Cambodia's Elections, Vietnam Observations, Senator John McCain

Personal views of John McAuliff

(Please check back tomorrow to see this page. I am still working on it.)



The Context of John McCain's Imprisonment

John McCain carried out more than a score of combat missions over Vietnam for a wrongful war before being shot down. Innocent civilians were surely among the Vietnamese victims, even if not intended. He was rescued from drowning and protected from an angry crowd, a story known widely in Vietnam but not acknowledged in US media recounting that acts as though his presence was innocent. Vietnam's treatment of prisoners, especially in the early years, was harsh and linked to their legal interpretation of implications that the US had never declared war.  Post-capture beatings and illegal killings of their combatants in the south may also have shaped Vietnamese treatment of their captives.  McCain described what took place as maltreatment and torture and commendably used it as a reason to oppose "enhanced interrogation" by the CIA.

McCain's refusal to accept early release was honorable and courageous within parameters of military discipline.  Other POWs who opposed the war did accept release and risked opprobrium for continuing to speak for peace after return to the U.S. 

His principled behavior in the face of the authoritarianism and dishonesty of President Trump deserves deep appreciation.

It also should be noted the Senator McCain was a supporter with Senator Leahy of US government funding that addresses legacies of the war such as land mines, UXO and Agent Orange.

Vietnam News recalled McCain in this favorable way
https://vietnamnews.vn/politics-laws/464563/us-senator-mccain-who-helps-lay-foundation-for-vn-us-relations-passes-away.html#7PVM2O30JTrjC2If.97

Journalist Arnold Isaacs has written an insightful article about McCain's visit to Saigon six months before the end of the war  https://warontherocks.com/2018/08/john-mccain-in-1974-back-in-vietnam/

Pasted below is a Vietnamese perspective.



Cambodia elected a new parliament on July 29th. 

For the first time in its post Khmer Rouge history only one party will be represented in Cambodia's National Assembly.  Ironically this is reminiscent of the Sihanouk era before he was overthrown by the US backed coup of Lon Nol.

The primary opposition party was outlawed, the Khmer National Rescue Party (KNRP), once known as the Sam Rainsy Party.  Rainsy who lives in exile acts and speaks as though he still is its leader.

Nineteen other parties freely competed, accumulating 23% of the vote.  None of them received enough support to win a seat in parliament.  In fact, as I said at the post-election press conference of election observers, the second largest party was the 9 % "spoiled ballots" (594,659).  The next largest vote (374,510) went to FUNCINPEC, the Royalist party.

FUNCINPEC's ability to campaign was greatly weakened by a crash during a campaign caravan that killed Prince Ranaridh's wife and seriously hospitalized him in Bangkok.

The KNRP's call for an election boycott fell flat.  Voter turnout was 83%, slightly above the previous parliamentary election.

Supporters of the KNRP charge it was outlawed because it came close to defeating the CPP in the last election.  The CPP points to Rainsy's disloyal guarantee in North Carolina of autonomy to Montagnard provinces (as seen on Youtube  https://youtu.be/GZHKJTr79AU) and the also videotaped boast by Kem Sokha, his successor, that the US had promised to support him in a color revolution.

Because the primary opposition party was outlawed and allied publications were closed, the US and the European Union refused for the first time to send election observers and have disputed the legitimacy of the election.  Their absence lent no support to the parties composed by former KNRP members and those calling for the release of imprisoned opponents of the government.

This was the fourth time I served as an official election observer.  My impression in the Phnom Penh area is that election day procedures were once again very well organized and completely transparent.  We observed the vote and count in districts that had been very pro-opposition at the previous election.  Not surprisingly, the spoiled ballots in the counts we viewed were a higher percentage than the national average, one-third or more.

This was the same area that had seen post-election violence after the previous vote, but this time all was peaceful.

The success of the CPP is probably a mix of soft intimidation of opponents and its own well grounded organizing skills plus the benefits of incumbency.  After the scare of the last election, Hun Sen regularly undertook events at garment factories and participated in university graduations.  Commune leaders who had not maintained support were replaced.

The CPP's total electoral victory creates real problems for future governance.  Hun Sen convened a meeting recently to have dialogue with parties that opposed him but the two with the most independent following did not show up.  He has also suggested that opposition figures could be incorporated into ministries, a well-practiced strategy of cooptation.   There are also hints he will ask the King to pardon imprisoned opponents, coupled with threats that they will need to behave properly once released.

In the context of its region, Cambodia is somewhere in the middle of the democracy scale.  The US and the European Union tolerate the military coup government in Thailand and its prolonged highly controlled process to restore the appearance of democracy, while assuring that Taksin supporters are kept out. Singapore's version of effectively one party social democracy has also received minimal criticism.  Vietnam and Laos show no signs of abandoning single party rule.  Myanmar and the Philippines do not have much to boast about at the moment and Brunei's royal rule is undisturbed. 

Neither the US nor Vietnam are happy with the growing Chinese influence in both Cambodia and Laos, but neither seems able to provide an alternative to the massive investment that is benefiting both populations.  The new US ambassador should return to the more productive relationship of the initial years after the Paris Agreement.

At the end of the day, the people and system responsible for Cambodia's near miraculous renewal after the Khmer Rouge devastation have preserved the stability of their rule.  However, as with other societies the overlong preservation of leadership based on a single dominant personality carries its own risks.

Election results are here.

https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/final-poll-results-confirm-first-single-party-assembly-0?utm_source=Phnompenh+Post+Main+List&utm_campaign=a53d8d6a1a-


Still to come.  My observations from Vietnam in August



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A Vietnamese Perspective on John McCain

Mr. Nguyen Quang Dy is retired from Viet Nam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He studied in Australia and in the U.S., at Harvard, where he was a Nieman Fellow.  His writings and commentary are read and respected among the expat community and Vietnamese contemporaries, and young Vietnamese as well.



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How John McCain is remembered  
Nguyen Quang Dy
John McCain (like John Kerry) is a congressional leader (and “a titan in the Senate”). Both are successful politicians who have run unsuccessfully for president. Both men are Vietnam War veterans who (as a Republican and a Democrat) have done so much to support the painful process of normalization of relations between the two bitter enemies.
John McCain (as a naval pilot) was shot down over a Hanoi lake during an air strike and jailed for over five years in the “Hanoi Hilton”, while John Kerry (as a gunboat officer) was wounded during battles in the Mekong delta during the Vietnam War. Both Johns are known much more for their peace-making efforts with Vietnam than for their war records.
John McCain (unlike John Kerry) suffered so much in captivity, yet he worked so hard over the years (like John Kerry) to assist Vietnam’s post-war reconstruction and reconciliation. The last major action John McCain and John Kerry did for Vietnam was to lobby and support President Obama’s timely decision to lift the arms ban on Vietnam (May 23, 2016).
John McCain fought for what he believed was right until the very end. In one of his last public acts, McCain blasted Trump's summit with Putin (July 16, 2018) as “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory”. Then he went on “The damage inflicted by Trump's naiveté, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate. But it is clear that the summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake”.
As John McCain died on August 25, 2018 (the full-moon thanksgiving day in Vietnam), he has left not only deep sorrow in the heart of his family and friends, but also a huge gap in the dynamics of US-Vietnam Relationship, at this critical juncture of history.  
There are few men who could really come to terms with their former enemy. And much fewer men are missed and loved by both friends and foes alike when they die. John McCain is such a man, as he stands larger than size with his uncommon values and valor.
When John McCain was diagnosed with brain cancer (glioblastoma) a year ago, he told CNN “every life has to end one way or another”. He said: “I've lived very well and I've been deprived of all comforts. I've been as lonely as a person can be and I've enjoyed the company of heroes. I've suffered the deepest despair and experienced the highest exultation”.
As John McCain died (at 81), Vice President Joe Biden said: “John McCain will cast a long shadow. His impact on America hasn’t ended. Not even close. It will go on for many years to come… America will miss John McCain. The world will miss John McCain. And I will miss him dearly”.  John McCain died from glioblastoma on August 25, 2018, while Senator Edward Kennedy (his good friend and foe) also died from the same form of brain cancer on August 25 2009, exactly nine years earlier to the day (as a strange coincidence).
If “statesmen are judged not for what they did but for the consequences of their actions” (as people say), John McCain is such a statesman. He would live much longer than life in the heart and mind of people he cares for. His family and friends should be proud of this uncommon man who will be missed and remembered as a decent man, and a good guy.     
There are no better words for this man than the speech that Ambassador Pete Peterson delivered in Boston (September 10, 2001) during an Award Dinner Honoring Senator John McCain and Senator John Kerry. Let me quote (in part) to make the points:  
Tonight, we gather to honor two more brave men - the architects of American's reconciliation with Vietnam: Senators John McCain and John Kerry. Through the administrations of four American presidents (Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and, now, another Bush), I have seen how these two colleagues of mine in Congress -  and fellow veterans of Vietnam - first planned, designed, and then patiently guided this reconciliation to completion…
Having seen first-hand the recent evolution of Vietnam, I can tell you that with the aid of John McCain and John Kerry, the people of Vietnam now have a chance at a better future...like what our country eventually enjoyed after the reconciliation of our own civil war…They are just as heroic in waging peace...as they are in waging war…
It took 50 years after the last shot was fired in the American civil war for the survivors reconcile their differences on the field at Gettysburg…Without John McCain and John Kerry, it would have taken far longer. Maybe 50 years…when those of us who went to Vietnam the first time would be in the 8th and 9th decades of our lives. May be even longer…
But because of these two visionaries, these two leaders, it happened sooner in our lifetimes…
The American people and the people of Vietnam are forever in your debt.
The future relations of these countries is in your debt…
Now that John McCain is gone, John Kerry seems even lonelier. 
May John McCain’s soul live in peace without ordeal. 
Amen!
NQD, August 28, 2018.

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