For those hopeful MP candidates: What to look out for...(cont)

For those hopeful MP candidates: What to look out for...(Cont)

Watch for the ghost supporters:

Ghost supporters are everywhere, there are plenty of them. If you look for ghost supporters and hidden members, of course, you will not find them.

Besides ghost leaders who never show up to support and to lead your party you also need to know that there are many ghost supporters and hidden members who will remain in secret and silent forever.

Local leaders will tell you that many of real supporters are afraid to come out to support your party. Regardless of their no-shows, according to the local leaders, those ghost members need your assistance with the money, too.

It is impossible to verify these members because they are really hidden.  Frankly speaking, majority of them exist only inside those local leaders' head.  The numbers of those ghosts are fictitious.

Don't count on their name, address and identification card because these things can be falsified. The money you spend on ghost members is likened to the money that Mr. Lon Nol's Generals spent on their ghost soldiers in the 70's.

The fear is real:

Although the fear of an oppressive regime is real in Cambodia, you need to understand that many people including professional politicians had used such a condition as alibis for their personal benefits at your expense. They would claim those hidden supporters as one of their reasons or sufficient grounds to ask you for more monetary support. You must not let your heart control you head. The expenses on ghost members and supporters must be brought under control, otherwise your funds will be exhausted much sooner.

It is good to remind yourself that politicking in Cambodia has become more like a seasonal business. Many leaders and supporters are very sensitive about the way they do business.  You may not received full support from your local leaders if you ask for clarification or transparency about how the money was/is spent. Therefore, you need to be cautious to prevent a possible backstabbing in the future. Many times it is the enemy from within that really cause you headaches, not the CPP.

You also need to be aware that many people who claim to support the oppositions are those members of the CPP who were allowed to participate in your party's gatherings. They do that for their personal interests. These people without fail would go back to their base and vote for their own party. When your political leaders brag about the participation of the CPP's members in your party's meetings, you should not count on those people's supports.

Just remember that this is how most people who live in many Cambodian communities interact. They are very loyal to those who feed them. They may like your party and realize that you have "good" ideas, but at the end of the campaign season they will vote for their friends, relatives and their community leaders who work, drink, play and pray together. Social conformity/heredity , communal norm and personal interests lead them to make such a decision.  Those who cross the political line will be outnumbered and outcast.  Hence they rather yield to such pressures.

The empty promises:

Your political party may have promised many things in the past, and they will do it again in the future. Nevertheless, none of those promises has yet been materialized.  This is one of the weaknesses that the oppositions face in every election. This upcoming election, for example, some of their promises are too good to be true. 

Somehow Cambodians nowadays are very skeptical of any campaign promises.  They have learned "well" and they are more intelligent than they were in the past.  The oppositions are somehow tainted as the parties that are poor, broke and unable to support themselves.  Internal fighting and defecting also the causes of the suspicion.

If the promises are put in writing, you may expect some mocking remarks from many voters. Many Cambodians now don't read and rather demand and expect bottles (of white liquor) not written pamphlets describing your promises to bring them a better future. They want to see, touch, taste and feel instant gratifications.

There is no immediate solution to this chronic immoral issue, it has been embedded in the mind of many Cambodians for decades. Education maybe the answer, but excessive drinking, smoking, gambling, prostitution and other dishonest behaviors may hinder their learning process. You can blame the current government for this, but it is appalling to learn that most of opposition leaders and members, too, are in the same boat. This is where democratic processes in corrupt society tarnish good and fair outcomes of the elections

One thing that every leader, especially leaders of the oppositions, can do and need to do instantaneously is to change himself or herself from within.  Be a good leader! Everyone  needs to lead not just in politics but in moral, mental and spiritual as well.  Personal growth is the most important development everyone of us need to do in order to effectively help develop a nation, region and the whole world.  However, developing ourselves is the starting point.

Part-time politicians:

You need to realize that many politicians, political leaders, and supporters of the oppositions are seasonal and they are only active during the campaign season. For that reason, the level of cooperation among them is very low. It seems that they are simply in politics for the money. To them, if you do not have enough money you are nobody. Your knowledge and education or your backgrounds carry little weight comparing to money.

You may run into a lot of frustration when you see people with less education, little experience, lack of good morality  yet they are listed as top candidates to become Cambodian lawmakers. You should be reminded that in Cambodia there is a perverted proverb that says: the money is number one, the woman (other women) is number two, and the party is number three. National interests are probably the least priority on their mind.

It is unfortunate that many part-time politicians can dominate political decisions because they are related and befriend with top leaders of your political party.  This issue, too, must be addressed!

To be continued...

For those hopeful MP candidates: What to look out for...(cont)

For those hopeful MP candidates: What to look out for...(Continues)

4-Watch for the misinformation:

It is tricky indeed when "misinformation" becomes the only "information" you are given and you need to really digest.

As an outsider who have been exposed to different standard of morality, belief and background. You will have to learn how to separate facts and fictions on your own. Propaganda is being used and abused not only to mislead the public, but you can be deceived as well.

You may hear statements like these: "The whole country is supporting us! (like the collapse of the Earth and Water )", "The CPP is crumbled and many of its members will join us!", "Renown elites with high educational backgrounds or degrees will be supporting us and many of them are supporting us in secret."

The above statements may be used to lure you in, to secure your support and to give you hope. One of the biggest misconceptions is the notion that many CPP members or people who work  for the CPP support the CPP because they have no choice. It's a delusion. 

All CPP members are in "the CPP" together for better or worse. With Cambodia's national resources under its management for decades, this organization has become financially strong and it has given plenty of benefits and reasons for its members to bind together for life. Thanks to the many overseas Cambodians who have used their skills to help make that happen.

Although some of the so-called hidden well educated people may be sympathetic with your cause, they are not courageous enough to join your party. Their self-interests are still bigger than what we call national interests and in addition they do not have much confidence in your leaders. Your leaders know this quite well that  your party will never get the real support from the "ghosts," but telling you the truth is not an option. Those invisible educated individuals will remain unknown, perhaps, forever.

The best way for you to deal with this is to ask your leaders point blank for the names of those would be supporters. Generally, you will hear silence or you would be told that those names are being withheld for future announcement or for their safety. Be prepared for the "no show" meetings from those ghosts.

Most information you receive are distorted.  You will hear some party's leaders misinform you about the many things including the half-truth about your party and its organization. 

What you call the "political party" is merely a group of individuals who operate their political business as a private enterprise owned by a few influential people. This must be restructured . Hence, do not expect to see your party leaders use democratic principles as you know or learn them in the West. Whether it is intentionally or not, the word "democracy" is improperly used and in principle it is grossly misapplied and manipulated.

Most importantly you should take notice and be aware that the organizational structures of your party are still weak and fragile.  It is unquestionable. Most of its leaders are not well trained or simply inexperienced to lead or to follow. Some are just the "24-hour" recruits. This may relate to the financial problems--the problems that can be addressed with the changing of the mental and moral attitude of your political leaders.

Financially, your party is mostly backed by dwindling donors from overseas Cambodians. Unless a drastic change is made the supports from these people will come to an end. Leadership qualities, integrity, good morality and skills must be installed. 

Regardless how much you love your country, if you don't have the money to run the campaigns, you will not get enough votes to win additional seats. 

You may wonder if such an organization can effectively run Cambodia, right? 

Just remember this: if you have doubt about your organization, other Cambodian people will surely have the same impression.

To be continued...

For those hopeful candidates: What to look out for...

For those hopeful MP candidates: What to look out for...

For those hopeful opposition candidates running for Cambodian Parliament Members of National Assembly --in 2013 election.

A few of you, hopeful candidates from overseas, will pour a huge chunk of your hard-earned savings into Cambodia mainly to help finance your political activities hoping to be elected as a Cambodian congressman/woman representing your political party.

You may not be well informed by your Cambodian political team inside Cambodia. They may intentionally keep you in the dark or not giving you some facts fearing that you would not join them or support them.

I am putting this information to help you discover a few important things and my past experience may help you run your campaign more effectively.

It is good that you have a heart to help your country and to help make a difference, I personally commend you for that.  On the other hand, you should know a little better before you go or "get in." Unless you are in politics for some other reasons, you should not let anyone take advantage of your love for your country and our people.

Here are some information:

1-Watch for political boasting or gross exaggeration:

If the numbers of projecting winnable congressional seats is unreal, it surely is.  For example in 2008 HRP's leaders wildly believed and projected that they would definitely win more than 60 seats. It got 3.

If the number is too good to be true, you should know the answer to that. There is no system in place to take a decent poll in Cambodia. There is a difference between motivational speeches and misleading information intended to gain your monetary support. Remember it is not what you know, but what you have that counts. Trust but verify!

2-Look out for the elitists:

Some so-called elite individuals will use their political heredity or influences (former or present positions) to be listed as the top candidates in a certain prime territory where more seats are available . They will use their past and present records to take priority over your qualification and capability. It is unbelievable, but such a practice should be stopped.

These people will pay no or little money to help you with the campaigns. Using their social and political inheritance, they expect the lower ranking candidates to also pay for their expenses including food, hotel room, travel costs for them, their drivers and security guards and more.

As time goes by, be prepared to dig deeper into your pockets.  ATM machines are available everywhere. You will need to fund your territory as well as to feed your party leaders when they visit your province or district.

Local leaders will also become the middlemen or brokers to help you spend your campaign funds at local and national level. Prices are usually marked up to feed the middle men and receipts for expenditures are readily available at your request.

These elites will use their internal connections to push themselves up higher and will kick other people out or around when the election date is nearer. There will be no short of reasons for top leaders to justify their moves. Be cautious! By that time most of your money would be used and you would not have many choices to make.

Competition to be on the top "listing" will be ugly. You may be placed on the top for the beginning, but don't be surprised if later on you would be switched around. Look out for your initial "deposit" and other expenses. I knew a number of people exhausted their funds by being kicked around from place to place.

You should push for a change! No political elites should be honored as such. They must be qualified to lead as well as to share the cost like anyone else.  Most importantly they need to illustrate their good (if not high) morality to show the people that they do love them--not their titles and or positions.

To be continued...

3-Watch for the opportunists:

Other seasonal "positions" or "titles" besides MP candidates like the "titles" of local, provincial and national leaders within the party will be offered at a certain price tag.  The Competition for such positions is fierce and may cause strong resentments and frictions among party's leaders and supporters. Backstabbing may occur without your notice. However, most positions for those who live overseas are merely symbolic.

As for overseas organizers or leaders, you have little power in any decision making processes inside Cambodia. What the party leaders need is your ability to get them financial support . In addition, you need to gather people to come to the meetings, receptions, to hear their political messages and for photo opportunity. Unfortunately restaurant owners or caterers do make more profits than your party does.

You are also expected to raise funds for transportation, hotel cost, food, etc... for your political leaders who come to visit the U.S. and other countries. Some top leaders use this opportunity to visit their family members at your expenses. This must be stopped. They are wasting your hard-earned money--the money that can be used to get more votes inside Cambodia.

Donation given to these leaders is generally concealed and kept for their personal use--not for the party. I find it absurd that donors and recipients are taking the advantage over your generosity. All funds should be transparent.

Look out for some close relatives and friends of certain political leaders, they will join the party for personal business rather than national interests usually for the money.  Many will defect back to their political base after the election is over. Do not believe in the "swearing" practice or ceremony... So far lightning have not struck those who had betrayed their own political party yet. It has become rather a "business as usual" nowadays for those leaders who swear then jump ship (defect.)

Be prepared for the price hiking when the election date is nearer.  The price for infomercial on the radio like radio Sambok Khmum, etc... maybe 50 percent higher.

You may need to hire writers or professional "journalists" to help write and print newspapers for your party and they are not cheap. There are many writers for hire but they are seasonal...

However, make sure you don't fall for the propaganda on the radio or party's newspapers because most news and information are bias and not all true-- many are cut and pasted. Don't get excited. I think half truth are more dangerous than a lie.

The costs of everything else like campaigning materials will be increased as well.... I cannot figure out yet why those people who claim that they love the country so much need to put more burden on you.
 

Can you figure that out?

To be continued...

Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia youths boost cooperation

Another boost of the cooperation of the three countries is unfolded. This time they focus on youths--the younger generations. The event held by Ho Chi Minh Communist  Youth Union. 

This reminds us of the creation of the Indochinese Communist Party formed by the Vietnamese great man Ho Chi Minh back in 1930.   Ho Chi Minh Youth Union was founded in 1931.

Some of us may want to learn why Cambodian youths are still interested in communism and what the future of Cambodia will look like.

While the so-called democrats or democracy loving leaders are fighting each other, the communists are united.

Learn from them! Point your arrow on the above red and blue organization then click and learn.

====================

NATIONAL

Thursday ,Mar 24,2011, Posted at: 15:09(GMT+7)

Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia youths boost cooperation

Young people from regional countries of Vietnam, Laos and  Cambodia joined in a friendship meeting in Hanoi on March 23. The event, held by the Hanoi ’s Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, aims to create a forum for youths from the three countries to meet and exchange experiences in educating the young generation to treasure solidarity, promote traditional friendship as well as maintain peace and boost cooperation in the future. The exchange, taking place on the occasion of the 80 th founding anniversary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and the Vietnam Youth Year 2011, is a chance for Vietnamese youths to promote the country’s image as well as introduce their Lao and Cambodian counterparts achievements that Vietnamese young people have contributed to the country’s construction and defence. In the framework of the event, participants will take part in a talk themed “Vietnam- Laos- Cambodia youths promote traditional solidarity and friendship for mutual peace, cooperation and development” to update each other on mobilising youth and promote youth’s roles in cooperation for socio-economic development of the three countries. During the event, which will last till March 30, Lao and Cambodian youths will meet with Vietnamese students and visit the country’s historical sites and landscapes.

Source VNA

Opposition dilemma --The Unity is still in the clouds

Defection is nothing new...

Merging, cooperating, uniting, working together, etc. begin with the right attitude of all parties involved.

Nothing in their work now indicates that the Human Rights Party and Sam Rainsy Party can work together. It begins with the attitude of both men—the leaders.

However, if our national interest is not their number one priority they will never have the right attitude to unite. Given their personal records, I know Sam Rainsy is right—the Unity is in the clouds. I will elaborate later when I have the time.

============
Opposition dilemma
phnompenhpost.com

Human Rights Party President Kem Sokha has invited members of the Kingdom’s largest opposition group, the Sam Rainsy Party, to defect to the HRP following the announcement this week that ex-SRP lawmaker Mao Monyvann would join the party.


Mao Monyvann, formerly an SRP parliamentarian from Kampong Cham province, resigned from his post earlier this month before holding a press conference this week to criticise the SRP leadership, accusing lawmakers Yim Sovann and Eng Chhay Eang of wielding excessive control over the party. In the aftermath of his comments, the SRP asked him to resign from the party and he joined the HRP.

SRP head Sam Rainsy now lives abroad to avoid a pair of jail terms totalling 12 years that were handed down against him last year in connection with a protest he staged at the Vietnamese border in 2009. He was stripped of his parliamentary seat earlier this month as a result of his convictions.

“The HRP will become the biggest opposition party in Cambodia if Sam Rainsy cannot return,” Kem Sokha said.

“We do not want him to be absent – I want to have him here as a partner,” Kem Sokha added. “But if he is not present, I believe the HRP will play an important role in pressing for a change from the current leadership.”

Yim Sovann said Kem Sokha was “dreaming” if he thought the HRP could become the Kingdom’s largest opposition party, noting that the HRP only holds three seats in the National Assembly compared with the SRP’s 25.

The spat raises questions about the proposed merger between the parties, which have been in talks for months but have yet to reach an agreement.

Merger talks between the HRP and SRP have stalled in part due to disagreements about the leadership structure of a unified party. SRP lawmaker Son Chhay said yesterday that his party was still committed to the negotiations, but that Mao Monyvann’s public criticisms this week had prompted a reassessment of the proposal.

“The HRP used Mao Monyvann’s attack and broadcasted it on the radio, and it is not right to act this way,” Son Chhay said.

Senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said the recent bickering among the opposition parties showed that a merger was unlikely.

“They cannot live together, and it has been this way for a long time,” he said. “The SRP has 25 parliamentarians and they do not allow a party with three parliamentarians to control them.”

A little bit of politics

A little bit of politics,


Cambodians have been gone through hell in the past decades. Although the situation now is much better than during the Khmer Rouge’s era, Cambodians are still living in one of the poorest and most oppressive countries on earth.



One of my dreams is to see Cambodians live their life the way we live here in the U.S.A. and the way other people live in the First World countries. Obviously my dream and other people’s dreams may not be the same, but I thought it was good to try to achieve that dream.

I love to see Cambodian babies being born into a family that can feed them and nurture them right. I love to see Cambodian toddlers going to primary school and having some real toys to play with besides tin cans and coconut shells. I love to see Cambodian youths to be in school and not being on drugs, a full time cow herders working in the rice fields or the garbage collectors roaming the garbage dumps. I love to see Cambodian adults having decent jobs to feed their family members and to have some extra money setting asides for their retirement and I love to see the ages living happily with dignity during their golden years.

Everyone in Cambodia deserves a decent healthcare system that can take care of the unhealthy ones.


All Cambodian citizens deserve peace, prosperity, freedom, justice and equal rights. Human Rights must be respected throughout the nation.

A great opportunity came up in 2007 to help reach the above dream. Many of my overseas compatriots and I, along many other political activists inside Cambodia, formed a political party called the Human Rights Party to contest in the 2008 Election. We didn’t win for the whole Cambodia, but we did win 3 congressional seats.

Above are some of the pictures taken during the electoral campaigns in July, 2007.