ALAN PARKHOUSE
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| Huge crowds turned out for the funeral prosession of political analyst and researcher Kem Ley. KT/Mai Vireak |
The assassination of political analyst and researcher Kem Ley may be a watershed moment in Cambodian politics, not because of the fear the cruel killing may have generated in others who want to speak their minds like Mr. Ley, but because of the public reaction.
And this must be taken as a wake-up call for the government.
When Mr. Ley was gunned down in a cafe at a gas station in Phnom Penh on July 10, a huge crowd of people gathered as news of the killing quickly spread. When authorities tried to take Mr. Ley’s body away, members of the public stopped them.
Members of the public and Mr. Ley’s family and friends quickly organized a procession and Mr. Ley’s body was placed in his own car and driven slowly through the streets of Phnom Penh to his eventual destination at Wat Chas. What happened along the way stunned many seasoned followers of the chaos known as Cambodian politics.
Thousands of people from all walks of life came out on the streets to walk with the body of a man they regarded as well-educated and honest, a man who explained things in simple terms and was not afraid to say what he thought and was often critical of the government and other political parties.
The procession was spontaneous and more and more people joined as it made its way to Wat Chas. Thousands joined in and it was an outpouring of grief and a show of respect, but was it also a sign of things to come?
Huge crowds attended the funeral rites at Wat Chas and more than a week later one of the biggest gatherings in Phnom Penh since the King Father’s funeral turned out to accompany Mr. Ley’s body on its final journey to his home town, where he was buried on Monday.
People along the way offered everything from free gasoline – authorities had ordered gas stations along the route to close because of fears of terrorism – to water and food in a show of solidarity and goodwill.
That the state-affiliated television stations could deliberately choose to ignore such a paroxysmal display of human emotion is tantamount to burying one’s head in the sand and being oblivious to the growing public cries to bring to justice the true masterminds of this heinous murder.
Many of the people who joined the procession and many who paid their respects at Wat Chas said they admired Mr. Ley because he spoke the truth, had a vision for Cambodia and was not afraid to criticize the government or other politicians. The majority also said they did not trust the government.
Many said they were fed up and wanted change, adding that they liked Mr. Ley because he was not part of the main opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). He had started his own party and he had his own agenda, they said.
When opposition leader Sam Rainsy claimed Mr. Ley had worked with and helped the CNRP with its policies, no one believed him. At times Mr. Ley had been just as critical of the CNRP as he had of the government.
Some of Mr. Rainsy’s statements about Mr. Ley and his killing lacked credibility and for many it appeared to be a simple case of trying to score political points against the government. More credible opposition figures like Mu Sochua simply paid their respects to Mr. Ley and did not use the occasion to score political points.
It’s fair to say that people want change – that was obvious not only from the results at the last election in 2013, but from the massive crowds of people who turned out to pay their respects to Mr. Ley.
But there is a problem. The main opposition party is in disarray with its leader, Mr. Rainsy, in self-imposed exile for the fourth time now, and the acting leader, Kem Sokha, laying low in the party’s headquarters to avoid arrest, even though as a politician he should have immunity from the charges leveled against him.
The huge crowds on the streets on Sunday paying their respects to Mr. Ley should be a wake-up call to the government, whose response was to shut down television coverage of the funeral and close gas stations along the funeral route.
The ruling party has achieved a lot in its 30-plus years in power, helping the country and the people recover from the horrors of the Khmer Rouge, civil war and rebuilding the country from scratch. They didn’t have much to work with when they came to power, but now Cambodia’s economy has one of the highest growth rates in the world, tourism is booming, the property sector is rapidly expanding and poverty rates are declining.
But the ruling party’s popularity is declining and next year’s commune elections will be a good indication of which way people will vote in the following year’s national elections. Will they vote for the party led by a former investment banker living in exile in France who makes questionable statements and has called for Cambodia’s exports to the European Union to be slashed, or will they vote for the party that has ruled the country for a generation?
Only time will tell, but the government has a big job ahead if it is to regain people’s confidence and win their votes.
The investigation into Mr. Ley’s killing is ongoing, but the majority of people appear to have already made up their minds about who was behind it. A transparent and credible investigation, and the arrests of the masterminds behind Mr. Ley’s killing, would go some way to restoring confidence in the people who have been in charge of Cambodia for so many years.
Anything less than a transparent and credible investigation will be reflected at the polling booths in the next two years.
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