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Bleak Era Seen Facing a 'Lawless' Cambodia
Tuesday, September 10, 2002
By Ted Hattori
The Washington Times

Cambodia is one of the poorest countries of Asia -- second to Afghanistan -- and has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS infection, he said. Two-thirds of Cambodians are illiterate, and the infant mortality rate is the worst in Southeast Asia, he said.

Cambodia, the nation once known as the "Killing Fields," now desperately needs democratic reforms to avert another crisis, opposition leader Sam Rainsy said.

"It is no stretch to imagine that lawless Cambodia could soon become a haven for international terrorists in search of passports, bank accounts or training camps," Mr. Sam Rainsy said while receiving the Heritage Freedom Award from the International Republican Institute and the Heritage Foundation last week.

"Our meager economic growth is driven by trade in sex, drugs and crime. Cronies of the ruling parties in Cambodia get rich from corruption and illegal activities while the lives of ordinary people do not improve," he said.

Mr. Sam Rainsy, a former international banker, is the most outspoken critic of longtime Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. His Sam Rainsy Party has emerged as the leading opposition challenger to Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party in the general elections scheduled for July.
(More: WashTimes.com News Source)
2002 © The Washington Times.

Dan