CPP Street

The Cambodian Wikileaks were released a few days back if you didn't get the memo. The Phnom Penh Post's reporting on the stash has been fascinating. The issue breaking the leaks on July 13 included a graphic box with the top 10 tycoons in Cambodia, as named and nicknamed by the US Embassy in cables back to the motherland, with a two-sentence summary of their fortune and relations with the Big Boss Hun Sen. Here's a taste:

 

Kith Meng - “Mr Rough Stuff” Chairman and CEO of the Royal Group Kith Meng was described in the cable as a “relatively young and ruthless gangster”. 

He could not be reached for comment. 

See the whole delightfully frank list here.

Although I concede that I hold a less pivotal role in bilateral relations than the ambassadors who penned the cables from Phnom Penh, I fashion myself to be a far superior nicknamer. Here is the first item on my unclassified but secret list of comparisons between Cambodia's power brokers and characters from classic kid's TV shows. I'm kicking it off with an extended analogy, but future comparisons will be punchier and less political I promise.

The Cambodia People's Party: "Barney & Friends"

This criticism of Barney & Friends from a Chala Willig Levy in an article for Parents magazine is an ideal bit of insight to frame this pairing.

"[Barney's] shows do not assist children in learning to deal with negative feelings and emotions. As one commentator puts it, the real danger from Barney is denial: the refusal to recognize the existence of unpleasant realities. For along with his steady diet of giggles and unconditional love, Barney offers our children a one-dimensional world where everyone must be happy and everything must be resolved right away" 

woodleywonderworks / Flickr Creative Commons

The presentation of a one-dimensional world where everything must be resolved right away happens to also be a forte of Cambodia's premiere party. Complaints and criticisms are dismissed and discredited immediately and countered with Bible-thumping logic that the ruling-party's espoused reality is true because its true.

Hun Sen serving a steady diet of giggles and laughs. IRRI image / Flickr Creative Commons

While their psychological impact may be comparable, the creators of Barney & Friends, unlike CPP storytellers, were transparent about the fiction of their show, casting a giddy, bulbous and bright purple Tyrannosaurus Rex as the dear leader. 1-8-year-olds might believe anything they see on TV, as Levy suggests in her critique, but its not as easy to convince a country of 14-million people of a false reality.  

In their latest country report on Cambodia, Human Right's Watch explains how Hun Sen's government constructs a Cambodia in which all appears just. 

Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) used the judiciary, new laws, and threats of arrest or legal action to restrict free speech, jail government critics, disperse workers and farmers peacefully protesting, and silence opposition party members.

But just like Barney, Hun Sen can make bad feelings go away in an instant. The above HRW report was consistent with warnings and analysis from various Cambodia watchdogs, including Cristophe Peschoux, the long-time head of the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. His competing narrative of modern-day Cambodia risked upsetting the audience, and voilà...

“If Mr Peschoux is not removed, then the UN human rights office in Phnom Penh will be closed."  

Khieu Kanharith, speaking for Hun Sen during UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon's visit to the Kingdom in October, 2010, made the problem disappear.

Barney comes to play with us
Whenever we may need him
Barney can be your friend too
If you just make-believe him!