Markus Karbaum's "Cambodia Under Hun Sen"

Book Review
Published by The Southeastern Globe Magazine
May 2009

"[Karbaum] suggests that when Hun Sen steps down, there will be a more "democratic" government in charge."

Winston Churchill once remarked: "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." In his analysis of Cambodia's political System, produced for Germany's Federal Ministry of Economic Co-operation and Development, Markus Karbaum seems to suggest that its current government employs an autocratic mandate that is in many ways the antithesis of the liberal democracy that Churchill saw as the least of the evils of governance.

Since the early 1990s the international Community has implemented programmes to encourage the establishment of a truly democratic System in Cambodia, but the author believes the country remains mired in a climate of nepotism, fear, violence and corruption.

Cambodia Under Hun Sen is a comprehensive portrayal of the kingdom's political setup and an astute analysis of the way in which its prime minister maintains his grip on the reins of power.

Karbaum pays particular attention to the country's electoral system and examines the level of legitimacy of the most recent polls, which returned Hun Sen to power with a landslide of support.

Karbaum also studies what he believes is a recurring pattern of political violence, even though all evidence points to a vast improvement in that area over successive elections. He also analyses the country's economic development in the light of persistent charges of corruption from both inside and outside the nation's borders.

Karbaum feels he needs to question the legitimacy of the entire System of governance based on what he describes as Hun Sen's "neo-patriarchal style". Fortunately, and quite rightly, Karbaum concludes that democratic values are well established in the country. Perhaps the only real quibble he has with the democratic process is that too few schemes allow grass roots representatives to communicate issues directly to those in power — except, of course, at election time.

Although, as a political analyst, he will recognise that Cambodia's progressive foundations have been achieved by decisive decision-making amidst a dislocated and chaotic political environment.

Karbaum has to balance his criticisms with the strength of Hun Sen's support across all sections of modern society despite his "undemocratic" tactics. He suggests that when Hun Sen steps down, there will be a more "democratic" government in charge. Through this he sees the strengthening of a liberal and democratic ethos throughout the country's institutions - hopefully, allied to like economic achievements.

Given that the book is a highly coherent and unique study of a little-known political arena, an English-language version is in the pipeline.

King-Father in his own words: He receives funds from the CPP and its leaders to maintain an honorable life ... NOT from the state of Cambodia?

Translated from French by Luc Sâr

History
Lon Nol, the Lonnolians & Me
Their Excellencies Heng Samrin, Chea Sim, Hun Sen, the CPP & Me
The Black & The White

By Norodom Sihanouk

1- 1941-1955, the years of my 1st reign: My very faithful and great friend, H.E. Nhiek Tioulong, introduced to me the young district governor (Chauvay Srok) Lon Nol: “this young civil servant (Lon Nol) is particularly brilliant. I am recommending him to Your Majesty. Lon Nol will know how to serve you with aplomb and he will contribute to the realization of the grandeur of Your Throne.” (dixit H.E. Nhiek Tioulong).

2- 1952-1953, the years of Royal Crusade for the total Independence of the Kingdom of Cambodia: I used the service of Mr. Lon Nol who revealed to be very active and efficient (in certain domains.)

3- 1953 to 1967: Lon Nol did not cease to climb up in my esteem for him. Finally, he became my “right hand man,” the chief of the Royal Government of Cambodia, the RCAF chief of staff.

• From 1970: Lon Nol -> His anti-Sihanouk, anti-Khmer-Monarchy, anti-Independent Cambodia – which was neutral, non-aligned, in its territorial (land and maritime) integrity, an island of peace – Putsch to transform Cambodia into a colony of the Imperialist USA with his colossal “suite” of national and popular catastrophes.

4- On my website, and more specifically, in the BMD, there are numerous historical documents and manuscripts by Norodom Sihanouk regarding the high national treason and the unforgivable crimes by Lon Nol-Lon Non-Cheng Heng, Trinh Hoanh, Hang Thun Hak, and other Lonnolians. The 1970-1975 years, I will not repeat them here.

5- Lon Nol and the Lonnolians owed me everything: high positions, honors, fortunes.

The CPP, its illustrious leaders, the other CPP members owe me nothing.

I owe them enormously:

• H.E. and Lok Chumteav Hun Sen, since their tender youth, entered that the maquis of the patriotic resistance. And, they accepted to perform all the sacrifices.
• In power in Phnom Penh, the CPP and its leaders have solemnly rendered JUSTICE to me; they have officially condemned the 18 March 1970 Putsch; they have elected me as President of the C.N.S. [short for National Supreme Council]; they have restored the constitutional monarchy; they generously granted me a monthly personal funding which allowed me, my wife, and those in my entourage and service to maintain an honorable living, and allowed me to face all my religious, social, humanitarian, artistic obligations.
• While Lon Nol and the Lonnolians sentenced me to death, with confiscation of all my wealth and even my Khmer citizenship, the CPP and its illustrious leaders nominated me, and my wife as the Father and Mother of the Nation, with other important titles of incomparable value.

29 January 2009
(Signed) N. Sihanouk

Human rights, development should be balanced

September 17, 2008
A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
The Pacific Daily News (Guam)

Cambodia under Hun Sen is definitely better than Cambodia under Pol Pot, whose loyalists killed an estimated two million of their countrymen. Premier at age 33, Sen has been credited for Cambodia's economic growth of more than 10 percent a year since 2000. It's in vogue to describe Cambodia today as "a lot better" than before.

The Economist.com of London says Sen "looks as strong as ever" following his victory in the July national election, and "looks set to continue comfortably unchallenged for the foreseeable future."

Foreign officials and diplomats applaud Cambodia's economic "progress" and "decline" in politically motivated violence.

Last month, in "Giving up freedoms to settle for 'peace'" in this space, I wrote that economic development and rights and freedom of men are not mutually exclusive. In a free society, they should be in balance.

Cambodia's physical appearance has changed. "A decade ago, Phnom Penh lacked even a single traffic light," wrote Business Week. "Today ... all over (Phnom Penh), shanty towns and old villas are being sold and razed to make way for high-rise apartments, office buildings, shopping malls, and new villas."

But the head of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights stated, "You have a GDP increase, but look at the gap between rich and poor. More than 40 percent (of the total population of 14 million) live below the standard income."

Britain's The Guardian's 11-page "Country far Sale" (April 26) reported "Almost half of Cambodia has been sold to foreign speculators in the past 18 months -- and hundreds of thousands who fled the Khmer Rouge are homeless again." It described "foreigners" buying up a series of Cambodia's islands and public beaches since 2006, and engaged in "outright" purchase of land and real estate.

If lands are bought, residents have to be forcibly removed, all in the name of economic development.

Abhorrent violations of the rights of the Cambodian poor, through forced evictions from homes and land were the catalyst for the "End Land Grabbing in Cambodia" petition in June initiated by the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission.

In August, Amnesty International USA and the Center on Housing Rights and Evictions called on the Cambodian authorities to stop filling Boeung Kak Lake as between 3,000 and 4,000 families may be affected.

In its press release, Amnesty's Brittis Edman declared, "the filling of the lake should be immediately halted. Otherwise, this may be the beginning of the biggest forced eviction in post-war Cambodia."

The Sept. 3 "Stop the Illegal Filling of Boeung Kak" petition (www.petitionspot. com/petitions/SaveBoeungKakLake) appears to be picking up momentum. Having signed the AHRC petition to stop land grabbing in Cambodia, I also signed the petition to stop the "illegal filling" of the Boeung Kak Lake.

Today, somebody else's families are evicted from homes and land. Tomorrow misfortune may hit my relatives and friends.

Amnesty's press release indicates "development plans for Boeung Kak Lake emerged in 2007." A 99-year lease agreement between the Municipality of Phnom Penh and "a private developer, Shukaku Ltd," included the "handing over management of 133 hectares of land, including 90 percent of the lake," and Shukaku will transform the area into "pleasant, trade, and services places for domestic and international tourists."

Amnesty cited Cambodia's "2001 Land Law" that should make Boeung Kak Lake "inalienable state land (so-called state public property), so its ownership cannot be transferred for longer than 15 years."

AHRC's Lao Mong Hay's Sept. 10 "U.N. mandate necessary in Cambodia" in United Press International Asia Online quoted United Nations special representative Professor Yash Ghai's observation: "State authorities, as well as companies and politically well-connected individuals, show scant respect for the rule of law," and that Cambodia's courts and the legal profession "have failed the people of Cambodia woefully."

Mong Hay also cited Ghai's observation of Cambodians who risk forced evictions from their homes and land for development or city beautification, as living in "fear of the state, fear of political and economic saboteurs, fear of greedy individuals and corporations, fear of the police and the courts."

Of course the Sen government wanted Ghai fired, but the U.N. refused; so the government in turn refused to cooperate with Ghai and threatened to close down the U.N. field office.

The problem is, as the Aug. 6 London Economist.com puts it, "Foreign governments moan about (Sen's) government's corruption, ineptitude and abuses, but he knows they are itching to spend their aid budgets and they lack the guts to turn their tough words into action. With ... China and Vietnam keen to invest in Cambodia, and Western ones like America and France keen to maintain their presence, Mr. Hun Sen can cheerfully play them off against each other, while collecting goodies from all."

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years.

CAMBODIA: Hydropower projects lack transparency, could displace thousands

Many people could lose their livelihoods if new hydropower dams are built (Photo: Geoffrey Cain/IRIN)

PHNOM PENH, 27 August 2008 (IRIN) - Over the past year Phnom Penh has been considering several multi-million dollar dam projects around the lush Cardamom mountains and in other regions which threaten the country's wildlife and, if implemented, could lead to the displacement of thousands of people.

“The prime minister has been pushing to build these dams very quickly,” said Seng Bunra, Cambodia’s country director for Conservation International, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) working to protect rainforests worldwide. “'We need to make sure the feasibility studies are not rushed, and that care is taken in their construction.”

Bunra is especially concerned about a hydropower project on the Areng river, which he says could flood 20,000 hectares and displace some 1,500 primarily indigenous people.

The government has appeared to be unwilling to discuss the feasibility and environmental effects of the dam, he said.

“They [the government] had a research team studying the feasibility of the Areng project,” Bunra told IRIN, “but they just… kept it private, and then stopped studying it.”

Lack of public consultation

The World Commission on Dams (WCD), which sets international hydropower standards, says construction locations should be determined through a public consultation process.

A joint report by the NGOs International Rivers (IR) and the Rivers Coalition in Cambodia (RCC) also concluded that “hydropower development in Cambodia has proceeded in the absence of meaningful public consultation and an overall lack of transparency in the decision-making process.”

The report points out that Prime Minister Hun Sen and his cabinet have repeatedly made decisions regarding hydropower “behind closed doors”.

“We're still not certain on the actual roles of the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Industry, Mines, and Energy, and the National Electricity Authority,” said Ngy San, director of the RCC. “We're concerned the government has not been releasing this information publicly, but the prime minister seems to be the main decision-maker regardless.”

Representatives from the Ministry of Industry, Mines, and Energy were unavailable for comment.

China's influence

To counteract spiralling electricity prices (some of the highest in the world, according to the World Bank), the government has embraced a development plan tapping into Cambodia's vast river resources, with annual funding from Beijing (US$600 million) that almost equals the total of Western donor monetary aid.

In April, Chinese Foreign Minister Wen Jiabao promised $1 billion in aid to Cambodia specifically for two hydropower projects, which have since materialised into the Stung Tatay and Stung Russey Chrum Krom dams.

Unlike aid from Western governments and NGOs, Chinese aid comes with no good governance or transparency strings attached. Premier Hun Sen praised China after an earlier $600 million aid package in 2006 for not “interfering with the internal affairs of Cambodia”.

However, whether Chinese companies will build dams that meet international environmental and social standards remains questionable, says the IR report

China's largest hydropower firm, Sinohydro Corporation, will build the $280 million Kamchay dam inside a major national park, potentially flooding 2,000 hectares of protected forest, the report warns.

Sinohydro, owned by the Chinese government, was “downgraded” in 2006 after a government review - for its poor performance and for unspecified safety and environmental accidents - the IR report notes.

The details of many hydropower contracts - particularly Sinohydro's - remain unknown. Cambodian lawmakers were asked to endorse the Sinohydro deal in 2006 without even having had access to the contract, according to the Cambodia Daily newspaper.

Environmental concerns

Another dam project under way on the Atay river threatens endangered Siamese crocodiles, which rely on the river's seasonal levels for breeding.

Various species of turtle, fish, and birds are also at risk, according to Flora and Fauna International, an NGO that protects two wildlife sanctuaries in the Cardamom Mountains.

Local diets depend particularly on fish, of which several species may face significantly reduced populations, according to Flora and Fauna.

The Atay dam will flood 3,560 hectares of protected forest in the Phnom Samkok Wildlife Sanctuary, and 5,193 hectares in total, according to a recent assessment by the Chinese Danang Corporation.

“In terms of conservation, it's a lot of land,” Bunra told IRIN. “We cannot stop the development projects in these areas, but we can only ask the government and companies to reduce the environmental impact.”

Government’s stance

The official stance of the Ministry of Industry, Mines, and Energy states that the Cardamom Mountains consist of over one million hectares, making 5,000 hectares worth sacrificing to lower energy costs in Cambodia.

Thorn Kimhong, who directs the Cardamom natural protected areas for the Ministry of Environment, said the Atay dam was necessary. “The dams must be built,” he told IRIN. “We need it for lower energy prices and for developing Cambodia.”

But for the thousands of residents who could be displaced, uncertainty lies ahead.

UN Envoy Yash Ghai banned from Cambodia by the human rights-violating regime of Hun Sen?

Ministry Orders Visa Restriction for UN Envoy

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
14 March 2008

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued an order banning Cambodian embassies the authority to issue visas for UN human rights envoy Yash Ghai without prior approval.

Ghai has had an increasingly cantankerous relationship with the government, especially with Prime Minister Hun Sun, following his strident criticism of Cambodia's poor human rights record and the concentration of power in the hands of the premier.

The visa restriction comes days ahead of Ghai's expected rights report to the International Human Rights Council in Geneva.

"Any visa application to Mr. Yash Ghai has to be approved from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in advance, even if he's holding any kind of passport," the order says.

Christopher Peschoux, director of the Human Rights Office in Cambodia, said he would seek clarification on whether this policy was wider reaching or applicable only to Ghai.

Justice too long delayed [...the last thing Hun Sen wanted was a fair trial. His regime had cemented its own power & wealth by ignoring justice & law]

Wednesday, November 21, 2007
By Elizabeth Becker
Posted by The International Herald Tribune (France)

PHNOM PENH:

On a clear tropical morning last week, the police arrived at a villa here and arrested Ieng Sary and his wife, Ieng Thirith, carefully explaining legal procedures to the elderly Khmer Rouge leaders.

It had been nearly 30 years since the overthrow of the regime of the infamous "killing fields," in which an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians perished. Yet in all those years no one had been held accountable for one of the worst crimes against humanity of the last century.

Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge leader, died a free man in 1998. Ieng Sary, the former foreign minister, and Ieng Thirith, the former minister of social affairs, both close associates of Pol Pot, had lived openly under an amnesty granted them in 1996 - one likely to be raised in their trials for crimes against humanity.

They are among five Khmer Rouge leaders, regarded as the most culpable for the killing fields of those still alive, who are to be tried by a special court created with United Nations assistance. The tribunal held its first open hearing this week.

But this trial comes far too late. The decades of impunity have already taken a heavy toll on attitudes toward law and justice.

I covered the rise of the Khmer Rouge and was in Cambodia for two harrowing weeks once they were in power. In the years that followed, I was appalled at the ability of the leaders to avoid prosecution.

There was more than enough evidence against them. But in the final days of the Cold War, China and the United States needed the Khmer Rouge to oppose the Soviet Union. After that, the regime of Hun Sen, himself a former low-level Khmer Rouge leader, resisted a trial, saying it was not necessary to open old wounds.

In fact, the last thing Hun Sen wanted was a fair trial. His regime had cemented its own power and wealth by ignoring justice and the rule of law.

The legacy of that lawlessness will make it difficult to render justice at the Khmer Rouge trial, and even more difficult to translate it into the betterment of Cambodian society.

In today's Cambodia, justice goes to the highest bidder. Cambodian and foreign monitors have chronicled countless examples of clerks openly accepting large stacks of dollar bills before the judge renders a verdict. Political rivals of the government have been murdered and their assailants never arrested. Police officers take handsome payoffs to look the other way as young Cambodian girls and boys are sold as prostitutes to foreign men.

"In many ways, I think Cambodian justice is going backwards," said Naly Pilorge, the director of Licadho, a human rights organization that has documented many of these abuses.

The special Khmer Rouge tribunal is based on Cambodian law, enhanced to international standards, and a majority of the judges and lawyers are Cambodians. That was the only way the government would agree to the trials.

Robert Petit, the foreign co-prosecutor, admits that Cambodian law "is very sketchy." He is also worried about the way the trials will be perceived in Cambodia. Since the court will try only the most senior surviving officials, Cambodians will never know who actually killed their relatives, nor will they receive any compensation.

"The courts will not convict those who killed my parents, my five sisters or my two brothers," said Roland Eng, a former Cambodian ambassador to the United States. "At best, the trial will help future generations understand their country's history."

Those born since the Khmer Rouge period seem to agree. For them, there is a direct connection between the corruption they see in their daily lives and the silence and half-truths they had been told about the Khmer Rouge.

Solyn Seng, a recent accounting graduate of the country's leading business school, told me: "Khmer people have to know what is right and what is wrong. It begins with who made the Khmer genocide - Pol Pot, Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan."

Her classmate Chirattana Leng, a graduate in finance, said a successful tribunal "would show the world that there can be justice in Cambodia, and that would mean more foreign investment."

Not that there's any shortage. At a recent conference for foreign investors it was standing room only. The word is out: Cambodia has cheap labor and lots of empty land.

The country is booming. The economy is growing at 10 percent a year. Apartment buildings and skyscrapers are rising all over the capital. Golf courses and zoos are planned for islands off the southern coast. Oil has been discovered and rigs will soon appear in Cambodian waters of the Gulf of Siam.

But much of this new wealth has gone straight into the pockets of a small group tied to the regime. They have razed nearly one-third of the forests, evicted countless peasants from their land to make way for huge plantations of rubber, palm oil and acacia nuts and evicted poor homeowners to raise new apartment complexes.

When the peasants and urban poor have tried to bring their cases before the courts, they have nearly always lost.

That is the unbroken chain of impunity.

When the Khmer Rouge can escape responsibility for the death of almost two million people, it is hardly surprising that those who follow them act as if they are free of legal restraints. If the tribunal succeeds in convicting a few of the old Khmer Rouge, that could finally start to change.

Elizabeth Becker is a fellow at the German Marshall Fund and author of "When the War Was over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution."

The “secret” 100,000 hectares of Cambodian rubber plantation granted for Viet soldiers

Summary of the declarations made by SON CHHAY, SRP MP, Chairman of the Commission of Foreign Affairs and the International Cooperation of the National Assembly, interviewed by Kem Sos, RFA Program of 25/09/2007

Summary and unofficial translation from Cambodian by Khemara Jati

Kem Sos (KS): - I knew that the Royal Government of Cambodia granted to Vietnam a concession of 100 000 ha of lands for the plantation of rubber trees, where are these lands?

Son Chhay (SC): - We also know it and I went with a delegation of the National Assembly to make an inspection on the land, in the region of Mondulkiri and even in the vietnamese provinces of Dac Lak and Dac Nong. What worries us is our neighbors country obtains concessions of our lands then come to cultivate its fields in our country. In fact, it is Vietnamese soldiers who having been partially evacuated of Cambodia (in 1989), formed military movements for the plantations of rubber trees or coffee trees ... and who settling now in very big number in front of our border provinces, with any kinds of equipments, and took place under the orders of their generals and officers - forming a real military staff.

KS: - Our fellow countrymen are very worried about of the Vietnamese schemes. In particular, in this affair of land concessions, what would be the profits for the Cambodians (Khmers)?

SC: - According to a report of the Committee for the Development, an organ of the Royal Government, Vietnam would have promised to create employments for our fellow countrymen of the ethnic minorities in the region, as it has already did the same thing in Laos.

Now, we went to see a rubber plantation by Vietnamese soldiers, on a Laotian concession of 10 000 ha, of 50 years, in the province of Champassak (of Laos) and learnt that really the Vietnamese promises were not held on the ground. First, the plantation is steered by 176 colonels and captains of the Vietnamese army, who called the "experts"; then, for 10 000 ha of plantation, one use approximately 1 000 Laotian workers, next to more than 3 000 Vietnamese workers. So, for our concessions of 100 000 ha for the same plantations, would be needed ten times more of these "experts" and workers (who form) the Vietnamese power (in our land). Besides, there is a problem affecting our environment. Our forests were destroyed by these companies without repairs and without compensation.

KS: - Where are these 100 000 ha granted to the Vietnamese?

SC: - Almost everywhere. There would be 20 000 ha in Mondulkiri, others 20 000 ha in Kratié, 10 or 20 000 in Stung Trèng, 30 000 in Kompong Thom and in Preah Vihear. The concessions of Kompong Thom are under the control of the Cambodian military, not under of the royal Government.

KS: - The Cambodians (Khmers) cannot obtain these concessions?

SC: - Many of our fellow countrymen invested a lot into the rubber tree plantation. During the last five years, Khmer entrepreneurs have already planted on at least 50 000 ha of lands. We would not even need foreigners for this fields; (I do not understand) why we grant no big concessions to our own fellow countrymen?

We have to ask also questions on our national sovereignty and on our security. No country has ever allowed to the armed forces of a neighbor country the possibility of coming to settle down on its territory and to administer it.

We should grant these concessions only to our national first; then, to the foreign companies (but) of not neighbor countries, and under certain precise conditions, especially on the duration - not too long - of these concessions, and the obligation to employ Khmers first as workers.

KS: - Why do not we grant these concessions to the Cambodians (Khmers)?

SC: - We (the Parliament Members) do not understand. Of course, we wish of the transparency on these concessions and of course explain that to us the causes (decisions of the Government). But, the MP can ask no question there (to the Government, because) these concessions and all the documents related to that are all secrets (of the Government)!

KS: - Have you an explanation of these secrets?

SC: - I think it is because of the Vietnam influence on our country, on our leaders, to the point that these last ones have to give to any vietnamese demands ; the corruption is also another cause ; and, maybe as it is also believed that the foreigners have important financial and technical means for these things...

KS: - Does our country gain anything from it?

SC: - Cambodia loses a lot in this land. The concessions are made without any call for public tender. In the case of the tourist management of Angkor site, for example, our State receives hardly 10 % of the receipts of the tourist visits - at the rate of $50 - 60 US a person, a week. Every year, there is at least 30 million $US who do not go into the boxes of the State.

With all this (destructions of the environment and these losses for the State), these concessions destroyed the appropriate interests of our local populations, in their daily life. We should thus arrest these concessions.
.

Please click the following link to listen the whole interview in cambodian :

http://www.rfa.org/khmer/batsampheas/2007/10/03/interview_son-chhay1/
http://www.rfa.org/khmer/batyokka/2007/09/25/MP_Blasts_Govt_Concession_Policy/

Political Cartoon: Domino in Asia

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Khieu Kanharith: Hun Sen regime can terminate ECCC; So much for Hun Sen's claim of non-governmental interference in the KR Trial!

September 03, 2007
Cambodian government can terminate ECCC: official

Cambodian Information Minister and government spokesman Khieu Kanharith has said that the government could "terminate" the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC) if its international judges charge retired King Norodom Sihanouk for any Democratic Kampuchea (DK) era entanglements, the Cambodia Daily newspaper reported Monday.

The ECCC operates under Cambodian law, which guarantees Norodom Sihanouk immunity, Khieu Kanharith said Sunday, adding that any attempt to violate that immunity would be "illegal" and thus justify disbandment.

"The government is able to terminate the ECCC," he was quoted as saying.

The tribunal has made no public move to investigate Norodom Sihanouk or to call him as a witness, the newspaper said.

Questions about Norodom Sihanouk's possible role in the ECCC were brought up on Aug. 20 by a statement from the little-known NGO Cambodian Action Committee for Justice and Equality, which called for stripping the retired King's immunity so he could be charged by the ECCC, it said.

The Cambodian government and Prime Minister Hun Sen last week came to Norodom Sihanouk's defense, citing his constitutional immunity.

Sihanouk, 85, stepped down as king in 2004 and his son Norodom Sihamoni succeeded him.

Source: Xinhua

THE EROSION OF PRIVACY: Big Brother is Watching

Phnom Penh Post, Issue 16 / 12, June 15 - 28, 200

The current government has been known to monitor and record individuals' phone conversations in order to discredit or imprison political opponents ... We cannot allow Cambodia to retreat back into the time of Pol Pot

Each one of us occasionally has been under the scrutiny and judging gaze of another; we feel uneasy, uncomfortable, inhibited, stifled, and drained of energy, unable to be much else but awkwardly self-conscious.

Now, imagine a society where you could be monitored and watched at every second of the day or night, every day of the week, every week of the year - possibly all the time. Imagine a society in which those with power theoretically can always listen in, watch, monitor your every move, no matter how private and intimate the occasion, and then use the exchange as evidence against you legally and publicly.

Imagine no private space, no private conversation, because everything could eventually be made known - when you talk politics with your friends; when you speak intimately with a lover; when you go to work; when you take a shower. Such intrusion and surveillance by the State has devastating effects on the self and the nation. Under the relentless chilling gaze of the State, people live in fear of being judged and even persecuted for mistakes, which would otherwise be lessons in growth and self-development. When individuals are no longer afforded the private space to try and make mistakes, and learn from their mistakes under the shade of trust and confidence and away from outside scrutiny, personal development is stunted.

Self censorship takes hold and individuals become increasingly afraid to share their opinions. They live in constant fear of slipping up; they become suffocated by the continuous pressure of maintaining this façade.

Distrust and suspicion become widespread as individuals wonder who may be helping to monitor them. Is it their neighbor? Their boss? Their best friend? Their spouse? Their child? They learn to see others only as potential enemies, not as fellow human beings. They themselves cease to be fully human. Eventually they grow so accustomed to smothering their own characteristics and opinions that their individuality is extinguished. Rather, they become mechanical, automated, slavish, unable to truly live as vibrant and free individuals. It is as if they cannot even breathe by their own will; they are only robotic extensions of the State.

A monitored life is an imprisoned, inhibited life that stifles all creativity, imagination, growth, genuineness, trust, everything that is of any worth and meaning in daily life. Unfortunately, the society described above is a reality in some places in the world, and is nearing reality here in present-day Cambodia as the right to privacy is increasingly diminished. Under the newly-adopted Criminal Procedure Code and the envisioned draft law against terrorism, broad measures of intrusion into private lives are permitted in the pursuit of combating crimes and terrorism.

The Right to Privacy under the Khmer Rouge

The erosion of privacy in Cambodia takes on a more sinister implication in light of our current history when the Khmer Rouge completely abolished all privacy, individual rights where we lived in constant fear and distrust, and where even children eavesdropped and reported on their own parents.

The Right to Privacy Today: Danger Zone

Thirty years later, the kind of Orwellian society that Cambodians witnessed in the late 1970s threatens to return. The current government has been known to monitor and record individuals' phone conversations in order to discredit or imprison political opponents. Indeed, Prince Norodom Sirivudh was stripped of his political immunity in 1995 based on a phone conversation that was secretly recorded. Police searches of private homes without a warrant are a routine occurrence. These problems will be exacerbated under the new Criminal Procedure Code which allows for phone tapping, and the envisioned Anti-Terrorism bill, which allows for nearly limitless governmental surveillance of individuals in the name of national and international security. Even if it could be argued that privacy rights must be occasionally infringed upon in the name of security, such invasions must be infrequent, and only in the most extreme cases, and the secretly tapped exchange should not be used as evidence, but only a lead to other more substantive evidence. We must not become a society in which, as Herbert Packer put it, "all are safe but none are free".

We cannot allow Cambodia to retreat back into the time of Pol Pot, in which the threat of constant surveillance forced us to literally shut our mouths and stand by while corruption and human rights abuses abound. Tragically, the world described in the beginning of this column is all too easy to imagine because we have already lived through these circumstances once, and the residue of fear is still a reality.

Though privacy rights are currently under attack all over the world, Cambodia is particularly vulnerable. While many other nations have institutions and concrete statutory protections that can counter a government's overzealous monitoring of its population, Cambodia still lacks many such measures. For example, in Canada, a federal Privacy Commissioner exists to investigate complaints around and challenge excessive intrusions into the privacy of individuals. Japan passed the Interception Law in 1999, authorizing wiretapping in the investigation but restricting its use to prosecutors and police officers of a certain rank. Additionally, these officials are required to obtain a warrant before monitoring, and to notify those monitored after the investigation.

In countries like Canada, Japan and the United States, an extremely high threshold exists before an intrusive measure is even raised for debate. Moreover, these countries have counter-balancing power of strong institutions and sophisticated technology to test and challenge the legitimacy and genuineness of wiretapping, computer tampering etc. to prevent potential abuse. These protective measures are lacking in Cambodia.

Unfortunately, while the right to privacy is more difficult to protect in Cambodia, there is also a much greater need for it. Cambodia remains a very fragile society which is still rebuilding itself. We, Khmers, remain distrustful of each other, of foreigners; we lack confidence in our ability to control the happenings in our lives. Such distrust and lack of confidence will only be worsened by the constant pressure that comes with extensive governmental surveillance. Without the ability to feel comfortable taking risks, making mistakes, and asking questions, we Khmers will find it more difficult to develop the insight and vision required to undertake the re-building our individual selves and society.

Privacy Rights are Universal and Must Be Realized

To be human is to be free. We are not free and it is mental imprisonment when we live under the constant, eerie gaze of the State. Hence, the right to privacy is so sacred to human existence. The intrusions strip us of our individuality, examining and prodding at our thoughts until such thoughts are "acceptable" in the eyes of those in power. Freedom of religion means little if we cannot pray in solitude or gather in private for religious worship. Freedom to marry the person of one's choice is diminished if partners cannot share intimate moments and expressions of their feelings away from prying eyes. A right to actively participate in political life does not truly exist when individuals are forced to fall silent and not debate. Privacy is not a privilege, it is a right, universally desired and recognized.

This right to privacy is the very heart of human dignity. It is the foundation upon which we build our personality and aspirations, make relationships, and think creatively and critically. Who, being watched, can give in to their emotions with abandon, can jump for joy or howl in sorrow? Who, being listened in on, can express their deepest desire or their greatest fear, can share their most intimate secret, or can challenge injustices perpetrated by the powers-that-be? Who, under the threat of constant public scrutiny, can cast convention aside and "think outside the box"?

Intrusions into our privacy force the creative, the wise, the dreamers, and the critics to fall in line out of fear. Without privacy there can be no true passion, intimacy, or uniqueness - thus without privacy there is no self.

The new Criminal Procedure Code which allows for phone tapping, and the draft Anti-Terrorism Law which permits broad intrusive measures dangerously restrict our constitutional right to personal freedom. These are insidious developments for our fragile society and people who are already traumatized by the fears instilled by the Khmer Rouge and who continue to live within a culture of fear.

We must preserve our privacy and thus preserve our ability to think, to be, to act, to breathe freely.

Erin Pulaski
Legal Intern, UC Berkeley

Theary C. Seng
Executive Director