May 16, 2023 | DFF, Statements
JAKARTA – ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) condemns the Cambodian government’s continued efforts to undermine and block opposition parties from participating in the upcoming general elections in July.
“The Hun Sen regime once again shows its utter disdain for the principles of democracy and unwillingness to compete in free and fair elections,” APHR Board Member and former Thai minister of foreign affairs Kasit Piromya said today. “If it wants the world to take the results of the July elections seriously, the Cambodian government must halt all efforts to hamstring its opponents and instead ensure a space for all parties to participate.”
The latest government effort to thwart the opposition comes in the form of the bureaucratic stonewalling of the main opposition Candlelight Party, which has been disqualified by Cambodia’s National Election Committee (NEC) for supposedly failing to submit “proper registration documents”.
The NEC had demanded that the Candlelight Party, which was formerly called the Sam Rainsy Party and had previously merged with the Human Rights Party to form the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) until the latter’s dissolution in 2017, produce its original party registration document from the Ministry of the Interior.
In the past, including during local elections in May 2022, the Candlelight Party was able to use a photocopy of the letter to register for the polls, as the original was lost during police raids on CNRP’s headquarters in November 2017. The NEC has nevertheless insisted on the original documents.
“The Cambodian government is clearly fishing for any excuse to block opposition parties from competing. Disqualifying a party on the basis of such a small technicality fools absolutely no one and just serves as another show of the Hun Sen regime’s bad faith dealings,” said Piromya. “We call on the Cambodian government to allow the registration of the Candlelight Party and any other opposition parties for the upcoming elections.”
These latest tactics come hand-in-hand with direct physical intimidation. As Human Rights Watch has documented, at least six opposition party members have been assaulted by unidentified men riding motorcycles, since Hun Sen publicly threatened opposition supporters with violence in January. . There have been at least six cases in recent months, after Prime Minister Hun Sen on January 9 publicly threatened opposition supporters with violence.
Previously, in March 2023, former CNRP leader Kem Sokha was sentenced to 27 years of house arrest and barred from running for political office or voting in elections after being found guilty on trumped-up treason charges. He was convicted over absurd accusations of conspiring with the United States to overthrow Hun Sen.
“It is disheartening to see Cambodia continuing on this trajectory, especially when recent elections in neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Thailand show how free and fair elections can breathe new life into democracy in countries long-dominated by authoritarian rule,” said Piromya.
“The government of Hun Sen appears determined to drive the final nail into the coffin of Cambodia’s democracy, which is guaranteed by the Paris Peace Agreements of 1991. If the Hun Sen regime persists in blocking opposition parties from participating, then the international community must refuse to accord legitimacy from a government which claims an electoral mandate from a bogus election.”
May 15, 2023 | DFF, Statements
JAKARTA – Parliamentarians from Southeast Asia welcome the results of the Thai general elections and call on the Thai authorities to protect and uphold the will of the people in the formation of the government.
“We congratulate the people of Thailand on coming out in huge numbers to exercise their right to vote and register their aspirations for change through peaceful balloting. The voters have spoken, and their message is clear: they want real democratic reform,” ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) Co-chair and former Malaysian member of parliament Charles Santiago said today.
While official results will only be available in 60 days, preliminary results announced by the Thai Election Commission indicate that the Move Forward party, led by Pita Limjaroenrat, is on track to win 151 seats. In comparison, fellow opposition party Pheu Thai has 141 seats: making a combined total of 292 out of 500 lower house seats. The United Thai Nation Party of incumbent prime minister and former general Prayuth Chan-ocha, who rose to power in 2014 in a military coup, is trailing in fifth place with 36 seats.
Despite the overwhelming victory, however, the opposition parties may be unable to form a government. This is because the 250 military-appointed members of the upper house, which was formed as a result of the military coup, will also be voting on the next prime minister.
“The Royal Thai Military must open their eyes and ears to what the Thai people are demanding. For years, protesters have taken to the streets, calling for democracy and human rights. They have now backed this up in the ballot box,” said Santiago.
“Subverting the election results and blocking the formation of a new government by the winning parties would be an unconscionable betrayal that would only result in unrest and instability. We, therefore, urge the military and incumbent government to do the right thing and abide by the will of the people.”
Jan 31, 2023 | DFF, Statements
JAKARTA – Parliamentarians from Southeast Asia have condemned the new Political Parties Registration Law passed by the Myanmar military junta as an assault on democracy, drafted by an illegitimate authority, and designed to favor its proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), ahead of the sham elections planned for this year.
The new law, passed on 26 January, imposes a series of criteria to register parties that are extremely difficult to meet for most of the 91 political organizations currently registered in Myanmar, except for the USDP. For instance, according to Article 5(f), national parties are under the obligation to mobilize at least 100,000 members, 100 times more than the previous law, in 90 days, an impossibility given the instability and chaos that general Min Aung Hlaing threw the country into with the illegal coup he staged two years ago.
Now parties have two months to register under these draconian conditions, or they will be dissolved and declared illegal. The National League for Democracy (NLD), the party in government at the time of the takeover in February 2021, has announced its refusal to recognize the new law and the election commission. But other parties may face dissolution if the junta determines they have contacted a “terrorist organization,” including the People’s Defense Forces (PDFs), set up to fight against the junta, or the National Unity Government of Myanmar (NUG).
“This law goes against all democratic principles not only because of its contents, specifically designed to make the military proxy USDP the only viable political party, but also because who has passed it. The junta led by Min Aung Hlaing has no legitimacy whatsoever to rule the country after an illegal coup d’état and two years of continuous atrocities against its own population, let alone to enact any law. The international community, starting with ASEAN, should condemn this new law in the strongest possible terms,” said Charles Santiago, Co-chair of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), and former Member of Parliament in Malaysia.
The new law has been passed ahead of the general election planned by the junta this year. According to the 2008 Myanmar Constitution, the state of emergency that was put in place by the junta after its coup on 1 February can only last two years, after which the government has the obligation to hold new elections.
Over this period, Min Aung Hlaing and his generals have unsuccessfully attempted to consolidate its power in the face of widespread popular resistance to military rule. The junta is perpetrating crimes against humanity against its own people on a daily basis, including extrajudicial killings, indiscriminate aerial attacks against entire villages, arbitrary detentions and torture, often to death, of anyone deemed to be working with the opposition.
According to the local organization Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), there are 13,689 political prisoners in the country, and the junta has killed at least 2,894 people, with the real numbers likely several times higher. This all-out war waged by the junta against its own people has displaced hundreds of thousands, and ruined the Myanmar economy, creating a humanitarian catastrophe of gigantic proportions.
“In the terrible conditions currently prevailing in Myanmar, it is completely impossible to hold an election, especially if it is organized by the very same junta that created such conditions in the first place. This election is nothing but a desperate attempt by Min Aung Hlaing to legitimize his power, and will only result in even further bloodshed. The Myanmar people are not fooled by the junta’s electoral charade, and the international community should not be fooled either. It is imperative that international actors refuse to recognize the elections, and Min Aung Hlaing’s junta itself, and begin to seriously engage the democratic opposition in seeking the solution to the crisis in Myanmar,” said Santiago.
Jan 12, 2023 | DFF, Statements
JAKARTA – Parliamentarians from Southeast Asia are denouncing as a direct attack on democracy the threats of physical violence and legal action made by the Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen, to anyone who dares to criticize his party, the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), ahead of the general election scheduled for July this year.
According to media reports, Hun Sen has warned the opposition that, if someone expresses any criticism against the CCP, “there are only two options: one is using legal action, the other is using sticks…. What do you want? Either you face legal action in court or I rally CPP people for a demonstration and beat you guys up.”
“Threats of physical violence, especially from a man who has ruled his country for almost four decades and has turned it into a dictatorship, should send chills down the spine of anyone who believes in democracy. Hun Sen and his regime have a long story of silencing, harassing, and persecuting the opposition, and his threats are fully consistent with that. He should be unreservedly denounced for eroding democratic institutions in Cambodia,” said Mercy Barends, Member of the Indonesian House of Representatives, and Board Member of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR).
The Hun Sen regime has steadily consolidated itself over the years. The main opposition party, and the only that posed a challenge to the CPP hegemony, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was arbitrarily dissolved in 2017. That opened the way for the CPP to win all 125 seats in parliament at the national elections held the following year, turning Cambodia into a de facto one-party state tightly controlled by Hun Sen, in power since 1985, and his allies.
The CPP has used the judiciary as a tool to persecute and jail members of the opposition. Dozens of CNRP leaders and members have been charged with treason and sentenced in kangaroo trials, including the party’s former President, Sam Rainsy, and its Vice-President, and Board Member of APHR, Mu Sochua, both in exile. The leader of the opposition inside the country, Kem Sokha, was jailed in 2017, and then released in 2019, but he is not allowed to leave Cambodia or engage in political activities, and stands accused of treason in a case that has been dragging on for years.
“In contemporary Cambodia, the judiciary is just another instrument put at the service of Hun Sen and his cronies to cement their power, and separation of powers, one of the main pillars of democracy, simply does not exist. By threatening legal action against its critics in the same breath that he is threatening physical attacks by his followers, Hun Sen is making very clear how he sees both: as lackeys whose sole raison d’être is to do his bidding,” said Barends.
Currently the main opposition party operating inside the country is the Candlelight Party, which managed to get over 22 percent of the votes in the Communal and Sangkat Elections held in June 2022, despite a campaign of intimidation launched by the government during the campaign.
Yet harassment is not confined to politicians, as human rights activists, journalists or union leaders have also been persecuted by the regime. One of the most prominent cases is that of Cambodian-US lawyer Theary Seng, who was sentenced in June 2022 to six years in jail for criticizing Hun Sen on Facebook, along with dozens others. Meanwhile, the trade union leader Chhim Sithar was arrested in November for allegedly breaking the terms of her bail.
“As the general election in Cambodia approaches, ASEAN and the global community at large should not be fooled into believing that it can be a democratic process in the conditions prevailing now in the country. They should put real pressure on the Cambodian government to unconditionally release all political prisoners, stop its campaign of harassment against the opposition, and comply with the terms of the Paris Peace Accord, signed in 1991 and designed to put the country on a democratic path,” added Barends.
Dec 2, 2022 | DFF, Statements
JAKARTA – Parliamentarians from Southeast Asia welcome the formation of a unity government in Malaysia led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim after the results of the 19 November general elections led to a hung parliament, and urge it to work towards realizing the citizenry’s aspirations for genuine democratic reforms.
“After several days of political uncertainty, it is commendable that Malaysian political parties and coalitions have been able to transcend their differences and take the interests of the nation at heart to form a new government. This is a historic moment of unprecedented unity, and the new government should use it to work in fulfilling the dreams of social justice, equality, and clean governance that the reformasi movement put on the agenda over two decades ago; there is much more for the rest of the world, including Southeast Asia, to learn from,” said Senator Risa Hontiveros, Member of Parliament from the Philippines and Member of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR).
The Reformasi (Reformation) was a political movement led by Ibrahim in 1998 after he was sacked from office as deputy prime minister by then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Ibrahim was sentenced to 12 years in jail and that led to a series of mass protests followed by repressive crackdowns against activists, student leaders, and members of civil society. The Reformasi movement rallied for social, economic, and political change and it inspired a generation of pro-democracy activists in Malaysia and Southeast Asia in general.
Now the leader of that movement has become Prime Minister, and that amounts to a triumph for those who took part in Reformasi after years of struggle. Yet the new government faces great challenges, after four years of political instability in which there have been four prime ministers, and Malaysian politics have been plagued by high-profile corruption scandals. The new government is a fragile alliance of different parties, and may have difficulties implementing its reform agenda.
“Malaysia badly needs political stability to confront the many issues it faces, from the global economic crisis, impacts of climate change, corruption, to the decline in civil and political rights. Now is the time for all political forces in Malaysia to work together on moving the country forward,” said Eva Kusuma Sundari, former Member of Parliament of Indonesia and APHR Board Member.
The new government also confronts the problem of divisive identity politics, especially the divisive use of race and religion in politics by some candidates during the election campaign. Ibrahim said before the election that he would seek “to emphasize governance and anti-corruption, and rid this country of racism and religious bigotry,” and APHR would like to express its support for such endeavors, and assure the new government that it will support any policies aimed at reaching such goals, and denounce those that deviate from it. Having long been a part of the political opposition, APHR hopes that Ibrahim and the new government uphold their commitment to democracy and the protection of minorities.
“Some politicians have demagogically exploited racial and religious cleavages in certain sectors of Malaysian society in order to get votes. That is an extremely dangerous game that can easily get out of control and lead to tensions and even violence. The first priority of the new government should be leading the country to overcome past politics based on race and religion, and foster mutual understanding between the different groups that make up the vibrant and multicultural Malaysian society,” said Sundari, “These are problems that cut across all the countries in ASEAN and we hope that the new government can be the start of greater cooperation on these crucial issues across the region.”
