Police officers grapple with hundreds of Mu Sochua supporters as they march en masse through the streets of Phnom Penh after the opposition lawmaker was found guilty of defaming Prime Minister Hun Sen earlier this month.
In reference to your article "EU condemns government crackdown" (August 10 2009), it was truly disappointing to read that high-ranking representatives of the EU and its member states, such as British Ambassador Andrew Mace and German Ambassador Frank Marcus Mann, have nothing more to offer than a "very clear statement to the Cambodian government".
I am sure that no one has ever made the effort to count all such very clear statements to the Cambodian government that have been made during the last year - or probably decades. However, everyone who has been following the development of Cambodian politics in recent times will certainly be well aware of the fact that all these very clear statements to the Cambodian government have done nothing, absolutely nothing at all, to improve the situation here in this beautiful but suffering country. Corruption is still endemic, critics of the government are still living in fear for their security, and the elites are still getting richer and more powerful each day, while the poor members of society have, if at all, only made much smaller progress in their personal welfare than they could have done in a just and truly democratic environment with equal opportunities for all.
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