He eats, exercises and sleeps in his office, but Cambodian opposition politician Kem Sokha is not just hard at work plotting how to win the next election — he is also hiding after being threatened with jail.
Facing prison over an alleged sex scandal, he says he is the latest target of a government which is using the courts as a weapon to pick off its main rivals ahead of elections in 2018.
Although nominally a democracy, Cambodia has been ruled for 31 years by a shrewd, pugnacious strongman — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, whose political machinations crescendo with election cycles.
Photo: AFP
Ever since the blustering prime minister nearly lost his office in 2013, rights groups say he has been on a warpath to dismantle the opposition, using pliant courts as a stick to beat his foes.
Last year, old charges were dusted off against Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy, sending the Paris-educated politician into self-imposed overseas exile for the third time in a decade.
That left his deputy Kem Sokha to run the show — until a sex scandal in May forced the 63-year-old to hole up in the party’s Phnom Penh headquarters to avoid arrest.
In September, he was handed a five-month jail term for failing to show up as a witness for a police investigation into the hairdresser he is alleged to have had an affair with. The woman is accused of being a prostitute.
“When you live in a country that is not truly democratic, directing the opposition is complicated,” the politician, stoic and softly spoken, said from the party base where he has bunked down for five months.
His small office has been turned into a mini-apartment — a makeshift bed is tucked into the corner, his toothbrush lies on top of a squat fridge which houses provisions such as cheese and sausage.
Outside, dozens of supporters are taking shifts to block any attempt to arrest the politician.
“I think he could make Cambodia a real democratic country and allow our country to move forward, as opposed to the current government,” one of the loyalist guards, 30-year-old Chhai Kimlong said.
Hun Sen, a defector from the Khmer Rouge, emerged from the wreckage of their rule to steer a period of relative prosperity and stability in the poor and traumatized country.
However, critics say his watch has been characterized by corruption and repression.
Impunity is commonplace for political assassinations and violent crackdowns, while graft and nepotism have flourished, feeding a super wealthy elite who make a mockery at the pretense of the rule of law.
In July, prominent pro-democracy activist Kem Ley was gunned down in broad daylight in the capital, unleashing an outpouring of grief in a nation that cherished his clarion call for change.
Kem Sokha admits that if authorities wanted him arrested, his trusty team of nightwatchers would hardly be a buffer.
He regards what he is doing, not only an act of self-protection, but also one of defiance as Cambodia’s democracy falters.
“My political struggle here is like a strike in order to demand the situation return to normal … so that we can prepare free and fair elections,” he said. “It is very difficult because the ruling party controls state institutions and uses them as political tools”.
A former human rights campaigner, Kem Sokha was thrown behind bars for several weeks in 2005 for criticizing the government.
He emerged from the incident as a strong opponent of repression and joined forces with Sam Rainsy, Hun Sen’s archrival, to form the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) in 2012.
Riding a wave of dissatisfaction with government graft and rampant rights abuses, the CNRP nearly beat the ruling party in 2013 elections, the results of which were hotly disputed.
However, the duo have struggled to contend with Hun Sen’s subsequent reprisal — a sweeping crackdown that has seen the two leaders, a slew of other party officials and at least 20 human rights workers tangled up in court cases.
With Sam Rainsy barred from returning to Cambodia and Kem Sokha facing jail, the opposition is in parlous state just months before next year’s local elections, with a general poll a year later.
Hun Sen’s maneuvers have left “Cambodian democracy hanging by a thread,” said Sopheap Chak of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.
It is clear Hun Sen “has absolutely no intention to create an environment conducive to free and fair elections,” she added, noting the crippling combination of “judicial harassment, violence and threats.”
Still, Kem Sokha is optimistic: “Our hope is the majority of Cambodians want change.”
Cramped in the public arena, his party is using social media to reach out to young people — one-third of Cambodia’s population of 15 million are under 30.
Down the hall from Kem Sokha’s office-bedroom, a dedicated digital team is churning out Facebook and YouTube posts that highlight protests and dissent overlooked in the mainstream media, hoping to galvanize their supporters.
“Whenever there is an event, we go there and make a video to show what other media do not dare broadcast,” 30-year-old Kao Hach said, as he tapped away on a laptop.
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