Vietnam, Cambodia on divergent paths

The Korea Herald, Asia News Network, Seoul

Vietnam and Cambodia long shared a common destiny of suffering under Western colonialism and in peripheral conflicts during the Cold War. But what is now unfolding in these two countries in former Indochina provides a stark contrast defying their historical and cultural affinity.

The recent return home of Nguyen Cao Ky, former vice president of South Vietnam under President Nguyen Van Thieu, after 28 years of exile in the United States represents a process of reconciliation pushed by the current leadership in Hanoi based on confidence in their policy of openness.

On the other hand, dark clouds hang over Cambodia's future, as political killings continue and the parties fail to create a working democratic government.

Fears are rising in Phnom Penh, and elsewhere in Cambodia, due to a series of murders of people linked to the political opposition. The latest victim was Chea Vichea, head of Cambodia's Free Trade Union of Workers and a member of the main opposition Sam Rainsy Party, who was fatally shot in a Phnom Penh street Thursday. He was the fourth prominent opposition supporter to be gunned down this month.

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights reported that as many as 15 members of this Party have been slain since November 2002 along with nine royalists of Funcinpec and four from the ruling Cambodian People's Party led by Acting Prime Minister Hun Sen. A journalist and a popular entertainer were also attacked in what is seen as apparent attempts to threaten opposition personalities.

Investigations into these political killings reached nowhere and many suspect that the ruling party is employing "a default method" to eliminate its opponents. The U.S. State Department issued a statement deploring a "culture of impunity" prevailing in Cambodia and urging restraint on all sides to prevent further violence.

In elections in August, the Cambodian People's Party gained 73 seats in the National Assembly, Funcinpec 26 and Sam Rainsy 24. As Cambodian law requires a two-thirds majority to form a government, Hun Sen is negotiating with member parties of the Alliance of Democrats to establish a coalition government, but they have so far refused to comply amid mounting political terror.

In Hanoi, the 73-year-old Ky, who had led anti-communist activities among Vietnamese expatriates in the United States, was warmly received by officials who granted him a tourist visa. This high-profile returnee is one of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese who visit their homeland annually carrying huge amounts of U.S. dollars with them.

Ky told the international press he wanted to help his country as "it is the right time for all Vietnamese to talk about reconciliation, about healing." It is not nostalgia alone that brings him and so many Vietnamese overseas refugees home.

It is because they see a bright future in the tolerant and self-confident Hanoi leaders who can forget about the past in their pursuit of "Doi Moi" through economic liberalization and renovation to achieve a better life.

From the viewpoint of human rights, Vietnam may not be a model in Southeast Asia. Yet, its earnest endeavors to achieve economic development with a stable political power base make the communist country a success story in the region, particularly in comparison with its neighbor to the west.

Developments in Hanoi and Phnom Penh these days offer political scientists much food for thought and they will focus their research on the political system these Asian societies choose after protracted civil wars.

In Cambodia, the history of foreign interventions by the French, Americans and Vietnamese, and the scars left by the Khmer Rouge genocide, make democratic nation-building an extremely difficult process.

Cambodians are treading a road that looks too bumpy and even bloody as they explore their own political and economic future. Cambodian leaders should first learn the art of reconciliation, from Hanoi if not elsewhere, and at the same time demonstrate their capacity for democratic rule by bringing to justice all the perpetrators of political murders.