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Category: ASEAN

U.S. not seeking to create “Asian NATO,” defense secretary says

Editor09 mins

The U.S. Defense Secretary emphasized partnership as the main priority for the American security strategy in the Indo-Pacific during a keynote speech on Saturday. However, Lloyd Austin stressed that the U.S. does not seek to create “an Asian NATO.” Austin spoke for half an hour at the First Plenary Session of the Shangri-La Dialogue 2022 security forum in Singapore. While reiterating that the U.S. stays “deeply invested” and committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific, the defense secretary said: “We do not seek confrontation and conflict and we do not seek a new Cold War, an Asian NATO or a region split into hostile blocs.” The United States and its allies in the Indo-Pacific have recently expressed concern over China’s increasingly assertive military posture in the region. Beijing, on its part, has been complaining about what it sees as attempts by the U.S. and its partners to form a defense alliance in the region. When leaders from the U.S., Japan, India and Australia met last month for a summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, China cried foul. Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Washington was “keen to gang up with ‘small circles’ and change China’s neighborhood environment,” making Asia-Pacific countries serve as “pawns” of the U.S. hegemony. “I think Secretary Austin made it very clear that there’s no appetite for an Asian NATO,” said Blake Herzinger, a Singapore-based defense analyst. “The U.S. values collective partnerships with shared visions and priorities, without the need to form a defense alliance,” he told RFA. ‘A region free from coercion and bullying’ The U.S will “continue to stand by our friends as they uphold their rights,” said Austin, adding that the commitment is “especially important as the People’s Republic of China adopts a more coercive and aggressive approach to its territorial claims.” He spoke of the Chinese air force’s almost daily incursions into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) and an “alarming” increase in the number of unsafe and unprofessional encounters between Chinese planes and vessels with those of other countries. Most recently, U.S. ally Australia accused China of conducting a “dangerous intercept,” of one of its surveillance aircraft near the Paracel islands in the South China Sea. Austin met with his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue on Friday. During the meeting, which lasted nearly an hour, the two sides discussed how to better manage their relationship and prevent accidents from happening but did not reach any concrete resolution. Austin used Saturday’s speech to remind Beijing that “big powers carry big responsibilities,” saying “we’ll do our part to manage these tensions responsibly — to prevent conflict, and to pursue peace and prosperity.” The Indo-Pacific is the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DOD) “priority theater,” he noted, adding that his department’s fiscal year 2023 budget request calls for one of the largest investments in history to preserve the region’s security.  This includes U.S. $6.1 billion for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative to strengthen multilateral information-sharing and support training and experimentation with partners.  The budget also seeks to encourage innovation across all domains, including space and cyberspace, “to develop new capabilities that will allow us to deter aggression even more surely,” he said. The U.S. military is expanding exercises and training programs with regional partners, the defense secretary said. Later in June, the Pentagon will host the 28th Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) naval exercise with forces from 26 countries, 38 ships and nearly 25,000 personnel. Next year a Coast Guard cutter will be deployed to Southeast Asia and Oceania, he said, “the first major U.S. Coast Guard cutter permanently stationed in the region.” An armed US-made F-16V fighter lands on the runway at an air force base in Chiayi, southern Taiwan on January 5, 2022. CREDIT: AFP Protecting Taiwan “Secretary Austin offered a compelling vision, grounded in American resolve to uphold freedom from coercion and oppose the dangerously outmoded concept of aggressively-carved spheres of influence,” said Andrew Erickson, Research Director of the China Maritime Studies Institute at the U.S. Naval War College, speaking in a personal capacity. “The key will be for Washington to match Austin’s rhetoric with requisite resolve and resources long after today’s Dialogue is over,” said Erickson.   “It is that follow-through that will determine much in what President Biden rightly calls the ‘Decisive Decade’,” he added. Last month in Tokyo Biden announced a new Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) that Austin said would provide better access to space-based, maritime domain awareness to countries across the region. The U.S. defense secretary spoke at length about his government’s policy towards Taiwan, saying “we’re determined to uphold the status quo that has served this region so well for so long.” While remaining committed to the longstanding one-China policy, the U.S. categorically opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side.” “We do not support Taiwan independence. And we stand firmly behind the principle that cross-strait differences must be resolved by peaceful means,” Austin said. The U.S. continues assisting Taiwan in maintaining self-defense capability and this week approved the sale of U.S. $120 million in spare parts and technical assistance for the Taiwanese navy.

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Chinese rubber company detains Laos farmer trying to sell crop outside province

Editor07 mins

Employees of a Chinese-owned rubber company in rural Laos illegally stopped a local rubber tree farmer trying to sell his harvest to another buyer for a higher price, sources in the Southeast Asian country told RFA. Zhongtian Luye operates a rubber processing factory in Khua district in the northern province of Phongsaly along the border with China. The company created a contract farming system with rubber tree farmers in the area to maintain supply. It pays farmers U.S. $0.56 per kilogram ($0.25 per pound) of natural rubber. Though it has contracts with local farmers for certain quantities of their yield, nothing is stopping them from selling the rest of their crop in nearby Oudomxay province, where prices are around 25% higher. Employees of the rubber company blocked a road to prevent a car packed with raw rubber from leaving town, a villager told RFA’s Lao Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “They thought that the driver was shipping his output to sell in Oudomxay province [in breach of contract.] They also thought that he was trying to buy output from other villagers who have contracts with the company,” the villager said. “That is why they stopped his car and took it to their camp area. Normally if a car is stopped and there is any kind of wrongdoing, it should be taken to the district police station,” he said. Police showed up at the work camp to investigate, later ordering the company to release the driver. Zhongtian Luye did not have a contract with the man who was stopped, and the rubber was all from his own farm, the villager said. Police fined the employees for blocking the road without permission. A second villager said the company may feel justified in buying rubber at below market prices from local farmers because of the money it has invested in the area, including for road construction and to help farmers start producing rubber. There also have been cases where the farmers broke their agreements with Zhongtian Luye to try to make more money elsewhere, the second villager said. “They already signed agreements, but some farmers are not satisfied with the price set by the Chinese company,” the second source said. “The company has a concession and the right to buy from the farmers as stated in the memorandum of understanding. However, when the trees are mature for harvesting, some farmers don’t want to sell for so low.” A woman who used to do business with Zhongtian Luye told RFA that the company feels entitled to all the rubber produced in the area, even from farmers who are not under contract. “They want them to sell it to their company only, even though they can get a higher price in Oudomxay,” she said. RFA was able to contact Zhongtian Luye’s interpreter but he declined to comment on the issue. Under the most common contract farming system in Laos, referred to as “3+2 contract farming,” companies provide funding, training and marketing services to producers, in addition to buying the product, while farmers provide land and labor. The central or local government is usually responsible for ensuring that neither party is taken advantage of. An official from the Phongsaly province’s Department of Agriculture and Forests told RFA that Zhongtian Luye, the province and the farmers have signed production agreements. The company can decide to block roads to prevent the farmers from selling elsewhere, the official said. “It is to up the provincial and district level authorities to consider how to solve this kind of problem and the district deputy governor will hold a meeting to find a solution,” the official said. “But the agreement states that the rubber farmers who signed a contract-farming agreement cannot sell to other companies, but only this company,” he said, without explaining why the company has a right to prevent the farmers not under contract from selling elsewhere. The official said the company does not tell his department the prices it pays, but said the department would meet with the company to double check that the contracts are fair. Zhongtian Luye has been operating in Khua district since 2006. It is unknown how many farmers have contracts to produce rubber for the company. According to the report from the Phongsaly province People’s Assembly, there are two Chinese rubber companies in the district. Translated by Phouvong. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Guards deny female inmates drinking water after protest in Myanmar’s Insein Prison

Editor05 mins

Authorities in Myanmar’s notorious Insein Prison have cut off the drinking water supply to the cells of female political prisoners who protested poor living conditions in the facility after a fellow inmate who was denied medical treatment suffered a miscarriage, sources said Friday. Sources who visited the prison on the outskirts of Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon told RFA Burmese that dozens of prisoners have been forced to drink from the toilet after the taps were turned off more than two weeks ago, leaving them with no other source of water. “The authorities cut off the drinking water since the protest,” said one recent visitor, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity. “They put 60-70 female prisoners in one prison hall. I was told that all of them are now forced to drink water from the toilet.” The source said that some of the prisoners have contracted cholera and other diseases after drinking the unclean water. Last month, a 24-year-old political prisoner at Insein named Cherry Bo Kyi Naing, who is serving a three-year prison sentence for “unlawful association,” suffered an early-term miscarriage after authorities delayed sending her to the hospital for treatment. On May 23, the female political prisoners held a protest, claiming that Cherry Bo Kyi Naing’s miscarriage was avoidable and the result of negligence by the guards. Two days later, prison authorities shut down the protest and relocated all the female political prisoners to the single prison hall, before shutting off the water supply. When asked by RFA for comment on the situation at Insein, Prison Department spokesperson Khin Shwe denied reports that the women had been cut off access to drinking water. “In Insein prison, we provide adequate water supplies for both drinking and hygiene,” he said. “We don’t give such punishments for incidents that occur in the prison. We have no such thing.” Attempts by RFA to reach the International Committee of the Red Cross in Bangkok, Thailand, went unanswered Friday. The Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) told RFA it is still making inquiries into the protest at Insein and the response by authorities and was unable to comment. Kaythi Aye, a former political prisoner in Myanmar who now lives in Norway, told RFA that female prisoners require better hygiene conditions than their male counterparts, and access to clean water is crucial. “Prisoners are in serious trouble when they don’t have access to clean water, especially during the monsoon season, when mosquitos proliferate and people suffer skin conditions,” she said. “Wet conditions cause disease to spread further. It’s inhumane to cut off clean water for the female prisoners.” According to the AAPP, security forces have arrested more than 11,000 civilians in Myanmar since the military seized power in a Feb. 1, 2021 coup. There are nearly 1,200 female prisoners across the country, around 200 of which are held in Insein Prison. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung for RFA Burmese. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Myanmar’s junta yet to send execution orders for former lawmaker, democracy activist

Editor05 mins

Myanmar’s ruling military junta has not issued execution orders for a former lawmaker from the deposed government and a prominent democracy activist sitting on death row after convictions on terrorism charges, despite reports that the men would be hanged Friday evening local time, a Prisons Department spokesman told RFA. On June 3, the junta announced that it would proceed with the planned executions of former Member of Parliament Phyo Zeya Thaw and Ko Jimmy, a longtime democracy activist and former leader of the 88 Generation Students Group. Anti-regime opponents Aung Thura Zaw and Hla Myo Aung are also facing the death penalty. Myanmar’s military, which seized control from the democratically elected government in a February 2021 coup, has cracked down on anti-regime activists, sentencing more than 100 to death. The executions of Phyo Zeya Thaw and Ko Jimmy, whose real name is Kyaw Min Yu, would be the country’s first judicial executions since 1990. Authorities had not received execution orders from the junta for Phyo Zeya Thaw and Ko Jimmy, who are being held in Yangon’s Insein Prison, said Prisons Department spokesman Khin Shwe. “We haven’t receive anything from the superiors,” he said. “We also don’t know about the news that they will be hanged this evening and that there had been religious rites in prison for the inmates.” All four inmates are in good health and have been transferred to death row where they are wearing orange prison suits given to those facing execution, he said. Junta spokesman, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, told RFA on Tuesday that all four men would be executed under the regular procedures of the Prisons Department. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), sent a written appeal on Friday to Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, head of the State Administration Council (SAC), the formal name of the junta regime, to “reconsider the sentences and refrain from carrying out the death sentences.” “The death sentences and reported planned execution of a number of anti-SAC individuals have attracted great concern among ASEAN member states, as well as ASEAN external partners,” he wrote. If carried out, the executions “would trigger a very strong and widespread negative reaction from the international community” and hurt efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis in Myanmar, Hun Sen wrote. A former member of the hip-hop band Acid, Phyo Zeya Thaw served as a lawmaker from the National League for Democracy from 2012 to 2020. Following the coup and the subsequent crackdown on peaceful anti-regime protesters, he went into hiding but was arrested in November 2021. Phyo Zeya Thaw, whose real name is Maung Kyaw, and Ko Jimmy, who was arrested in October 2021, were both sentenced to death by a military tribunal this January for treason and terrorism. Activist Nilar Thein, who is the wife of Ko Jimmy, said the junta will have to take responsibility for giving her husband the death penalty. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung for RFA Burmese. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Four villagers hurt as hundreds protest over cemetery project in central Vietnam

Editor03 mins

Four people were hurt in clashes with police as hundreds of mostly female protesters wrapped themselves in Vietnamese flags to rally against a cemetery and crematorium project in central Vietnam, villagers said Friday. The protest on Thursday targeted Vinh Hang Eco-park and Cemetery, an 80-ha, 500 billion dong ($21.8 million) project in the Hung Nguyen district of central Nghe An province. Approved by local authorities in 2017, the cemetery has encounterd strong objection by local residents due to environmental and water resource concerns. “There was a clash among the police and local residents. One woman was seriously injured and was sent to Nghe An provincial hospital for emergency care. Two others were sent to a district hospital with less serious injuries,” local resident Phan Van Khuong told RFA Vietnamese. “They arrested three or four people but released them on the same day,” he added. A Facebook page titled “Hạt lúa Kẻ Gai” showed ozens of police officers in uniform knocking down protesters’ tents. “The Commune People’s Committee sent some people to plant markers on a road where local residents put up tents [to block the project] and we all rushed up there to stop them,” Nguyen Van Ky, a resident from Phuc Dien village, told RFA. “In response, district and commune police officers were deployed and they removed the tents and shoved us down, injuring four people,” said Ky. The injuries were caused when police officers kicked and stomped on protesters. A fourth protester had a leg injury that did not require hospital treatment. RFA called authorities from Nghe An province and Hung Tay commune to seek comments but no one answered the phone. While all land in Communist-run Vietnam is ultimately held by the state, land confiscations have become a flashpoint as residents accuse the government of pushing small landholders aside in favor of lucrative real estate projects, and of paying too little in compensation. Translated by Anna Vu. Written by Paul Eckert.

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Thai school reopens for Myanmar children after 2-year COVID lockdown

Editor02 mins

The Sukkahansa (Happy and Joy) Learning Center, located in Thailand’s Mae Sot district along the Myanmar border, welcomed Burmese children back as classes resumed on the first day of June after being shut down for more than two years because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Many of the boys and girls had fled with their families from post-coup violence in their homeland by crossing the Moei River, which separates the two countries. On June 1, nearly 100 students dressed in school uniforms, met with their teachers and friends at the school for the first time since the pandemic began. The school is not part of Thailand’s formal schooling system, but provides students with instruction in Burmese and Thai. It is sponsored by the Help without Frontiers Foundation, a Thai NGO. While Thailand for decades has harbored nearly 100,000 displaced people – largely ethnic Karen, as well as millions of migrant workers – the fighting between the Burmese junta forces and ethnic minority rebels after the February 2021 coup have worsened hardships for those who fled here from Myanmar. About 2,000 of 12,000 students at what had been more than 70 learning centers located along the border with Myanmar have not returned to classes, said Siraporn Kaewsombat. The number of centers has shrunk to 66. “The real problem for students at migrant learning centers is that they have no Thai citizenship so they cannot enter Thai state-run schools and have to depend on these NGO-sponsored schools,” Siraporn told BenarNews.

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Vietnamese Facebook user jailed for 5 years for criticizing government

Editor04 mins

A Vietnamese court on Thursday sentenced a Facebook user to five years in prison for posting stories criticizing government authorities, with an additional five years of probation to be served following his release, state media and other sources said. Nguyen Duy Linh, a resident of the Chau Thanh district of southern Vietnam’s Ben Tre province, was jailed following a 3-hour trial in the Ben Tre People’s Court. He had been charged with “creating, storing, disseminating information, materials, publications and items against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” under Article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code. Linh’s wife Nguyen Ngoc Tuyet was present at his trial as a witness, but friends and other political dissidents were barred by authorities from attending and Linh had waived his right to a defense by lawyers in the case, sources said. Commenting on the outcome of the case, Phil Robertson — deputy director for Asia for the rights group Human Rights Watch — told RFA by email that posting criticisms of government policies and authorities online should not considered a crime. “All that Nguyen Duy Linh did was exercise his right to freedom of expression, which is a core human right that is explicitly protected by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that Vietnam ratified,” Robertson said. Vietnam’s one-party communist government “seems intent on proving that it is one of the most rights-repressing governments in the Asian region,” Robertson added. “The authorities in Hanoi have completely lost any idea of how to rule a modernizing, 21st century country with intelligence and respect for the people.” State media reporting on the case said that Linh from March 2020 to September 2021 had posted on his Facebook page 193 stories with content “offensive to the Party and State’s leaders or against the government.” Linh had also posted what state sources called false stories about socio-economic issues and the spread of COVID-19 in Vietnam, according to media reports. Linh is the fifth person accused in Vietnam since the beginning of this year of “spreading anti-State materials” under Article 117 of the 2015 Penal Code or “propagandizing against the State” under Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code. Both laws have been criticized by activists and rights groups as measures used to stifle voices of dissent in Vietnam. Translated by Anna Vu for RFA Vietnamese. Written in English by Richard Finney.

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Former Irrawaddy photojournalist charged with defamation

Editor05 mins

A photojournalist who had worked for The Irrawaddy newspaper has been charged under Section 505 (a) of the Penal Code by the Military Council at the junta’s special court in Mandalay’s Obo Prison. A lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told RFA that Zaw Zaw’s first court trial took place on Wednesday. “The case started on the 6th of June. The power of attorney was sent on the 8th of June,” the lawyer said. “I saw that he was in good health, except for being a little thin, with no signs of torture. It’s not known why he was only charged with Section 505 (a) since a copy of the case file has not been made.” The case is being prosecuted by Police Chief Myint Lwin from the No.1 Police Station of Aung Myay Thar Zan Township in the Mandalay region and will be heard every Wednesday. Section 505 (a) of the Penal Code prohibits members of the military and government employees from undermining support for the government or the military, lacking discipline, or slacking in the performance of their duties. It also prohibits harmful, disruptive or destructive actions and carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison. Zaw Zaw, 35, stopped working for The Irrawaddy after the military coup and continued to live in Mandalay with his family. He was arrested on April 10 this year on his way back from a donation ceremony, according to a news source close to his family. “On the day he was arrested, he told junta forces that he was no longer a journalist but his computer and cell phone were confiscated when they searched his home,” the source told RFA. “I heard that he was taken to the Mandalay Palace’s interrogation center. I later found out that he was in Obo Prison.” Zaw Zaw’s family members have not been allowed to see him. A Defense Service Information Team statement issued on May 20, said that Zaw Zaw Aung, a resident of Daw Nu Bwar Ward, had used the name Zaw Zaw Diana in a Facebook account to incite the public to destabilize the country and spread propaganda. Journalists have been increasingly targeted since the February 1, 2021 military coup. More than 135 have been arrested since the coup, 61 of whom remain in custody in various prisons. Journalists are being prosecuted under Section 505 (a) of the Penal Code as well as Section 124 of the Penal Code, an anti-terrorism law which provides for long prison sentences, lawyers representing the accused told RFA.  Myanmar ranked 176 out of 180 countries on the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2022 Press Freedom Index. RSF described Myanmar as “one of the world’s largest prisons for media professionals.” Journalists also face threats from supporters of the military regime. In April, the Mandalay branch of the Thway Thauk, or “Blood Comrades” militia called for the deaths of reporters and editors working for news outlets including The Irrawaddy, Mizzima, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) and The Irrawaddy Times, along with their family members.

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U.S.-China defense chiefs to meet at Asia security summit

Editor07 mins

U.S.-China tensions will once again take center stage at a major regional security forum in Singapore this weekend, with the two countries’ defense chiefs meeting in person for the first time. Both U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe have arrived at the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit, hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a London-based think tank. Austin and Wei are delivering keynote speeches to highlight the defense policies of their respective countries but eyes are on their bilateral meeting, reportedly held on Friday afternoon. This is the first time the two defense chiefs are meeting in person, though in April they had a phone conversation to discuss “bilateral relations, regional security issues and Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine,” according to a Pentagon statement. Since then, bilateral security ties between the U.S. and China have had a few setbacks amid Beijing’s growing assertiveness and changing military postures in the region.  China has signed a security deal with the Solomon Islands and is setting up a naval facility in Cambodia. Both developments have raised concerns among the U.S. and its allies. Chinese flyovers and naval patrols around Taiwan, in the East and South China Sea, are also posing challenges to the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy. Washington has condemned what it calls “China’s provocations,” while Beijing has insisted it is the U.S. that threatens peace and security in the region.  The bilateral meeting in Singapore – “held at the Chinese side’s request,” according to the Department of Defense (DOD) – is not expected to deliver any major breakthroughs. However, it is expected to open a clearer and more regular communication channel between the two sides. “In general, such dialogues remain rare in a bilateral relationship marked by scant human connections,” said James Crabtree, Executive Director, IISS-Asia. “This lack of communication would be cause for worry in any future regional crisis,” he said. Preventing miscalculations Austin would like to keep lines of communication open between the U.S. military and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to prevent miscalculations, according to the DOD website. The defense secretary will speak on Saturday, clarifying the next steps for the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy with emphasis on the new approach of “integrated deterrence,” where the U.S. aims to “harmonize both traditional and emerging defense capabilities and priorities, along with non-military tools of power, with partners and allies in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific.” China’s Defense Minister Wei Fenghe will speak on Sunday on China’s vision for regional order, in which “he will discuss China’s policies, ideas and concrete actions in practicing true multilateralism, safeguarding regional peace and stability, and promoting the development of a community of a shared future for mankind,” according to Chinese state media. Austin and Wei will also hold several other bilateral and multilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit. The U.S. defense secretary is scheduled to meet with ASEAN defense officials as well as South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup. He is also expected to take part in trilateral talks with Lee and their Japanese counterpart Nobuo Kishi.  The Chinese defense minister, meanwhile, is expected to meet the Japanese defense minister to discuss North Korea after having co-chaired the Inaugural Singapore-China Defense Ministers’ Dialogue on Thursday afternoon. Japanese media said Kishi also wanted to register with Wei Fenghe “Japan’s concerns about China’s growing maritime assertiveness, and to urge Beijing to exercise restraint.” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida answers questions before leaving for Singapore to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue. CREDIT: AFP On Friday Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is giving a keynote address to kick off Shangri-La Dialogue 2022. The address will outline his vision and plan for a free and open Indo-Pacific region. Kishida is the first Japanese prime minister to attend the summit in eight years, the last visit being by Shinzo Abe. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to deliver a special address to the summit via video link on Saturday to talk about the situation in his country.  The IISS-hosted Shangri-La Dialogue has gone into its 19th year after a two-year suspension due to the COVID pandemic. It is taking place on June 10-12 at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore, this year with the participation of some 500 delegates and press, according to the organizers.

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Cambodian local elections legitimized resurgent opposition party, exiled founder says

Editor09 mins

Though fraud and irregularities tainted the June 5 Cambodian local commune council elections, the opposition Candlelight Party showed that it can challenge Hun Sen’s ruling party in future elections, Candlelight’s exiled founder told RFA in an interview. A statement issued by the National Election Committee (NEC) on Monday said the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) received 5.3 million popular votes to win 9,338 out of the 11,622 commune council seats that were contested, while the Candlelight Party (CLP) came away with 1.6 million votes and 2,180 seats. “I don’t like the results, but I like political change in Cambodia,” exiled opposition leader and CLP founder Sam Rainsy told RFA’s Khmer Service. “It’s a drastic change now, compared with before. Before we were only a one party state, from the central government to the grassroots. The one party state has been ended.” The NEC, an agency that supervises elections in Cambodia, said the election process went smoothly and the results could be trusted, but Candlelight Party candidates and election observers said they were victims of harassment and intimidation before and during the voting and the NEC did nothing to stop it. In some cases, local authorities and CPP observer organizations were alone given access to the ballot counting, the CLP said, accusing the ruling party of vote-rigging. Despite what he sees as questionable results, Sam Rainsy said that the CPP will face real competition in next year’s general election, when voters will choose members of the National Assembly. “In the 2023 election, there will have to be a negotiation, because there are [essentially] only two political parties. They can’t just dissolve CLP. The CPP can’t have free ride. The forces of democracy have progressed,” Sam Rainsy said. Should the Candlelight Party survive to contest next year’s election it would be a stark contrast to the main opposition party five years ago, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). After the CNRP won 43% of the vote in the last commune council elections in 2017, the party’s leader Kem Sokha was arrested for treason and the Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP, paving the way for the CPP to win all 125 parliamentary seats in 2018’s general election. This began a five-year crackdown by Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia since 1985, on civil liberties and other freedoms that stripped CNRP members of their political rights and forced many of them to join Sam Rainsy in exile or risk imprisonment. Sam Rainsy has been in France since 2015 Though the CNRP’s dissolution was a major setback for the country’s opposition, the Candlelight Party’s performance on Sunday gives Sam Rainsy hope that a stronger opposition party can emerge in Cambodia and restore the democratic balance, he said. “We took votes away from the CPP. We must now focus on free and fair elections in 2023. The political situation is now better than it was before this election,” he said. “Only the CLP is capable of competing with the CPP. … There is only one [viable] opposition party and that is the CLP. [The CPP] can’t avoid the CLP,” he said, adding that in preparation for next year’s election, the CLP intends to challenge the government to reform the NEC so that it can operate more in line with its stated purpose. “We must change the NEC members, because it is being controlled by the ruling party,” he said. Sam Rainsy, however, lamented that his equally popular political ally Kem Sokha, with whom he cofounded the CNRP, did not support the CLP. Kem Sokha has said that Candlelight should not participate in what many believe is a compromised electio “It seems he regarded the CPP and CLP as the same party.  I am sad. He will realize this is wrong,” he said.  The journey toward Candlelight becoming Cambodia’s largest opposition party began when Sam Rainsy, on the heels of his expulsion from the National Assembly, founded it in 1995 as the Khmer Nation Party. It later came to be known as the Sam Rainsy Party. In 2012, most of its members merged with Kem Sokha’s Human Rights Party to form the CNRP, effectively mothballing the two parent parties. Because of new laws that forbade political parties from making reference to anyone convicted on political charges, the Sam Rainsy Party changed its name to Candlelight in 2017, avoiding the ban of the CNRP. However, once it was clear that the party was gaining steam before the communal elections, authorities began harassing the party, Candlelight Party sources have told RFA. Several CLP activists have been jailed on allegations of submitting false documents to run in the communal elections, and many others were bullied or harassed by CPP supporters. But Sam Rainsy said he was proud that the party was able to rise from the ashes of the CNRP on short notice. Most of Candlelight’s growth happened in the past few months in preparation for the commune elections. “I must express appreciation to the wonderful voters. We must continue our struggle. The CLP is a base. We have time to prepare for 2023. We have a strong foundation and it will get stronger,” Sam Rainsy said. “We will restructure the NEC and restore democracy to the country.”  Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.  

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Investigative Journalism Reportika © March 2022 by Ij-Reportika is licensed under CC BY 4.0