Cambodian hopes and Western shame
on Phnom Penh Pal (Cambodia), 22/Aug/2013 03:06, 34 days ago
The guy I go to get my haircut beside my work once asked me if Australia was close to England. He thought France, America, England and Australia were all beside each other. In fact, he said that for him, they were all the same country. When you think about it, this isn't as strange as you first think. The people he would have met from these countries would mostly have been white, dressed similarly and spoke with him in English.Other people, such as those that I work with, have more international knowledge and indeed aspire to be like other countries. In aprevious blog I wrote about the allure of Obama and America that exists in Cambodia, but the more I speak to people, the more I realise that it is only an idealised knowledge of America and other countries that many have.Before the Cambodian election, Cambodians would discuss how the playing field for the election might not be level, because the ruling party controlled the media, had garnered huge finances and generally had the apparatus of the state at their disposal. I would be asked how fair campaign finance, an objective, independent media or judicial independence was organised in other countries, with the clear belief that they existed in America or the UK. I felt slightly ashamed.Currently, the election disputes continue. The ruling party released their results on the day of the election on state TV saying they won 68 seats and the opposition 55. The opposition has rejected these saying there has been widespread manipulation. The National Election Committee (NEC) has, as expected, rejected these claims after a quick investigation. The NEC has not announced official results for each seat yet but have released total votes by province which supports the Government's version of results. The denouement is approaching.The opposition is now lobbying the UN to get involved, and friends are asking me about whether the UN would get involved if potential protests were met with armed police and soldiers. When we talk about this, you can see people staring into the distance, or more accurately the future, as they contemplate what may happen. The Government has made sure they don't have to look too far to notice the extra soldiers around Phnom Penh.Cambodians have a good experience of the UN, having been governed by the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia in 1992-93 which ended with the King returning, an elected government and much greater peace. This feeds the belief amongst some that the UN must intervene, because the UN is on the side of justice and right and opposing electoral fraud and corruption are surely these.Unfortunately, their lack of international knowledge means that there is little realisation that the UN cannot act without the consent of the Security Council, which takes us back to individual countries like America, the UK and China. They ask me about Egypt, the 650 deaths and why the UN has not intervened. The implication is a fear that if 650 Cambodians die, nobody will come to help.I am about to leave to go back to the UK for a week, with a greater understanding that what we do over there serves as an example to people who believe that their country should enjoy honest politicians, a free and objective media, independent courts and freedom of speech. We weaken their cause when we set a different example.GordonPS, by different example, I mean arresting a man because his partner wrote articles about a man who exposed the truth that democratic Governments were spying on their own citizens to a huge extent.