PHNOM PENH AND WASHINGTON DC - A senior adviser to the Burmese government says reforms in that country are outpacing Cambodia and other regional neighbors.
Speaking on the sidelines of a conference at American University in Washington, Ko Ko Hlaing, chief political adviser to Burmese President Thein Sein, admitted that Burma, also known as Myanmar, is a "latecomer" to political reforms. But he said it is making gains.
"Even though Cambodia is now enjoying the political and democratic transition, but I think Myanmar is more open than Cambodia up to right now," he told VOA Khmer. "So you can see in the media, and also the movement of the civil society and also the situation of free and fair elections in our bi-elections in 2012."
Ou Virak, who is head of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, and who visited Burma in November, disagrees.
"Democracy in Cambodia is better, I think," he told VOA Khmer. "But democracy is Cambodia is still grave."
Burma, which has undertaken democratic reforms, including an election, is preparing to chair Asean in 2014. It has seen diplomatic improvements with regional countries and on the international stage, including with the US.
But Information Minister Khieu Kanharith told VOA Khmer that Cambodia has "genuine democracy," pointing to gains at the polls by the opposition in July, despite opposition objections to what it says were fraudulent elections.
"We do not pretend to be a model of democracy, because each country has its own history and its own pace to attain it," Khieu Kanharith said by text message. "But at least we don't have civil war anymore."
Ou Virak said that Burma's elected officials are still a part of the military junta that has ruled the country for decades. And the media there suffer from the same ills as in Cambodia, he said. "TV and radio are still under strict measures, as in Cambodia," he said.
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