Corruption eclipses Cambodia progress

I wrote last week that in support of his assertion that his regime is popular, Premier Hun Sen cited the findings of a U.S.-based International Republican Institute's survey: 79 percent of Cambodians polled said Cambodia under Sen's government was moving in "the right direction" and 53 percent said they will vote for the Cambodian People's Party in the next election.


By: BY A. GAFFAR PEANG-METH • FEBRUARY 3, 2010

The world's nations have concluded long ago that "the will of the people, freely and fairly expressed through periodic and genuine elections" is "the basis of the authority and the legitimacy" of all governments.

Cambodia may be experiencing a period of relative political calm compared to death and destruction under the Khmer Rouge. New roads and new buildings are signs of progress. Still, documents referenced in previous columns published by Cambodian and international nongovernmental organizations should put a brake on the claims of governmental legitimacy and national progress in the "right direction."

The 2006 Report by the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, "Human Rights in Cambodia: The Façade of Stability"; the 2007 Report by Global Witness, "Cambodia's Family Trees"; the 2009 Report, also by Global Witness, "Country for Sale"; the Foreign Affairs Magazine's "Cambodia's Curse"; and Andrew Marshall's interview with some children of Cambodia's ruling elite, in "Khmer Riche" in the Sydney Morning Herald of Dec. 12, 2009, are only a few reports among many that document worrisome developments in today's Cambodia.

On Jan. 21, 2010, the New York-based Human Rights Watch's 612-page "World Report 2010" accused the Sen government of misusing the judiciary to silence critics, attack rights defenders, restrict press freedom, and trample Cambodia's own international obligations to protect refugees.

HRW's Asia director Brad Adams' declared: "Cambodians who speak out to defend their homes, their jobs, and their rights face threats, jail, and physical attacks."

At a minimum, there is a disconnect between documented human rights violations and the results of the IRI survey that might seem to support the claim that the country is moving in the "right direction."