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But had anything really changed? Despite the threats of foreign governments, there had
been little cost for Hun Sen, whose PR men dressed up the release of the dissidents as an
act of generosity. This, too, was a mirage. Instead of advancing democratic principles the
outcome had reinforced the notion that democracy was an indulgence of those in power.
“Just as the human rights activists were arrested with impunity,” the Cambodian develop-
ment specialist Sophal Ear wrote, “they were also released with impunity.” 70 Hun Sen's
political timing, as always, was exquisite. He reaped political benefits twice, firstly in the
repression and then again in the loosening. Yeng Virak described it as a win-win strategy:
“Not 'you win, and I win,'” he said. “It's like, 'I win now, and I win later.'”
* Sam Rainsy and his supporters frequently deny that the word yuon has derogatory or racist con-
notations. In a series of newspaper op-eds in 2014, Rainsy argued that the word has been used to
refer to Vietnam and its people for more than a thousand years. Indeed, it's fair to grant that the
word yuon is used in a wide range of contexts in Cambodia, many of them harmless. (For instance,
samlor m'chou yuon , “sour Vietnamese soup,” is a popular and tasty Cambodian dish.) But the ety-
mology of the word is only part of the story. More important is the way in which a string of Cam-
bodian regimes has stoked ethnic animosities for political gain, a tactic that has historically resulted
in anti-Vietnamese discrimination and violence. In an interview in April 2014, Rainsy described
accusations of racism as a “foreign-entertained controversy” ginned up by “experts” ignorant of
Cambodia's history. For Rainsy and many other Khmers, the country remains as it was in the nine-
teenth century—a nation on the brink of extinction, comparable to the Palestinian territories under
Israeli occupation, or Poland before the partitions of the late 1700s. It's hard to deny that Vietnam
has a strong presence in Cambodia today, which has its share of negative impacts, from deforest-
ation to illegal migration. But this can best be explained by the lack of transparency and rule of
law, not ethnic conspiracy theories. Today, ethnic Vietnamese make up around five percent of the
Cambodian population, according to the US Central Intelligence Agency.
 
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