By Justin Higginbottom

Actually, if Cambodian democracy were a car, it would be in a rice-field ditch and the villagers (and international observers) smelling smoke.

One interested observer is Sin Rozeth. The 34-year-old former commune chief and once rising political star was given the same choice as other members of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party: defect to another party (preferably the ruling Cambodian People’s Party) or get out of politics.

“If this restaurant is used as a place to gather fire, it is really dangerous for Rozeth and it should not be tolerated,” Chheang Vun, a ruling party lawmaker, posted on Facebook. In response to claims that she’s harboring “rebels,” Rozeth hung a banner outside: “Rozeth’s shop welcomes all guests, but not rebels.”

Last year, after being accused of obstructing a court order to transfer land once used for a school to a police chief, Rozeth, accompanied by more than a hundred supporters, marched to the courthouse to receive her summons.

Full https://www.ozy.com/provocateurs/the-du ... down/85739