By BRAD ADAMS
The Wall Street Journal
November 18, 2012
In his election-night victory speech in Chicago, U.S. President Barack Obama
recognized that people in many parts of the world are still struggling
for the most basic of rights. "We can never forget that as we speak,
people in distant nations are risking their lives right now just for a
chance to argue about the issues that matter…" Mr. Obama could have been
talking about Cambodia, where this week he will make the first-ever
visit by a U.S. president to attend the East Asia Summit.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has a different view. As Arab Spring
protests broke out in 2011, leading to the fall of fellow strongmen,
some in Cambodia had the temerity to suggest that it was also time for
him to go. Hun Sen's response was typically threatening: "I not only
weaken the opposition, I'm going to make them dead ... and if anyone is
strong enough to try to hold a demonstration, I will beat all those dogs
and put them in a cage."
During Hun Sen's time in power, many opposition figures have indeed
ended up dead. Death squads have targeted opposition figures in
election-related violence, while labor leaders and journalists have been
assassinated.
Despite the fact that in many cases the
killers are known, in not one case has there been a credible
investigation and conviction. Worse, many have been promoted. The
Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Interior websites listing senior
military and police officials are a veritable Who's Who of human rights
abusers.
One person now in a cage is Mam Sonando, the owner of Cambodia's most
prominent independent radio station, Beehive Radio. Mr. Sonando has
long angered the government by broadcasting Khmer-language news from
U.S.-funded Radio Free Asia and hosting call-in shows where average
Cambodians vent against corruption and abuses.
Facing trumped-up charges publicly endorsed by Hun Sen of
participating in a secession movement, Mr. Sonando showed considerable
courage and returned from Paris to stand trial. On Oct. 1, a Phnom Penh
court sentenced him to 20 years in prison–essentially a life sentence
for a 71-year-old.
Hun Sen has long wanted to put opposition leader Sam Rainsy in a
cage. Since he started an opposition party in 1995, Mr. Rainsy has
survived assassination attempts, constant threats and a variety of
criminal charges. He now lives in exile in Paris after being sentenced
to a total of 12 years in a trial transparently aimed at preventing him
from taking part in next year's national elections.
Like Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi,
Mr. Rainsy has always practiced non-violence. Unlike Ms. Suu Kyi, he
and Cambodia's opposition have been largely ignored by the world.
Hun Sen has been in power for 27 years, while his Cambodian People's
Party (CPP) has ruled the country since 1979. He is now one of the
world's 10 longest-serving leaders, while the CPP is on the verge of
succeeding in returning Cambodia to the one-party state it ran in the
1980s.
The parallels with Mubarak's Egypt, Ben Ali's Tunisia and Gaddafi's
Libya are striking. Yet the lessons of the Arab Spring seem not to have
been learned when it comes to Cambodia. The U.S. and other governments
issue critical statements from time to time, but they have no strategy
or policy to ensure pluralism, the protection of opposition politicians
and critics, or an end to the violence and impunity that characterize
contemporary Cambodia. Hun Sen has run circles around feckless
governments, laughing all the way to the bank as donor assistance
continues to roll in.
Cambodians have high expectations for Mr. Obama's visit. Villagers
facing illegal eviction near Phnom Penh's airport even painted pictures
of Obama on the roofs of their corrugated metal homes with the message
"SOS." Eight of them were arrested on Thursday.
Cambodians hope Mr. Obama will publicly and clearly demand the pardon
of Sam Rainsy and Mam Sonando, the creation of a new and independent
national election commission to administer next year's elections, and
the dismissal of known human rights abusers in the government, military
and police.
Failure to speak out would be a huge missed opportunity that would
significantly tarnish Obama's second term even before it starts. Quiet
diplomacy will not be enough, as the government will use its near
monopoly of the media to say that the President of the United States
left town without making any demands on the government. Such a visit,
complete with smiling photo-ops, would give Hun Sen and the CPP the
international legitimacy they have long sought.
A strong and public stand in favor of rights and democracy could give
hope to and even galvanize the Cambodian people. It would send a
message to the region that the vaunted U.S. "pivot" on Asia has moral as
well as economic and security content. As he did in his first term in
China and Egypt, Mr. Obama shouldspeak over the head of an abusive
government, making it clear that his election-day remarks were not just
hollow words to please a crowd in Chicago.
Mr. Adams is Asia director at Human Rights Watch
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