usual?

SAM RAINSY: I hope better than before.

PETER LLOYD: "Better than before" depends entirely, of course, on Hun Sen. He hasn't repealed the laws he used to squash dissent in the first place, so can use it all over again whenever he wishes.

And history shows us that the Prime Minister pays lip service to notions of democracy, rule of law and human rights when he's in earshot of foreigner donors who imagine that giving more than $600 million a year somehow buys them some sort of positive influence.

Yet somehow rampant corruption continues. You have to say that the value proposition is pretty poor. If you're looking for value for money in Hun Sen's Cambodia, you've probably come to the wrong basket case.

In Bangkok, this is Peter Lloyd for Correspondents Report.