PRAYERS FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE
Some countries never get a break. We see this over and over again. No matter how much the people try to evoke change and vote against corruption and injustice, all their efforts go unrewarded. The same leaders are back in power pulling the same dirty tricks that got them elected the first time. The election is rigged, the opposition is stamped out, and the voices of the people are no longer heard. Cambodians know only too well what it is like to live in a country which claims to be a democracy on paper but in reality is a dictatorship based on corruption, violence and oppression.
The doors to CHANGE were slammed shut again this week when Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for 28 years, was re-elected for another term. Despite claims of massive election fraud, including allegations that over a MILLION names were removed from the voting lists and fake “ghost” names were substituted in their place, there is little hope that an investigation into the matter will result in anything substantive. The 60-year old leader has vowed to rule until he is 74, and if Cambodia’s history is any indication, chances are good that he will STAY in power.
It is primarily the older generation that supports Hun Sen because they only see how their lives have improved in recent years. They remember what life was like during the reign of the Khmer Rouge (1975-1979) and use that as a measuring stick to grade what type of leader Hun Sen has been. Before he took power, it was four years of pure HELL when the country fell to communist forces and their world changed overnight. Borders were sealed, Buddhist temples were destroyed, schools were closed down, and local currency was replaced by a barter system. What had happened to China during the Cultural Revolution a decade earlier was now happening in Cambodia. Anyone classified as an intellectual, an artist or a minority (or even anyone who spoke a foreign language or had connections outside the country) was considered a threat. One by one, they just “disappeared”, and their bodies were dumped in massive grave sites now known as the “Killing Fields”.
More than two million Cambodians were living in cities at the time and were forced from their homes and marched out to the country in a mass exodus. No one knew where they were going, who was in charge, or what the plan was. But within days, many of them were permanently separated from their families and found themselves working in manual labor camps in horrific conditions where there was never enough food, where disease was rampant, and you were beaten or killed if you questioned anyone or objected. Even the young children were forced to work, and many lived in “orphan” camps where socializing was forbidden and talking could lead to execution. A life was worth NOTHING, and people were so hungry they would turn against each other and rat on someone if it meant they would get an extra portion of rice with their meal.
Those who were “lucky” enough to survive an experience like that probably have a different set of concerns or priorities when they go to the polling booth. They aren’t voting for more liberty, equality or justice like the younger generation. They are just voting to support the person who brought them out of that hell, made their lives better and who promises that another civil war won’t occur under his watch. They don’t want to gamble with the “unknown” and are simply voting out of FEAR from a dark past rather than hope for a brighter future.
Copyright © 2013 (Michelle Parsons, Getting Back on Your Path). All Rights Reserved.
