The Pacific Asia Review, Vol. 3, No. 4, April 1997 [N.B. Further copy-edited by author following print publication.]

by Sophal Ear*

On March 30th 1997, a grenade attack on a peaceful demonstration in front of the Cambodian National Assembly killed more than sixteen people and wounded 119. Cambodia’s fragile four-year-old democracy was fractured by this act of terrorism. News of the attack made it to the front page of the New York Times and, more importantly, to the third page of the Daily Princetonian.

The assault was yet another instance of growing violence against opposition politics in Cambodia’s fragile four-year-old democratic state. Over the last year, several journalists have been killed in separate incidents that have gone unsolved. After the Paris Accords of 1991, which saw the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) spend more than $2 billion to lead the country to its first democratic election in more than 25 years, the harsh realities of Cambodia’s violent communist past appear to be creeping back into the system.

The scene two hours after the attack was described by friends in Cambodia as "Totally horrific and barbaric—signs and sandals scattered around the street, a truck with its front windshield blown out, broken glass, lots of bystanders watching and the military doing nothing. There were more casualties than there were hospital rooms or doctors, or even blood for transfusions."

According to eyewitness accounts, three or four grenades were thrown into a crowd of two hundred fleeing people who were demonstrating for judicial independence in Cambodia’s courts, which are still dominated by judges appointed back in the Communist era. The attack was most likely an assassination attempt on Sam Rainsy, a prominent opposition figure who was leading the demonstration. During his tenure as Finance Minister, he was also a FUNCINPEC party member. FUNCINPEC opposed the former communist Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) in the 1993 elections, and won a 43 percent plurality over CPP’s 37 percent. Rainsy himself escaped serious injury, suffering only superficial shrapnel wounds to his legs, while his bodyguard was ripped apart by the attack.

There are rumors that the grenade throwers ran into a temple across the street from the National Assembly, and were cornered by some of the demonstrators. The police, controlled by the CPP, is alleged to have freed the attackers. Various reports substantiate the fact that the police did not lend support to wounded demonstrators, standing idly by. The area around the National Assembly was not sealed off by the police until several days after the crime, thus preventing the gathering of critical evidence.

A brief synopsis on recent Cambodian political history is helpful in assessing the significance of this case. The CPP is currently headed by Second Prime Minister Hun Sen, who was appointed to his current government position in order to appease the CPP after it lost the 1993 election. The Second Prime Minister holds a tight grip on the police, much of the army, at least half a dozen newspapers, and the civil service in the capital city of Phnom Penh. The CPP has controlled the Cambodian government since the aftermath of Vietnam’s invasion in 1979, under the reign of the Maoist-inspired Khmer Rouge. The invasion was followed by the Killing Fields which had resulted in the death of more than 1.5 million people. After its defeat in the 1993 election, the CPP has consolidated its power base, absorbing members of other parties with alarming consistency. Party leader Hun Sen himself is widely seen to be the most powerful politician in Cambodia because his sizable private army and shrewd political instincts have kept him a step ahead of the competition, and in control of the political arena.

The target of the grenade attack, Sam Rainsy, is the leader of the unofficial opposition Khmer Nation Party (KNP). The KNP is widely seen as a major threat to the CPP, because of its vow to crack down on CPP abuse of authority and widespread corruption. Subsequently, Sam Rainsy has emerged as the main political foe of Hun Sen. Given these facts, it is hardly surprising that the CPP has pegged the blame for the recent riot on the attacked demonstrators themselves. While there is no evidence directly implicating Hun Sen or the CPP in this accusation, Hun Sen has yet to order a thorough and independent investigation into the incident. Instead, the CPP has launched a propaganda campaign against the KNP. After noting that Sam Rainsy was only superficially injured in the attack, Hun Sen mused in a recent interview, "Did the grenades have eyes?" The police have already speculated openly that the attack was the result of KNP internal struggles. This logic suggests that Cambodia’s ex-communist wing is far from ready to see the country free and democratic, much less an open society where opposition is tolerated.

Such dubious claims are not uncommon in Cambodia, where virtually all political crimes against journalists have been explained as personal vendettas. This record alone is evidence that Hun Sen’s CPP does not understand the meaning of political opposition. When a non-CPP aligned political party was attacked last year, Hun Sen told essentially the same story, accusing the attack victims of bringing violence to themselves. In response, Rainsy has made it clear that he believes Hun Sen is responsible for the attack: "The bloody thug Hun Sen will be arrested and sentenced one day," calling him "Pol Pot number two." Any satisfactory resolution of this crime is unlikely, given Cambodia’s past record in similar cases.

* Sophal Ear is a graduate of UC Berkeley and currently a Master in Public Affairs candidate concentrating in economics and public policy at the Woodrow Wilson School. In the Summer of 1996, he returned to Cambodia for the first time in 20 years to work at a local non-governmental organization. He will graduate this Spring.