Amateur Night

Here was Sam Rainsy at his best again speaking to a gathering of, lo and behold, 60 people in the U. S. He wants to win the election and remove Hun Sen from power. Well, that is legitimate but will prove tricky. If his overseas supporter show up in such huge numbers we can only surmise the amount of money raised for his election campaign. One thing is for sure, it won’t be too much.

One really needs to take a closer look at the politically active overseas Khmer. First how many are there? Altogether it is estimated that there are about 500,000 Khmer living outside Cambodia with about 300,000 in the U. S. As everywhere the majority is politically disinterested, more concerned with their daily problems and how to make a living. Going by normal standards about 10% are politically active, which would translate to 50,000. Compared to more than 7 million voters in Cambodia – in other words they can be discounted for all intents and purposes. But this is just an aside.

Sam Rainsy wants to return land back to their original owners. He must mean illegally obtained land. Well, nothing wrong with that either. But who is to determine which land was stolen and which land was rightfully purchased? He will create such confusion and bureaucratic entanglements the likes of which he has not seen since his return to Cambodia, not to mention the possible responses from disgruntled owners (and possibly sellers too). If he were to go after investors, most of them from abroad, one can only hope Sam Rainsy will be driven out of office after 6 months, because that would be like cutting the lifelines of Cambodia.

About free medical care – another noble and commendable goal. Where will he find the money to pay for this? Even the U. S., arguably the richest country is debating how to achieve this? Some don’t even want to touch this subject, like John McCain.

And now the two great opportunities that would sway the voters - inflation makes people angry and they blame it all on the government. Mr. Sam Rainsy please tell us how you would fight inflation when most factors are out of your control, e. g. oil prices, imported inflation because of the dollar-based economy, etc.?

And the joke of the evening: if John McCain is elected president he will help Cambodia with all his might. Come on, Sam Rainsy, where do you live? On another planet? John McCain will be busy with Iraq, Iran, and China, and his domestic problems. Cambodia won’t be on his schedule the first 36 months in office, if at all. As for the FBI report - don’t be so naïve to believe that will ever be released to the public. The U. S. government itself had a hand in suppressing it. Don’t expect any help there. You will find a wall of silence on that subject.

And if Kenya and Zimbabwe are any yardsticks to go by, the U. S. will not move a finger to help, or should we say intervene in, Cambodia. And those are not the only examples – Darfur, Zaire (now the Congo), Rwanda, Burundi, Liberia were all countries sinking into chaos and mayhem with the U. S. standing idly by.

In summary, Sam Rainsy started out well in the 1990s, but after the last election he has undergone an incisive change in his attitude and pronouncements and it looks like he has lost his look for reality.