By Dr. Gaffar Peang-Meth
Asian Human Rights Commission
Cambodia is holding a second week-long period of national
mourning for the late King Father Norodom Sihanouk, from Friday,
February 1 to Thursday, February 7. No "joyful" entertainments will be
permitted, flags will fly at half-mast, the Cambodian people are to wear
black ribbons on their shirts, and civil servants will receive two
holidays, on February 1 and 4.
The King Father's body will be
moved from the Royal Palace to an adjacent crematorium at the Meru field
on the first day of the mourning period. The body will remain at Meru
for three days. The cremation will occur on February 4. Eleven thousand
security forces are deployed in Phnom Penh. More than a million people
are expected to join the royal procession and cremation. The King has
requested that his ashes be put in an urn and placed in a stupa in the
Royal Palace.
On this occasion, I humbly bow from across the seas
to join in the national mourning for the last Khmer god-king. May his
soul rest in eternal peace.
Royal pardons
In
Cambodia, royal pardons and prison sentence reductions are granted on
three occasions each year: Khmer New Year (in April), the Buddhist Visak
Bochea Day (Buddha Day, in May), and the Water Festival (Bon Om Touk,
when excess waters of the Tonle Sap flow back into the Mekong, usually
in November).
While still living, the late King Father had
wished for "national reconciliation and national harmony." In that
spirit, Cambodia's Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana announced that
current King Sihamoni will sign the release and sentence reductions for
about 500 prisoners on February 4 to mark the King Father's cremation,
an exceptional "special" event.
Last November at the ASEAN
summit in Phnom Penh, Thai Prime Minster Yingluck Shinawatra asked Prime
Minister Hun Sen to consider pardoning two imprisoned Thais, Ratree
Pipattanapaiboon and Veera Somkwamkid. Subsequently Hun Sen told the
Justice Ministry to grant a royal pardon to Ratree and to consider
reducing Veera's prison term.
Absent are two Khmer names. One is
71-year-old Mam Sonando, director of Cambodia's independent Beehive
Radio station, which broadcast criticisms of human rights abuses for
years. Sanando is now serving a 20-year-jail-term for "secessionism."
Amnesty
International named Sonando a "prisoner of conscience." Independent
observers see Sonando's actions as having nothing to do with
insurrection but "everything to do with the suppression of dissent over
an ongoing series of land grabs, illegal logging and forced evictions,"
to quote the New York Times.
The other name missing from the
pardon list is Sam Rainsy, the new head of the opposition coalition
National Rescue Party (NRP). Rainsy currently is in self-imposed exile
in Paris to avoid a 12-year prison term on criminal charges which Rainsy
and independent observers consider to be "politically motivated."
Numerous international and domestic rights groups – including US
President Barack Obama – have appealed for Sonando's release and for
Rainsy to be permitted to return to Cambodia.
A "win-win"?
Cambodia's
second period of national mourning presents Hun Sen with an opportunity
to add Sonando and Rainsy to the "special" pardon list to honor the
late King Father. Hun Sen loses nothing by releasing Sonando. Rather,
the action would likely earn him praise from the very groups that now
criticize him. A royal pardon for Rainsy means this main opposition
leader can participate in the July election, an essential element of a
democracy, which Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People's Party have
said they embrace.
Hun Sen and the CPP have been saying they are
certain to win in July. In control of government machinery since he
became prime minster in 1985, it seems unlikely Hun Sen would lose. He's
likely to win by hook or by crook. His victory would legitimize his and
the CPP's continued rule. He said he wants to be ruler until he's 90.
Hun Sen is 60 years old.
Unless…
Unless Hun
Sen and the CPP fear that Cambodia's electorate may surprise them again
(!) at the 2013 polls as they did at the first ever free and fair
elections organized and supervised by the UN in 1993, when voters cast
ballots for challenger, Prince Ranariddh, head of the royalist
FUNCINPEC.
Not accepting the people's verdict, Hun Sen threatened
war. To avoid war, Ranariddh's father, the late King Father, conceived
of a no-winner no-loser solution. Two equally powerful Prime Minister
positions were created. The short term solution was a recipe for
disaster. In 1997, Second Prime Minister Hun Sen unleashed armed
soldiers loyal to him to engage in street fighting against First Prime
Minster Ranariddh's royalist soldiers. Thus, Ranariddh was ousted from
power.
Today there's no King Father to come to Hun Sen's rescue.
In praise of US tradition
In
a democracy, politics is a sport. Election winners govern according to
the Constitution; election losers step aside but their rights are
protected; the country moves on. The principle of "power rotation" is
ingrained. Winners know they aren't in power forever; losers also know
today the winners govern, but tomorrow may be their turn if the people
so choose. In a democracy, power changes hands.
Ten days ago I
watched the inauguration of President Barack Obama for his second term
as the 44th President of the United States: He took the oath in a
swearing-in ceremony at the White House on January 20; the next day, a
public ceremony, the 57th inauguration of the US President, was attended
by about a million people.
Tennessee's senior senator, Lamar
Alexander, spoke in televised remarks on this occasion. His comments
summarized well what I would like to write about the US tradition of
transferring/reaffirming US power. Americans seem to do this better than
any other nation under the sun.
"Today we praise the American
tradition of transferring or reaffirming immense power . . . We do this
in a peaceful, orderly way. There is no mob, no coup, no insurrection.
This is a moment when millions stop and watch. A moment most of us
always will remember. A moment that is the most conspicuous and enduring
symbol of our democracy. How remarkable that this has survived for so
long in such a complex country with so much power at stake – this
freedom to vote for our leaders and the restraint to respect the
results…"
Khmer culture
Very sadly, hundreds of years of Khmer tradition taught Cambodians to kaowd klach (admire and fear), smoh trang (be loyal), bamroeur (serve), and kapier (defend)
their leaders unconditionally, rather than defend the nation's high
principles and ideals. Khmer society values class, status, rank, role
relationships that further divide society into superior-inferior,
boss-client, leader-follower roles. That tradition and those values
contribute to a zero sum culture that sees everything in black and
white, instills a winner-loser mentality, focuses on honor and face. In
this world, a compromise is an admission that the "other" guy is not all
wrong, and you are not totally right.
Worse, Khmers hold subsequent generations liable for perceived affronts. Chaim muoy cheat, remember muoy cheat, which encompasses seven generations, from chi tuot (great, great great grandfather), chi luot (great, great grandfather), chi leah (great grandfather), through chi ta (grandfather), ovpouk (father), kaun (child), chao (grandchild) – a very, very long time.
Will
the opportunity that this second period of national mourning presents
produce something constructive, or will the political players in
Cambodia continue to demonize one another? It's likely that this
tradition of bad behavior will continue, taking "an eye for an eye." As
some wags note, a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye will leave
many Cambodians toothless and blind.
And yet, I nourish a feeling
that as in the Khmer political world things aren't usually what they
appear, "something" may be worked out for royal pardons and sentence
reductions. .
Khmer political Ramvong
Cambodians
have a passion for song and dance. Julia Wallace, writing for the New
York Times in "Cambodian Strongman and Karaoke King," describes karaoke
as "very big" in Cambodia. Besides office workers singing and dancing
the night away, young viewers download videos onto their computer and
sing at home. Wallace reports that every channel of Cambodia's nine
major television networks – owned by government officials or business
people with close ties to the CPP – airs a karaoke video singing praises
of Prime Minister Hun Sen or his wife,Bun Rany.
A karaoke video
praising Hun Sen and Bun Rany aligns with the Khmer tradition I
described above. The impact of seeing and hearing that karaoke again and
again effectively bypasses critical thinking. The music subconsciously
bludgeons the listener into loyalty (smoh trang) for the individuals in the image and the song.
There's a popular Khmer circle dance, the Ramvong,
that draws villagers from near and far to Khmer festivities. As long as
the drumbeats sound, participants get on their feet, move their hands
gracefully, move with simple footwork, going around and around in a
circle following the rhythm. Khmers say, Ramvong toarl phlu' or Dancing 'til dawn.
In
the Khmer political world, Hu Sen is a master at managing the Khmer
political Ramvong. He controls the drumbeat, keeps his supporters, his
opponents, and Western aid donors dancing around and around in a circle.
Hun Sen's Rainsy Ramvong is fascinating. Hun Sen's
National Election Committee removed Rainsy's name from the country's
voter registry as Cambodian law prohibits a person convicted of a crime
from participating in elections. On that day, the US State Department
expressed disapproval of Cambodia's decision, and raised the "question
of legitimacy of the whole democratic process in Cambodia." Four days
later, Rainsy told Radio Free Asia "I will be back in Cambodia before
the July elections."
The government responded that anyone can
come to Cambodia; Cambodia is an "independent state"; nobody tells
Cambodia what to do; and Cambodia will execute the court's verdicts
against Rainsy, i.e., he will be arrested on Khmer soil and put in jail.
In mid-November 2012, before President Obama reportedly
chastised Hun Sen on his poor human rights records, US Defense Secretary
Leon Panetta met Cambodian defense minister Tea Banh in Siemreap. News
reports revealed the training of Cambodian troops by US Special
Operations forces. Indeed, the US government has been unhappy with Hun
Sen's dismal rights record. But it is known that the US gave Hun Sen's
three sons support. The eldest, Hun Manet, the apparent heir, was given a
cost-free education at West Point; senior intelligence official Hun
Manith was assisted to study in Germany; and Hun Many, the youngest,
was permitted to study for an M.A. in strategic studies at Washington's
National Defense University.
It's not difficult to see the US
seeks access to Cambodia. Hun Sen knows it. Last month, he congratulated
Obama on his re-election. Obama responded, he looks forward to
strengthening US-Cambodia relations in the next four years.
Thus, the Ramvong beat goes on.
Food for thought
Today's political stakes in Cambodia are high. And there was a history lesson to ponder.
Hun
Sen's coup in 1997 that sent Ranariddh into exile was undertaken to
ensure that the people would not surprise him in the 1998 election.
Ranariddh was in exile.
After 2 to 3 billion dollars spent on a
political solution following the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements to end
Cambodia's long internal wars, the international community wanted to
maintain the illusion of Cambodia as a success story. Ranariddh's exile
would mean a lopsided election. So, the prince was told by a
representative of a friendly government that he must participate in the
1998 election, or he would be left out. In agony, the prince got on
board. Hun Sen who made certain he would win the election, did win.
Never mind that the election fell short of international standards. The
fiction of a Cambodian "success story" was maintained – after all, that
was the purpose of the 1991 PPA: To turn bullets into ballots, one way
or another.
Today Sam Rainsy is needed in Cambodia by the
international community, and by Hun Sen, himself, to legitimize the July
2013 election. Sam Rainsy needs Hun Sen's approval to return to
Cambodia to avoid 12 years in jail. Hun Sen needs Sam Rainsy to
legitimize the election. Hun Sen, Sam Rainsy, and the international
community need one another.
I have no crystal ball to see the
future. But history has provided lessons about humans' abilities to
"work things out." It's easier to grant a royal pardon to Sonando. For
Rainsy's return to Cambodia, a "deal" giving Hun Sen the upper hand, and
Sam Rainsy, a "junior" partnership is possible. Rainsy's past behavior
tells me he'll likely accept.
On a light note, we can recall the
words of Patel, the hapless but eternally optimistic hotel manager in
the film, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: "Everything will be all right in
the end. If it's not all right, it is not yet the end."
....................
The AHRC is not responsible for the views shared in this article, which do not necessarily reflect its own.
About the Author:
Dr.
Gaffar Peang-Meth is retired from the University of Guam, where he
taught political science for 13 years. He currently lives in the United
States. He can be reached at peangmeth@gmail.com. 
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