The threats and killings were fewer, the airwaves a bit freer, the speeches a little more substantive. Third time around, Cambodia might have gotten the hang of parliamentary elections.
On Sunday, 6.3 million eligible voters cast ballots that are expected, by hook or by crook, to produce another five-year term for Prime Minister Hun Sen. A tough political warhorse who first took power in 1985, Hun Sen has shown that he is ready to do what it takes to hold office—by ballot, by buyout, by killing or by coup. This time he is playing the statesman, leaving the campaigning to lesser figures, although he has not been averse to opening new schools and meeting with admirers.
Sunday’s vote marked a decade since the UN stepped into the middle of a war and brokered the country’s first competitive election in decades, at a cost to the international community of at least $2 billion. In retrospect, that was little more than a speed bump in Hun Sen’s power trip. His manipulation of the democratic processes and institutions that were put in place have led some analysts to condemn the UN effort as a failure.
“Let me start by saying that Cambodia is not a democracy,” said Julio Jeldres, a longtime associate of King Norodom Sihanouk, who has spent the decade on the political sidelines. But like other analysts, both foreigners and Cambodians, Jeldres said the distortion of the political system is not the whole story. A fundamental change has been taking place in Cambodia in the last decade, set in motion by the UN: The formation of a civil society that is playing an increasing role in national affairs. “This is the single most important achievement of the past 10 years,” Jeldres said.
Though Hun Sen still has his way when he needs to, he must now look over his shoulder at a proliferation of home-grown groups that monitor and act on human rights, legal affairs, the environment, land issues, public health and the role and rights of women.
A whole new Khmer-language vocabulary has been created for such concepts as human rights, the rule of law and domestic violence. “The NGOs created these Cambodian terms, and now all Cambodians know them,” said Brad Adams, the Asia director for Human Rights Watch, referring to NGOs.
For a self-described strongman, Hun Sen allows a remarkably freewheeling press, including newspapers that represent rival parties and interest groups, even as his party henchmen keep tight control on political activity. From one election to the next, Cambodia’s electoral commission and monitoring groups have become more organized, making even the manipulation of elections a more complicated task for those in power.
“I am very grateful to the United Nations,” said Kek Galabru, who founded one of the country’s first human rights groups, Licadho, in 1992.
Among other things, her group distributed 500,000 copies of the Cambodian Constitution—drawn up with the help of the UN—so people could discover they have rights. “In 1992, they didn’t know that confiscation of their land is a violation of their rights,” she said. “Now if people come and want to arrest them, they ask to see the warrant of arrest, or if their daughter is raped by an official, they know they can go to complain. Before, they didn’t know.
“Obviously you cannot achieve everything in 10 years,” Galabru said. “There is a lot to be done in judicial reform, in fighting corruption, in implementing the laws and especially in bringing more democracy.”
Another legacy of the UN is the meddlesomeness of the international community. Human rights groups have been sustained by pressure from international donors who provide a large part of the Cambodian budget.
In Washington now, US Senator Mitch McConnell has proposed a $21.5 million increase in the current allocation of $43 million in aid to Cambodia, but only on the condition that Hun Sen be removed from power.
It is a rather personalized approach to diplomacy, but the senator’s critique encapsulates what are seen as Hun Sen’s major failures. The list includes a consistent abuse of human rights, a culture of impunity, the lack of an independent judiciary and security forces, extrajudicial killings and torture, and manipulation of elections.
