Dear All,
I
have just sent this article, along with readers' comments, to the Phnom
Penh Post. If you would like to voice your opinions, please send an
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Sam
Rainsy, president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, greets his
supporters after landing in Phnom Penh earlier this month. REUTERS
Let’s get something straight from the start:
Cambodia’s election result will stand [Khmerican: Of course it will stand because the CPP is the thief who also acts as the police, the jury and the judge]. Furthermore, as we watch events
in Egypt unfold, and as we bear in mind recent unrest in Brazil,
Thailand, Turkey and elsewhere, it is clearly the most desirable
outcome. [If Hun sen won't use soldiers, APCs and tanks to crack down, nothing like in Egypt will happen].
That does not mean the July 28 poll was conducted perfectly, or that there were not multiple transgressions from vote-buying to false registrations, from ballot-box stuffing to crooked counting procedures.
If none of these things occurred in an election in this region, or for that matter in many countries around the world, it would be a minor miracle.
Yes, the scale of infractions and the flagrant, semi-official way they appear to have been condoned, might be more pronounced here than other places.
But even that is doubtful, and certainly the empirical evidence – namely, the high number of seats won by the opposition – suggests it was done on a relatively small scale and in a pathetically inept way. [Khmerican: The election fraud in Cambodia was done on a small scale? It is the opposite: It's widespread and it's done on a larger scale than Mr. Mitton would like to admit].
Many of my colleagues disagree – and that’s fine, that’s democracy, that’s why we can write about it here when we couldn’t next door in Laos or Vietnam.
Some even view the disputed result as heralding portentous changes in the near future. One messaged me last week: “Do you think there will now be an Arab Spring in Cambodia?”
My reply: “There already is one. The opposition won 45 per cent of the seats. Where else does that happen in ASEAN? Not in Brunei, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore or Vietnam, and only recently in Malaysia and Indonesia.” [Khmerican: Well, it happened in Burma in 1990 when the opposition party of Aung San Suu Kyi won and it happened in Thailand and the Philippines on many occasions when the oppositions won and the ruling parties lost. That's because the elections there were freer and fairer and were not controlled by the ruling party like in Cambodia].
He pressed on: “But do you think the opposition can overthrow Hun Sen and the Cambodia People’s Party?”
“Let’s hope not,” I said. “The opposition performed brilliantly, but it lost. [Khmerican: No, the CNRP did not lose. It was cheated out of its victory] That is quite clear. The CPP would never have allowed it to win 55 seats if the election had been fixed.” [OMG Mr. Mitton, you knew it, everybody knew it that the CPP cheated on a grand scale. The fact that it cannot cheat to win 2/3 majority like in 2008 was because the voters stopped them and, to a certain extent, this time, many electoral officials were sympathetic with the opposition].
Stating the obvious does not signify approval of the CPP, rather just a belief in electoral politics and a distaste for governments being removed by street thuggery or military coups. [You should be lecturing the CPP and Mr. Hun Sen about street thuggery and military coups because they have carried out these in the past in 1993 when they lost the election and in the 1997 coup against Funcinpec. In the 1998 election, the CPP thugs and soldiers beaten and killed many opposition activists during the peaceful march. The videos of that thuggery still existed today. And how many people, union leader Chea Vichea, singer Touch Sounik, singer Pov Panha Pich and journalist Khim Sambo, where killed and maimed during and after the 2003 and 2008 elections?]
And to repeat: It also does not mean there was no cheating in the election. Of course, there almost certainly was, as there is in elections in all those places voicing disquiet about results.
Remember the flawed recounts in Florida’s Broward and Miami-Dade counties in 2000, which enabled George W Bush to “win” the presidency of the United States, despite losing the popular vote? [In Florida in 2000, the result was so close and the irregularities were so minute that were no where near the irregularities and frauds that have taken place in the Cambodian elections].
Remember what passes for legitimacy in treating oppositionists in Malaysia and Singapore, or what happens in every election in Indonesia and the Philippines? [Well, the oppositions in Indonesia (Megawati and Yudhyono), Thailand (Samak and Yingluck) and the Philippines (Aquino) always won the elections- that means their electoral systems are quite independent].
And please refrain from telling me two wrongs don’t make a right [Mr. Mitton, you can lecture Mr. Hun Sen about this and tell him to resolve the political dispute through political means (negotiation), not to bring APCs and tanks into the cities to commit violence like in the 1997 coup]. No, they don’t. For the third time, there clearly seem to have been irregularities in last month’s election. So complain, check them out and get an investigation started. [Yes, the opposition complained, they checked them out and they tried to get the independent investigation started, but did the CPP agree? The opposition's complaints were rejected/dismissed even before the complaint envelopes were opened. The CPP only agreed to allow the NEC, who is the CPP's proxy, to investigate. Sunday's opening of the Safety Packages "A" did find widespread systemic irregularities, but the NEC dismissed them as resulting from the mistakes of inexperienced NEC staff, not frauds].
Which is what has happened. And, as invariably happens in all these investigations, the poll results are upheld. [Of course the result will be upheld because the thief (the NEC) was allowed to investigate his/her own crimes and be the police, the judge and the jury].
Yes, the agency assigned to do the investigation is invariably biased.
So bitch again – and let people know about it via the media and public meetings and speeches in parliament. [Well, Mr. Mitton, you don't lecture the opposition about this. They have spoken everywhere, on the world media, local media, social media and in public meetings, but did the CPP and the NEC listen?].
Then take a deep breath and, in the words of Nelson Mandela, let it go.
As the South African icon told former US president Bill Clinton, he hated the apartheid leaders who jailed him for 27 years and deprived his people of their liberty. And he still hated them when they set him free.
But, said Mandela: “As I felt the anger rising up, I thought to myself: if you keep hating them, they’ll have you again. And so I let it go. I let it go.”
It was a stance that set an example for his entire nation, so that it remained peaceful and harmonious and was able to develop without being convulsed by endless violent protests. The Cambodia National Rescue Party and its leader Sam Rainsy should do the same when the election result is finally and definitively certified. [Certified by whom? By the thief (the NEC) who stole the election result in the first place?].
My advice to you, Mr. Mitton, is: If you have grown up, lived, survived and thrived in a democratic country, please also allow the Cambodia people to have the same opportunities as you had. So, please don't be on the side of the Cambodian dictatorship.
That does not mean the July 28 poll was conducted perfectly, or that there were not multiple transgressions from vote-buying to false registrations, from ballot-box stuffing to crooked counting procedures.
If none of these things occurred in an election in this region, or for that matter in many countries around the world, it would be a minor miracle.
Yes, the scale of infractions and the flagrant, semi-official way they appear to have been condoned, might be more pronounced here than other places.
But even that is doubtful, and certainly the empirical evidence – namely, the high number of seats won by the opposition – suggests it was done on a relatively small scale and in a pathetically inept way. [Khmerican: The election fraud in Cambodia was done on a small scale? It is the opposite: It's widespread and it's done on a larger scale than Mr. Mitton would like to admit].
Many of my colleagues disagree – and that’s fine, that’s democracy, that’s why we can write about it here when we couldn’t next door in Laos or Vietnam.
Some even view the disputed result as heralding portentous changes in the near future. One messaged me last week: “Do you think there will now be an Arab Spring in Cambodia?”
My reply: “There already is one. The opposition won 45 per cent of the seats. Where else does that happen in ASEAN? Not in Brunei, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore or Vietnam, and only recently in Malaysia and Indonesia.” [Khmerican: Well, it happened in Burma in 1990 when the opposition party of Aung San Suu Kyi won and it happened in Thailand and the Philippines on many occasions when the oppositions won and the ruling parties lost. That's because the elections there were freer and fairer and were not controlled by the ruling party like in Cambodia].
He pressed on: “But do you think the opposition can overthrow Hun Sen and the Cambodia People’s Party?”
“Let’s hope not,” I said. “The opposition performed brilliantly, but it lost. [Khmerican: No, the CNRP did not lose. It was cheated out of its victory] That is quite clear. The CPP would never have allowed it to win 55 seats if the election had been fixed.” [OMG Mr. Mitton, you knew it, everybody knew it that the CPP cheated on a grand scale. The fact that it cannot cheat to win 2/3 majority like in 2008 was because the voters stopped them and, to a certain extent, this time, many electoral officials were sympathetic with the opposition].
Stating the obvious does not signify approval of the CPP, rather just a belief in electoral politics and a distaste for governments being removed by street thuggery or military coups. [You should be lecturing the CPP and Mr. Hun Sen about street thuggery and military coups because they have carried out these in the past in 1993 when they lost the election and in the 1997 coup against Funcinpec. In the 1998 election, the CPP thugs and soldiers beaten and killed many opposition activists during the peaceful march. The videos of that thuggery still existed today. And how many people, union leader Chea Vichea, singer Touch Sounik, singer Pov Panha Pich and journalist Khim Sambo, where killed and maimed during and after the 2003 and 2008 elections?]
And to repeat: It also does not mean there was no cheating in the election. Of course, there almost certainly was, as there is in elections in all those places voicing disquiet about results.
Remember the flawed recounts in Florida’s Broward and Miami-Dade counties in 2000, which enabled George W Bush to “win” the presidency of the United States, despite losing the popular vote? [In Florida in 2000, the result was so close and the irregularities were so minute that were no where near the irregularities and frauds that have taken place in the Cambodian elections].
Remember what passes for legitimacy in treating oppositionists in Malaysia and Singapore, or what happens in every election in Indonesia and the Philippines? [Well, the oppositions in Indonesia (Megawati and Yudhyono), Thailand (Samak and Yingluck) and the Philippines (Aquino) always won the elections- that means their electoral systems are quite independent].
And please refrain from telling me two wrongs don’t make a right [Mr. Mitton, you can lecture Mr. Hun Sen about this and tell him to resolve the political dispute through political means (negotiation), not to bring APCs and tanks into the cities to commit violence like in the 1997 coup]. No, they don’t. For the third time, there clearly seem to have been irregularities in last month’s election. So complain, check them out and get an investigation started. [Yes, the opposition complained, they checked them out and they tried to get the independent investigation started, but did the CPP agree? The opposition's complaints were rejected/dismissed even before the complaint envelopes were opened. The CPP only agreed to allow the NEC, who is the CPP's proxy, to investigate. Sunday's opening of the Safety Packages "A" did find widespread systemic irregularities, but the NEC dismissed them as resulting from the mistakes of inexperienced NEC staff, not frauds].
Which is what has happened. And, as invariably happens in all these investigations, the poll results are upheld. [Of course the result will be upheld because the thief (the NEC) was allowed to investigate his/her own crimes and be the police, the judge and the jury].
Yes, the agency assigned to do the investigation is invariably biased.
So bitch again – and let people know about it via the media and public meetings and speeches in parliament. [Well, Mr. Mitton, you don't lecture the opposition about this. They have spoken everywhere, on the world media, local media, social media and in public meetings, but did the CPP and the NEC listen?].
Then take a deep breath and, in the words of Nelson Mandela, let it go.
As the South African icon told former US president Bill Clinton, he hated the apartheid leaders who jailed him for 27 years and deprived his people of their liberty. And he still hated them when they set him free.
But, said Mandela: “As I felt the anger rising up, I thought to myself: if you keep hating them, they’ll have you again. And so I let it go. I let it go.”
It was a stance that set an example for his entire nation, so that it remained peaceful and harmonious and was able to develop without being convulsed by endless violent protests. The Cambodia National Rescue Party and its leader Sam Rainsy should do the same when the election result is finally and definitively certified. [Certified by whom? By the thief (the NEC) who stole the election result in the first place?].
My advice to you, Mr. Mitton, is: If you have grown up, lived, survived and thrived in a democratic country, please also allow the Cambodia people to have the same opportunities as you had. So, please don't be on the side of the Cambodian dictatorship.
11 comments:
I hope some kick Milton in the head. This guy is worse than hitler. A neo nazi uneducated white trash from the west living on the blood and sweat of the poor. His poorly written article injected "hatred", "bitch" and even using racial slur to denote the black American as niggers. Yet he called us Khmer as racist! Why is PPP hiring this white trash with nothing to offer in his profession.
Someone needs to give him a good roger.
He attacked Hun sen before and was forced to apologize. Now, he supports Hun Sen, may be he wants favors from Hun Sen.
Roger Milton is a fake White guy's name used by Vietnamese Dog Eater who has pretended to be a white guy from Western. Isn't that true?
It has happened before that some evil Vietnamese/Yuon dog eaters (as anonymous) used the Westerner's names and some of those evil Vietnamese dog eaters used Cambodian's names and pretended to be Khmer/Cambodian bloggers or posters just like showing Khmer/Cambodian people fight their own Khmer/Cambodian people.
Just watch out also the Vietnamese/Yuon dog eaters are the major troublemakers of all time.
Khmer people, please think carefully about who are behind all the problems, not just white folks guys. Just be alert.
Mitton you're sucks! What did you know about khmer's politics? Don't try to be an experted when the words came out your mouth were full of contradiction,biased side with communism's Cpp thugs! You're Barang ses/farang [in siam] you should at least be fair minded individual but you're not!
I suggest you should move to live in Hanoi or Beijing because you loved communist regime so much,there is no place for you in Cambodia,we don't want anymore communism on our soil.You're the benefactor of this Cpp pigs regime that corrupted and abusive toward it citizens robbed,steal,killed were the norm,and you're blinded you won't see any of these happened due to your corrupted's soul.
Kmenhwatt
Mr. Mitton should go back to school. Your analysis is pointless, but intend to intimidate or bring fears to people.
All khmerican,khmeropean and khmer's we need to file a complaint on Phnom Penh Post to not let Roger Mitton write another stupid report. He knows nothing about Cambodia and i think he needs to go back to school and try to major in political science or East Asian studies. Why did the PPP news hired this idiot reporter?
Well done, Khmerisation.
This gentleman is making a complete fool of himself every time he utters a single word via the Phnom Penh Post.
He decided to open his irrational comment with the phrase: "Let’s get something straight from the start: Cambodia’s election result will stand" [!!]
Good grief, what does this man think he is? God, Allah, the Messiah, or just someone who has totally sold his soul to the devils who have him on their payroll?
This kind of stupendous arrogance, insult and ill regard for the will and aspirations of the Cambodian people are beyond comprehension and reason.
As regards what has gone on in the Middle East this misguided soul might do well to reflect upon the words of one Libyan woman during the recent uprising in her country:
"For far too long we had allowed fear to dictate our lives. We have let ourselves down and betrayed our children with the habit of fear we have passed on to them".
All I should say to him is that he is a disgrace to all humanity. No one loves suffering any more than he or any sane human does. Without the sacrifice made by millions of people [among whom could have been Mr Mitton's own forebears], he and most people in the world today would be speaking German, if indeed his ancestors would not have been consigned to one of the Nazi concentration camps because they could not stomach the kind of fascistic ideas and arrogant tone embedded in Mitton's opening words alone!
I kindly suggest that he packed up and left Cambodia for good [if he is living there] and not bother to return to the country unless he will have the decency to offer his public apologies to the Khmer people first. That would be the least he could do under the circumstances, in my humble view.
Cambodian people knew from 1998 that NEC is a puppet of CPP. every body know even cpp officer themselves.if you do not believe, please ask cpp officer are there any corruption in the government. they always say no but ordinary people know there are.
phnom penh
Undoubtedly, all Cambodian citizens, as matter of fact, as this time is the tweenty first century, should we disregard to whatever the CPP said it. Why...
1 ) The CPP was restored to becoming such power by Han Noi.
2 ) Han Noi today is still toppled the CPP.
3 ) Since the day one before and after the Paris Peace Agreement Accord in the 1991's was fully implemented by the International, U.N. and plus about the eighteen countries were agreed and assigned to let Cambodia having in hand to in order to promote her country, but the CPP's government has never and ever want to be kept this impact on table to secure, protect and establish the country with an improper manner because of the his boss's Han Noi.
So, let's forget about everything whatever they want to do say that is because those people were orchestrated very well to their own citizens ever since.
Even today they just got lost the national election to CNRP already but, somehow, they do not want and transfer the power to the CNRP yet, in doing so they just want to create more tasked working as this and that to make the whole world they must believe on them, etc.
As a result: the entire of CPP, the Constitutional Council, the NEC, the Justice Department, the Armed Force and the like, were their political tool for A Han Noi's will
all alone. So do not ever believe to those crooked leadership, official higher ranking of any position in that regime, the thuggish mem/women of CPP. And also, China need to remain intact insight Cambodia also because of their ideology Communist regimes within their regional.
Made some correction:
Undoubtedly, all Cambodian citizens, as matter of fact, as this time is the tweenty first century, should we disregard to whatever the CPP said it. Why...
1 ) The CPP was restored to becoming such power by Han Noi.
2 ) Han Noi today is still toppled the CPP.
3 ) Since the day one before and after the Paris Peace Agreement Accord in the 1991's was fully implemented by the International, U.N. and plus about the eighteen countries were agreed and assigned to let Cambodia having in hand to in order to promote her country, but the CPP's government has never and ever want to be kept this impact on table to secure, protect and establish the country with an improper manner because of the his boss's Han Noi.
So, let's forget about everything whatever they want to do and say that or that is because those people were orchestrated very well by Youn Ho Chiminh/ Yiek Cong plus some of Khmer Yiek Minh whom they were trained pretty well since they were at their younger age ever before in the 1945's and 1970's.
Even today they just got lost the national election to CNRP already but, somehow, they do not want and transfer the power to the CNRP yet, in doing so they just want to create more tasked working as this and that to make the whole world they must believe on them, etc.
As a result: the entire of CPP, the Constitutional Council, the NEC, the Justice Department, the Armed Force and the like, were their political tool for A Han Noi's will
all alone. So do not ever believe to those crooked leadership, official higher ranking of any position in that regime, the thuggish mem/women of CPP. And also, China need to remain intact insight Cambodia also because of their ideology Communist regimes within their regional[SIC.]
The Cambodian election is an improbable contemplation for many people and yet still satisfies a clique of power elite and their supporters. The government officers and their supporters say that it is time to move on. They say democracy in Cambodia is working well due to the fact that the opposition party has won 55 seats, no need for the opposition to challenge the outcome, and should let it go. They are plain wrong.
The democracy is not merely consisting of the multiple parties’ electoral system. It also consists of checks and balances with due processes. That being said, the opposition has requested the constitutional court to mandate the NEC on the behalf of the Cambodian people who believe the election has irregularities and frauds, even though CNRP knows all of these government bodies are under Prime Minister Hun Sen’s control. However, the process of checks and balances are necessary and it is part of the democratic due process.
Hun Sen supporters have viewed that under Prime Minister Hun Sen, Cambodia is flourishing with economic growth of at least 7% per year. Change is not needed. They even claim that the opposition is a bunch of trouble makers who are disturbing a peaceful and prosperous Cambodia, and they should not organize any protest of the result of the election.
Protest is part of democracy as freedom of assembly, and without protest, the voice of the people may not be heard, and would be very much pretentious. Liberty is one of the ingredients of democracy where people can speak freely against the government without persecution and intimidation. By having tanks and armor personal carries and thousands of troops ready to suppress or even to kill the protesters is not democracy. By pointing a finger at CNRP as trouble makers is very much blaming the victims.
Prime Minister Hun Sen Supporters, perhaps, misunderstands the terminology of peace. Peace is not just the silence of the guns, but the need to be obtaining liberty and justice, where money can’t buy. We agree there were no wars for last twenty years or so, but the people of Cambodia do not have the justice they deserve. Lands are being taken from them by the most powerful elites. When the people were staging protests against the government, they often ended up in prison, because the judicial system is not independent and transparent. A percentage of these lands have been leased for 99 years to the top foreign investors while those people who lost their lands get a few items from the Cambodian Red Cross such as a few bottles of fish sour and soy sour, a bag of rice, and a case of spring water. These foreign companies believe that the deal is legitimate and well protected by international law while the Cambodian power elites who are in joint ventures with the companies believes it would be benefiting their families for many generations to come. We know well that, what was legal in the past might not be legal today, and what is legal today might not be legal in the future, and being legal is not necessarily right. For example, during the Pre-American Civil War in which slavery was considered legal but not necessarily right. The 99 years deal between Hun Sen’s top brass and these companies may not be bound in the future. Those who steal lands and properties from the people are criminals and those who bought stolen properties are also criminals.
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