[706] Of Cambodian dictatorship and ASEAN

Malaysia and several other ASEAN members (tag) have been criticizing Myanmar for the latter’s lack of meaningful democratic progress. To the southeast beyond Thailand, lies Cambodia with a dictator is in the making. Despite Cambodia’s alarming progress towards dictatorship, ASEAN leaders are yet to say a word about it.

For the past few days, Cambodian government have been arresting Cambodians critical of the government on the ground of defamation. The arrest has sparked condemnation from several organization, including Amnesty International. AI in its press release accuses the Cambodian government of manipulating Cambodian courts. The New York Times in one of its articles says that this is not an isolated incident. Opposition leaders and others have been arrested by the government. This makes these arrests as a part of a larger erosion of freedom in Cambodia:

Cambodian Leader Cracks Down in Bid to Solidify Power
By SETH MYDANS
Published: January 9, 2006

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, Jan. 8 – The harshest political crackdown in years is under way here in what some analysts are calling the final stage in Prime Minister Hun Sen’s drive to consolidate unchallenged power.

Over the past year, he has choked off the last effective political opposition while continuing to marginalize the monarchy, manipulate the courts and intimidate labor unions and other civic groups. In December, the leader of the only significant opposition party, Sam Rainsy, who had already fled the country, was sentenced in absentia to 18 months in prison for criminal defamation.

Now, with a series of arrests and lawsuits on defamation and related charges, Mr. Hun Sen is for the first time directly attacking the human rights groups that, by default, serve as a de facto democratic opposition…

ASEAN has a unique role to apply pressure against Cambodia. The 10-member confederation could admonish the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and perhaps, put a check on current Cambodian political atmosphere. But it is not doing so and I think I know why they are silent on the matter.

ASEAN takes pride of its non-interference policy but it makes an exception for Myanmar thanks to US and EU initiative. Unlike Myanmar, the European Union and United States are not pushing ASEAN to deal with Cambodia accordingly. With no outside push, ASEAN seems happy to stay away from making a comment on its members. Well, I think it’s just wrong and ASEAN needs to make a statement on Cambodia.

The reason for such need is simple – it’s the ASEAN Charter which guarantees human rights. Though the Charter has yet to be drafted, this is a chance for ASEAN to prove to the world and more importantly, to its own citizens that the charter will not be just another piece of paper. If ASEAN fails to speak up against Cambodia, it will be harder to deal with such case in the future even when the Charter is in place.

Then, of course, besides the lack of outside pressure, another reason why ASEAN is not doing anything about the issue is because its more prosperous members, particularly Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, are not quite saints when it comes to human rights.

p/s – Volkswagen ends partnership with Proton. So, Proton is going to keep Lotus after all.