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CAMBODIA

The boss's whims
NEXT year's national elections in Cambodia will, it seems, be delayed for a month to fit in with the plans of Hun Sen, the prime minister. Earlier this year, Mr Hun Sen moved local elections forward three weeks so that the digits of the date would add up to nine, his lucky number. The national assembly, at least, sanctioned those moves. It was not even consulted last year when Mr Hun Sen ordered all the country's karaoke bars to be shut down. Despite the loss of jobs entailed, and the arbitrary nature of the decision, few Cambodians dared protest. After almost 18 years as prime minister, Mr Hun Sen's hold on Cambodia seems practically unchallenged.
The prime minister seems to revel in this reputation. He once said to his biographer, "Among strongmen I am strong." Earlier this year, he boasted to reporters about his power to choose Cambodia's next king, through his control of the council that makes the decision. He went on to assert that Sihanouk, the present king, had
regained the throne after Cambodia's civil war only as a result of his support. He openly issues orders to judges, undermining the independence of the courts. When foreign monitors complained that the rescheduled local elections did not meet international standards, he declared, "International standards exist only in sports." At those same elections, he regally declined to vote, declaring himself above mere party politics.
Yet Mr Hun Sen's rule is not exactly despotic. His Cambodian People's Party (CPP) governs in a coalition with the royalist FUNCINPEC party. The Sam Rainsy Party, a vocal opposition group, is a source of constant criticism, as is Cambodia's lively press. Elections, although marred by intimidation and violence, do at least take place. Foreign donors, who finance some 70% of Cambodia's budget, also provide a check on the government. Whatever the government's failings, Cambodians are aware that they are better off now than they have been at any point since civil war broke out in
1970.
Indeed, in some respects, the political climate has been improving of late. The number of opposition activists killed in elections has declined precipitously, from some 380 in 1993 to about 20 during this year's vote. Furthermore, that poll ended the CPP's monopoly on local government for the first time since the early 1980s. Even though the CPP won a landslide victory, a new law says that there should be opposition representatives on local councils.
Critics dismiss these changes as cosmetic: the central government, they point out, can keep local councils in line through its control of development spending. Anyway, they argue, Mr Hun Sen only allowed the elections to go ahead because he feels more secure now than ever before. Over the past two decades, he has methodically consolidated power. Having risen to the top of the CPP, he then out-manoeuvred Prince Ranariddh, the leader of FUNCINPEC, to claim the
position of prime minister. Those who dissent, such as three CPP senators who recently queried a law increasing police powers, quickly find themselves out of a job.
But political savvy plays as big a role in Mr Hun Sen's ascendancy as strong-arm tactics. His village upbringing and rough-and-ready behaviour seem to appeal to Cambodians more than the French education and cosmopolitan airs of FUNCINPEC's leaders. By the same token, the Sam Rainsy Party's ideas about administrative reform and decentralisation seem far removed from the concerns of the 80% of Cambodians who live by farming or fishing. Even that order to ban karaoke bars, as arbitrary as it was, seems to have gone down well with many of Phnom Penh's housewives. The date of next year's elections may still be in doubt, but the result is certain.
Courtesy: The Economist of London.