[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 103 (Thursday, June 22, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S8960]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                                CAMBODIA

 Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I would like to make a brief 
comment today about a recent development in Cambodia which I believe 
does not bode well for the emergent democracy in that country. Last 
Monday, June 19, the Cambodian National Assembly expelled the 
representative of northern Siem Reap khet and an outspoken critic of 
corruption in his country's government, former Finance Minister Sam 
Rainsy. The move was to be officially announced today.
  Cambodia held its first democratic elections in May 1993, under the 
guidance of the U.N. Transitional Authority. The fragile multiparty 
coalition that emerged, less a result of electoral processes than power 
politics and accommodations among the different factions, has depended 
for its survival mainly on the expedient relationship between the co-
prime ministers: Prince Norodom Ranariddh of the Royalist National 
United Front for an Independent Neutral Peaceful and Cooperative 
Cambodia [FUNCINPEC] and Hun Sen of the Cambodian People's Party [CPP]. 
Since 1993, outside observers have often characterized the growth of 
democracy there as two steps forward, one step back.
  Mr. President, the expulsion of Rainsy is just one such step 
backward. Rainsy was a founding member of FUNCINPEC, and was appointed 
the party's second representative to the Supreme National Council--the 
preelection transitional governing body. As the first 
Finance Minister in the newly established government, Sam Rainsy won 
praise for successfully balancing the country's first budget. 
Unfortunately for him, he was also a critic of the country's pervasive 
and entrenched political corruption which brought him into conflict 
with members of his own, as well as other parties. He complained 
publicly that Cambodia's banking system was riddled with corruption and 
that most private banks were simply fronts for money laundering. His 
decision to contract with a French company--Total--to promote 
efficiency in the country's kickback-racked oil distribution system 
brought him into a jurisdictional dispute with the CPP-headed Commerce 
Ministry, and made enemies of some powerful and politically influential 
distributors. Similarly, his decision to take on Thai Boon Rong Co. 
over the latter's attempts to extract payments from vendors in the 
Olympic Marketplace made him few high placed friends.
  Rainsy's continuing allegations became sufficiently embarrassing to 
the powers-that-be that he was fired from the Cabinet in October last 
year. Although fired from the Cabinet, Rainsy became even more vocal in 
his criticisms. For example, he led an attempt in the assembly to 
review a series of nontransparent contracts between the government and 
several influential private contractors, but was rebuffed. Still 
apparently uncomfortable with Rainsy's position, Prince Ranariddh --in 
a move that many analysts saw as a power play, a flexing of his 
political muscle as leader of FUNCINPEC--lobbied to have Rainsy ousted 
from the party as well. He was successful, and Rainsy was expelled in 
May.
  Things did not stop there, though. Ranariddh then sought to have 
Rainsy expelled from Parliament on the grounds that he was elected as a 
member of a specific party and that, having decided to leave that 
party, should not be allowed to keep his seat. At one point, he even 
threatened to resign if Rainsy was not expelled. Rainsy waged an 
international campaign to retain his seat, arguing that he was elected 
by the voters of Siem Reap to represent them and not the party. He was 
not successful, however. Rainsy was expelled by a 9 to 3 vote by a 
permanent committee of the assembly headed by assembly Chairman Chea 
Sim, his deputy, and several standing committee chairmen.
  I view this move with great concern. Mr. President, this situation 
would be analogous to a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives 
deciding to vote against the party line or change her party 
affiliation--a move with which we are not unfamiliar--and consequently 
being unseated and replaced by the House leadership. The move was made 
without a vote of the assembly, or recourse to the Member's 
constituency; in fact, that the vote would be on the committee agenda 
was secret from its members until they had gathered to vote on 
unrelated legislation. Moreover, yesterday a report in the Hong Kong 
press indicated that at least two of the deputies whom purportedly 
signed the expulsion petition--Prince Norodom Sirivut and another MP 
who preferred to remain anonymous--have said they did no such thing. 
This is not how representative government works.
  The point behind the expulsion is clear: internal discontent with the 
leader of the government will not be tolerated. The move is sure to 
have a chilling effect on other MP's who do not toe the exact party 
line such as Ieng Muli, the present Information Minister and member of 
the Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party. It also signals a severe blow to 
what many saw as the only opposition voice to the government outside 
the Khmer Rouge. I fear that it signals the transformation of the 
National Assembly from an open deliberative body into one that simply 
serves to rubber-stamp the decisions of the leadership. As one MP put 
it, if the No. 2 man in the country's largest party can be brought 
down, regardless of the wishes of his constituents, solely for the 
reason of expressing his personal and political opinions, then who is 
safe?
  Mr. President, I realize that my disapproval will likely mean little 
to the forces allied against Sam Rainsy. But they should know that I 
and other Members are watching them closely, and with each increasing 
threat they pose to democracy there they make one less friend here, and 
make much less likely the coming forth of support--economic or 
otherwise--for their country.


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