[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 96 (Thursday, June 26, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8759-S8760]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. McCONNELL (for himself, Mr. Kyl, and Mr. Leahy):
  S. 1365. A bill to provide increased foreign assistance for Cambodia 
under certain circumstances, and for other purposes; to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, today, along with my colleagues 
Senators Kyl and Leahy, I offer the ``Cambodia Democracy and 
Accountability Act of 2003''. This Act is particularly timely, given 
that national elections are scheduled in that country on July 27th.
  Cambodia is on its third round of parliamentary elections since the 
1991 Paris Peace Accords, with previous elections having been funded by 
the United Nations in 1993 and by the Cambodian governments in 1998. 
Despite the billions of dollars spent on elections in that country--
over $2 billion by the U.N. alone--there has yet to be a credible poll 
that accurately reflects the will of the Cambodian people.
  My colleagues will remember that the U.N.-sponsored elections 
resulted in a large voter turnout--but also an unworkable power sharing 
deal brokered between the winning royalist FUNCINPEC party and the hard 
line Cambodian People's Party, CPP, that quickly dissolved into open 
hostilities, including a bloody grenade attack against a peaceful, pro-
democracy rally and a CPP sponsored coup d'etat in 1997.
  The debilitating hangover from this coup--destroyed party offices, 
dead activists, and a palpable climate of fear and repression--
undermined prospects for free and fair elections in 1998 even before 
the first ballots were cast.
  Fatigued and frustrated, the international community found it 
expedient to endorse the flawed elections, even as students and 
Buddhist monks erected a ``democracy square'' in Phnom Penh to protest 
the polls. A CPP crackdown left many of these peaceful protestors 
killed, beaten or harassed.
  It is time that Prime Minister Hun Sen--as the self-proclaimed 
strongman of Cambodia--is held accountable for the murder of political 
activists, Buddhist monks, civilians, and students. There is no rule of 
law, if the leaders of the government are not subject to it.
  A second ``coalition'' government between royalists and hard liners 
was cobbled together in the aftermath of the 1998 elections. This time, 
there was no pretext of power sharing, and for the past 5 years CPP has 
been firmly and completely in control of the country.
  Nevertheless, in the months and weeks before the upcoming July 
elections, the political marriage between FUNCINPEC and CPP is fraying. 
In an

[[Page S8760]]

effort to harass and intimidate his opponents, in late January Prime 
Minister Hun Sen whipped up nationalistic sentiment against Thailand, 
let loose the so-called Pagoda Boys, government-paid thugs, and 
destroyed $50 million worth of Thai public and private interests in 
Phnom Penh.
  Despite frantic pleas for assistance, the Thai ambassador and other 
diplomatic personnel escaped injury by scaling the embassy's walls and 
scurrying to safety. In the aftermath of the riots, Hun Sen arrested 
and intimidated students, independent broadcasters, and political 
activists. A senior opposition figure sought--and was granted-- refuge 
in the U.S. Embassy.
  In February, former royalist parliamentarian Om Radsady was gunned 
down in a mafia-style murder in Phnom Penh. Well liked and respected by 
his colleagues from all Cambodian political parties, Radsady's 
assassination sent a not so subtle message that no one is immune from 
the black hand of CPP.
  It is time Hun Sen is held accountable for his complicity in actions 
that grossly violate international and domestic laws, and the human 
rights and dignity of the people of Cambodia.
  The fundamental question facing the Cambodian people today is whether 
the July 27th elections will be a meaningful exercise in democracy, or 
another lost opportunity to chart a new course for that beleaguered 
country.
  Last week, Prime Minister Hun Sen assured Secretary of State Colin 
Powell that Cambodia would hold free and fair elections. Secretary 
Powell should not be duped by these hollow promises. A preponderance of 
evidence suggests that CPP is actively trying to steal the elections 
before July 27th: political activists continue to be murdered and 
intimidated, creating a chilling tone of fear and repression; the CPP 
continues to directly influence and manipulate the election machinery, 
with members of the National Election Commission, NEC, nominated in a 
closed manner by the co-Ministers of Interior and the NEC already 
failing to investigate allegations of election improprieties; and, 
opposition political parties continue to lack access to media, with 
several broadcast outlets in Cambodia unwilling to sell air time to 
CPP's challengers.
  Let me take a moment to describe what the Cambodian Democracy and 
Accountability Act does--and does not--do.
  The Act provides additional foreign assistance to Cambodia--an 
increase by half (or $21.5 million) over the fiscal year 2004 budget 
request of $43 million--if new leadership has been elected in free and 
fair elections, and if Hun Sen is no longer Prime Minister. It has been 
apparent to me that Hun Sen has long been part of Cambodia's problems--
and not part of the solution.
  The Act does not preclude the Cambodian people from voting for the 
political party of their choice. Ballot secrecy must be ensured--as 
well as transparency in the process of vote counting and tabulation--in 
order that the will of the Cambodian people is accurately expressed. It 
is my fear that CPP pre-election chicanery may already have violated 
the integrity of the election process.
  If I wanted to interfere with the elections I would have offered 
legislation that restricts all assistance to Cambodia unless a specific 
political party or parties was elected. This Act does not do this. It 
does not cut any assistance--not a single penny--to Cambodia included 
in the fiscal year 2004 budget request. It simply provides that if the 
major obstacle to democracy and development in the country--namely 
Prime Minister Hun Sen--is out of power, additional foreign aid will be 
forthcoming.

  It is important to recall that Hun Sen's coup resulted in severe 
restrictions on assistance to Cambodia--that continue to this day. If 
given an opportunity through free and fair elections, the Cambodian 
people will make the right choices that will ensure a dawn for 
development in that country.
  Why will they make the right choice? Over the many decades he has 
been in power, Hun Sen has ruled Cambodia through violence, fear and 
repression. Under his watch, the country has become a haven for sexual 
predators and pedophiles, the criminal underworld, and international 
terrorists. Hun Sen has repeatedly abused the most basic of freedoms 
protected by the Cambodian Constitution, attacked his political 
opposition, and perpetuated a climate of impunity that stifles the 
advancement of freedom and free markets.
  And he has never--not once--been held accountable for his actions.
  In addition to increasing foreign assistance under certain 
conditions, the Act restricts assistance to a Khmer Rouge tribunal 
unless the President determines that, among other things, the tribunal 
is supported by democratic Cambodian political parties and is not under 
the control or influence of the CPP. It also requires the Federal 
Bureau of Investigations to resume its investigation of the March 30, 
1997 grenade attack against opposition leader Sam Rainsy that killed 
and injured scores of Cambodians.
  I should remind my colleagues that American democracy worker Ron 
Abney was injured in this act of terrorism, reportedly carried out by 
the CPP. Ron--and all the victims of this attack--are still waiting for 
justice.
  Secretary Powell wrote in a June 24 op-ed that Zimbabwean dictator 
Robert Mugabe's ``time has come and gone.'' As democracy is similarly 
under siege in both Zimbabwe and Cambodia, dictator Hun Sen's time has 
also come and gone.
                                 ______