The Hon Tony Abbott
Prime Minister
Parliament House
Canberra, Australia
24th October 2010
Dear Prime Minister
On July 28th Cambodia
held elections. On the evening of 28th Prime Minister Hun Sen’s
Cambodian People’s Party claimed victory. Over the following days a mass of
evidence appeared suggestive of what can most kindly be described as
‘irregularities’. The Opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party requested that
there be an independent investigation into these alleged ‘irregularities’. Hun
Sen’s ruling party refused to allow an independent investigation to occur.
Australia congratulated Hun Sen
on his victory despite serious doubts as to whether or not his party had won
the election at all. Was this an appropriate response to the election result
under the circumstances? More importantly, is it possible, now, that Australia
could, diplomatically, add its voice to those of other countries that are
calling for an independent investigation into the election results? Australian
tax-payers are, after all, providing Cambodia with $97.2 million in aid this
financial year!
Your government could certainly
justify its shift in position by pointing to the 2 million Cambodian voters (a
third of the voting public) who have signed a petition requesting such an
investigation. Would 2 million Cambodians sign such a petition if they believed
that Prime Minister Hun Sen had in fact won? If they had confidence in him and
his government? Would irregularities of the kind alleged to have occurred in
Cambodia be allowed to go uninvestigated in Australia?
Copies of the petition will be
delivered to the Australian Embassy in Phnom Penh on Friday 25th
Oct.
It may be, if an independent
investigation were to be conducted, that it would be discovered there have been
‘irregularities’ of the kind that Sam Rainsy’s Cambodian National Rescue Party
believes and claims to be the case. If so, if that is what emerges from an independent
investigation, that will be the end of the matter and the 2 million signatories
to the petition can put the matter behind them and get on with their lives.
If there is no independent
investigation, these 2 million signatories will not believe that Hun Sen’s
Cambodian People’s Party actually won the election. For the next five years
they will believe that his government is illegitimate. This is not a desirable
state of affairs.
A quote from AusAID’s website is
in order:
Cambodia has made considerable progress in raising living
standards but it remains one of the poorest countries in East Asia. About 25
per cent of the population live in poverty and income inequality is widening
between urban and rural areas, where 90 per cent of poor people live.
Cambodia's progress towards meeting its 2015 Millennium Development Goals is
mixed. Promoting sustainable development in Cambodia is in Australia’s
interest. A more stable, prosperous Cambodia will contribute to regional
economic growth and assist in fighting transnational crime.
AusAID’s summary contains half truths and spin. ‘Making
considerable progress’ is what NGOs, the World Bank, the IMF and other
donors say and write when little or no progress at all has been made. 25% of
the population live in poverty sounds much better than 40% suffering from
malnutrition (despite billions of dollars in foreign aid this last decade) and
the use of the expression ‘mixed’ in relation to results and
effectiveness usually means ‘failure’.
It is the last sentence of the AusAID statement that is of
interest here, however. It is in Australia’s interest that there be a “more
stable, prosperous Cambodia.” A more stable Cambodia necessitates that the
Cambodian people believe and accept that their government is a legitimate one.
At least 2.2 million voters do not believe this to be the case as a result of
the 28th July elections. It is in Australia’s interests that these
2.2million Cambodians have their doubts put to rest by the implementation of an
independent investigation.
As for a ‘more prosperous’ Cambodia, this objective is not
likely to occur unless and until there is rule of law in Cambodia; until
corrupt politicians are not able to steal the nation’s natural resources for
their own benefit with impunity; not able to steal the homes and land of
Cambodians with the full knowledge that these poor people will find no redress,
even if they could afford legal representation, in a corrupt court system.
Is Australia’s $97.2 million in aid benefiting the Cambodian
people or is it enabling the Cambodian government to offload its
responsibilities to its own people - for
poverty reduction, health and education etc - onto donor countries? If so, is
it possible that we are, regardless of the generous intentions that underlie the
giving of such aid, propping up a bad government? And is it possible that we have led ourselves
into a trap that is difficult to escape with this aid? If Australia were now
(after all these years) to tie its aid
to the Cambodian government abiding by its own laws and ceasing to allow senior
members of it from engaging in land grabbing and stealing national resources,
what would Prime Minister Hun Sen’s response be? He has made it clear. “You
cut off aid and it is the poor who will suffer.” Are we, perhaps,
engaged in an unhealthy symbiotic relationship with Cambodia through our
dispersement of aid that we cannot cease giving without harming the very people
it is intended to help?
Given the sheer number of
reported and well documented ‘irregularities’ and the weight of evidence in
support of electoral fraud, would it be unreasonable for yourself and
Australia’s Foreign Minister, the Hon Julie Bishop, to tie our country’s $97.2
million in foreign aid to the establishment of an independent enquiry to determine
who won the 28th July elections?
yours sincerely
James Ricketson
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