Increased repression in Cambodia; Sam Rainsy exploits discontent... posted by Richard Seymour

I've written about this before , but it is worth remembering that the present regime in Cambodia is largely US-imposed. For years, the US supported the Khmer Rouge and their allies (the so-called Non-Communist Resistance) as they fought the Vietnamese rulers who ousted the Pol Pot regime.

Today, the opposition leader Sam Rainsy has called for foreign intervention , although not an invasion, claiming that the government is becoming corrupt and autocratic. His claims about the government are solid, and his party in particular has been subject to intimidation. Before you start moistening for the poor opposition repressed by an authoritarian state, however, there are a couple of things you need to bear in mind.

Funcinpec, a political party set up by then Prince and now ex-King Norodum Sihanouk in 1981, is now in a ruling coalition with the Cambodian People's Party (CPP, led by Hun Sen, formerly of the Vietnamese-imposed regime), with the CPP in overwhelming majority. The Sam Rainsy party became the official opposition when this coalition was announced. Since then, Rainsy has styled himself as an anti-corruption campaigner. In reality, he is a reactionary demagogue who is manoeuvring for control of an increasingly authoritarian state.

Rainsy was a member for Funcinpec since its inception. As the vehicle of the crackpot and Khmer Rouge sympathiser, Sihanouk, it fought alongside Pol Pot's forces to oust the Vietnamese with considerable US support. In 1989, he became its European spokesman. In 1987, peace talks had begun between Sihanouk and Sen, (romantically enough, the pair began making sweet noises at each other in a Paris hotel room). Eventually, in 1989, this led to France hosting the Paris International Conference on Cambodia (PICC), a peace process involving four key Cambodian parties: the Sihanouk faction (Funcinpec), the Son San faction (KPNLF), the
Khieu Samphan faction (the Khmer Rouge), and the Hun Sen faction (the Phnom Penh government). It also drew in the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, six Asean members, Australia, Japan and several non-aligned countries.

Agreement was reached between the parties in September 1991 and, on the basis of this, the UN launched a transitional authority in Cambodia (known as UNTAC). Elections held in 1993, (opposed by the Khmer Rouge for the perfectly excellent reason that no one would vote to increase their likelihood of being exterminated) saw Funcinpec win 58 of 120 seats, while the CPP won 51 seats. Rainsy was made Finance Minister, on a pro-Western free-market ticket, but ran his office so incompetently that he was expelled after a vote of no confidence.

Stripped of his seat, he formed his own party - the Khmer National Party, and declared a personal war on 'the Communists' (the CPP). Standing in the 1998 elections, his party (by then renamed the Sam Rainsy Party) won only 14% of the popular vote. However, his later claims that the elections were marred by extensive state violence are well-founded. The Joint International Observation Group (JIOG), a U.N.-coordinated body of thirty-seven countries, declared the elections 'free and fair' before the counting was completed, having only stayed for a few days and despite considerable evidence of intimidation and violence. Both the Sam Rainsy Party and Funcinpec refused to recognise the results.

Rainsy has lobbied energetically to terminate all foreign aid to Cambodia, and opposes the country's admission to Asean. His party has ties with the International Republican Institute, and is therefore influential overseas. Although he has not resiled from his right-wing economic policies, he now poses as a friend of the workers, throwing himself along with his wife into agitating among garment workers. Rainsy is not averse to stirring up racism, saying he will crack down on Vietnamese living illegally in Cambodia because he accuses them of 'misappropriating land'. ("They are more into creating their own villages and do not understand the culture they're living in," Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian Son Chhay said. "That's dangerous.") He has described the Vietnamese as "yuon", meaning "savage", and describes the Israeli occupation of Palestine as 'the Jew occupation' . He is presently in alliance with his old party, the vehicle of a demented ex-monarch known for his complicity with the Khmer Rouge.

Rainsy is a disappointed authoritarian, a reactionary and a demagogue. He is using his international leverage, which matters a great deal in Cambodia, in his attempt to win control of a state which would be no less brutal under his rule. Everyone should support the struggle for workers rights and democracy in Cambodia; no one should be taken in by the bigoted opportunist presently serenading the Western media.