By A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
PACIFIC DAILY NEWS
Cambodians' public discussions of Cambodia's past, present and future churn through cyberspace. A discussion that targets domestic political developments, particularly the perennial tensions between those who advocate civil rights and freedoms and those who support stability and economic development, foments passionate debate.When the debate turns to Cambodia's external problems with her neighbors to the east and west -- Vietnam and Thailand, both viewed historically as "swallowers of Khmer land" -- the conversation has fallen to the depths of racial slurs and intensified hatred.
Premier Hun Sen's supporters and critics are deaf to each other's arguments. Persuasion and compromise are foreign concepts. Those who comment do so anonymously to more easily demonize the opposition.
Hun Sen has successfully used governmental administrative machinery to keep Cambodians intimidated and ignorant of their civil rights and the principles of good governance. He dangled showy projects and physical improvements to infrastructure, while many scavenge the city's dumps and live on rodent meat.
Of late, Sen has succeeded, with Cambodians' complicity, to divert attention from his peoples' domestic plight to focus on the Thais, whose leader Sen has cursed publicly almost every day. His call to protect Cambodia's Preah Vihear Temple from the Thais brings many Cambodians to his side, though they are mute over Vietnamese expansionism from the east.
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