Ms. Mu Sochua vs. Mr. Hun Sen

By Jayakhmer

Recent dispute between Member of Parliament Mu Sochua and Prime Minister Hun Sen reveals not only the rough and tumble nature of Khmer politics but also the standard by which political discourse are being carried out. If the prime minister managed to incorporate the fact that a woman “tripped on someone and accused him of unbuttoning her blouse” in his political speech, you know that the standard is very low.

I have mixed feelings about this issue. On the one hand, I feel that it is personal issues between the involved parties; and therefore, do not want to get involved with the nature of the lawsuit nor the counter suit. Since it is their prerogatives, I should wait and see how the Khmer legal system handles this grievance process.

On the other hand, when the talk of only stripping of Ms. Sochua’s immunity as an impending possibility, I could not help but only see this heavy handed tactic as an act of oppression.

According to Iris M. Young, a critical theorist and a modern political thinker, oppression as violence is defined as actions that cause “Members of some groups [to] live with the knowledge that they must fear random, unprovoked attacks on their persons or property, which have no motive but to damage, humiliate, or destroy the person.”

As a Khmer and an observer of Khmer politics, I think the suit and the counter suit that may be seen as frivolous by some are within the law of the land. But, if the National Assembly steps in and removes Ms. Sochua’s immunity, it will send a chilling message to the country and to the world that there is an “untouchable” person or status quo in the country. It essentially implies that if anyone dares to challenge this person or the status quo, the country will mobilize to defeat you. And that would constitute as oppression.

If this is the norm or the standard by which the country has to get used to, Cambodia is drifting further and further away from the kind of democracy I was once hoped that the country would some day achieve.

I hope that the National Assembly will act in the interest of the nation by abstaining its body from this seemingly private issue.

For now let us carefully observe the situation. Again, let us allow the court handles this process.