PHNOM PENH (The Cambodia Herald) -- The political tension is the opportunity for both elected parties to show their muscles to each other. Until now, the habit of doing politics with retaliation still exists although Cambodia has experienced her political turning point for two decades already. In this regard, politicians should change their thought toward each other in order to follow the new political turning point.
Should politicians competing each other for power be enemy or just opponent? This is what politicians have to know for sure. Before 1993, it wasn’t weird that politicians considered other parties enemies because Cambodia during that time was in the context of old political practice in which political struggle was the life-and-death issue.
Since 1993, the way to choose a leader through election, known as democracy, has replaced the old political regime in which weapons were used to take over or protect the power. Yet, people’s thought has been a bit slower than the changing of politics. The government hasn’t changed substantially in terms of behavior and the way of doing politics. This is a mirror to reflect the political situation in Cambodia.
As we remember, in the period right after the first general election in 1993, the political situation was far more serious than that of today because Cambodian politicians weren’t accustomed to the new political regime. Not long after the election, a dispute erupted and a clash took place in middle of the capital city on July 5-6, 1997.
This dispute destroyed the arm forces of the Funcinpec Party to the ground. Not only were the arm forces demolished, but also the popularity of this royalist party was gradually diminished to win no seats in the National Assembly in this new mandate. This lesson served as a double-edged blade in Cambodian politics. On the one hand it encouraged politicians to learn to cooperate with each other in order to avoid such terrible consequences.
On the other hand it made the opposition party too scared to work with the ruling party because they feared they would end up like Funcinpec Party. The sensitivity has grown among politicians from the opposition party since they believe that being too close with the ruling party is just like a political suicide. Therefore, the opposition party always keeps distance from and is immiscible with the ruling party, just like oil and water.
However, in order to promote the culture of democracy in Cambodia, politicians should abandon the culture of retaliation to create a new political environment that could change the image of political enemies to political opponents. Political opponents are referred to those competing for power in a ring in which all players don’t consider each other enemies.
In most democratic countries around the world, politicians can work together despite their opposite political tendency. Furthermore, the transfer of power between the losers and the winners goes smoothly with hand shake. Both losers and winners live together with harmony and dignity.
It’s time for politicians in Cambodia to learn from those experiences so as to create a new environment for all parties to be able to work together smoothly and not to lose their interests. The political confrontation always exists but it’s important not to have violence and retaliation.
If politicians stop seeing each other as enemies, they will be able to address the political problems and peacefully deal with the issue of power transfer between the party losing the election and the party winning the election. On the contrary, if they continue to see each other as enemies, the democracy will not only be weakened, but also be eliminated in the future.
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