Obama Should Stay Away From CambodiaSamrang Pring / ReutersRiot police blocked the street outside Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Oct . 1 , as protesters called for the release of jailed land - rights activist Mam Sonando . By SAM RAINSYPresident Obama is due to visit Cambodia next month as the country holds the presidency of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2012 . Ahead of Cambodian elections in July 2013 , Prime Minister Hun Sen , who has been in power since 1985 , has been engaging in a familiar pattern of cracking down on the voices of opposition . He knows that it ’ s an easier and safer way to win elections than allowing democratic debate . The summit meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that Mr . Obama plans to attend should be moved to another country in order to deny Hun Sen the legitimacy he is seeking to garner from the event . Those with a record of opposition to Hun Sen are in dread of the period right after Mr . Obama ’ s scheduled visit . The owner of the Cambodia ’ s Beehive radio station , Mam Sonando , was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Oct . 1 on politically motivated charges that he had been part of a secessionist movement . The radio station had allowed airtime for such inconvenient issues as maternal mortality , human trafficking , labor rights , environmental protection and the need for an independent judiciary . Hun Sen had publicly called for Mam Sonando ’ s arrest on June 26 . He was held on July 15 , two days after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton left the country after attending an Asean regional forum . The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Cambodia , Surya P . Subedi , in July recommended reform [ pdf ] of the country ’ s electoral system . Among his 18 recommendations was the key demand for the reform of the National Election Committee to make it a neutral body . This has been rejected by the Cambodian government . Hun Sen is counting on donors continuing to turn a blind eye to the fact that the election committee is dominated by members of the ruling Cambodian People ’ s Party , and is even situated inside the Interior Ministry . The minimum requirement for proper elections next year is that the National Election Committee be reformed . Letting it operate in its current form would allow voter - registration fraud on a massive scale . This means that election results are a foregone conclusion . Meanwhile , as leader of the opposition , I remain abroad in forced exile to avoid a 12 - year jail sentence on politically motivated charges . The Cambodian National Rescue Party — the united democratic opposition that I lead — won ’ t validate such a bogus exercise next year by taking part . There must be meaningful reform in advance or Cambodia will go the way of Belarus , reduced to international isolation after an opposition boycott led to a one - horse race in which the dictator Alexander Lukashenko was the only candidate . This year , the Cambodian political landscape saw what could prove to be its biggest change since the extinction of the Khmer Rouge in 1998 . The Human Rights Party , led by Kem Sokha , agreed to merge with the Sam Rainsy Party to create a united democratic opposition . We believe that together we have enough support to win a free and fair election . We aim to carry out a New Deal for Cambodia . Prohibition of land theft will be at the core of our program . Our government will cancel all land , forest and mining concessions granted by Hun Sen that were associated with the eviction of legitimate landowners . Local communities will be given rights to decide how land , forest and fishing zones are managed . We will seek to rid the civil service of the corruption that cripples it and turn it into a meritocracy associated with a sense of public service . We will introduce a health service that gives Cambodians access to basic care . Our government will make it illegal for any organization , including political parties , to get new members through coercion . We will reform the National Election Committee to make it independent and introduce an age limit for prime ministers to avert the specter of Hun Sen , or anyone else , ruling the country for life . Hun Sen has been power for even longer than Mr . Lukashenko . He is the only Cold War communist leader to survive in power today . During the Cold War , states in Eastern Europe and Asia fell to communism like dominoes . But a domino can fall in either direction . The free world must seize the opportunity presented by Cambodia ’ s elections . Forcing Hun Sen to play by democratic rules would not only empower the Cambodian people to determine their own future , it would also give an impetus to democracy and human rights in countries such as Vietnam , Laos , Myanmar and North Korea . Hun Sen responded to the recommendations from Mr . Subedi , a Nepalese professor of law , by telling him to go away and worry about his own country . He used similar language in 2006 and 2007 in response to criticism from the previous U . N . envoy to Cambodia , the Kenyan constitutional lawyer Yash Ghai . If everyone did that then the United Nations wouldn ’ t exist and neither would international law . If Hun Sen won ’ t engage with the international community and the Asean summit isn ’ t moved , President Obama , the leader of the world ’ s standard - bearer of democracy , should take Hun Sen at his word and stay away . Sam Rainsy is an exiled member of the Cambodian Parliament .