THE ROYAL CAMBODIAN GOVERNMENT (RGC ) IS DANCING TO THE SAME OLD, RETIRED TUNE, IN SAME SAME OLD SHOES.
There we go again, another UN special rapporteur for human rights who is under fire for refusing to be intimidated by the government of Cambodia. Recent criticism made by CPP lawmaker, Mr. Cheam Yeap and other officials, toward current UN rep, Mr. Surya Subedi resembling much of same old rhetoric and tactics used against a former respectable UN rep, Mr. Yashi Ghai. It's a typical culture of Cambodian government in its state of constant denial, refusing to accept all facts concerning critical issues, from land grabbings, forced evictions, deforestation, political harrashment and assassination, land concessions to cronic corruptions - the list goes on. It has been 16 years under the chairmanship of the CPP, and up until now the corruption law still has not been passed. One has to wonder why it takes forever to pass such an act to curb rampant corruptions in the country?
As the government of Cambodia is working aggressively to brush off or balance its own negative images resulted from the Tom Lantos Commissioin Hearing, it was not something our RCG want to hear from the UN rep. Any positive words or indications from UN's top diplomat would have been much welcoming - unfortunately it wasn't any goodies there which in turn dealt a major blow to the arguments and credibility of the RGC. Our UN rep in this case, refused to tell the world lies in order to be on the good side of the RCG. To do or look otherwise would have been done at the expense of human rights advancement and democracy in Cambodia.
"UN rapporteur Surya Subedi criticised Cambodia’s criminalisation of defamation and said that rule of law and judicial independence remain limited." This particular subject is highly sensitive to the the eyes and ears of the CPP-led government since it exposed the underlining issue facing Cambodia's infantile democracy. The fact that the Cambodian government has long successfully used the court to silence its critics, jailed and/or harrash anyone, journalists, legal practictioners, oppositions so on and so forth, therefore, it does not want to see any change to the structure and practices of its culture of abuse. It's a new controlled method, cleverly as it has been applied, to clamp down on dissenting voices. It's a lot better than the day of the Grenade attack 1997, the daylight killing of political oppositions, journalists and activists. Having said that, there are still remoting cases which are still highly political through out the country. Any criticism of the government poor records, activities or policies, could get you in trouble real fast depend how the government wants the court to do, and in all cases, the court would do exactly as the government ordered - That is an order, Mr. & Madame Justice, please define defamation according to the law,"our law, of course" in any whichway that a serious critic ends up in jail, fine or both. Otherwise, the judge could be transferred to the outskirt of another remote town, north of the country as seen in the past. That kind of old communist practices scared all the judges through out the entire nation. This particular law, defamation, has been the RGC`s political campaign and a popular game among the power elites and their clans. It works beautifully to the governement advantage orignially designed from a legal standpoint, at least, in the eyes of theCPP-lead government itself. To the free world and advanced democratic countries, this defamation clause is pretty mediocre at best, a law which is ill-defined and rarely has its merit when it comes to all sort of bogus charges laid against critics of the government. The UN rep., Mr. Subedi, saw there is a real need to improve the rule of law and strengthening judicial system.
This once again, remind me words from one of my mentors, an old Cambodian history teacher, Mr. Sakhan. He said that,"this defamation law and its way of criminalizing people is the most effective way to clamdown on government critics, tramping on people's rights and take away their properties, make people lives in fear, and reduce Cambodia to a bismal state of nothing ." He added that, "As long as this particular law remains in force, it will spell irreversible long term disaster for Cambodia and the majority Cambodian poors." I could not have said better myself, given the facts that our governing institutions are so wobbling to the base. The idea that a country can only lead by a strong man seems somewhat primitive, especially in the 21th century. in the case of Cambodia, it has been the cultural nature of such which always bring Cambodia in circle, again and again. As my dad and many other wisemen said, "Cambodia needs no strong man but strong institutions."
In a democratic country, seperation of powers is a must. In Cambodia mediocre democracy, a strong an independent judicial system is a must. There is no substitute for such an independent body - one that understood its judicial responsibilities, not only to its institution but the whole country. A supreme body that equal in its share of power to tell the ruling government to butt out of its legal business. Cambodia is a long way from such reality, even 16 years after UNTAC awarded with billions of taxpayers money. As long as the ruling party, the government of Cambodia in this case, continues to employ its punishment and reward systems through its networks of loyal appointed officials, then, Cambodia is going down the road of Unpleasant Lane and its future will remain unsettled and murky at best. Social apprehension, economic imbalance, weak institutions and systemic corruptions will bring Cambodia back to another sad chapter in its twist and turned history.
As long as the UN rep continues to speak the truths, then the government of Cambodia will continue to attack his noble works, by singing and dancing to the same old tune it had employed successfully against the former UN rep Yash Ghai. One time, you fool me. Two times, you fool who??? On the flip side of things, the Cambodian government might wake up to the reality of which it might finally realized that democracy is the best for not only themselves, but Cambodia and all peoples, given its unfortunate history. There are much to learn from the past and too easily to forget, as well. It has always been my belief that a real genuine democracy in Cambodia can still be achieved if the will of the international donors are there to set the bench marks for achievable results. Let's hope that the world can help Cambodia gets back on its road to democracy, in practicality, not just a façade. One, get rid of the defamation clause and two, strengthening the rule of law, by reforming our justice system and its body from top to bottom.
There we go again, another UN special rapporteur for human rights who is under fire for refusing to be intimidated by the government of Cambodia. Recent criticism made by CPP lawmaker, Mr. Cheam Yeap and other officials, toward current UN rep, Mr. Surya Subedi resembling much of same old rhetoric and tactics used against a former respectable UN rep, Mr. Yashi Ghai. It's a typical culture of Cambodian government in its state of constant denial, refusing to accept all facts concerning critical issues, from land grabbings, forced evictions, deforestation, political harrashment and assassination, land concessions to cronic corruptions - the list goes on. It has been 16 years under the chairmanship of the CPP, and up until now the corruption law still has not been passed. One has to wonder why it takes forever to pass such an act to curb rampant corruptions in the country?
As the government of Cambodia is working aggressively to brush off or balance its own negative images resulted from the Tom Lantos Commissioin Hearing, it was not something our RCG want to hear from the UN rep. Any positive words or indications from UN's top diplomat would have been much welcoming - unfortunately it wasn't any goodies there which in turn dealt a major blow to the arguments and credibility of the RGC. Our UN rep in this case, refused to tell the world lies in order to be on the good side of the RCG. To do or look otherwise would have been done at the expense of human rights advancement and democracy in Cambodia.
"UN rapporteur Surya Subedi criticised Cambodia’s criminalisation of defamation and said that rule of law and judicial independence remain limited." This particular subject is highly sensitive to the the eyes and ears of the CPP-led government since it exposed the underlining issue facing Cambodia's infantile democracy. The fact that the Cambodian government has long successfully used the court to silence its critics, jailed and/or harrash anyone, journalists, legal practictioners, oppositions so on and so forth, therefore, it does not want to see any change to the structure and practices of its culture of abuse. It's a new controlled method, cleverly as it has been applied, to clamp down on dissenting voices. It's a lot better than the day of the Grenade attack 1997, the daylight killing of political oppositions, journalists and activists. Having said that, there are still remoting cases which are still highly political through out the country. Any criticism of the government poor records, activities or policies, could get you in trouble real fast depend how the government wants the court to do, and in all cases, the court would do exactly as the government ordered - That is an order, Mr. & Madame Justice, please define defamation according to the law,"our law, of course" in any whichway that a serious critic ends up in jail, fine or both. Otherwise, the judge could be transferred to the outskirt of another remote town, north of the country as seen in the past. That kind of old communist practices scared all the judges through out the entire nation. This particular law, defamation, has been the RGC`s political campaign and a popular game among the power elites and their clans. It works beautifully to the governement advantage orignially designed from a legal standpoint, at least, in the eyes of theCPP-lead government itself. To the free world and advanced democratic countries, this defamation clause is pretty mediocre at best, a law which is ill-defined and rarely has its merit when it comes to all sort of bogus charges laid against critics of the government. The UN rep., Mr. Subedi, saw there is a real need to improve the rule of law and strengthening judicial system.
This once again, remind me words from one of my mentors, an old Cambodian history teacher, Mr. Sakhan. He said that,"this defamation law and its way of criminalizing people is the most effective way to clamdown on government critics, tramping on people's rights and take away their properties, make people lives in fear, and reduce Cambodia to a bismal state of nothing ." He added that, "As long as this particular law remains in force, it will spell irreversible long term disaster for Cambodia and the majority Cambodian poors." I could not have said better myself, given the facts that our governing institutions are so wobbling to the base. The idea that a country can only lead by a strong man seems somewhat primitive, especially in the 21th century. in the case of Cambodia, it has been the cultural nature of such which always bring Cambodia in circle, again and again. As my dad and many other wisemen said, "Cambodia needs no strong man but strong institutions."
In a democratic country, seperation of powers is a must. In Cambodia mediocre democracy, a strong an independent judicial system is a must. There is no substitute for such an independent body - one that understood its judicial responsibilities, not only to its institution but the whole country. A supreme body that equal in its share of power to tell the ruling government to butt out of its legal business. Cambodia is a long way from such reality, even 16 years after UNTAC awarded with billions of taxpayers money. As long as the ruling party, the government of Cambodia in this case, continues to employ its punishment and reward systems through its networks of loyal appointed officials, then, Cambodia is going down the road of Unpleasant Lane and its future will remain unsettled and murky at best. Social apprehension, economic imbalance, weak institutions and systemic corruptions will bring Cambodia back to another sad chapter in its twist and turned history.
As long as the UN rep continues to speak the truths, then the government of Cambodia will continue to attack his noble works, by singing and dancing to the same old tune it had employed successfully against the former UN rep Yash Ghai. One time, you fool me. Two times, you fool who??? On the flip side of things, the Cambodian government might wake up to the reality of which it might finally realized that democracy is the best for not only themselves, but Cambodia and all peoples, given its unfortunate history. There are much to learn from the past and too easily to forget, as well. It has always been my belief that a real genuine democracy in Cambodia can still be achieved if the will of the international donors are there to set the bench marks for achievable results. Let's hope that the world can help Cambodia gets back on its road to democracy, in practicality, not just a façade. One, get rid of the defamation clause and two, strengthening the rule of law, by reforming our justice system and its body from top to bottom.
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