It is hard for millions of Khmer people to comprehend why a group of corrupt dictators, who rule Cambodia with iron hands, is being supported by international community and also by some superpowers in the world. Such an evil institution, like the Hun Sen/Ranaridh's regime, must not be allowed to exist if the world really want to win the total war on terrorism.

First, there is no legitimate government and private businesses in which the world can really bank their money on in Cambodia. Nearly all business networks are underground businesses and/or evil trades. Illicit businesses such as money laundering; narcotics-related corruption involving officials in the government, military, and police; opium, heroin, and amphetamine production and trafficking; largest production of cannabis for the international market; human trafficking and other countless illegal activities continue to be supported and protected by Cambodian government. The criminals who run such evil businesses have been harbored by Hun Sen/Ranaridh's regime. Therefore the Hun Sen/Ranaridh regime are no better than the Taliban and any other terrorist groups.

Secondly, environmental destruction still continues despite numerous protests by experts and by the Cambodian people. Illegal logging activities are being carried out by corrupt officials and businessmen throughout the country. The destruction of Cambodia's forestry has caused thousands of lives and billions of dollars worth of properties due to flood and drought. Nearly all of the 1 million hectares of inundated forests that once surrounded Tonle Sap Lake and other bodies of water are gone.

Strip mining for gems in the western region along the border with Thailand have resulted in habitat loss and declining bio-diversity (in particular, destruction of mangrove swamps threatens natural fisheries). The combination of mining and illegal logging have caused soil erosion which is the main AND DANGEROUS factor for the siltation of Tonle Sap in the very near future. Such a siltation will be deadly and devastated to Cambodian economic infrastructures and Cambodian lives.

The Chinese toxic waste delivery from Taiwan with the approval of corrupt Cambodian officials, terrorized millions, sparked fear and unrest in Kampong Som in December 1998. 3, 000 tons of crumbly, sludge-filled blocks of poisonous mercury ended up in an open pit in Ream near the port of Sihanoukville. No one was brought to justice and millions of dollars in bribery disappeared into thin air. Meanwhile, Ream of Kampong Som will be contaminated for ever. This a clear example that Cambodian government officials are no better than the Taliban and any other terrorist groups.               

Thirdly, the long-term development of Cambodia's economy after decades of war is neglected by the Hun Sen/Ranaridh's regime and remains a serious problem. The Cambodian population lacks education and productive skills, particularly in the poverty-ridden countryside, which suffers from an almost total lack of basic infrastructure. Money and resources given to help with Cambodia's economic problems have been abused by Cambodia's corrupt government officials. As the result, more and more Cambodians are getting poorer and poorer every day. However, Cambodian government officials are being able to live heaven and able to send their spouses, family members abroad for vacationing and for education.

Cambodia under Hun Sen/Ranaridh's regime is very similar to the Taliban of Afghanistan and many ways. Terrorists breed and live with (and by) corrupt government officials. If the world, especially the US, continue to support this regime blindly, sooner or later this regime will come back to bite our freedom, democracy and hurt our children just like the Taliban has done. In fact, this regime have really caused major economic, social and environmental problems for Cambodia and for the countries of the world.

There are quiet angers and resentments in the heart of the mass population of Cambodia. The people are not just being angry and being resentful with the corrupt Cambodian government officials but they are also angry and resentful with those who help support such a thuggish and terrorist government. If the US and the world need to win the war on terrorism they must also target evil and terrorist government which terrorizes its own people and population. A terrorist government is no deferent from any terrorist groups, in fact such a government may be better protected by the world community and it doesn't have to be this way.

May the world win the war on all terrorism including terrorist governments. Down with the evildoers!
     
     Virak Pruhm

Terrorism and Drugs Trafficking

Hun Sen and his teammates are trying hard and pretending that they are with the Americans in the fight against the terrorists. Hun Sen even volunteers to help remove land mines in Afghanistan while millions mines are still remaining in Cambodia. Cmac's Ieng Mouly (if he's still with CMAC) may be sent to Afghanistan soon to help remove land mines. Regardless of what Hun Sen is trying to do now, Hun Sen's regime is no better than the Taliban. The Taliban harbors Bin Laden, Hun Sen's regime harbors guys like Theng Boonma and company. Drugs trafficking is a major problem for the United States and it should be treated as bad as terrorism.

According to the US, the following are major illicit drug producing or major drug-transit countries: Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Thailand, Venezuela, and Vietnam.  Hong Kong and Taiwan were removed from the list of major illicit drug producing or major drug-transit countries.

Afghanistan is under heavy attacks. Drugs trafficking from that country will soon slow down. There are indications that narcotics trafficking through Cambodia is becoming an increasingly significant problem for the US and the world. Thai law enforcement efforts and capabilities have also improved and traffickers have shifted their new routes to Cambodia.
   
Up to last year Cambodia was estimated by the UN to be one of the largest producers of marijuana for the world market, a business thought to be worth almost $1 billion annually. Cambodia's northern border with Laos is seeing increased inflows of drugs and the Mekong River is becoming the main artery of distribution in the country and the transit route to third countries mainly to the United States.

Under Hun Sen/Rannaridh's regime, Corruption (in Cambodia) has remained more widespread. Until this crucial problem begins to be addressed, effective law enforcement will remain elusive. The spread of international narcotics trafficking constitutes one of the most persistent and pernicious challenges to America's foreign and domestic interests in the post-Cold War era. Cutting off Cambodia's rampant drug trafficking is a must.

The United States must lead the fight against drugs traffickers and terrorists. Both drugs traffickers and terrorists destroy American well-being. Rulers of countries which harbor drugs traffickers, like Cambodia, must be dealt with accordingly. Hun Sen and Rannaridh must be held responsible for harboring drugs traffickers and other criminal as well. 

Cambodian Terrorists and Drugs trafickers...

There are too many Khmer people who have been suffering under tyrannical and thuggish regime. Crimes committed against Khmer people have never been solved. There no conformity of truth or fact in dealing with criminals whom many of them are Cambodian government officials, their party members, their family members, friends and relatives.  

Khmer people must find ways to rise up and demand to the world to help eliminate injustices in Cambodia. And it is very crucial to let the world know that the tyrants who frighten Khmer people and commit all kind of crimes against them with impunity are terrorists, and that the people who seek justices from the tyrannical regime are not being twisted around.  

Guys like Theng Boonma, who is a close friend of Premier Hun Sen and harbored by Cambodian government, is a perfect example of those who commit crimes with impunity. This is what Teng Boonma said after he shot an airplane tire: 

 I would like to tell you that if Theng Bunma does something, he never answers questions about it inaccurately. If I say I will shoot you, I'll really shoot you! Like I shot the plane's wheel. I really shot it.... I shot the plane's tire, I think wrongly, in anger.>> Fortune, 07-21-1997, pp 27.

Did Theng Boonma go to jail for shooting an airplane tire and for being a drugs trafficker? Was he a terrorist? Can you imagine if anyone else tried doing the same thing as Theng Boonma did? What would happen to his/her fate? Theng Boonma carried multinational passport and multinational citizenship. Even though he had an arrest warrant in Thailand, was called a drug baron by Singapore and the US, and was on bail in Hong Kong, Theng Bunma is still a rich and free man in Cambodia.

Why Theng Boonma is still a free man? Is it because Theng Boonma was a major financial backer of the past and current Cambodian government?  I would like to agree with president George W. Bush who has said that the US would punish the terrorists and those countries which harbor them. But, why this theory is not applicable to the drugs traffickers as well? Terrorism and drugs trafficking are both evils to the world's society. So far drugs traffickers have destroyed so many American lives. While spending trillions of dollars to catch the terrorists, the US and the world must also, at the same time, punish drugs traffickers and those countries which harbor them.

     Terrorists kill and so do drugs traffickers!

Unfair Democratic Processes: Time bombs...

No one should be surprised by the so-called victory of the "strongman's party," the communist CPP, at the communal levels (or at any levels for that matter).

The 1993 Untac's election was not considered free and fair, but it was forced to be accepted. Hun Sen's illegal government was legalized for the first time by such electoral process. Cambodia lost her chance to become free from communist Vietnam and its puppet regime, the CPP. Ridiculous numbers of political parties jumped into the unleveled playing field to help legitimize the electoral process.

 With the UNTAC's approval stamp in their hands, the two headed government controlled by Hun Sen and the CPP team have been brutalizing Khmer people continuously to this date. Symbolic protests were done by the international community, by the US and other countries after the July 97'sn coup detat but no concrete actions were made to bring justice to Khmer people. Hun Sen's regime could not survive without the help of the so-called international community led by financially powerful countries like Japan, France and others opportunistic countries which cared nothing about the people of Cambodia but their own economic and political opportunities.  

In 1998, Hun Sen and his communist friends did it again. They stole the elections from the people one more time. Peaceful protesters were met with Hun Sen's violent forces. The so-called international community spoke with both sides of their mouths. Using the same tactics and deceitful manners Hun Sen and his CPP managed to bully Khmer people with the assistance from the same "international community" which has helped finance the electoral processes. Hungry for nothing but money and power, Rannariddh's Funcinpec and the King have kowtowed to Hun Sen and CPP one more time. Since then the King and Rannaridh have been working along with the CPP against much of Cambodia's interests. SRP and other political parties were being used as mere alibis to a fake and phony democratic process.

Now this, the communal elections! This is the last power grabbing that Hun Sen and his CPP teammates need to complete via the same manners of electoral processes. Knowing full well that there were no such thing as free and fair electoral processes under the Hun Sen's regime, the international community helped finance the communist CPP one more time. Hun Sen and his team took this opportunity to legitimize its communist grass roots. Rannaridh's Funcinpec and SRP also have gone along with the elections for the third time even though they knew that there were no such thing as free and fair elections.  Many innocent lives were lost and countless more have been affected by such processes. 

According to a recent Reuters news report, "Sam Rainsy blasted the country's first ever local elections on Sunday claiming they were neither free nor fair, but said he would respect the result."  Reuters further states
that Prime minister Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) are sweeping the election. How it swept the election, however, was nor completely mentioned.

It is very difficult for the average people to comprehend Rainsy's (or any one's) acceptance and respect of the results of such elections. Why does Raingsy respect the result, if he knew that the elections were not free and fair? Better yet, why did he enter the games knowing very well that his opponent's) were crooks? However, like the previous elections, many people feel that Rainsy and Rannaridh have legally given more power to the CPP to do the same thing again: steal elections from Khmer people.

Now, this is the third strike for Rannaridh and SRP and other unorganized political parties. The first one, Khmer people have voted for a complete Change. They were betrayed by the King, Funcinpec and UNTAC. No change was done. The second time around the people still gave the oppositions their "second chance." That time, too, the King, Rannaridh and the international community betrayed Cambodian people. Since 1998, at least, the King and Funcinpec have been cooperating and collaborating with Hun Sen and the CPP working against the people's will. No change was done.

Vietnam, Hun Sen and the CPP have had 23 years to prepare for any kind of moves. They have legalized the Vietnamese invasion. They have managed to lawfully disarmed all Cambodian fighters. They have managed to dismantle all Khmer political machines. They have assassinated most of patriotic Khmers and the one who are alive now are also dead via character assassinations. Last but not least, the communist have won financial supports from the international communities. One of the most serious threat to democracy is the world's acceptance

of communists tricks. Vietnam, Hun Sen and the CPP are now beating the "free world" with our own game by using the democratic and electoral process to their own advantages. The communists do understand the process and also know how to play democratic processes to fit their dark agenda. Holding UN-free, unfair and undemocratic elections and yet the elections are acceptable. 

As long as Cambodian people are under their control; Vietnam, Hun Sen and his  CPP teammates can give order and or force most of them how to vote, when to vote, where to vote and whom to vote for. And that's all they need. With Vietnam's puppet regime in place, Vietnam can have Cambodians vote any way Vietnam wants. There is no need to have blood shed or fight in wars any more. This is the brand new way to conquer a weaker nation via "controlled

DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES."

Will Khmer people accept these kinds of games? The King will, Rannariddh will, Rainsy will... but the majority of the Khmer people WILL NOT, and they are merely time bombs.

What happens when the rule of law does not exist in Cambodia?

Without the rule of law, Cambodia lacks (a) the legal framework necessary for Cambodian civil society to flourish; (b) adequate checks on the executive and legislative branches of Cambodian government; and (c) necessary legal foundations for any free and fair electoral and political processes.

The term "rule of law" embodies the basic principles of equal treatment of all Cambodian people before the law, fairness, and both constitutional and actual guarantees of basic human rights. Human rights cannot exist in
Cambodia as long as the Hun Sen's government and his communist CPP do not respect the rule of law.

A predictable legal system with fair, transparent, and effective judicial institutions is essential to the protection of all Khmer citizens against the arbitrary use and abuse of Hun Sen's authority and lawless acts of both legal and or/ilegal organizations and individuals. Theng Bunma's gang and/or guys like Hun To and all of other Hun Sen's relatives don't have a chance to commit heinous criminal acts against innocent people.

Cambodia's, with very weak democratic traditions, existing laws, unfortunately, are not equitable and/or equitably applied; judicial independence is badly compromised and abused; Cambodian individual rights are not truly guaranteed; and almost all institutions in Cambodia have not yet developed the capacity to administer existing laws.

Keeping a corrupt and incompetent government in Cambodia will only secure weak legal institutions and weak legal institutions endanger Cambodia's democratic reform and sustainable development. The last three fake and phony electoral processes have completely destroyed future democratic reform in Cambodia forever unless a real change is made.

A serious and drastic change of the Cambodian government is needed to make sure that the rule of law exist. We must created a new alternative for Cambodian people to choose. A solid and competent team of strong leadership will earn trust from both international community and Khmer people.

Virak Pruhm
  
E-Mail PVirak@aol.com                                          Back Home