War of words and sex become Cambodia’s politcal game for upcoming election

     Phnom Penh:   Tricks have likely been part of political campaigns as long as there have been political campaigns.

     And sex scandals have likely dogged politicians as long as there has been politicians, and sex.

     Among the more infamous tricksters was the gang of mostly young zealots who disseminated disinformation and lies about rivals of then U.S. President Richard Nixon during Nixon’s campaign for re-election in 1972.

     And among the more infamous sex scandals are those surrounding then British War Secretary John Profumo in the early 1960s, then U.S. President Bill Clinton’s dalliance with Monica Lewinski in the late 1990s and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s “bunga-bunga” parties in the 2000s.

     Sometimes, as in the “swift-boating” of presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004, the tricks stick.

     Sometimes, as in the rehabilitation of Clinton into one the world’s most popular statesmen, the scandal blows over.

     Now, one can add to the lists of both tricks and scandals the latest rumors emerging as Cambodia prepares to vote in national elections next month.

     Kem Sokha, acting leader of the recently merged opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, the only rival to the 34-year rule of the Cambodian People’s Party led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, is under suspicion of having several illicit affairs.

     Keo Sophanary, 42, claims she and Kem Sokha were lovers until five years ago.

Appearing before reporters, Keo Sophanary said Kem Sokha began his affair with her in 1998, the same year Clinton’s impropriety with a 24-year-old White House intern emerged.

“I first met him in Phnom Penh when I was more than 20 years old and I’m now 42 years old. When I met him for the first time, he was an ordinary man not such a well-known politician like now,” Keo Sophanary said.

But while Clinton’s troubles and Berlusconi’s parties were certainly embarrassing, Kem Sokha’s problem might be criminal.

In 2006, Cambodia adopted a monogamy law that includes up to a year in jail and fines of up to $250 for anyone who is proven to have had an affair while married.

If his accuser’s words are true, Kem Sokha could go to jail.

But here is where the alleged tricks enter the scenario.

On several occasions in recent weeks, CPP members, including the prime minister, have “fingered” an unnamed opposition politician for ”misbehavior or wrong morals.”

They have suggested that the unnamed politician had taken a lover while married, with two adult children, and had possibly paid for sex, including with a minor.

     Many have interpreted the charges as aimed at Kem Sokha, and Hun Sen has said the “person in trouble” should settle the case directly with the woman or file a lawsuit if he thinks the woman has fabricated her story.

     “If you take no action, it means the allegation is true,” Hun Sen said at the recent inauguration of a new building for the National Olympic Committee.

Kem Sokha has been backed into the position of denying Keo Sophanary’s accusations — he says he has never met the woman — as well as trying to deflect other accusations from the ruling party that, he says, not only disturb and annoy, but also threaten his personal safety ahead of the July 28 election.

     He charges the CPP has orchestrated action against his political activities and personal safety since June 9 when there was a mass protest against his alleged remarks on the Khmer Rouge regime that ruled Cambodia in the late 1970s.

     A meeting he was speaking at was disrupted by loudspeakers and his trips to the provinces to campaign have been blocked or disrupted by protesters alleging them as supporters of the ruling party.

The CPP denies any tricks, with Hun Sen claiming the protesters were simply angered by Kem Sokha’s “irresponsible” remarks.

Aside from the possible criminal repercussion, claims, counterclaims, protests and personal harassment have been part of Cambodian politics since the first democratic election in 1993.

As for sex allegations, they have always piqued the interest of the media when they involve political leaders or famous public figures.

But before the 2006 law change, affairs of state and of the heart were rarely more than titillation for the masses.

The late King Norodom Sihanouk’s biographer wrote the king managed to have six wives and 14 children.

Chea Vannath, a social analyst, called the current scandal ”unexceptional.”

“In a Cambodian context, in Cambodian culture, for 90 percent or less of the rich or powerful it is normal for them to have extramarital relationships,” she said.

But when asked if such scandals can harm political careers, she said it is hard to predict other than to note many politicians in the world have recovered from supposedly damning scandals.

Sam Rainsy, who is president of the CNRP, has his own problems that some see as the result of ruling party tricks.

He is ensconced in self-exile abroad and faces a 12-year jail term at home after three convictions by Cambodian courts.

     Critics claim his convictions for removing markers on the border with Vietnam, for publishing a map of that border deemed false and for defaming Foreign Minister Hor Namhong by calling him a once-member of the Khmer Rouge are trumped-up charges lacking in merit.

     But the fact remains Sam Rainsy is even less free to campaign with impunity at home than is his partner in opposition Kem Sokha.

     Kem Sokha’s CNRP was unlikely to win next month’s election in any case and the CPP is confident to retain a healthy majority in parliament rather than see some of its 90 seats slip away to the opposition.

     Cambodia holds general election in every five years. ( By Puy Kea/Kyodo, June 16 Kyodo)