Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
UNDERSTAND CAMBODIA
TOP OF CHAPTER
Cambodia Today
Cambodia is at a crossroads in its road to recovery from the brutal years of Khmer Rouge
rule. Compare Cambodia today with the dark abyss into which it plunged under the Khmer
Rouge and the picture looks optimistic, but look to its more successful neighbours and it's
easy to be pessimistic. Cambodia must choose its path: pluralism, progress and prosperity
or intimidation, impunity and injustice. The jury is still very much out on which way things
will go.
Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Cambodian People's Party (CPP) have dominated the
politics of Cambodia since 1979 when the party was installed in power by the Vietnamese.
However, in a result that shocked many observers, the 2013 national election saw the
united opposition make significant gains in the national assembly.
Or did they win it outright? They claim they did, and have refused to take their seats in
the assembly until a fair investigation of widespread election irregularities - some alleged,
some proven - takes place. Seven months of sometimes-violent street protests continued to
drag on as we went to print. Leading the protests are long-standing opposition leader Sam
Rainsy and his one-time rival, Kem Sokha. The two leaders brought their parties together
to form the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) before the 2013 elections.
Many Cambodians hope that both sides will reach a compromise and that in time this
surprise result will put pressure on the CPP to introduce much-needed political and elector-
al reform. The next five years will be very interesting indeed.
TOP OF CHAPTER
History
The good, the bad and the ugly is a simple way to sum up Cambodian history. Things were
good in the early years, culminating in the vast Khmer empire, unrivalled in the region dur-
ing four centuries of dominance. Then the bad set in, from the 13th century, as ascendant
neighbours steadily chipped away at Cambodian territory. In the 20th century it turned
Search WWH ::
Custom Search