[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 15 (Tuesday, January 28, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S1662]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                        CAMBODIA'S RULING PARTY

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, there are two recent developments in 
Cambodia deserving of the Senate's attention.
  First, voter registration for parliamentary elections in July, which 
is ongoing throughout that country over the next month, is being 
undermined by the ruling Cambodian People's Party, CPP. In complete 
control of the national and local election machinery, the CPP is making 
it difficult for opposition activists and supporters to register to 
vote and is creating a climate of fear that only bolsters the status 
quo.
  While I am pleased the opposition Sam Rainsy Party and the royalist 
FUNCINPEC party have publicly complained of CPP interference and 
manipulation, I am deeply troubled by the relative silence of the 
international community in condemning these pre-election abuses.
  Unless the complacent donor community aggressively checks CPP's 
manipulation in the preparation of these polls, the outcome of the 
elections will be a foregone conclusion even before the first vote is 
cast.
  Second, recent comments by CPP hardliner and Prime Minister Hun Sen 
should be of grave concern to all donor nations, and democracy 
activists throughout Cambodia. On January 14, 2003, Hun Sen said: ``I 
would like to announce to all the political parties to be very careful. 
If you would like to break Hun Sen's party, or the CPP, you might miss 
the opportunity to work on your own internal affairs. And as usual, Hun 
Sen would beat up and destroy the head of the engine. Meaning, I never 
beat up unimportant person but completely destroy the main engine. If 
you would like to play this game, I would be more than happy to 
accompany you. And I will use my last resort if that is what it takes. 
. . .''
  This public threat betrays Hun Sen's total commitment to harassment, 
intimidation, and violence as a means of maintaining his rule.
  Hun Sen's dark character was further revealed when he continued: ``I 
assure you that I have all the means to get the information from you 
[opposition political parties]. If you have the meeting in the morning, 
the information will come to me in the afternoon. Except if you kill 
all the people in your own party like Pol Pot, then the information 
will not reach Hun Sen. Everywhere there are Hun Sen's men. Don't 
forget that I am the head of an undercover agency. I would like my 
capabilities to be known to the world. The CIA [Central Intelligence 
Agency] is American, but we are the Cambodian Intelligence Agency 
(CIA).''
  Through his own words, and by his own admission, Hun Sen has shown 
himself to be nothing less than a paranoid evil dictator. His tough 
talk is unimpressive and only underscores his complicity in the 
numerous corrupt and violent episodes of Cambodia's more recent past, 
including illegal logging and the ongoing harassment of Global Witness, 
the killing of opposition activists, the banning of Voice of America 
rebroadcasts by the Beehive radio station, the March 1997 grenade 
attack against the Khmer Nation Party, and the July 1997 coup d'etat.
  Let me be very clear to the State Department, the World Bank, and 
other international financial institutions: the failure to hold Prime 
Minister Hun Sen and the CPP accountable for their repressive actions 
and abuses, including in the ongoing harassment of Global Witness, will 
have funding ramifications in the fiscal year 2004 foreign operations 
bill.
  I want to assure the people of Cambodia that many of us in the 
Congress will continue to follow political developments in Cambodia. We 
know that you want change, and the stability that comes from a nation 
rooted in the rule of law. And we know that the CPP cannot provide 
this.

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