Hun Sen says July polls his for the taking [The Nostradamus of Cambodia has never been wrong before because he is the candidate, the election-organiser and the vote-counter!] លោក ហ៊ុន សែន បានទោះទាយថាលោកនឹងឈ្នះឆ្នោត។ លោក ហ៊ុន សែន ទាយមិនដែលខុសសោះពីព្រោះលោកគឺជាបេក្ខជន អ្នករៀបចំការបោះឆ្នោត និងជាអ្នករាប់សន្លឹកឆ្នោតទៀត!

Singapore (The Straits Times/ ANN) -- Asia's longest-serving prime minister, Hun Sen (pictured) of Cambodia, over the weekend declared that he was guaranteed to win the July 28 general election.

Known for his abrasiveness, the 61-year-old, who has run Cambodia for some 30 years, has also in recent weeks warned of disaster if his Cambodian People's Party (CPP) is not voted back to power.

Few doubt that the CPP will win given the fragmentation of the opposition.

Hun Sen, though accused by critics of authoritarianism, has been handing out land titles, attracting investment and, throughout his term, reaching out to the rural masses. And in today's Cambodia, livelihood and development issues are more important than others for voters, analysts say.

Underlying the election campaign is also an attempt to put in place a younger generation - at least six sons of senior CPP members, including Hun Sen, are running in the elections.

Still, despite Hun Sen's confidence, the pre-election environment remains volatile and the rhetoric high-pitched. The CPP's election loss in 1993 still haunts Hun Sen and the party to some degree, which makes them nervous.

One fault line that has emerged again is the shadow of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime.

The ruling CPP has always been determined to ensure that its true nature is written into history.

The Khmer Rouge led by the despotic Pol Pot ran the country from 1975 to 1979 and killed millions.

Thus, about a month ago, when opposition lawmaker Kem Sokha remarked that the invading Vietnamese in 1978 had fabricated the Khmer Rouge's crimes at Tuol Sleng prison, where an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 people died, it touched a very raw nerve.

A widely circulated audio recording of remarks made at a public forum - dismissed by his Cambodian National Rescue Party as doctored - has Kem Sokha saying: "If the Khmer Rouge killed a lot of people, they would not be stupid to keep it to show to everyone, they would destroy it to eliminate evidence. I believe that it was just staged."

The CPP, using its majority in parliament, last week rushed through a law that outlawed the denial of Khmer Rouge atrocities.

The law is not unusual. Germany has had such a law for years, making it a criminal offense to deny the holocaust.

Now the law hangs over Kem Sokha.

Two days after it was passed, thousands of Cambodians took to the streets denouncing Khmer Rouge denialists.

The debate that the Khmer Rouge era continues to generate is about coming to terms with history, says history professor Harish Mehta of Canada's McMaster University and author of a biography of the premier titled Strongman - The Extraordinary Life Of Hun Sen.

"Now by making genocide denial a crime, the CPP and Hun Sen are actually confronting voters and saying this is a political issue, and are you on the right side of history or not. Voters will have to decide on which side of the fault line they stand." - See more at: http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=ZGJiMmY3NDRkNjV#sthash.EXGBl45m.dpuf