WHY I AM A DEMOCRAT

A while back, a discussion I had with a student-judge in the Justice Ministry animated my thoughts to the meaning of “democracy”.  He rightly assumed me to be a democrat and was perplexed by the concept:  “What is democracy?  Did not the Khmer Rouge called its government Democratic Kampuchea?”

Undoubtedly, democracy reigns supreme and has captured the hearts of the common people all over the world.  Most Westerners take it for granted and believe it should be exported.  To the detriment of authoritarian world leaders, their citizens absorb it.  In Cambodia, as it is around the world, everyone speaks of “democracy”, so much so that it is automatically assumed everyone has a commonly-held understanding.

Several months ago, I traveled all over Cambodia to rural pagodas to train party agents from mainly the three prominent political parties on laws, regulations and procedures of the February 3 commune elections, with a US-based organization whose goal is “advancing democracy worldwide”.  Thus, at every seminar, the student-judge’s perplexity about democracy many years ago reminded me anew the need for me to explain to the seminarians a commonly-used and well-known word its essence.

Democracy has many shades and forms.  From example, India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, France exercise various types of democracy.  However, despite the varying shades of democracy around the world and throughout the ages, certain common principles can be distilled to form the basic tenets of democracy.  Robert A. Dahl’s On Democracy gives an excellent primer on this most over-used, complex idea.

What is democracy?  Democracy comes from the Greek words demos, meaning “people”, and krotos, meaning “rule”.  Thus, a democracy is the rule of the people.  In entrusting rule to the people, democracy believes that only the people know better than any one person or groups of people what are the needs and yearnings in their daily lives.  The decentralization of power of Cambodia’s first commune elections works towards realizing this basic democratic tenet.

Democracy arises from the logic of equality.  Everyone has equal rights before the law.  Democracy accords the same rights to a beggar as to a king, the same rights to a woman as to a man, the same rights to a farmer as to a parliamentarian.

A distinction must be made between political equality and social equality.  Democracy assures political equality.  It cannot assure social equality.

For example, democracy gives every adult the right to vote.  It is a right that is legally enforceable. 

But democracy cannot assure that everyone will be as rich as Mr. Kith Meng, every woman as beautiful as Angelina Jolie or everyone as intelligent as Mr. Sam Rainsy.  Nor can it assure that everyone sing like Mr. Sin Sisamouth or play music like Prince Sirivudh.

But in assuring political equality, democracy builds the foundation for social equality.

Why is democracy desirable?  Democracy is not a perfect system.  But it is desirable because of the weakness of an alternative system and democracy produces desirable consequences:

• avoids tyranny,

• protects essential rights and personal interests,

• safeguards general freedoms,

• assures political equality,

• give moral autonomy,

• allows for human development and prosperity, and

•  is peace-seeking.

What does democracy require?  One, democracy requires elected officials.  Because direct democracy is not feasible on a large scale, the people exercise their rights through elected officials who serve as their voice and representative.

Two, a democracy must hold free, fair and frequent elections.  Elections must be held frequently because to hold an election every 30 years, for example, is meaningless.

Three, democracy requires freedom of expression.  Freedom does not mean anarchy.  Freedom functions within a boundary, the rule of law, ni tek rot.  With freedom comes responsibility.  I find it amusing and unsettling when I hear comments from Khmer women celebrating International Women’s Day that now for one full day they have rights, sidh, to beat up the men.  Not only is this flawed on temporal grounds (My fellow Khmer sisters, your rights exist whether or not a day is set aside to commemorate them !), but on conceptual ones as well.  We cannot select to demand our rights or freedom and discard the responsibility.

Four, democracy requires alternative sources of information.  I have already stated that democracy instills power in the people.  They are the decision-makers.  Hence, the people must have adequate and unsullied news in order for them to make informed decisions.  An authoritarian system benefits from keeping the people ignorant because an ignorant population can be easily manipulated and exploited.  The pro-democracy Sam Rainsy Party’s unsuccessful attempt to gain access to electronic media highlights Cambodia’s undemocratic system.

And finally, democracy requires citizenship participation.  The people must own their lives.  They must voice their concerns for their immediate community and the nation at large.  They must participate in the schooling of their children and exercise their civic duties.  Again, the decentralization of power facilitated by this past commune elections opens opportunities for participation by Khmer citizens.

Additionally, it benefits democracy to have the following essential conditions.  It is an essential condition for democracy that the military and police be under the control of elected officials.  This is not the case in Cambodia.  Military personnel continue to wreak havoc in cities and villages alike.

Another condition requires democratic beliefs and political culture to be imbedded in the population.  Thanks to the work of various rights organizations and the SRP, a political, democratic culture is slowly being built.  However, the gains made are still slim in comparison to the violent cultural morass of the present situation, where killers of millions roam freely among their victims.

Moreover, a democratic country must not be under strong foreign control that is hostile to democracy. In light of communist Vietnam’s invasion of Cambodia and its lingering influence, and communist China’s entrenched presence, it is questionable whether Cambodia meets this essential condition for democracy. 

Also, it helps a country aspiring toward full democracy to have a modern market economy and society.  Currently, Cambodia possesses a fledgling economy mired in corruption, drug trafficking, illegal logging, land grabbing and gambling.  The society sees increasing poverty despite the billions of aid dollars pouring into the country, increasing social ills from AIDS to preventable childhood diseases, and a continuing uneducated population despite the many schools bearing high-ranking officials’ names.

Why are elections important in a democratic society?  History has demonstrated that there two ways to change governments: by ballots or by bullets.  Cambodia has mainly known change by bullets.  Despite its attempt in recent past to change by ballots, Cambodia’s February commune elections attest to the country’s unyielding violent history – more than 20 pro-democracy activists and candidates lost their lives to political killings.

Despite academic theorizing over the efficacy of elections in developing countries, elections are important in a democratic society for the following reasons:

First, Power.  Elections enable people to influence the actions of their government.  As Lord Acton memorably noted, “Power corrupts.  Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In a democracy, power is distributed among the people, not in one person.  If people think their representatives are doing a good job, they can express their support by voting for them through an election.  If they think their representatives are doing a poor job, they can vote for them out of power and replace them with more qualified leaders.

Second, Choice.  In a democracy, candidates and political parties have different opinions and views on how the country should be governed.  Elections allow candidates and political parties to provide a choice of policies to the people.

Third, Accountability.  Election ensure that governments are accountable to the people.  If elected officials do a poor job, they get voted out of power – by ballots (not bullets).

I am baffled when I hear people who grew up in a democracy and who have benefited from it criticize democratic forces in Cambodia.  They take exception that democracy can only work in a  place like America, for example, and implicit in their sentiments, should only be enjoyed by them.  In addition to finding them hypocritical – that they are competently able to enjoy the fruits of freedom and the rule of law, but not those poor Khmer – I take offense at the different standard again employed, one for them, one for Khmer.  When it comes to the Cambodian situation, certain people are too readily willing to serve Cambodians a different standard, many times a sub-international standard, and unwittingly espouse Mr. Hun Sen’s thinking that international standard only exists in sports.

To a limited degree, I can understand these critics thinking, and feel their frustration.  The problems plaguing Cambodia are countless, deeply rooted and interconnected.  However, in our path to finding solutions to the complexities, we should not do away the principles of first things.  We should keep in mind the basic tenets that we all agree built a strong foundation for any society and work toward implementing laws to achieve them.  Some of those principles of democracy are: rule of law, accountability, freedom, human rights, due process.

But we are unreasonable when we allow the organs to be removed and continue to expect the functions.

In sum, democracy is based on the rule of law.  It believes in the logic of equality.  And it entrusts power in the people.

Cheyo Democracy !