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| Mu Sochua, deputy president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Phnom Penh on Monday. (Reuters photo) |
Cambodia's opposition urges world to help
Mu Sochua says donors have been willing to close their eyes
Reuters / Bangkok Post | 4 September 2017
PHNOM PENH - Foreign donors must open their eyes to Cambodia's "false democracy" and put more pressure on Prime Minister Hun Sen after the arrest for treason of his main rival, Kem Sokha, a top opposition figure said on Monday.
Mu Sochua, known internationally for campaigns against sex trafficking and for women's rights, said the opposition had done as much as it could and would not call for demonstrations because it believed in non-violence.
Now the world had to save Cambodia, which has taken decades to recover from the Khmer Rouge genocide, she said.
"The international community have been willing to close their eyes and play along with it. Right now, all the red lines have been crossed," she told Reuters in an interview in Phnom Penh.
Mr Kem Sokha was arrested on Sunday and accused of plotting treason with the United States in an escalating crackdown on Mr Hun Sen's critics that has also targeted independent media and rights groups in the run-up to an election next year.
Mr Kem Sokha's lawyer had been allowed to visit him for the first time on Monday and he seemed to be OK, she said.
The opposition party was not calling for cuts in aid or trade, Mrs Mu Sochua said. But donors needed to make clear what they could do and convince Mr Hun Sen that he would have no legitimacy from a flawed election.
"We are asking for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr Kem Sokha," she said. "We hope the international community will come up to our expectations."
She welcomed statements from both the United States and European Union, which have criticised the arrest of Mr Kem Sokha and questioned whether next year's elections can be fair.
Hun Sen defiant
But Mr Hun Sen, who has pulled in billions of dollars in Chinese loans and become one of Beijing's closest regional allies, has only condemned foreign interference.
"We can’t allow any group to destroy the peace we hold in our hands by being the puppets of foreigners," said Mr Hun Sen, 65, a former Khmer Rouge soldier who has ruled Cambodia for more than three decades.
Mrs Mu Sochua said the opposition wanted dialogue with the ruling Cambodian People's Party under the auspices of countries that signed and guaranteed peace accords in Paris in 1991: the biggest world powers, Asian powers and Southeast Asian states.
"We have done everything possible," she said. "When there is use of force by a corrupt judiciary we are very vulnerable. That’s why we’re saying 'don’t defend the opposition, defend Cambodia'."
Opposition party leaders met on Sunday to discuss the next steps after Mr Kem Sokha's arrest, but with few obvious options.
They would definitely not call for protests, Mrs Mu Sochua said. Replacing Mr Kem Sokha would not happen either.
"That’s exactly in the scenario of Mr Hun Sen," she said, raising the possibility of an election boycott if Mr Kem Sokha were not released.
"That would be a last resort. We cannot pretend that we will go into something that will totally destroy the party and we cannot be part of the destruction of democracy in Cambodia," she said.
Mr Kem Sokha, 64, only became leader in February after his predecessor, Sam Rainsy, resigned in the face of a new law to ban any party whose leader has been found guilty of a crime.
Sam Rainsy lives in France to escape a defamation conviction.
Parties were then banned from even having links to convicted criminals, prompting the CNRP to go around old posters with paint brushes to obliterate Sam Rainsy's picture. Party officials are not allowed to mention his name.
"Maybe when Mr Kem Sokha is convicted we can't mention his name either, but then who’s next?" Mrs Mu Sochua said.
"In the minds of the Cambodian people, we know who is our leader in our hearts."
This is how things will unfold in the next few months. Hun Sen will eventually force Kem Sokha to admit his crime and release him from prison a few weeks before the 2018 election. The international community will accept that with open arms. Money will continue to flow into Hun Sen's bank accounts. Meanwhile now that Kem Sokha is a criminal, he can not be the leader of CNRP anymore. A new leader will be chosen. With only just a few weeks away from the election and a new and less well known leader in place, the NCRP will have a hard time to organize and campaign for the election. At the end, the CPP will win the election. A few days after the election, the community will be happily saying that the Cambodian election of 2018 was free and fair. Cambodians will continue to live under pretense democracy/dictatorship for years to come. They will live unhappily ever after in the kingdom of wonder. And they are not going to do anything about it.
ReplyDelete2:57AM, you can read Hun Sen's mind like a book. I think that's exactly his strategies. Unfortunately, not too many people can see that. If the CNRP has any brain left, they should do the right and smart things which is to boycott the 2018 election completely. Instead, actively seeking international help. Beg them to freeze the dictator's, his families and his corrupted officials' oversea bank accounts. Beg the West and European countries to stop allowing the Cambodian officials and the dictator's families from entering their countries and beg them to close all their embassies in Cambodia. Unless, the above requests are fulfilled, Cambodia will go back to communism.
ReplyDeleteBetween boycotting the 2018 election and having Hun Sen to disband the CNRP before 2018, the latter is better, then Hun Sen has no more excuse left to play with, and the whole burden of illegitimate election is on his head.
ReplyDeleteHun Sen has no more excuse left to play with? This is a typical khmer's thinking - sweet and simple. The reality is, Hun Sen has a really evil plan in place. This beast has hundred of youn advisors and their jobs is working day and night to come up with all kinds of crazy excuses to attack the opposition and everyone who they perceive as critical of the dictator.
DeleteHun Sen will not disband the CNRP. He will continue to play with the CNRP. He will cripple the CNRP financially and politically and without disbanding it outright.
Kem Sohka who is now a convicted criminal according to Hun Sen's law therefore has to leave the CNRP in order to save his party. At the end, CNRP will have a new leader who is less well known and not as popular. By this time, it's now so close to the election and with the party in disarray and crippled, less time to organize and to campaign, winning the election is very unlikely. And when the CPP wins the election, it will make it more legitimate for them since all parties including the main opposition party participated in the election. At this point, do you think the international community really care?
No one will dare to lead CNRP. Stupid charge will come up and the person will go to jail.
ReplyDeleteKen Sokha went to jail before. Remember his daught ran a campaign to raise money to free him?
ReplyDeleteNobody will help Ken Sokha because Mr. Hun Sen had a nasty sex video of Ken Sokha with Mon Srey.
ReplyDeleteWhy predicting the outcome in an uncertain world is very unproductive. I think we need to focus to what to do next outside of the CNRP responsibility. They have their hands full, however, Khmer living outside has every freedom of expression. Why not use it?
ReplyDeleteTalk is cheap. How about sending money to help the poor?
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