A False Dawn - Hun Sen's Cambodia - page 76

torbike threw grenades at the party's headquarters and at a nearby Buddhist pagoda that
was housing delegates from out of town. No one was killed in the attack, but 30 people
were wounded. As the casualties arrived at Calmette Hospital, staff refused to treat them,
fearing official retaliation. They were left bleeding in the halls. 31
Similar tactics were employed against the new Khmer Nation Party (KNP), founded
by Sam Rainsy in November 1995. The KNP's platform, which combined liberal rhetoric
with warmed over references to the Vietnamese threat, immediately attracted strong sup-
port, and by March 1996 the party claimed 100,000 members. 32 At first the authorities
refused to recognize Rainsy's party as a legal entity. KNP activists were harassed by gov-
ernment goon-squads and Rainsy received a string of death threats. When the KNP tried
to open three provincial offices in Sihanoukville, police tore down party signs and shot
at activists who tried to replace them. Three party members were killed during May and
June, including Thun Bun Ly, the editor of the KNP-aligned newspaper Oddomkete Kh-
mer (“Khmer Ideal”), who was gunned down just hours after attending the opening of a
Sihanoukville party office. 33
As foreign criticism mounted, Hun Sen challenged the authority of Western states and
human rights groups to dictate how Cambodia should conduct its business. “I am fed up
with the world expressing alarming fear over Cambodia's internal affairs,” he said in a
barnstorming speech in late 1995. “Let me say this to the world: whether or not you want
to give aid to Cambodia is up to you, but do not discuss Cambodian affairs too much.”
In response to US critics he threatened anti-American demonstrations and called for re-
parations for the B-52 bombings of the 1960s and 1970s. (“How much?” he asked. “Only
about $20 billion.”) 34 Hun Sen would later denounce donors for treating Cambodia like
“a parrot.” When governments sought the reform of Cambodia's political system, he ac-
cused them of “neocolonial” designs. 35
Beneath his bluster were memories of devastating war and a lingering bitterness
about the hypocrisy of the foreign nations that had kept Pol Pot in the UN until 1991.
Throughout modern Cambodian history, superpowers like the US had flouted democratic
norms when it suited them. Why should it be any different for Cambodia? As far as Hun
Sen was concerned, the past actions of foreign powers indemnified him from criticism of
any kind.
After two years in office, Prince Ranariddh was in a precarious position. His imaginary
empire was eroding away on every front. Cut out of national decision-making, royalist
ministers found themselves sitting in empty offices, “shuffling meaningless documents,
attending vacuous meetings, reading newspapers.” 36 Other Funcinpec officials were
growing unhappy at the fact that their bosses had fewer jobs to distribute than their CPP
counterparts. The party's crisis reached a peak in November 1995, when Funcinpec's