Khmer Rouge trials, Thai border hostilities put on hold today as Cambodians go to polls
Thestar.com
Jul 27, 2008
Olivia Ward
Foreign Affairs Reporter
He's not as heavy-handed as Burma's military rulers, nor as sophisticated as Singapore's premier.
But Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen – once a card-carrying member of the genocidal Khmer Rouge – practises his own brand of "managed democracy" that has convinced most people that their battered country has at last achieved stability.
His Cambodian People's Party is expected to win a smooth victory in parliamentary elections today, sprinting ahead of its rivals and consolidating Hun Sen's three-decade hold on power.
The vote is being held during a crisis over contested land near an historic temple at the border with Thailand. Cambodia won a UN World Heritage Site designation for the temple, which is surrounded by land claimed by Thailand.
Phnom Penh has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to help avert a military confrontation if talks between the two neighbours fail.
But most Cambodian voters think there are more important issues closer to home.
According to an International Republican Institute opinion poll, 77 per cent of respondents think the country is headed in the right direction under its current government, as economic growth floats at 10 per cent, with roads, schools and health clinics being built and living conditions improving.
"The (People's) party does have genuine support," says Peter Manikas, director of Asia programs for the Washington-based National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. "Up to now, they've had to rule as a coalition because they never got more than 50 per cent. But their coalition partner split, so they're running on their own."
The partner was Funcinpec, a royalist party formerly headed by Prince Ranariddh, who pulled out to form a party of his own. Another player, the Sam Rainsy Party, is headed by a French-educated former finance minister who campaigns for democratic reform.
Neither appears to have made inroads on the ruling party's support, which is bolstered by tight control of the media and crackdowns on opponents whose criticisms fall outside the government's comfort zone.
Hun Sen's Cambodia has been rife with corruption, and there are allegations of vote-buying as well as politically motivated killings during the campaign season.
But election monitors say the atmosphere has been far less tense than during earlier campaigns, when "hundreds would die in centrally directed attacks from the political parties," according to Phnom Penh representative Roderick Brazier of the Asia Foundation.
"Vote-buying, while it exists, is modest compared to previous campaigns, and certainly no worse than in neighbouring democracies," he wrote in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.
For the first time, the government allowed open political debates with equal time for Cambodia's 11 parties. They were broadcast on Cambodian television, a sign that Hun Sen's tight-fisted approach is loosening.
But if the People's Party returns to power, Brazier predicts, not much will change.
"Economic growth and infrastructure development will preoccupy the government, while political freedoms and justice will take a back seat."
Waiting in the wings are pending trials of senior officials of the Khmer Rouge, which waged a campaign of terror from 1975 to 1979. Although Hun Sen was once a member, he has backed the trials, which are largely popular with Cambodians. Leader Pol Pot died before facing justice, but five others have been charged.
Meanwhile, hostilities simmered on the Thai-Cambodian border after Thailand sent troops there in response to domestic protests over the new UN status of the Cambodian temples, which was originally supported by the Thai government.
Thailand's opposition says it undercuts Bangkok's claim to the land along the border, and that Cambodia is trying to redraw the frontier along old French colonial lines.
Thestar.com
Jul 27, 2008
Olivia Ward
Foreign Affairs Reporter
He's not as heavy-handed as Burma's military rulers, nor as sophisticated as Singapore's premier.
But Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen – once a card-carrying member of the genocidal Khmer Rouge – practises his own brand of "managed democracy" that has convinced most people that their battered country has at last achieved stability.
His Cambodian People's Party is expected to win a smooth victory in parliamentary elections today, sprinting ahead of its rivals and consolidating Hun Sen's three-decade hold on power.
The vote is being held during a crisis over contested land near an historic temple at the border with Thailand. Cambodia won a UN World Heritage Site designation for the temple, which is surrounded by land claimed by Thailand.
Phnom Penh has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to help avert a military confrontation if talks between the two neighbours fail.
But most Cambodian voters think there are more important issues closer to home.
According to an International Republican Institute opinion poll, 77 per cent of respondents think the country is headed in the right direction under its current government, as economic growth floats at 10 per cent, with roads, schools and health clinics being built and living conditions improving.
"The (People's) party does have genuine support," says Peter Manikas, director of Asia programs for the Washington-based National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. "Up to now, they've had to rule as a coalition because they never got more than 50 per cent. But their coalition partner split, so they're running on their own."
The partner was Funcinpec, a royalist party formerly headed by Prince Ranariddh, who pulled out to form a party of his own. Another player, the Sam Rainsy Party, is headed by a French-educated former finance minister who campaigns for democratic reform.
Neither appears to have made inroads on the ruling party's support, which is bolstered by tight control of the media and crackdowns on opponents whose criticisms fall outside the government's comfort zone.
Hun Sen's Cambodia has been rife with corruption, and there are allegations of vote-buying as well as politically motivated killings during the campaign season.
But election monitors say the atmosphere has been far less tense than during earlier campaigns, when "hundreds would die in centrally directed attacks from the political parties," according to Phnom Penh representative Roderick Brazier of the Asia Foundation.
"Vote-buying, while it exists, is modest compared to previous campaigns, and certainly no worse than in neighbouring democracies," he wrote in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.
For the first time, the government allowed open political debates with equal time for Cambodia's 11 parties. They were broadcast on Cambodian television, a sign that Hun Sen's tight-fisted approach is loosening.
But if the People's Party returns to power, Brazier predicts, not much will change.
"Economic growth and infrastructure development will preoccupy the government, while political freedoms and justice will take a back seat."
Waiting in the wings are pending trials of senior officials of the Khmer Rouge, which waged a campaign of terror from 1975 to 1979. Although Hun Sen was once a member, he has backed the trials, which are largely popular with Cambodians. Leader Pol Pot died before facing justice, but five others have been charged.
Meanwhile, hostilities simmered on the Thai-Cambodian border after Thailand sent troops there in response to domestic protests over the new UN status of the Cambodian temples, which was originally supported by the Thai government.
Thailand's opposition says it undercuts Bangkok's claim to the land along the border, and that Cambodia is trying to redraw the frontier along old French colonial lines.
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