Two Decades On, Constitution Fails to Live Up to Promises
The atmosphere in Phnom Penh 20 years ago today was one of jubilation and optimism as then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk signed Cambodia’s new Constitution into law and reclaimed the throne as King. The promulgation of the Constitution—which marked the end of the U.N. Transitional Authority in Cambodia’s (Untac) mandate in the country—also signaled the close of the formal peace process after almost two decades of civil war, and the creation of one of the more outwardly liberal political systems in the region. Untac chief Yasushi Akashi, pointing to the democratic and constitutional system put in place by the representatives elected in the May 1993 election, gave the U.N.’s mission in Cambodia “nine out of ten” marks. Twenty years on, however, the question of whether the Constitution has lived up to its promise of creating a multi-party, liberal democracy remains open to debate. For Son Soubert, who served on the 12-person committee that drafted the Constitution between July and August 1993, the document has failed to deliver on its promise of the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and a multi-party democracy due to the failure to promptly create an independent arbiter to keep the government’s decisions in line with articles in the Constitution. … Sok Sam Oeun, a prominent lawyer who heads the Cambodian Defenders Project, a free legal aid NGO, agreed that the Constitution has not lived up to the democratic promise envisioned by King Sihanouk. The reason, he explained, was the subsumption of the Constitution into the one-party politics of the nation. “In the U.S., the Supreme Court can rule on the Constitution, but here the Constitutional Council is not a court, and the members are not judges—they are politicians,” he said. “If it was a court, they would focus on law, but here [in Cambodia] they only focus on political influence and favor to the stronger party.” … Opposition CNRP president Sam Rainsy, who also served as a Funcinpec member on the constitutional drafting committee in 1993, labeled today a “sad anniversary” and called the Constitution a “big disappointment.” Mr. Rainsy said that while Article 1 of the Constitution specifically calls for a multi-party system, the hopes provided by the Constitution for a break with the communist political system of the 1980s were quickly rendered dead in the water. … CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap, who served as one of the five CPP delegates on the constitutional drafting committee, said that the past two decades of constitutional monarchy had been an impressive story of development. “We have succeeded a lot,” he said. “We have made progress in economic growth and we think about the people’s future, which is mentioned in the Constitution.” Mr. Yeap said that the government of Mr. Hun Sen had always followed the Constitution in passing some 400 laws since the adoption of the document. …
Alex Willemyns and Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/two-decades-on-constitution-fails-to-live-up-to-promises-43035/
