TANG CHHIN SOTHY/ AFP SRP leader Sam Rainsy has had to contend not only with the long shadow cast by the dominant Cambodian People’s Party but also bickering within the opposition, including claims he has a secret relationship with the CCP that allows only his party to hold public demonstrations.Written by Un Kheang
Friday, 16 May 2008
Courtesy of Phnom Penh Post at http://www.phnompenhpost.com
As the prices of oil and food rise and the US dollar weakens, Cambodia has seen inflation soar close to 20 percent. Economic uncertainty arising in an election year has led Cambodian politicians and political parties to capitalize on economic hardship to attract voters – leading to charges and countercharges of manipulation, intimidation and incompetence that have spread beyond the economic realm toward personal attacks. This analysis documents these quarrels and strategies that the different parties have adopted.
F acing increasing inflation, particularly in food and basic necessities, the government has taken measures to lessen the pinch Cambodians face through emergency releases of government food reserves and increased salaries for government employees including teachers.
The opposition parties, however, charged that the government had not done enough to help consumers. They attributed inflation to the government’s structural problems involving corruption, incompetence, and nepotism. Although there might be some truth to these charges, inflation pressure, given the age of global economic interconnectedness, is largely driven by global factors.
Opposition in competitionOn March 6, the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) organized a demonstration to demand that the government take decisive action against inflation.
This demonstration had multiple purposes. First, it could serve as an event that might help shift public focus from the recent SRP debacle over the defections of some its members; the SRP has been on the defensive and is now trying to shift to the offensive. Second, the demonstration aimed to expose government weakness in tackling economic issues.
While the SRP had planned for a massive demonstration with several thousand participants, the turnout was substantially lower with fewer than 500 protesters.
The party blamed the low turnout on government intimidation and restrictions on demonstrations, which were justified with false pretexts regarding social order and stability.
Interestingly, other opposition parties – that is, the Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) and the Human Rights Party (HRP) – had different views toward the SRP-organized demonstration.
The NRP alleged the low turnout signified declining SRP strength. The only solution, it claimed, which could help strengthen the SRP and the opposition camp as a whole, was to join the NRP in a “union of democrats.”
This appeal has been part of an ongoing effort by Prince Ranariddh to stage a political comeback, which has been difficult and appeared increasingly uncertain given Prime Minister Hun Sen’s recent remarks about not wanting to see royalist family members involved in politics.
The HRP, on the other hand, alleged that the SRP maintained secret relations with the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), a connection that enabled the SRP to acquire permission to organize a demonstration.
It should be noted that the HRP has in the recent past made repeated efforts to obtain permission from the government to organize a demonstration against inflation – particularly regarding rising oil prices – but to no avail.
HRP’s accusation of secret relations between the SRP and the CPP, and the NRP’s downplaying of the impact of the SRP’s organized demonstration, stem from the fact that the SRP, the NRP and the HRP are in competition with one another in an effort to differentiate themselves from the CPP.
Each of the parties needs to present themselves as a viable alternative party for those who are dissatisfied with the CPP.
CPP as savior
Another contested issue is the government’s plan to heighten security through increasing deployment of security personnel around election time.
The opposition parties accused the government of manufacturing fear among voters.
The government rejected this accusation claiming that such action was necessary to ensure security and order during the elections.
Arguably, the government’s plan to enhance security is part of its strategy to show the Cambodian public that the CPP/government is the pillar of peace and stability, as evidenced by its success in ending the civil war.
This is true given that both the international community and other political parties had no effective strategies to deal with the Khmer Rouge following the 1993 United Nations sponsored elections.
But increasing the number of security forces surrounding elections is cause for concern and does not seem warranted as it might lead opposition parties to question the legitimacy of the elections.
While the opposition parties have raised the issues of corruption, nepotism and sluggishness in passing an anti-corruption law in order to delegitimize the CPP, the ruling party’s legitimacy and support remain significantly high.
This stems from the CPP’s ability to create and maintain a web of patronage politics.Pro-CPP newspapers reported increased activities of working groups – some of which are joined by recent SRP defectors – which went down to the base to bring gifts to potential voters.
These activities were to assure voters of the CPP’s role in national development.
This is the CPP’s strength. Despite alleged and real corruption, the CPP will be able to capture support with its extensive patronage networks.
The Vietnam question
As expected, opposition parties will use the Vietnamese card during election campaign as they have done during previous elections.
Pro-opposition newspapers alleged that the ruling party allowed illegal Vietnamese residents to vote. This allegation warrants debate and might constructively lead to better immigration policy.
However, some opposition newspapers go so far as to irresponsibly allege that the CPP/government requested that the Vietnamese government send security forces to Cambodia during the elections to help strengthen the CPP’s position.
This is an independent analysis on Media Monitoring extracted from 13 Cambodia-based newspapers. The views expressed in the Media Monitoring Analysis are those of the author, Dr Un Kheang, assistant director at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University.
Friday, 16 May 2008
Courtesy of Phnom Penh Post at http://www.phnompenhpost.com
As the prices of oil and food rise and the US dollar weakens, Cambodia has seen inflation soar close to 20 percent. Economic uncertainty arising in an election year has led Cambodian politicians and political parties to capitalize on economic hardship to attract voters – leading to charges and countercharges of manipulation, intimidation and incompetence that have spread beyond the economic realm toward personal attacks. This analysis documents these quarrels and strategies that the different parties have adopted.
F acing increasing inflation, particularly in food and basic necessities, the government has taken measures to lessen the pinch Cambodians face through emergency releases of government food reserves and increased salaries for government employees including teachers.
The opposition parties, however, charged that the government had not done enough to help consumers. They attributed inflation to the government’s structural problems involving corruption, incompetence, and nepotism. Although there might be some truth to these charges, inflation pressure, given the age of global economic interconnectedness, is largely driven by global factors.
Opposition in competitionOn March 6, the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) organized a demonstration to demand that the government take decisive action against inflation.
This demonstration had multiple purposes. First, it could serve as an event that might help shift public focus from the recent SRP debacle over the defections of some its members; the SRP has been on the defensive and is now trying to shift to the offensive. Second, the demonstration aimed to expose government weakness in tackling economic issues.
While the SRP had planned for a massive demonstration with several thousand participants, the turnout was substantially lower with fewer than 500 protesters.
The party blamed the low turnout on government intimidation and restrictions on demonstrations, which were justified with false pretexts regarding social order and stability.
Interestingly, other opposition parties – that is, the Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) and the Human Rights Party (HRP) – had different views toward the SRP-organized demonstration.
The NRP alleged the low turnout signified declining SRP strength. The only solution, it claimed, which could help strengthen the SRP and the opposition camp as a whole, was to join the NRP in a “union of democrats.”
This appeal has been part of an ongoing effort by Prince Ranariddh to stage a political comeback, which has been difficult and appeared increasingly uncertain given Prime Minister Hun Sen’s recent remarks about not wanting to see royalist family members involved in politics.
The HRP, on the other hand, alleged that the SRP maintained secret relations with the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), a connection that enabled the SRP to acquire permission to organize a demonstration.
It should be noted that the HRP has in the recent past made repeated efforts to obtain permission from the government to organize a demonstration against inflation – particularly regarding rising oil prices – but to no avail.
HRP’s accusation of secret relations between the SRP and the CPP, and the NRP’s downplaying of the impact of the SRP’s organized demonstration, stem from the fact that the SRP, the NRP and the HRP are in competition with one another in an effort to differentiate themselves from the CPP.
Each of the parties needs to present themselves as a viable alternative party for those who are dissatisfied with the CPP.
CPP as savior
Another contested issue is the government’s plan to heighten security through increasing deployment of security personnel around election time.
The opposition parties accused the government of manufacturing fear among voters.
The government rejected this accusation claiming that such action was necessary to ensure security and order during the elections.
Arguably, the government’s plan to enhance security is part of its strategy to show the Cambodian public that the CPP/government is the pillar of peace and stability, as evidenced by its success in ending the civil war.
This is true given that both the international community and other political parties had no effective strategies to deal with the Khmer Rouge following the 1993 United Nations sponsored elections.
But increasing the number of security forces surrounding elections is cause for concern and does not seem warranted as it might lead opposition parties to question the legitimacy of the elections.
While the opposition parties have raised the issues of corruption, nepotism and sluggishness in passing an anti-corruption law in order to delegitimize the CPP, the ruling party’s legitimacy and support remain significantly high.
This stems from the CPP’s ability to create and maintain a web of patronage politics.Pro-CPP newspapers reported increased activities of working groups – some of which are joined by recent SRP defectors – which went down to the base to bring gifts to potential voters.
These activities were to assure voters of the CPP’s role in national development.
This is the CPP’s strength. Despite alleged and real corruption, the CPP will be able to capture support with its extensive patronage networks.
The Vietnam question
As expected, opposition parties will use the Vietnamese card during election campaign as they have done during previous elections.
Pro-opposition newspapers alleged that the ruling party allowed illegal Vietnamese residents to vote. This allegation warrants debate and might constructively lead to better immigration policy.
However, some opposition newspapers go so far as to irresponsibly allege that the CPP/government requested that the Vietnamese government send security forces to Cambodia during the elections to help strengthen the CPP’s position.
This is an independent analysis on Media Monitoring extracted from 13 Cambodia-based newspapers. The views expressed in the Media Monitoring Analysis are those of the author, Dr Un Kheang, assistant director at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University.
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