A SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS.......

I have lived here in Cambodia now for some seven years and have said many times - both here when writing a Blog and many other places how much I like the country.  I really would not like to move and live anywhere else.  The people are smiling, hospitable, friendly and everything related to those categories.  It so happens the climate suits me too, and even though like everywhere else, the cost of living has increased over the years, it is still affordable to live here.  Plus the fact that Cambodia is very central in that it is only at the maximum, just a 2-hour flight to other cities in South East Asia.

Now having said all of the above, there is one thing that has caused a sad state of affairs.  That is the political situation here.  Not good.  The so-called ruling party headed by the Prime Minister Hun Sen has been in power now for some 30-years.  Hun Sen was originally installed as nothing more than a puppet Prime Minister by the Vietnamese after the fall of the dreadful Khmer Rouge regime when Vietnam took over Cambodia.  Since then the Prime Minister has made himself into the "strong man" of the area and stated publicly that he has no intention of standing down until he is at least 72 - he is now in his early 60's,

Whether you like Hun Sen or not - there is absolutely no argument about the fact that over the years he has made Cambodia one of the quickest growing and most stable economies in the area.   I have been coming here since the mid-1990's, and have seen tremendous progress in infrastructure, in education and in many other areas too.  However, corruption is rife.  Those who hold power - still people mostly from the Khmer Rouge era - have made themselves unbelievably wealthy due to corruption, rather than helping the poor in the Provinces who seem to get even poorer.  Not a good thing.  But in the past, as one entire generation missed out on an education thanks to the policies of the genocidal regime of the Khmer Rouge, people thought that they didn't have a voice, and so could not ask for better conditions.  As a result Mr Hun Sen ruled supreme.

Last year - 2013 - things began to change.  It was the year for a General Election and as usual the ruling CPP party foolishly thought everything was as before.  That people could be bought when it came to votes.   Before the election the Prime Minister handed out thousands of land titles to poor people in the Provinces who never had them before.  Naturally they liked him.  No question about that.  Then, shortly before the election Mr. Hun Sen made one of his famous long vitriolic speeches and said that if they didn't vote for him he would take back all the land titles he had given out a few months earlier.  That threat was a mistake, but you don't have to be a genius to understand why those people felt they had to vote for him.  And you can't really blame them either.

One big thing the ruling CPP party had not considered, was the fact that since the previous election a whole new generation of people have been educated, are university graduates and are no longer going to stand for corruption, nepotism and whatever else in that direction, have arrived on the scene and were determined to vote to change things.  A massive opposition party was formed with aggressive campaigning.  People seeing the strength of it came out to vote in bigger numbers than ever before with the result that the opposition party was deemed to have won.

This did not amuse the Prime Minister who refused to accept the vote and ordered some results to be changed.  It is a well known fact that the election results were altered on the Prime Minister's instructions.   It is well known that when a re-count was ordered in a couple of places, it was found that the voting records had not been sealed and hundreds of voting papers were tampered with.  In addition it came to light that hundreds of people who had registered to vote - and many of my friends come into this category - had their names removed from the voters' list because it was known they were supporters of the opposition.  So they were not allowed to vote even though they had proof they had registered in the correct manner.  Furthermore, the members of the National Election Committee which finally said everything had been fair and proper had all been appointees of the Prime Minister.  No more need be said on that matter!!

In another vitriolic speech, Mr. Hun Sen said (at a school graduation, can you imagine?) that if he was opposed he would bring out his personal body guard (which some say number 6,000) that he has personally armed, and there would be "blood on the streets".   Another mistake as the people here have had enough killing in the past.  The Prime Minister's popularity sank to next to nothing.

All of this has resulted in thousands and thousands of people taking to the streets daily demanding that Hun Sen step down and that new elections - fair and transparent ones - should take place.  Yesterday it was announced that the doctors, professors and teachers were now joining the protests.  The result?  Mr. Hun Sen stuck true to his word about bringing out the army and his armed body guard.  Out came the police, the army (which is under the control of his son) and a band of thugs paid by the state.  They attacked the crowd assembled for a protest march - all of which have been perfectly well organized and totally peaceful.  The police carried batons and the soldiers AK-47 rifles.  Five people were shot dead, and some 26 people injured while three military helicopters kept watch on the scene from on high, circling around for seveal hours.  Those who were not army or police - the thugs wealding iron pipes and sticks, wore red arm bands and certainly did not look like Khmer people.  It is believed - though I have no proof as of now - that they were Vietnam people brought in by the Prime Minister and paid by the State.  All this took place maybe ten minutes from my home in a place ironically called "Freedom Park".  Those who were attacked and beaten and in some cases detained, where old, young and even monks.

This behaviour makes me very sad because these wonderful people do not deserve to be treated like this.   When you see the videos of what happened yesterday and the day before, it looks like the people who were being peaceful and orderly were being treated as something less than animals.

So what can or should be done?  The situation can not continue for ever otherwise the place will become another Iraq, Congo, Egypt or Ukraine.

I believe at least two things would help - and the people here do need help.  Firstly, if the Prime Minister and his crowd had even a "titter of wit" they would see how unpopular they are, and also see what has happened in the past to leaders of dictatorial rule in other countries.   Remember the fate of Saddam Hussein, Momar Gadhaffi, Hosni Mukarak just to mention a few?  They all came to a sticky end by being nothing less than power-hungry and just plain stubborn.  There need not be the same situation here.  All Mr. Hun Sen has to do is say "OK - you take over and let me see how well you run the country over the next five years." If he did that, then I have no doubt his popularity would start to rise, and if the opposition did not do well, then he could return to power at the next election.   But you can never win by killing off you own people.

Secondly, whereas I am well aware that the world is watching the situation here - especially since the events of the past few days - but nothing has emerged except a weak platitude of a statement from both the United States and the United Kingdom, who both said "We condemn the violence....". Of course they do, but statements like that are nothing more than platitudes.  Something more has to be done if the country is not to end up in another civil war.   Both the U.S. and the U.K. are powerful members of the Security Council of the United Nations.  They should immediately bring a resolution to the Council condemning what is going on here.  That would be a strong message and one which I know would not be taken lightly here by either side.

Unfortunately this lovely country is of little use to the U.S. and little attention is normally paid to it.  Much the same can be said of the U.K. also.   Even so, I believe something has to be done and quickly and the more people that learn about what is happening here the better.  That is why I chose to write this, even though I know too well it may not make me too popular in some quarters here.