The Cambodian diaspora in Australia has kept tabs on the politics of their homeland ever since the 1975 Communist takeovers of Indochina heralded Pol Pot's genocide and decades of war that caused thousands to flee.
Most settled into ordinary suburban lives, raised families and sent what money they could back to their impoverished villages, where life improved under a fledgling democracy, once the final shots were fired in a civil war that did not end until 1998.
But over the past year their voice has grown bolder, outraged by a crackdown on the political opposition and independent media, which will ensure Prime Minister Hun Sen victory at Sunday's national election.
And it was Hun Sen who set the tone. With the diaspora in the United States, France and New Zealand also making waves, he told Australians he would "pursue them to their houses and beat them up" if they burned effigies of him during an ASEAN summit in Sydney.
They promptly did.
"Cambodians outside the country are frustrated, very upset, very angry that the elections are going ahead like this," said Hong Lim, a former member of the Victorian parliament and a spokesman for the wider Khmer community.
Lim is backing the banned Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) and its calls for an election boycott, which angered the authorities in Cambodia amid protests that attracted thousands in suburbs like Springvale in southeast Melbourne.
"We understand people inside the country are also incredibly frustrated and they could face severe repercussions if they don't go and vote," he said.
"It's just sad that it's come this far."
Australia has contributed heavily to Cambodia's reconstruction, sending United Nations peacekeepers in the early 1990s, providing an aid budget of about $60 million a year and diplomatic support on issues like joining the World Trade Organisation.
But relations were tested by a deal to relocate asylum seekers to Cambodia from detention centres in Nauru, and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.
Then filmmaker James Ricketson was charged with espionage as the broader crackdown took hold, which government critics argue had more to do with fears that Hun Sen's long ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) could lose this election.
Hun Sen accused CNRP leader Kem Sokha of fomenting a "colour revolution" and charged him with treason, as many of his supporters fled.
Thirty radio frequencies were closed for inappropriate content; The Cambodia Daily shut and Australian miner Bill Clough was forced to sell The Phnom Penh Post after both newspapers were hit with multi-million-dollar tax bills.
In rejecting Clough's appeal, Kong Vibol, Director General of the General Department of Taxation (GDT) wrote: "By law, failing to appropriately declare or disclose such transactions to GDT is considered an act of tax evasion."
Kong Vibol is now being scrutinised after a report by broadcaster Al Jazeera cast legal doubts over his Australian investments and produced details of undeclared assets worth millions of dollars in companies controlled by him in Cambodia.
"It is shocking, it's the kind of thing that makes you disillusioned, it's obvious and so open, the corruption, they just don't care," said Kalyan Ky, a Melbourne-based spokesperson for the diaspora who featured prominently in Al Jazeera's report.
"The diaspora is brave because the worst thing that can happen is you don't go back. But I have to say I am scared because they can go after your family in Cambodia. Some people in Australia are too scared to sign a petition."
She said the biggest problem was that Cambodia was a low priority for the Turnbull government.
"That's why the Liberal Party has to be lobbied. They don't want to rock the boat because Cambodia is not a threat to Australia. But I think they will probably do more, they are doing more," she said.
That includes resolving Ricketson's ordeal, investigating allegations of illegal acquisition of Australian property by Cambodians and protecting a diaspora that speaks out about injustices in their homeland.
Ricketson's case was tied to the CNRP's dissolution. A petition calling for his release attracted more than 70,000 signatures including Hollywood luminaries like Sam Neill, and foreign minister Julie Bishop has intervened on his behalf.
But after a year in the notorious Prey Sar prison his fate remains precarious and his supporters argue the government is dragging its feet on this issue.
"That's clearly unfortunate," said Hong Lim, adding the government - and his own Labor Party -- were more interested in preserving its refugee deal with Cambodia because it was effective in stopping the boats and was popular with the public.
"I think the Australian public has been poisoned by that argument. And that will be the basis for the relationship between Australia and Cambodia going forward."
The US and European Union are poised to impose sanctions, Australia will likely follow suit and Phnom Penh has told Canberra to butt out of its domestic affairs, as Hun Sen shifts his country out of the Western orbit and into the big spending embrace of China.
His victory at this Sunday's poll will ensure that policy and sorely test Cambodia's relations with Australia - but a loud and rowdy diaspora will also ensure his government's antics are never far from public gaze.
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