ABC Radio Australia
Cambodia's opposition leader in exile, Sam Rainsy, says the democratic changes sweeping the Arab world will also be felt in Cambodia.
So far there has been no outward signs of coordinated anti-government protests and Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been elected three times during his 26 year rule, says he will crush any uprising. The comments from Sam Rainsy come after MPs from his party asked Cambodia's king Norodom Sihamoni to pardon their leader, who has exhausted all appeals against a two-year jail sentence, in a case his supporters say was politically-driven.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speakers: Sam Rainsy, Cambodian opposition leader in exile, leader of the Sam Rainsy Party
RAINSY: As a matter of principle, we have to go through all the legal channels, which is why we have called upon the King. But as you have pointed out, Mr Hun Sen is determined, to prevent the King from giving any amnesty to me. So this is a political problem that requires a political solution. A political solution can come anytime when the political situation in Cambodia changes. As in the past, there has political compromise. When the ruling party and the prime minister Mr Hun Sen is under pressure, then the prime minister will back off. And he would allow the King to pardon his political opponents. i think the political situation will change in the near future. You can see that the whole world is changing. Dictators who have been in place, for ten, thirty years, like Mr Hun Sen must fear now, that the population, their own people want democratic change, want justice. So, after Ben Ali in Tunisia, after Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, and soon, after Moammar Gaddafi in Libya, I think there will be pressure on Mr Hun Sen to step down. Then, the political situation in Cambodia will definitely change.
LAM: Do you see signs of that pressure building in Cambodia, do you see signs of a peaceful Jasmine Revolution, if you like, taking place in Cambodia?
RAINSY: Yes! There are many indications, many similarities between the situation in North Africa and the situation in Cambodia. All the ingredients for a change, a deep change, are there in Cambodia. The Cambodian people have lived under oppression for some thirty years. It's a long time, it's not very different from Gaddafi. it's not very different from Mubarak. There are a lot of social injustices in Cambodia, operation, corruption, lack of freedom.
LAM: You say the signs are there, but the prime minister Hun Sen just recently said that he wanted to rule for the next forty years.
RAINSY: I think Mr Mubarak neither, did not want to step down. And Gaddafi now doesn't want to step down. Therefore, it does not depend on the dictator. It depends on the people. Nobody can deprive a member of parliament who has been elected by the people, of his parliamentary seat. I, Sam Rainsy have been elected by the people. Therefore, only the people can dismiss me from parliament, from the National Assembly. The ruling party cannot chase the leader of the opposition from parliament. This is totally undemocratic. This is the sign - the obvious sign of dictatorship that the Cambodian people will get rid of, in the near future.
LAM: What sorts of conditions are you looking for? What factors will prompt you to return to Phnom Penh?
RAINSY: I am looking for the rule of law. The Cambodian government, the ruling party does not even respect our own law, especially our constitution, the Supreme Law of the Nation.
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