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Australia must stop ‘sucking up’ to Cambodia’s ‘gangster regime’: MP
Australia must stop ‘sucking up’ to Cambodia’s ‘gangster regime’: MP
By Anthony Galloway and James Massola
December 4, 2019 — 2.52pm
Australian MPs from both major parties have united to condemn Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in the wake of the dictator’s political opponent being put on trial for widely criticised treason charges.
Liberal and Labor politicians have also sounded the alarm on Chinese influence in the south-east Asian nation, including a planned military build up in the beach town of Sihanoukville.
A Cambodian court this week sent Opposition Leader Kem Sokha’s case to trial, after he was arrested in 2017 and his party banned ahead of an election last year that was condemned by the international community.
Monovithya Kem, the exiled daughter of Mr Sokha and herself a major opposition figure, said the Australian government could do much more to pressure the Cambodian government.
“Targeted individual sanctions should happen immediately and only be lifted the day that Cambodia holds free, fair elections,” she told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
The European Union last month gave a one-month deadline for Hun Sen to explain what he will do to address human rights violations, while the United States Congress is also considering how to respond.
Labor MP Julian Hill said the Cambodian Prime Minister was running a “gangster regime” and Australia needed to change its approach.
“Putting the Opposition Leader on trial for treason? I mean seriously,” Mr Hill said.
“The Australian Government has to stop sucking up to Hun Sen and rethink our approach.
“It’s way past time that Australia consider tougher measures such as visa bans and asset freezes for senior members of this odious regime.”
Mr Hill said he would now push for a parliamentary inquiry into Cambodia through the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade.
Liberal Senator James Paterson said the charges against Mr Sokha were further evidence that Cambodia was flouting democratic norms.
“Julian Hill and I are unlikely allies. We are from opposite ends of opposing political parties,” Senator Paterson said.
Read More …Hun Sen Responds to Trump Letter, Ignores Call for Course Correction
Hun Sen Responds to Trump Letter, Ignores Call for Course Correction
28 November 2019
- Kann Vicheika
- VOA Khmer
Hun Sen’s letter called for the creation of a working group with member from both countries, with the aim of discussing ways to improve bilateral relations.PHNOM PENH —
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday responded to a letter sent by President Donald Trump last week by saying he was keen to improve bilateral relations and hoped to move past the “dark chapters” of their shared history.
The prime minister wrote his own letter, dated November 26, 2019, in response to a letter sent by President Trump and delivered by U.S. Ambassador W Patrick Murphy last week. In that letter, Trump said the U.S. was looking to restore bilateral relations and was not pushing for a regime change.
Hun Sen said he agreed with Trump that their bilateral relations had been through “ups and downs” and that the two countries should not be held back by their past issues.
“I am of the view that we should not become hostage of a few dark chapters of our own history,” Hun Sen writes in the letter. “There are so many other beautiful chapters that are worth nourishing for the greater good of both of our countries and people.”
The Cambodian government has routinely accused the United States of orchestrating an alleged color revolution to overthrow the government. It used this so-called revolution narrative to dissolve the opposition party in 2017, jail opposition leader Kem Sokha, and crackdown on NGOs and independent media organizations.
Hun Sen’s letter called for the creation of a working group with member from both countries, with the aim of discussing ways to improve bilateral relations.
Read More …Hun Sen rival faces trial even as EU threatens Cambodia sanctions
Hun Sen rival faces trial even as EU threatens Cambodia sanctions
Op-Ed: Nekei Asean Review, Kem Sokha will be tried for treason despite being released from house arrest
SHAUN TURTON, Contributing Writer NOVEMBER 19, 2019 14:35 JST
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and the European Union flag. The EU last week sent Cambodia its preliminary report on whether to suspend the country from special trade privileges over its human rights record. (Nikkei Montage/ Source photo by Reuters)
PHNOM PENH — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is pressing ahead with a treason case against a leading opposition figure who has just been released from house arrest, despite the nation facing European Union trade sanctions over its human rights record.
Hun Sen said on Monday that charges against Kem Sokha would not be dropped as demanded by the EU, Cambodia’s biggest export destination. “This case doesn’t require one or two days, or one month or two months, it will take a long time,” the strongman leader said.
Sokha was arrested in 2017 and faces up to 15 years in prison for what the government has claimed were plans for a U.S.-backed coup. His arrest and the subsequent Supreme Court ruling that dissolved his main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), saw Hun Sen’s ruling party capture every parliamentary seat in last year’s national election.
The crackdown, which also targeted civil society and media outlets, sparked an EU review of the country’s special trade privileges under the Everything But Arms scheme (EBA).
Losing the preference, which grants duty and quota free access to the bloc for all exports except weapons and ammunition, could be disastrous for the country’s 750,000-worker strong apparel and footwear sector, which generated more than $8 billion in exports last year.
The EU last week sent Cambodia its preliminary report on whether to suspend the country from the initiative, which is conditional on countries abiding by human and labor rights set out by the United Nations.
Its findings were not made public but a leaked copy, obtained by Radio Free Asia, reportedly concluded Cambodia had not taken enough steps to address “severe and systematic” violations of its principles.
In a statement, Cambodia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry claimed RFA’s coverage of the report was “not accurate” but did not provide any details from the document to contradict the outlet’s story. It said the government would review the report and submit “an appropriate response that will reflect updates of recent developments.”
In a sign of the mounting pressure, authorities last week relaxed house arrest conditions for Sokha, who can now travel in Cambodia but cannot leave the country or participate in political activities. The court also officially closed the case’s more than two-year investigation period.
In announcing the charges would not be dropped on Monday, Hun Sen claimed the court process was “independent,” an assertion at odds with the track record of Cambodia’s politically compliant judiciary.
President of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) Kem Sokha, right, shakes hands with European Union ambassador to Cambodia Carmen Moreno at his home in Phnom Penh on Nov. 13. © Reuters
Just last week, Hun Sen ordered the release on bail of more than 70 opposition activists arrested for supporting failed plans by self-exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy to return to Cambodia and lead an uprising.
Following a familiar playbook, the moves appeared an effort to soften the oppression of opponents. The government also announced tentative steps to allowing independent media to once again purchase airtime on local radio stations.
Sebastian Strangio, author of “Hun Sen’s Cambodia,” said using prisoners as “bargaining chips” was a well established practice by the strongman over his 30 years in power.
“These types of concessions have long been part of the political game,” he said.
“The pattern has concealed a steady drift towards more and more control in Hun Sen and the CPP’s hands,” Strangio said. “The EU had to threaten half a billion dollars estimated worth of economic impacts on Cambodia in order to get Hun Sen to back down on this and it’s taken a plus to get this concession out of him.”
But whether Hun Sen’s apparent concessions will sway the EU remains to be seen. While Sokha’s improved conditions were welcomed, the move also appeared a strategic ploy to engender a split between the opposition leader and his CNRP co-founder, Sam Rainsy.
“The decision has been made to play Kem Sokha against Sam Rainsy, to dilute, diminish or marginalize Sam Rainsy at the time his status has been rising,” longtime Cambodian political commentator Lao Mong Hay told the Nikkei Asian Review. “It’s too late and too little,” he said of the concessions.
Cambodia’s exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy talks to the media upon arrival at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Indonesia on Thursday. He met lawmakers in Indonesia before returning to his base in Paris. © AP
Read More …Hun Sen orders release of 70 Cambodia opposition activists
Hun Sen orders release of 70 Cambodia opposition activists
Longtime leader says people who had been accused of plotting to overthrow the government should be released on bail.
![Cambodia's longtime Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered the release of 70 opposition activists. [Samrang Pring/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2019/11/14/c3775976a8f5449f92cf53575619a66a_18.jpg)
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday ordered the release on bail of more than 70 opposition activists who have been arrested in recent weeks and accused of plotting to overthrow the government.
Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for more than 34 years, has been under increasing international pressure to improve his human rights record, with the European Union threatening the withdrawal of important trade benefits.
“There are over 70 people, please hurry up work on this case so that these brothers can be released on bail,” Hun Sen said in a speech at a new cement factory in the southern province of Kampot, in comments directed at judicial authorities.
Cambodia arrested dozens of people in the run-up to last Saturday, when veteran opposition leader Sam Rainsy had said he would return from self-imposed exile in Paris to rally opposition to Hun Sen.
Trade in balance
In the event, amid growing government pressure on his party and its supporters, Rainsy flew to Malaysia before arriving in Indonesia on Thursday. He said he had been prevented from flying to Thailand where his deputy, Mu Sochua, had been refused entry last month.
On Saturday, Cambodia also relaxed the house arrest conditions on opposition leader Kem Sokha, who was arrested on treason charges more than two years ago. He says the charges are ridiculous and has called for them to be dropped.
Kem Sokha and Sam Rainsy co-founded the Cambodia National Rescue Party, which was banned in 2017.
Read More …