New deadlock but old tactics, analysts say

Ahead of todays hearing on Cambodias record at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, opposition figures and analysts said the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party has reverted to familiar tactics of post-election suppression.

Analysts yesterday said that the breaking up of Cambodia National Rescue Party-led protests at Freedom Park and a crackdown on garment workers earlier this month echoed the crackdowns following elections in 1998 and 2003.

CNRP spokesman Nhem Ponharith said yesterday he believed that the governments actions this year hearkened back to these earlier periods of chaos and political instability.

I think that the recent actions of the CPP have backtracked [the country] to the violent crackdown on the opposition in 1998, he said.

We will continue with the public forums. The latest political environment has turned negative and was [a result of] the failure to decide a date for political negotiations. The previous tactic of the CPP was not appropriate for a modern democracy, he added.

Koul Panha, executive director of election monitor Comfrel, said the CPP was employing Cold War tactics to defeat the opposition movement by force.

In 1998, the crackdown on peaceful demonstrations resulted in pressure on Funcinpec to form a coalition government, but now it is different and the tactic no longer works because the CNRP did not demand a coalition government, he said. The CPP has had to change tactics.

Chea Vannath, an independent political and social analyst, said yesterday that the shift from last years easing of freedoms after the election was a sign that the ruling party still lacked political maturity.

What I observe is that there is a lack of maturity in terms of how to implement the democratic process, she said.

For any problems, the CPP is still quite keen to use force rather than help to convince people, to lobby. It likes using violence to intimidate protesters more. Its the same thing as in 1998 and 2003, the same pattern in terms of democratic processes.

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New deadlock but old tactics, analysts say