25 May 2008--More Misconduct Headlines
Click here to see headlines of official misconduct in Cambodia.
15 May 2008--Honoring the King? This will be the first banknote to have the visage of the new king on it. Paper money printed after the defeat of the Khmer Rouge has been graced with the image of retired King Sinanouk up to now.
The prime minister of Cambodia has announced that a new 20,000 riel banknote will be issued to honor the king for his birthday. I have been in Cambodia more than eight years and have never seen a 20,000 riel note. Why do we need a new one? In a country with a proper government seriously interested in the welfare of its people, there would be studies and discussion about the need for new currency. Here such a change is just announced. About five years ago, a 50 riel note was introduced but it basically went out of circulation within a year and is now mostly available only in banks. But officials must feel that exercises like this go down well with the mostly uneducated public so they continue.
14 May 2008--The King's Birthday
Today is the 55th birthday of the new King Sihamoni who ascended to the throne when his father, King Norodom Sihanouk, resigned three years ago. As I write this, I can hear the fireworks being set off on the waterfront by the Royal Palace. This is the second of three days of holidays established to honor the king. I had hoped that the new king would accept only one day for his birthday instead of the three traditionally celebrated for his father. Apparently tradition is too much, though, so now we have six days of birthday holidays--three for the reigning king and three for the retired king!
22 April 2008--Religious Diversity in Cambodia
Buddhism is the official state religion in Cambodia, a very prominent and obvious part of the social fabric, but other religions are represented, too. Islam has 277 mosques, mainly in one province, with about 320,000 Islamic believers. The Catholic Church has 25 churches and 52 other prayer venues, with a Catholic population of about 18,500. Other Christian denominations have 193 churches and 1,400 other prayer sites, and about 155,000 believers. The Baha'i faith has 7 prayer venues and 6,300 members, while the Cao Dai sect has two places for prayer for its 3,000 ethinic Vietnamese believers. The majority of the Buddhists belong to the Theravada Buddhism sect which has 55,500 monks and 4,300 pagodas. The other branch of Buddhism, Mahayana, has 90 pagodas and 22 smaller places for prayer. [This photograph is of a corridor in what was the old seminary in the pre-Khmer Rouge era. Today it is part of the Catholic compound that serves as one of two parishes in Phnom Penh.]
20 April 2008--We're No. 2!
It is common practice to see police on many street corners doing nothing except pulling people over for imagined offenses and extorting money. Sometimes it becomes institutionalized, as in this photograph, where a driver of an overloaded van coming into the city automatically slows down so his helper can hand a payoff to the police officer who comes out to meet each van.
18 April 2008--It's all relative... Citigroup, the United States' largest financial instituion and the parent of Citibank, announced today that it wrote off $5.1 billion in losses, due to the sub-prime mortgage fiasco, in the first quarter of this year! Compare this to the banking situation in Cambodia where in 2001 the government closed 11 commercial banks following new banking rules which raised the minimum capital requirement from $5 million to $13 million. Of the 30 banks in the country at the time, only 4 were able to meet the new requirement! A banking official announced at the time: "With this decision, we've solved the main problem in our bankng sector. What we are doing is to strengthen our banking sector by selecting only strong banks." It's debatable whether they succeeded. There are a number of new small banks like this one but it is amazing how many businesses--not individuals!--don't have bank accounts or any transactions with banks!
3 April 2008--Just what we need...
An article in The Phnom Penh Post noted that the number of luxury golf courses in Cambodia last year doubled to four and that officials hope to have six more by 2010. Two of the courses that opened in 2007, in Siem Reap, were PGA-level courses. Presently under construction are another Siem Reap course, three near Phnom Penh, one near the Vietnamese border, and one is planned near Sihanoukville. "Golf can attract more high-yield tourists," said the head of the Cambodia Golf Association. This is in a country where only 17% of the nation has electricity and where rice exports have been limited because there is fear there is not enough to feed the local populace.
8 February 2008--Continued Injustice
This is a sign outside a human rights organization in Phnom Penh with the pictures of two men, Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, who were convicted of the murder of Chea Vichea, the president of the Free Trade Union in 2004. He was gunned down in January in broad daylight at a corner newspaper stand in the neighborhood where many of the Maryknollers lived. A week later Born and Sok were arrested, and in August they were convicted of his murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison even though witnesses verified they were elsewhere on the day of the killing. The newshop owner, who witnessed the killing, said the two did not do it. She later fled to Thailand for her own safety. Human rights groups support the innocence of the two and keep the issue in front of people with signs like this which are changed daily to indicate the number of days the two have been imprisoned. The Khmer numbers on this sign indicate 1471 days. The rights groups, family members, and other supporters held a ceremony marking the pair's fourth year of imprisonment.
For some reason, the government has been introducing new laws about driving in the last year or so. The laws are certainly needed but why the government is promulgating them is another question. Usually the answer to such questions is that government officials will make money from the changes, not that they are for the common good or traffic safety. Following is an excerpt from a Letter to the Editor to the Cambodia Daily:
If one is patient, just wait and it will go away like the mirrors on motorbikes decree; the army license plate removal decree; the darkened windows on cars decree; and the change cars with right hand drive to left hand drive decree.... 24 January 2008
Probably one of the best metaphors for the corruption, lack of will, and incompetence in the government of Cambodia is the situation of driving laws. Basically there are no driving laws. There are some--very few--on the books, but people do not know them and none are enforced.
Decrees Here Are Not To Be Taken Seriously
I refer to the letter to the editor, "City's Order to Replace License Plates is Unjust"....
23 January 2008--Politics rather than truth
This past weekend, a memorial service for victims of genocide was blocked by the Cambodian government. Actress Mia Farrow and other activists went to the Tuol Sleng Museum, the torture center where victims were interrogated before being taken to the killing fields, to place flowers in memory of those who died under the Khmer Rouge. The Cambodian government is very sensitive about such observances because China supported the Khmer Rouge--as did the United States--and China is now one of Cambodia's staunchest allies. The police blocked off the streets leading to Tuol Sleng and even physically pushed away the small group who came to Cambodia as part of a seven-nation trip remembering all the victims of genocide. [Photo from Associated Press and CNN]