Page 1 of 2 Towards Hun Sen's Cambodia
By Craig Guthrie
PHNOM PENH - Even though Cambodia goes to the polls Sunday for the country's
fourth general election since Vietnamese occupation ended in 1989, Prime
Minister Hun Sen can comfortably escape the chaotic campaign noise in his
heavily guarded, villa-studded compound in suburban Phnom Penh and light up a
well-earned 555 cigarette - his smoke of choice since his soldiering days.
The one-eyed, chain-smoking "Strongman of Cambodia" could play a casual round
of golf at the private course kept groomed at the complex known to locals as
the "Tiger's Lair", or maybe take a helicopter trip from the adjacent military
airfield used to whisk him up and down his impoverished nation. In fact, as his
foes rally
and march around the capital, it probably doesn't matter much what Hun Sen
does.
Outside in the streets, colorful campaign convoys are clogging Phnom Penh's
frangipani-lined boulevards, with truck-mounted bullhorns and the frenetic
clashing of cymbals and drums promoting their respective candidates. The scenes
are colorful and vibrant, the atmosphere intense, but many say the underlying
political picture is actually black and white.
By all accounts, 57-year-old Hun Sen, in power since 1985, has little to worry
from the oncoming polls; in recent months he has increasingly consolidated his
hold over the electorate through a masterful opera of jibes, scaremongering and
gold-toothed charm.
By outfoxing an already fractured opposition, wooing billions in foreign
investment and artfully placating the once-powerful labor movement and
previously hostile superpowers, the master manipulator has again outmaneuvered
his rivals.
Hun Sen - riding a booming economy, hard-won social stability and a vast
network of patronage and blood relations [One
big happy family in Cambodia, Asia Times Online, March 20, 2007] - has
all but ensured that he and his formerly communist Cambodian People's Party
(CPP) will head the country when the potentially boundless riches from oil
deposits, found by Chevron off the southwestern coast, begin to flow.
Hun Sen is in full grip of the nation's institutions and tightly aligned with
its wealthiest tycoons. He has predicted that his CPP machine will win 81of the
National Assembly's 123 seats and 73% of the vote. The margin of victory is
probably immaterial, since the country, as proposed by opposition party leader
Sam Rainsy, adopted a 50-plus-one seat requirement in 2004 to form a
government, replacing the previous two-thirds of the vote rule. The proposal
was passed to avoid a repeat of the political stalemates which destabilized the
country following the 1998 and 2003 elections, and resulted in fractious
coalition governments.
Even so, Hun Sen has been openly deriding his opponent's chances for months. In
recent weeks he has told them they can "stay at home" on election day, and has
announced that he himself will sit out the last few weeks of the campaign in
order to avoid "verbal confrontations".
In another speech, the prime minister pre-picked his cabinet while comparing
his management style to Manchester United's football manager Alex Ferguson.
This is classic Hun Sen: a powerful orator who mixes paddy-field populism,
personal potshots and home-spun humor to embolden his allies and intimidate his
foes. In 2006, he laughed at a foiled government attack, saying in a speech
reported by the Phnom Penh Post: "I know all. Even if you farted, I would still
know. You cannot hide from me."
In the past he has said he has no intention of standing down as prime minister
until he is at least 90 years old. This would be a remarkable run: he became
the Vietnamese-backed premier of Cambodia in 1985, when he was 33.
As the country some call Asia's "best kept secret" heads into its Fourth
Mandate - what the new government will be called - Cambodia is more than ever
Hun Sen's nation. This sits poorly with his legion of critics, some of whom
have labeled the CPP regime a corrupt "kleptocratic elite" with little regard
for the millions of rural rice farmers living in abject poverty. Others,
including diplomats, say worse.
In 2006, UN high commissioner for human rights Louis Arbour called the problems
within the Cambodian judiciary "profound". Dr Lao Mong Hay, senior researcher
at the Asian Human Rights Commission, wrote in a June 18 editorial,
...institutions
remain subject to the control inherited from pre-1993 communist days, and are
utilized to serve the interests of the ruling class rather than those of the
people. Although Cambodia has held periodic elections, and preparations for the
forthcoming election are underway, its multi-party, liberal democracy has
little substance
The National Election Committee is regularly
accused by the opposition of a lack of independence, and many independent
election monitoring groups have alleged that state resources and media have
been deployed to the ruling party's electoral advantage.
"Never assume that Cambodia is a democracy," said Chea Vannath, a political
commentator. "If a democracy is when a nation is ruled by a government chosen
by its people, yes, Cambodia is democratic. But in terms of governance,
Cambodia is a different story. There is no check and balance on the executive
branch, the judiciary or the monarchy."
In recent weeks he has also even veered away from an earlier commitment to
adopt a long-awaited draft anti-corruption law, which foreign donors and civil
society groups have long clamored for. And he's deployed old-fashioned
scaremongering to justify the controversial move.
"Will corrupt officials agree to any confiscation of their riches? No. Then war
will erupt," said Hun Sen in a speech broadcast on national radio at the end of
May. "After confiscating for a while, all the rich people will all become poor
- as in Khmer Rouge times - more than 3 million people will be destroyed. Don't
play with that," he said.
A temple revisited
The country's millions of impoverished farmers and fishermen, for years
saturated with state-controlled media looping four-hour-long Hun Sen speeches
interspersed with reels of CPP officials handing over packs of instant noodles
to needy villagers, are likely headed towards five more years of inequality,
drudgery, and bad TV.
The premier's media-influenced popularity was recently pushed to greater
heights by the listing last week of the Preah Vihear temple complex as a United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) national
heritage site. When the decision was announced live on national channel CTN,
Hun Sen's image was shown with revolving stars around it. A televised concert
held to celebrate the listing was attended by hosts regularly shouting words of
support for Hun Sen among other cheers of national glory.
The ensuing border tension with Thailand over the controversial listing will be
a strong test of his government's ability to stand up to stronger neighbors
before a watchful Cambodian public in the heat of an election season. Aside
from the temple tiff, a closer look at the less-monitored countryside has
revealed that the level of political killings, threats and intimidation that
have marred previous elections has substantially diminished in the run-up to
this weekend's polls.
But the lack of violence is probably more a testament to the CPP's successful
vanquishing of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party's (SRP) grassroots machinery.
The opposition's hardship has been brewing for months, due in part to some deft
political maneuvers by Hun Sen and the CPP political machine. But their
spectacular collapse in the lead-up to the July 27 election has still surprised
many political observers. The SRP has been deflated by the defection of more
than 20 high profile lawmakers and tens of thousand of grassroots members party
executives claims the CPP has bought to switch sides.
"We have seen a people buying campaign ... Prime minister Hun Sen actively
seeks out SRP members by using money as bait ...
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road,
Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
