The Helpless People: What Cambodians Owe Their Nation and Heroes
Cambodians once again made shameful decisions on the 2008 general elections that will potentially lead to the end of Cambodian history and sovereignty.
It was a shame when I read a news article about Cambodian general elections in 2008 and found out that the majority of Cambodians (who were able to vote) voted for a dictator once again. The difference that Cambodian voters made in the recent elections was that they provided almost two-third of the parliamentary seats to the corrupt and unpatriotic party, namely CPP. What do these results show us? Simply, the more you educate them, the more irrational they become. One should never blame the lack of education for such destructive results of the 2008 elections. Recently, we have seen the improvement in education of human rights and democracy principles. For example, the public forums and human rights trainings conducted by Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) and other organisations have been tremendously effective and have increased the understanding of human rights and democracy in Cambodia. In addition to that, the outreach of internet has also helped Cambodians living in the city to better understand the outside world and see where the world has been up to. Globalization, on its positive side, has also provided more information to urban Cambodians about the other countries' economies and living standards, compared to which the Cambodian living standard is
way below. These are all the advantages that urban Cambodians, namely Phnom Penh residents, have to exploit to make better decisions. Unexpectedly, these people with higher education and better understanding of the outside world made the worst decisions compared to other people across the country. As shown in the unofficial results, CPP has gained more supports in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia—where we would expect better outcomes. Now let me ask, do you think that the lack of education really played a role in these destructive results? To me, it is obvious that the poor, uneducated countryside voters have stood up for and demanded democracy and change in their homeland more than do the educated Phnom Penh voters. It is also difficult to blame the uneducated for the fact that some of their votes were bought. After all, they are poor and they have the reason to sell their votes for money only to feed their family for one day and ignore the fact that their country will be forever in the dark future. But Phnom Penh voters cannot use the same excuse for the fact that they gave the opportunity to CPP to destroy their homeland.
Who to blame?
Yes, the elections were not transparent. Some votes were bought. Some voters were threatened. And, according to recent news reports, some voters' names were removed from the lists, resulting in an unusually low turnout. However, I would like you to pay attention to the number of votes that CPP received. Do you think CPP could get these many votes only by frauds? I do not think so. It is true that frauds existed in these elections, but without frauds, do you think the opposition parties, namely HRP and SRP, could together win these elections? I do not think so. CPP would have won the majority seats but probably not as many. Why do I think so? There are a lot of irrational voters out there who would always ruin the efforts of democracy lovers to pull this nation out of the current darkness. These voters tend to be those who live in the urban areas. They have better living standards and tend to forget that their living standards would be much higher if their country were developed. They have the option to migrate to another country when Cambodia is totally ruined. This group of Cambodian citizens also has acceptable levels of education. With these levels of education—which are not too low but not very high either—these people believe that they are so educated and that therefore they need not to listen to anyone. These people tend to believe that there is nothing beyond their knowledge. What is so sad is that their knowledge is so low.........
By: A. Christopher Windsor, London, 28th July, 2008
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Cambodia: THE VIETNAMESE NATIONALS BEHIND THE COUP [FR]by AhmekKhmer129,667 views
hun sen used the border conflict to boost up his carreer
DAYOUNGFAB 3 years ago
DAYOUNGFAB, it's all business
AhmekKhmer 3 years ago