Snapshot

Cambodia is at a crossroads in its road to recovery from the brutal years of Khmer Rouge rule. Compare Cambodia today with the dark abyss into which it plunged under the Khmer Rouge and the picture looks promising, but look to its more successful neighbours and it's easy to be pessimistic. Cambodia must choose its path: pluralism, progress and prosperity or intimidation, impunity and injustice. The jury is still very much out on which way things will go.

Another jury still out is that of the Khmer Rouge trial, sidelined by the politics of the Cold War for two decades, and then delayed by bureau­cratic bickering at home and abroad. It is by no means certain that the wheels of justice will turn fast enough to keep up with the rapid ageing of the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders. The Cambodian people deserve justice after so much suffering, but it could be argued that the nation would be better served by a truth and reconciliation commission that cleanses the nation's soul, without seeking revenge. Knowing the truth could prove more cathartic to the average Cambodian than seeing a gang of septuagenarian revolutionaries on trial, 25 years too late.

Corruption remains a way of life in Cambodia. It is the leadership that must set an example but right now that example is take, take, take, and it goes on from the highest government official to lowest paid civil servant. Sometimes it is overt, but it is increasingly covert, with ministers sign­ing off government land to private companies for a steal and contracts being awarded to shadowy business figures with close connections to the leadership. At its worst, it has seen the partial privatization of Cambodia's heritage, with new private roads being bulldozed through to ancient temple sites and hefty tolls levied on foreigners and locals alike for the use if such infrastructure.

But it is not only the locals who know how to play the game. Aid is big business in Cambodia and many smaller nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) have played an impressive role in the getting the country back on its feet. Indeed, there are many who argue that without the parallel state that is the NGO world, there would be many more Cambodians mired in poverty than there are today. However, there are others who contend that many individuals in the bigger, multinational organisations are just riding the gravy train to Geneva, stashing six-figure, tax-free annual salar­ies, driving the latest 4WDs and renting houses with seven bathrooms, somehow sticks in the throat when you calculate What this money could be doing if spent directly on the poor rather than subsidising the lifestyle of an international'consultant.

Sitting among the dragons of Asia, Cambodia's economy is very much the gecko. Most industries were decimated during the long war years and these days tourism remains the great hope for the future. In Ang­kor,- Cambodia has something with which none of its more developed neighbours can compete, and every Cambodian should thank' their in­spired ancestors for bequeathing such a legacy. For without the exploding tourism industry, Cambodia's economy would be in much worse shape than it is. The garment industry has been another big money spinner in the past decade, but as Cambodia joins the World Trade Organisation (WTO), there are fears that this industry could vanish overnight when the country is forced to play on a level playing field without favoured access to markets in the US and Europe. The only hope is that Cambodia carcontinue to develop good working conditions and sound labour laws to develop a reputation as a country where ethics rank as high as econom­ics when customers choose their clothes, and clothing companies make their orders.

The royal family has been a constant in contemporary Cambodian history and no-one more so than the mercurial monarch King Sihanouk who once again surprised the world with his abdication in 2004. His relatively unknown son King Sihamoni assumed the throne and has brought renewed credibility to the monarchy, untainted as he is by the partisan politics of the past.

But there's a new royal family in town, the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), and they are making plans for the future with dynastic alliances between their pampered offspring. Just look at the roll call of marriages in the past few years and it soon becomes apparent that senior leaders have their eyes firmly on the future and a handover of power to the children of the CPP.

The CPP and the royalist Funcinpec (National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and Cooperative Cambodia) party are once again unlikely bedfellows in government, although real power lies with the CPP as they control the civil service, army and police. It may well be a dance with the devil for Funcinpec, as the party has been stead­ily shedding support since it won the 1993 election and is now the third force behind the opposition Sam Rainsy Party at the polls. Sam Rainsy continues to berate the country's leaders for their lack of leadership and is making real inroads in urban areas, setting the stage for some spicy showdowns with the CPP in the coming years. Sometimes they get a little too spicy and in early 2005 Sam Rainsy and two of his fellow parliamen­tarians were stripped of their immunity from prosecution, a disturbing development for democracy in Cambodia.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has a political guile and cunning unrivalled in Cambodia. Love him or hate him, he has proved himself a survivor, personally as well as politically, for he lost an eye during the battle for Phnom Penh in 1975. With the opposition under his thumb, and a poorly educated electorate, for the time at least, it appears that 'in the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king'.

The depressing reality of politics in Cambodia is that the political elite have consistently and wholeheartedly betrayed the long-term interests of their people for short-term personal gain. Entering politics is not about national service, but self-service. That Cambodia has made progress in spite of its government and not because of it comes down to the Cambo­dian people: their tenacity, good humour and instinct for survival. Most Cambodians are hard-working and honest...wouldn't it be good if the same could be said for their politicians?