Corruption eclipses Cambodia progress

I wrote last week that in support of his assertion that his regime is popular, Premier Hun Sen cited the findings of a U.S.-based International Republican Institute's survey: 79 percent of Cambodians polled said Cambodia under Sen's government was moving in "the right direction" and 53 percent said they will vote for the Cambodian People's Party in the next election.

The world's nations have concluded long ago that "the will of the people, freely and fairly expressed through periodic and genuine elections" is "the basis of the authority and the legitimacy" of all governments.

Cambodia may be experiencing a period of relative political calm compared to death and destruction under the Khmer Rouge. New roads and new buildings are signs of progress. Still, documents referenced in previous columns published by Cambodian and international nongovernmental organizations should put a brake on the claims of governmental legitimacy and national progress in the "right direction."

The 2006 Report by the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, "Human Rights in Cambodia: The Façade of Stability"; the 2007 Report by Global Witness, "Cambodia's Family Trees"; the 2009 Report, also by Global Witness, "Country for Sale"; the Foreign Affairs Magazine's "Cambodia's Curse"; and Andrew Marshall's interview with some children of Cambodia's ruling elite, in "Khmer Riche" in the Sydney Morning Herald of Dec. 12, 2009, are only a few reports among many that document worrisome developments in today's Cambodia.

On Jan. 21, 2010, the New York-based Human Rights Watch's 612-page "World Report 2010" accused the Sen government of misusing the judiciary to silence critics, attack rights defenders, restrict press freedom, and trample Cambodia's own international obligations to protect refugees.

HRW's Asia director Brad Adams' declared: "Cambodians who speak out to defend their homes, their jobs, and their rights face threats, jail, and physical attacks."

At a minimum, there is a disconnect between documented human rights violations and the results of the IRI survey that might seem to support the claim that the country is moving in the "right direction."

In March 2009, an American couple from South Carolina -- James Garcia, an emergency medical technician and Cara Garcia, a registered nurse -- arrived in Phnom Penh, with $40,000 they collected from the sale of "everything we owned," and $16,000 they raised in donations, wanting to help Cambodians by opening a health clinic.

With health minister Mam Bunheng's permission, Garcia's clinic was opened in Kompong Thom province. There were 19 other clinics, but only three or four were reportedly open a few hours per week; the rest were either closed or boarded up. Garcia's clinic treated 900 patients every month.

Problems began when Garcia's requests for supplies and medications were met with an "out of medicine" response, while the Garcias claimed they saw the warehouse "fully stocked," and Cara Garcia saw medicines loaded into two SUVs.

In "Opinion: Cambodia will break your heart. And, with a corrupt Ministry of Health, it sure won't heal what ails you either," Stanford's Joel Brinkley wrote in GlobalPost.com on Dec. 9, 2009, that Cara Garcia "raged at government officials, questioned their honesty, blamed them for the deaths of patients the Garcias could not properly treat. Cambodian corruption, she kept shouting, was killing little children."

"In Cambodia and much of Asia, women just don't behave like that," Brinkley wrote. "She quickly made several powerful men quite angry."

In an e-mail to an acquaintance in October, James Garcia confirmed, "Cara got exceptionally angry over this injustice" at a "business meeting" next to the clinic. As she walked home later in the evening, three English-speaking men jumped out of a vehicle, dragged her into a ditch, tied her and "raped her for hours," then left her for dead. But she didn't die. Going to the police later, the police chief was angry "because we were disturbing his rest time."

James Garcia admitted to being "careless in speaking openly about corruption," but "we came to Cambodia to save lives," the e-mail reads. He said with friends and supporters using "personal funds and air miles" to help, "we managed to escape Cambodia. ... We have nothing left but our suitcases."

In "Does the U.S. know who it's dealing with in Cambodia? Absolutely, FBI files show," Douglas Gillison wrote in the Dec. 20, 2009, GlobalPost.com, that based on declassified Federal Bureau of Investigation records, "evidence" was "substantial," albeit not complete -- the investigation was cut short by "threats" on the life of FBI Special Agent Thomas Nicoletti by "hit teams" -- that the grenade attack on the March 30, 1997, opposition rally that killed 16 children, men and women and wounded more the 100 others, including an American man, "pointed to forces loyal to the man who is now Cambodia's unchallenged prime minister, to the party and the people who now dominate Cambodia unopposed and with whom the U.S., and the FBI in particular, have since sought warm relations."

HRW's Adams called the disconnect between U.S. human rights interests and security cooperation with Cambodia, "the height of hypocrisy and cynicism and should end. ... The only way that the Cambodian government will end its assault on civil society is if influential governments and donors demand real change and put the pressure on."

As it initiates or sanctions assaults on civil society, the Sen government and the CPP taint their claim to authority and legitimacy. In spite of threats, arrests, physical disappearances, repression and fear, it's the people themselves who are the necessary determinant of a government's true legitimacy and the catalysts to any real change.

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.