Cambodia election proves Facebook more than just a social network
By Marta Kasztelan
When the National Election Committee (NEC) released its updated preliminary election results this
Monday, confirming a narrow win by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party
(CPP), opposition leader Sam Rainsy posted his reaction to the
announcement on his Facebook page.
Rainsy questioned the release of the results by the body in spite of a
pending independent investigation into alleged irregularities.
“This
quick announcement of the temporary election results by the NEC shows
it seems to be under pressure by a powerful person, ” he wrote.
Cambodia opposition leader Sam Rainsy. Pic: AP.
And his supporters agreed. Facebook saw many reactions to
the election results from young Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP)
sympathisers, who have been rallying for change online throughout the
election period.
Not
only was this one of the most heated elections in a decade, with
opposition scoring significant gains, it was also unprecedented in terms
of participation by tech-savvy youth. According to the Phnom Penh Post,
out of the 9.6 million voters registered to cast their ballot in the 28
July election, 3.5 million were between 18 to 30 years old. Armed with
their smart phones and laptops, the new generation of Cambodian voters
used social media to share information and on the polling day to report
irregularities.
Although
Cambodia is still very much a rural country, Internet use, especially
by young Cambodians, is steadily increasing. According to social media
agency We Are Social, one new user joins Facebook every two minutes in Cambodia. This translates to almost 1,000 new members on a daily basis.
The
role played by the social networking site during the election has not
gone unnoticed by civil society organizations. Human rights watchdog Amnesty International recognised
that while media freedom remained a concern in the Southeast Asian
country, social media “offered a new information outlet for some“.
Un
Samnang, a report writer at election watchdog Comfrel, said that
Facebook was one of the very few platforms where voters were able raise
their concerns about the election and share independent information with
each other.
“Most
media are controlled by the CPP and are peddling pro-government
information. Additionally, local radio stations chose self-censorship in
the period leading up to the polls and on the election day itself,
because they were afraid to lose their operating licences. Social media
filled in that information gap,“ he said.
Both
CPP and CNRP used the Internet to galvanise voter support, with the
opposition relying more heavily on Facebook due to its limited access to
mainstream Khmer media. In his interview with HuffPost Live, Sam Rainsy praised Cambodia’s youth for taking to social media to make their voices heard and to organize.
“The
youth in Cambodia is very active and is getting involved in politics…
In many ways, they are like the youth in the Arab states, dissatisfied
with the ruling regime… Now they have Facebook, which is very powerful
and effective for youth to come together en masse in a very short time,“
he said
The thousands of CNRP supporters that
greeted Rainsy on 19 July, when he came back to Cambodia from
self-imposed exile, are certainly a testament to the power of social
media to get people together. The information about Rainsy‘s return first appeared on his Facebook page and there was no mention of his arrival in local papers.
26-year-old
political sciences graduate, OU Ritthy, believes that the trend to use
social media to share news and discuss current affairs is here to stay
in Cambodia and will eventually lead to a change in political culture.
Ritthy,
who organizes informal discussion groups about politics in Phnom Penh,
is however eary about the comparison of Cambodia’s youth movement to the
so-called “Arab Spring“.
“I
know that many people compare the situation in Cambodia and the use of
social media to the ‘Arab Spring‘ but we need an evolution not a
revolution. Revolution is too bloody,“ he said.
Marta Kasztelan is a human rights lawyer and freelance writer based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
12 comments:
After Facebook Khmer youth please use your cell phone to locate X/Y Coordinate for your next target.
11.556389,104.933111
Please copy this coordinates and paste into Google Map or Bing to zoom in for the house and exact location.
Please try to get X/Y as much as you can and write down it is very important target. Your parents did not try hard enough the last time, this time you do it for your future kid.
Hun Sen was cheated and election fraud by setup his winning 68 and 55 for CNRP before an election started. NEC final result is the same after an election was completed. So NEC is working for Hun Sen.
About 80% of Cambodian are voting for CNRP but NEC counted only half of the votes.
មិនត្រូវអូសបន្លាយពេលវេលា ឲ្យម្ចាស់ឆ្នោតអស់សង្ឃឹម!
វិប្បត្តិនៃការរៀបចំការបោះឆ្នោត ត្រូវតែមានតំណោះស្រាយដោយ យុត្តិធ៌ម!
ខ្មែរ ត្រូវតែរួបរួមគ្នា ហើយ ប្រកាន់ជំហរ របស់ខ្លួនឲ្យបាន! មិនត្រូវរេម្ដងទៅនេះម្ដងទៅនោះបានជាដាច់ខាត! មើលចុះ បរទេសកំពុងតែមើលមកឃើញ សម្បត្តិដ៏ស្ដុកស្ដំរបស់យើង បើយើងបែកបាក់គ្នា នុះយើងមិនអាចការពារវាបានទេ! តែក៏ត្រូវជ្រើសរើសរួបរួមជាមួយក្រុមដែលអាចផ្ដល់ផលប្រយោជន៍អោយខ្មែរដែរទើបបាន!
គ្មានអ្នកណាគេជួយយើងបាន បើយើងមិនច្បាស់លាស់ខ្លួនឯង! មិនត្រូវចាញ់ល្បិចកល់ញស់ញង់ សូមពិចារណាឲ្យបានល្អិតល្អន់ ត្រូវតែតស៊ូរ ហើយអត់ធ្មត់ បើពុំដូច្នោះទេ កូនខ្មែរមិនអាចមានអនាគតល្អបានទេ!
6:20 AM When you said Hun sen was cheated, in English grammar it means someone has cheated him...unless you really meant that!
Old NEC = CPP, the winner = Traitor Hun Sen is PM = Evil Vietnam is swallowing Cambodia
New NEC = CNRP, the winner = Traitor Hun Sen is still PM ( he will not relinquish his power ) = evil Vietnam is swallowing Cambodia
Dear compatriots,
Now, it is crystal clear that this evil Vietnam and its puppet idiot Hun Sen will never give up Cambodia and power.
This evil Vietnam found a useful tool in Hun Sen to accomplish its ultimate goal of making Cambodia a part of Vietnam.
Recently, before the election, we urged the world to help us to change the NEC, hoping that the CNRP would win the election and lead Cambodia.
Notice that at the end of the election day, when the CPP knew that it has lost the election, the troops were moved to surround the CNRP’s headquarter, ready for attack.
However, after the CPP found another way to cheat, no gun shot was fired. The way to cheat was simple because the CPP controlled all the medias. They just picked a number and told Khmer people that the CPP got 68, while the CNRP got 55. And the NEC must "carve" the result accordingly.
Therefore, it is obvious that with old NEC or new NEC, whether the CNRP won or lost, Hun Sen will never give up his power because the evil Vietnam wanted to finish Cambodia off. Vietnam’s task to finish Cambodia off would be harder if Hun Sen were not cooperating. We must give Vietnam credit for picking a right dog – Hun Sen – to serve its purpose. This dog Hun Sen will do whatever Vietnam told him to.
Continued below...
Bun Thoeun
WHAT IS THE SOLUTION TO SAVE OUR MOTHERLAND ?
The CNRP should not have any regret for not pushing hard enough to overhaul the NEC. It does not matter because Hun Sen will never give up his power by any legal means. The proof was clear at the end of the election day when the CPP knew that it had lost the election.
The CPP has been facilitating the Vietnamization of Cambodia and it is up to Khmer people to stop it.
We must know that once the number of the Vietnamese is about the same as the number of Khmer people, Vietnam does not need to commit fraud to win the election. When that happened, there will be no way that Cambodia can survive because the international community would not be able to help us. So, time is not on our side, time is our enemy. If we need to do something, we must do now.
I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely admire our Khmer leaders who have transcended one major barrier: they united and they stayed united, and they have gained millions of new followers. So, please, keep up your excellent work and put your ego behind and stay united until the end of your life. Cambodia interest is one million times more important than your personal interest.
I would like also to admire our people, especially our youths, for actively taking part in our emancipation to save our motherland. They are our emerging Khmer heroes.
Khmer people must have an unwavering conviction that any legal means such as international treaty, tribunal ( Khmer rouge tribunal), election, etc... will never work with this evil Vietnam and its puppet Hun Sen.
If the evil Vietnam lost its soldiers to conquer Cambodia, it is against logic if Khmer people wanted to liberate Cambodia without losing any life. If Vietnam lost 100 soldiers to swallow Cambodia, Khmer people should sacrifice 1000 people to save Cambodia.
Here is the choice: we sacrifice some to save Cambodia now, or we all die later and lose Cambodia.
Khmer people should also change their losing habit by stop moving away from their village when the evil Vietnamese move in. Khmer people must stand their ground and make their village a hell for those Vietnamese so that they cannot move in.
We should fight Vietnam with our hands free now, or Vietnam will tie our hands later and kill us all like during the Khmer rouge. This evil Vietnam has so many tricks to kill Khmer people and blame on somebody else.
To liberate Cambodia, it requires a brisk and powerful force to break Vietnam's grip over Cambodia.
To obtain this brisk and powerful force, Khmer people must invoke Mahatma Gandhi's concept by marching peacefully all over the country to demand electoral justice and dare this evil Hun Sen and his master Vietnam to shoot.
Only after so many Khmer people were dead that the International community would intervene and exert its powerful force to crush this devil Hun Sen and his master Vietnam. In this world, anything is not free. We must help ourselves first before the international community can help us.
The CNRP must see this, even with the new NEC and the CNRP won the 2018 election, the evil Vietnam will not let the CNRP to lead the country.
It is imperative that Khmer people and the CNRP stand their ground and fight with the evil Vietnam now while our chance of winning is good. The timing to do a mass demonstration to stop Vietnam and its puppet Hun Sen is right and is NOW. That is the right medicine to cure this Vietnam disease and the traitor Hun Sen's disease.
Please stop hesitating, the mass demonstration is imminent. There is no way to avoid it because the evil Vietnam left us no choice.
Bun Thoeun
Bun Thoeun,
Make sure rainsy and sokha read your take(very clever) they should learn from you.
Bun Thoeun, you should add:
Time is of the essence
6:53am
I agree with your ideas 100%
No outsiders would want us to grow but to fall apart. The Chinese realised this from WWI e.g how the US tried to drug their people, duing the last emperior known as the 'opuim trade' and then, they helped the nationalists and communists to eliminate the last emperior system and then, they helped the nationalists to fight against the communists and later on helped the Japanese to fight against the Chinese. When the Chinese almost wiped out by the Japanese supported by the US, they realised that they been stabbed by the US, they then conformed to fight back the Jap until the US helped to bomb them known as the 'Horishima and Nagasaki'.
After the Jap surendered, once again, the US made the U turn and this time supporting the Communists Moa Zetong to fight against the Nationalists lead by Chaing Chia Shak. In the end, Moa Zetong the communist party won and from there on. We have learnt that, no outsiders would want us to grow but to fall apart. Today, they are still at each other threat e.g how US talked to them about human right and in respond to this, they said to the US ' you went around bombing every nation and then you tried to talk to us about human right?...give me a break, haha'. Today, both Viets and Chinese have used the US's tactics to detroy other nations e,g making them killed one another and then will blame on the victims etc.
So far, the Chinese have learnt, self-reliance is the only way to succeed in life and today, the can see that the US is the only country that can rob other nations by law e.g the only nation allowed to reprint their money whenever they wanted. Now the whole world is trying to pull the US down by using gold as their commodity instead, this made the US gone crazy and so they decided to bomb the Middle East nations for using such ideas...
Long live CPP, watch out dumb fuck Khmer abroad, Hun Sen will crush your sorry asses into pieces! Long Live Pi Anh.
Soon NO FB in Cambodia...
It is time to wake up before the mafia of ah pi arch can do any more action. Ah pi arch is ah youn spy and is not worth listening to him at all. Come one everyone, Hun has everything to lose and for us, we have nothing to lose. It is time to sent them all back to where they came from, like ah Hun is ah king of ah arch ko and arch kro baiy.
when a Hun die everyone will be at peace again. Don't be afraid, better go for 'dying to live, than living to die'. Only 4 more days, VC and mafia will go back to where they came from.
These mafia group are very weak but their evil tricks are plenty, like using their whores or lies, cheat and rob and kill without mercy whatsoever, their brain are like monkey and their tricks are like lion. They usually pretend that they are nice, kind and gentle but they hire our khmers to kill other khmers.
You have to 'know yourself and know your anemy', do not trust them or believe in them at all. They did this to Loas, Champa, KhmerKrom (our brothers and sisters), Koh Tral and now the whole Srok Khmer.
The Chinese planted this for along time now, to swallow srok khmer because they knew that we are the 'pro US'. Like Thailand also is the 'Pro US' but made it legal on time known as the '160commonwealth' and our kingta been lied to by these two nations of the Vietname and Chinese not to do the same as Thai but then, look at our country now, gone almost gone, dead!
3million of our educated ones are gone dead by them crooks' hands. So, how did our kingta feel, haha, like shit, I guess. But the worst thing is our innocent ones had to pay the price, what a dumb fk kingta we had. I am angry still with this fk up monarchy and will never forgive him. The only thing good at was as a playboy fk up kingta and still people were being brainwashed to think he was great, fk...who not get angry over this issue.
Ah pi arch, your days are numbered ok, go keep on licking Hun ass because soon, there will be no more ass for you to lick no more.
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