July 10, 1998The Honorable Madeleine Albright
Department of State
2201 C Street
Washington, D.C. 20520Dear Madam Secretary:
I am writing this letter to respectfully request your consideration of certain issues pertaining to the upcoming elections in Cambodia. I am a U.S. citizen, a survivor of the "Killing Field", the head of one the largest Cambodian refugee organizations in the United States, the President of the National Development Party in Cambodia, and I would be the Prime Minister of Cambodia if our party were to win.
My life in the United states for the past seventeen years has taught me to become devoted to freedom, democracy practice and both transparency and accountability in the government. Now I want this for Cambodia.
As I am sure you are aware, the current election campaign has been the antithesis of free and fair. If it allowed to run its course in this manner, the outcome is predictable. Such would bring shame upon the United Nations and a loss for democracy and human rights in Cambodia. What we need to prevent the continued usurpation of power by Hun Sen and his communist associates is, at a minimum:
1. A modest period of a safe environment starting at least a month prior the registration for the election.
2. A plan of action for enforcing the results of the elections to prevent a recurrence of the situation following the 1993 elections, in which the winner at the polls were negotiated into the facto losers.
Madam Secretary, I implore you not to neglect nor abandon Cambodia at this critical time in its history. I am prepared to cooperate with you in any way I can for the benefit of both countries. To this end, should you feel it to be desirable, I would be most pleased to meet with you or your staff at location convenient for you as soon as possible.
Most respectfully,
Lar Mundstockcc: - MN Women's Press
- Minneapolis Star Tribune
- MN Monthly
Version 4.0, Event #127
 G21 ASIA: Part One of ROD AMIS' reporting on the upcoming elections in Kampuchea(Cambodia): End or New Beginning for "The Killing Fields"?
 G21 DAY ONE: We go DAILY again, with a revolving column of insights, intuition, and inspiration. TODAY: NATHAN BLACK on The Squealers.
YOUR HOUSE OF CARDS has another new JOKE OF THE DAY!  FAX NIKITA: PREMIERE! G21 promised more surprises. Now check out our compendium of the bizarre AND the interesting.
 QUEER PLANET: PHIL MARTIN catalogues the people he'll have to save a seat for other than U.S. SENATOR TRENT LOTT when he says, "I'll See YOU in Hell."
 ON DRUGS: ADAM SMITH, Barry McCaffrey's favorite writer, reports on how the U.S. Drug Czar insulted our European allies this week and shot himself in both feet.
 TABLOID HART: THOMAS HART takes in the Jerry Springer Show, and delivers more of the dish. But that's not all: After reading the article, visit Tom's new TRAILER PARK, a place for chat, link listings, and even more of the Gossip & Innuendo you've grown to love.
 G21 SPORTS: KO's CALLS. KRIS OLSON on Marv Albert, Mike Tyson, Justin Rose and Predictions.
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When Ms. Thomas first contacted the G21 on 29 June, 1998, the NADEP and Ms. Monstock were still involved in the elections, and hopeful for the better results than those which obtained after the U.N. financed Cambodian of 1993. At that time, a coalition government, including Prince Norodom Ranariddh(son of former King Nordodom Sihanouk,) and current Prime Minister Hun Sen was formed. But Hun Sen, unhappy with the results of that election, seized sole power last year, unable to accept the election results, and drove Ranariddh into hiding, and armed resistance, on the Cambodia-Thailand border. Ranariddh has been granted amnesty this year, and is running for office in this Sunday's elections. Meanwhile, it is reported that Hun Sen has been responsible for the deaths of over a hundred of his opponents since seizing power.
Further, Hun Sen controls the press, and refuses any reporting on opposition parties. He is reported to have threatened villages which don't support his party, Cambodian Peoples Party(CPP), with being cut off from support, and G21 has learned that it is rumored he has a standing force of 16,000 men ready to be mobilized should the elections not go his way. At this writing, we are still investigating this claim. Further, Hun Sen has arranged the election so that ballot boxes will remain in the homes of the poll takers overnight, and not counted until the following morning. Thus, we were not surprised to have received the news this month, as we began our research for this series, that Ms. Mundstock had withdrawn her candidacy for Member of Parliament and NADEP was protesting the conditions upcoming election.*
In today's[23 July, 1998] New York Times, in a story filed by Philip Shenon, it is reported that the United States government, despite information from the U.N. and various humanitarian and Non-Governmental Organizations on the ground in Cambodia, supports having the elections go on. In fact $2.3 million U.S. dollars are being paid to organizations stationed in Cambodia to monitor the elections.
Shenon quotes a Clinton administration official familiar with the situation in Cambodia as saying, "This is not going to be a perfect election, not at all. But we need to give Cambodian voters the chance. If Hun Sen tries to steal the election, then we can blow the whistle."
Shenon further reports that as early as last month Human Rights Watch Asia released a report which stated: "The present political environment in Cambodia, in which opposition parties are not able to operate freely and safely, is in no way conducive to the holding of free, fair and credible elections. There is no chance that a deeply flawed and rushed electoral process will help Cambodian establish democracy."[Emphasis G21's.--Ed.]