The Government’s One-Sided Approach to Tourism

Recently the Phnom Penh Post (http://www.phnompenhpost.com/) published an article about the tourism industry, and the minister of tourism Thong Khon also stated that they want to develop cultural heritage and eco-tourism. Another article in the PPP, however, rightly points out that the definition of eco-tourism is rather hazy and everybody wants to hop on the bandwagon to profit from the changed perception of travelers, especially in Europe. Of course, the recent surge in tourist arrivals is principally due to the cultural heritage site Angkor Wat combined with the relatively low price levels in the service sector, which makes Cambodia an attractive destination. Now officialdom wants to add Preah Vihear to this, which certainly will give it an additional boost, though as with many parts in Cambodia, that part of Cambodia lacks the necessary infrastructure.

Public announcements and intentions by the government notwithstanding, things aren’t always what they appear to be. Following is the story about the experience of someone who for some time now has actively been looking for a site to build a, for Cambodia unique, small and romantic resort at the seaside. General aspects about tourism and a description of this resort were published on this blog in November 2007.

Initially, he wanted to build this resort in Kampot province believing that Sihanoukville, although having the superior beaches, would not fit the bill because of the hustle and bustle of a port town and its in part seedy character. The area between Kep and Kampot promised ideal parameters: it had a nice town with some restaurants, a private nearby zoo, the caves, the outlying islands, its proximity to Bokor, which would be re-developed, and to Sihanoukville, which guests could reach easily in 30 minutes, if they so chose, but beaches were scarce. The only suitable beachfront property had been bought by a French overseas Khmer who is currently in the process of improving the land into a resort.

The fact that otherwise land there was practically unsuitable, though, did not keep several land owners from asking outrageous prices of about $40/m2 for a rice paddy near a mangrove covered shoreline and praising the virtues of the location.

So on he went to Sihanoukville to check out Otres Beach, just to make sure he would not miss out on an unexpected opportunity, as they sometimes come along. He did not hold out much hope for that already high-priced area, though. There was a prime lot available and the owner was even willing to sell him only 1 ha, the size of land he needed for his project. But he wasn’t too surprised when he heard the price - $125/m2. Negotiating fiercely, he was able to talk them down to $100. His entire project would be approximately $5 million. But with this land price he needed partners to invest. While he was seeking investors he continued looking for alternatives. As it happens, a cabinet minister’s daughter who had bought it in 2001, most likely for a pittance, owned that piece of land. Finally he decided to forgo this land, as the numbers wouldn’t really work out for him. A few weeks later he learned that the entire beach had been sold to a consortium of Chinese and Khmer investors.

Someone pointed out the area around Stung Hao to him. He found an ideal spot, secluded, but still only 30 minutes from Sihanoukville. The road no. 145 is well paved and Phnom Penh is only a little over 3 hours away. Of course, an access road to the beach needed to be built, the power grid connected, and a well for potable water needed to be drilled. Not an easy task given the circumstances. The village chief said that they had a master development plan for the area but couldn’t give any specifics. This, of course, could mean that someone might decide to build a fish factory right next to the lot. The allure of a romantic getaway would vanish overnight if that happened, and with it the guests.

The price was all right (he doesn’t want to say how much exactly so as not to put any ideas into anybody’s mind). But the catch was that they had 9 ha for sale and did not want to split up the block. But he kept going back and forth in the hope to persuade them to cut off the required 1 or 2 ha.

In the meantime, someone contacted him and wanted to sell him a piece of the Ream National Park. Anybody who has been there knows how beautiful the beaches there are. He pointed out that this land can’t possibly be for sale, as it is state property to begin with, and part of the national park. So he didn’t put much credence into that offer and let it pass.

When he returned to Stung Hao he found out that the 9 ha had just been sold to the highest-ranking general in Cambodia.

And lo and behold, right around that time he found out that 1000 ha of Ream National Park had been leased to a Chinese company for 99 years. They are to build a golf course, resort, and casino on the southern coast of Ream National Park. Construction of a road has already begun. All relevant ministers had signed off on the deal - the Minister of the Interior, the Minister for the Environment, the Minister of Commerce, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Tourism, and the CDC. One really has to wonder how much money changed hands for that deal to happen.

Just a couple of months earlier an acquaintance, who operates three boutique hotels in Phnom Penh, had met with the CDC to gain access to a small piece of land in Ream National Park for an ecologically balanced, small resort, complete with solar power, waste composting, etc. He wanted to lease it for 15 to 20 years from the state. His total investment was to be about $200,000. This would give the park some additional attraction as accommodations there have so far been lacking completely. The impact on the environment would have been negligible. It would have blended into the scenery of the park perfectly. The CDC just laughed at the proposal. They are looking for the big bucks. If it’s not at least $10 million they won’t even give you the time of the day. Well, selling out a National Park like this clearly shows they don’t put their money where their mouth is when they profess to seek to develop eco-tourism. Of course, 500 rooms, a golf course, and a casino all blend in very well within a National Park.

Obviously, this decision has a lot to do with the construction of a bigger airport in Sihanoukville. Airlines had pointed out they wouldn’t consider instituting direct flights for lack of appropriate accommodations. So the government is obviously thinking that by having those large developments they will gain those much sought direct flights. So far plans for three major resorts have been announced, one by the Sokha Group, another one by the Queens Group from Greece (a casino operator in Greece, although noted on the London stock exchange), and now this Chinese project. Will that be enough? Hardly, if you look at the number of rooms they will create. A previous article on the development of tourism on this site takes a closer look at this question. It is clear that much more than a few multi-million dollar projects are needed to re-vamp the entire coastline to convert it into a major tourist destination. The current emphasis on big projects alone won’t be able to accomplish this. A good mix is the way to go.

Well, to get back to the search for a suitable piece of land, he found another slice of beach in the Stung Hao area. Since access by road is not possible at the moment he motored over in a small fishing boat to take a look. The owner, a simple fisherman, went with him. It wasn’t the greatest piece of land for such an undertaking, but it would do. It had the right size, and it was beachfront. But the owner didn’t know how much to ask. He needed to get back to his friends for advice. They all owned about 50 ha in the area. It goes without saying that they didn’t have any hard title. So the first problems loomed on the horizon. Finally, a few days later he got back and said he couldn’t agree on anything with his friends. Our friend also learned that there were indeed ownership problems. So here went another chance down the drain. Probably he was also just too late to get into this. The current land speculation craze plainly overtook him and has steamrolled the project.

Seeing his inability to establish a smaller resort in the face of the current land craze, in his frustration he turned to a different business and bought a small rubber plantation in Kampong Cham province, which in addition to still affordable land prices produces a nice income right from the get-go.







Though he hasn’t given up on his plans for that boutique resort, he finds it increasingly difficult to deal with the current bureaucracy and its philosophy. We all don’t know whether to blame it on the personal greed of the involved officials or on their skewed planning, but it has become really hard for smaller and medium-sized investors to establish a business in Cambodia. We see the emphasis on large investors as unhealthy and it looks like a sell-out of the country to whoever pays the most. Or as one of our Khmer friends said, ‘Cambodia is a cake and the government cuts it up and sells it in big slices’, and maybe if they get lucky, a few crumbs will be left over for the smaller guys. But that’s the way the world runs, isn’t it?

Dey Kraham Revisited - The other side of the coin.

There are always two sides to a story – Dey Kraham is no exception. So far we have heard from the dwellers there, Licadho, various other organizations, political parties, and whoever felt the need to speak out. The outcry and the outrage resonated beyond Cambodia. Nobody ever felt it necessary to interview the other side, the owner of the land. Of course, this is not easy to accomplish, as the owner is a very publicity shy person who does not enjoy being in the spotlight. He does not give interviews, as he knows he will be lambasted at every turn. Incidentally, this man was once just as poor as the people who squat on his land.

Sure enough, Sam Rainy, who is widely seen as the advocate for the poor people, eagerly takes advantage of such situations to enhance his profile and reputation as their guardian.

What has also been missing in the widespread reports is a certain degree of objectivity and fact-finding. Most reports were focused on the apparent injustice inflicted upon people who were seemingly unjustly evicted from their dwellings, as ramshackle, dirty, unkempt, and unsanitary as they were.

This article does not condone any unjust, unjustified, and haphazardly unlawful evictions. In developed countries the government will render assistance to poor people as much as they can in any given circumstance. It is a given assumption that the rule of law applies in the developed world.

People always call for the rule of law in Cambodia, where it more often than not is disregarded, to say the least. But the rule of law applies to everyone, even poor people. Humanitarian aspects and governing law unfortunately do not always coincide.

Has anyone ever asked how those people got to live there? Or how those people gained legal ownership of the land they so vehemently defended? There were about 2050 families living in the area in what is commonly called a slum - unsanitary, subhuman conditions by any standard. Most of these people had come from rural areas to Phnom Penh to find some kind of work. It is a fact that quite a few of them were engaged in begging as their only source of income. It is also known that many young girls from there were earning their livelihood as prostitutes plying their trade at the low end of the spectrum as street walkers offering their services for as little as 5,000 riel. The area is also rife with drugs, thieves, and other assorted criminals.

The vast majority of these people had lived in Dey Kraham less than 5, even often less than 2 or 1 years. Not one family in Dey Kraham had any title to the land they occupied; in other words, they had no legal claim to the land. They had not paid any rent to the city or, after it had been sold about 3 years ago, to the rightful owner. The city government tolerated their presence there, as it plainly had no idea what to do with them. The owner also tolerated their presence for some time as he was engaged in different real estate projects outside of Phnom Penh.

In order to develop the site he also needed to line up funding for it, which, despite the current boom, is a time-consuming task. So when he got ready for the development he offered the people money to move, ranging from $200 to $1000. Since the people had no obvious place of employment in Phnom Penh, they were free to go wherever they wanted.

It is said this compensation is a pittance compared to the land prices of $4000/m2 the owner would be able to obtain. Yes, it is a pittance, but as in any free society, if you own something you have the right to use it the way you see fit, but within certain legally prescribed parameters, such as zoning ordinances. The poor people, as sad as it may be and as harsh as it may sound, did not own the land so they were in no position to ask for any money to begin with.

Again, in the developed world the government is expected to step in and provide at least temporary shelter. But even there, it is often difficult and people end up being homeless. The U. S. and Europe are shining examples of the public sector’s failure to extend assistance to the entire population. One must recognize that there are natural limits to what a government can do.

But organizations such as Licadho, as important a role as they play as a watchdog over human rights, whenever they cry foul, they encourage a certain element to protest and demand things they clearly are not entitled to.

As a result 50 or so families remain in Dey Kraham who cannot be moved because of the public outcry. They do not own the land; have not gained ownership by possession (having occupied the land for a minimum of 5 years), nor do they have the right to live there.

The ringleaders of these 50 families have been identified as rabble-rousers who made it their calling to protest and basically extort money from either government or owners. Roughly 2000 families took the money and moved because they saw the situation as it was, not what they wanted it to be, as those crooks who shamelessly utilize those human rights organizations and are able to hitch Sam Rainsy before their cart and to be their mouthpiece. Those ringleaders are known to travel from one hotspot to the next following the same pattern.

The only people with an apparent claim to ownership are the ones living in the dirty, gray apartment building nearby, or as the Khmer call it, Boding. This building has become synonymous with prostitution and crime. You ask one of the countless free-lance taxi drivers for an address for the cheapest sex in town, and he will always take you to Boding. This building houses the lowest elements of Phnom Penh’s population. But the periodical counts by the Sangkat put most those people down as having lived there for longer than 5 years. Some took possession of apartments in the building as far back as at the end of the Pol Pot era and neither the Vietnamese nor the subsequent Cambodian governments did anything about it, some came just before the elections in 1993. The owners of those apartments make a tidy living off both petty and hardened criminals and the prostitutes they rent space to.

Legally, the land this building is on also belongs to the owner of Dey Kraham, which makes for an even more complicated situation, compounding the problems. The owners of those apartments ask as much as $50,000 for a 40 m2 apartment. Multiply that by 100 and one knows how much money is at stake here. The owner estimates he would have to shell out about $3,000,000 initially just to be able to start the process. He simply does not have the money for that. This is why that eyesore of a building is still there.

In short, the situation is a mess. Right now, the government does not have the money to move those people to another place, and the owner is not able to compensate the rest or move the illegal squatters.

Now, some people might say if the greedy government officials weren’t on the take the way they are there would be money enough to provide shelter for those people. Maybe, maybe not. But the situation as it is now is not good for the poor people, not good for the owner, and not good for the government. The status quo is a roadblock to the development of what would normally be a showcase of Phnom Penh, what with the otherwise nice surroundings.

Yes, human rights organizations say that development cannot be carried out on the backs of the poor people, but Cambodia must develop in order to survive in a competitive economic environment with its neighboring countries. This often entails people getting rich because of it, as it did in the developed world too. Think of the Rockefellers and Vanderbilts.

We must stop trying to impose our way of thinking, our concepts, and our basic philosophies on other cultures. This also happens to be one of Sam Rainsy’s greatest flaws. It would be wiser for him to work within the system to try to change it rather than just voice criticism.

This has boomeranged and led to many a bloodbath in the past. The West has gone through more than 250 years of mental development in order arrive at the kind of maturity and respect for human rights people now enjoy. We must give countries like Cambodia more time to come to grips with the many, very difficult facets of post-Communist live. 15 years might seem like a long time, but these things take at least 2 generations to change.

Post-Civil War Cambodian Morals and the Story of One Such Cambodia Family

Over time I have met so many Cambodian people both inside and outside Cambodia. In the last almost 20 years I have not only found friends there, in fact my best friend too, but also at one point a beautiful, good wife. I have also done business there extensively. Naturally, you meet not only nice and friendly people, but also the sometimes outright nasty kind that wants to relieve you of all the money you supposedly have. But for the most part I found Cambodian people hospitable, friendly, occasionally a little inscrutable, but on the whole they will help you wherever they can.

But one thing that has struck me as very odd is the family life many of them lead, given the understanding that family values are sacrosanct in Asian societies. I am talking about middle-aged and older people, say from 40 to 70 years of age. I am not quite sure which way the young generation of up to 30 is going in that respect. According to tradition Khmer supposedly hold the institution of marriage very dear. The wife is not only in charge of the children and hearth but also of the finances. The traditional lifestyle seems to have changed, though. Some of the more modern appearances have been described in an essay written by Keo Mony of the Harbor View University in Washington State. (http://ethnomed.org/cultures/cambodian/camb_marriage.html)

Many men I have met kept mistresses on the side, had extramarital affairs, even had children with their lovers. They were sort of living in a polygamous state. Mind you, this was not only limited to more affluent men, or older men who sought the companionship of a younger woman, but it was pretty common across the board. Men who couldn’t afford a mistress or steady girl friend seem to frequent prostitutes. Prostitution is legal and because of poverty rampant. All those prostitutes could not make a living from tourists alone. After all, not every tourist comes to Cambodia for cheap sex.

But this way of living seems to be a time-honored tradition going back at least to the time of independence of the country. Certainly, it was common during Sihanouk’s time, as many older men told me.

The current government, ostensibly at the urging of the prime minister’s wife, went even so far as to outlaw philandering and ban certain songs alluding to adultery. They have embarked on a clean morals campaign. As this is Cambodia, there is an ironic twist to this whole story, as the prime minister is known to have had a mistress of his own, to whom he wrote love poems and seemed to have fallen for completely. That poor girl, who was a quite famous actress and singer in Cambodia, however, met with an untimely death when unknown assailants who haven’t been found to this day gunned her down. Needless to say that rumors started flying implicating people in high places, and many Cambodians weren’t surprised that this case turned cold after a while.

In about 10 middle to upper-middle class families in Cambodia I know personally there is not one husband who hasn’t gone through at least two or three wives, all of them with 2 or more children. Sometimes, they don’t even bother to support their own children but leave the wives to fend for themselves after they have gone on to the next, mostly younger new wife.

This seems to have carried over to overseas Khmer as well, at least to the ones that fled Cambodia in or around 1980, which would make them around 65 to 70 now.

I know one such family in the U. S. The husband was politically active in the anti-Communist anti-Vietnam coalition after Vietnam invaded Cambodia; another ironic twist here, since that coalition included the Khmer Rouge as well. He feared incarceration and fled with his wife and 3 sons to Thailand where he ended up spending 4 years in a refugee camp. He was then allowed to live in the U. S. under the UNHCR relocation program.

When they arrived in the U. S. he told his sons, the oldest of whom was just 15 then, ‘Now I have given you freedom, the rest you must do yourselves.’

As it happens he also had a second wife with whom he had already had 2 children in Cambodia at the time of his flight. He managed to get them out shortly after the 1993 election and proceeded to have two more daughters with her.

Once this part of his family was in the U. S. he left his first wife to go and live with the second. It appears they were all common law marriages without any official documentation, so no messy divorces were gone through. The wives being rather naïve wouldn’t have known how to go about it anyway. Both wives cannot speak English even after 25 years of living there.

But even though he went to live with his second wife he still sired another son with his first wife in the U. S. Sometimes, one cannot but wonder what these people are thinking.

Then in 1996 he went back to Cambodia for a visit and apparently met a nice young attractive woman, whom he promptly impregnated and altogether had 2 children over the next 3 years. He never returned to the U. S.

Normally, there wouldn’t have been any love lost between the two wives in the U. S. but they sort of built a bond springing from their common plight and became friends, helping each other out as best as they could.

Eventually, the husband, a heavy smoker, died in his native country, leaving behind 10 children, most of whom he had not supported for most of their lives. The first wife to this day maintains that the third wife in Cambodia poisoned him, which is generally not unheard of throughout the world in such relationships. But here this can only be called bad-mouthing a hated rival.

It turns out, though, that at least 7 of his children managed to build good lives for themselves, finding employment in various positions from warehouse manager for a huge multi-national to postal clerk with the U. S. postal service – normal middle class positions. All of them own their own houses. Since he died more or less penniless his children in Cambodia live more or less in poverty. One son in U. S. apparently got in with the wrong crowd and got involved in drugs. After several minor incidents and arrests he finally got caught one time too many and the severity of the three-strike laws in the U. S. sent him to prison for 9 years, which he is serving right now. As in many of those sad cases this young man is leaving 4 little children of his own without a father, not that he would have been an ideal role model. When he gets out he will be 34, if he serves the full time.

All the sons in the U. S. are still with their wives. Is this because of the strict divorce laws in the U. S. protecting women and children, or is it because of their own free will? One of them once said only half-jokingly, ‘Sometimes I would sure like to try out something new, but my wife won’t let me.’

Well, from all appearances, back in Cambodia men don’t seem to have any compunction about trying out something new. But then, they don’t have to fear court orders of alimony, child support, visitation rights, etc. As a matter of routine, wives hardly every get any alimony and no child support. They are lucky if the property is divided equitably.

It seems like women’s rights have a long way to go in Cambodia, and Cambodian men seem to need a drastic change in their attitude towards women. But who are Westerners to judge?

Note: This is a description of personal impressions and does not imply, intend to convey, or judge attitudes, otherwise regarded as immoral or lax, or define them as a trait in Khmer people.

A Look at Corruption and How to Combat It

Transparency International (TI) released its latest report on the Global Corruption Barometer for the year 2007. Cambodia appears on place 162 out of 179, with several countries sharing the same place. As in past years it is again among the lowest-ranked countries in the world.

As usual, outcries of outrage from all quarters of the Cambodian Diaspora and other observers of the conditions in Cambodia accompanied the release of the report. The common people in Cambodia probably haven’t taken notice at all. Unfortunately, they have accepted corruption as a fact of life. They don’t like it, but they have come to live with it. In part they understand the reasons and the causes at least for those ‘petty’ bribes in commune offices or the shakedowns by the policeman on the corner.

When people hear figures of $320 to $500 million lost due to corruption they believe all this money disappears in government officials’ pockets. A detailed substantiation, however, has yet to be published. At the present time these figures are nothing but pure guesswork, plus it needs to be taken into account that this figure would include both the private and the public sector. This is not to say, though, that there is no substance to this claim, but concrete evidence needs to be presented to credibly make the case.

TI does noble work and nobody can or should level any criticism at the organization. TI’s work is objective and impartial and there is no reason at all to question the results as shown in their indices.

But people tend to just skim such reports without looking into the implications of why and how certain countries have such a low corruptions perception index (CPI). One needs to understand the causes and the contributing factors to corruption in order to combat it. Condemnation alone won’t remedy the situation. Berating a government for the endemic proportions of corruption is for all intents and purposes a disservice and won’t solve the problem. Quite the opposite might happen. The government feels attacked and only further digs into its foxhole defending its record, notwithstanding its apparent failures.

If it is any consolation, Cambodia is in the company of some very powerful, much larger, and economically more advanced countries, e.g. Russia or Argentina. Of course, this can be no justification for letting up on the fight against corruption. But this just goes to show, and a look at the world map demonstrates this more than aptly, that corruption is a disease afflicting all but a few countries in the world. Only 8 out of some 200 countries reach a CPI between 9.0 to 10.0, and a further 7 achieved a CPI between 8.0 and 9.0.

When comparing the ranks of individual countries and looking at their past record, it appears that the longer corruption persists in a society the harder it is to root it out. After all, it is easy income for the ones benefiting from it. A culture of corruption has developed on those societies. In the case of Cambodia, corruption has been part of the culture for centuries (David Chandler ‘A History of Cambodia’, John Tully ‘A Short History of Cambodia’).

But another look at the world-map will also reveal that greed is not the only driving force, the fundamental cause is poverty. But since greed is a significant factor, it is sad, though, to see that the poorest countries have the worst CPI, in other words, greed there is most pronounced.

When looking at corruption a distinction between the two basic types must be made – corruption born of greed, and corruption born of poverty.

Although corruption has been around for a long time, the means to pursue it became virtually non-existent during the Pol Pot era; money had been abolished. The subsequent Vietnamese-style Communist regime saw a resurgence on a limited scale. But with the big money rolling in after the 1993 elections, the people in power couldn’t resist the temptation to sideline a good chunk of it into their own pockets, and corruption took off big time.

A typical form involves the awarding of public works or purchase of equipment for public use. The person or persons in charge of procurement ask the supplier to over-bill the government by a certain amount, which is then paid back to the official in cash. If the supplier does not oblige the official(s) they will just turn to a competitor that will oblige.

Government officials also routinely form companies, which are owned by their wives, children, or other family members. With insider knowledge these companies then vie for lucrative government business deals. By the same token, the ‘connected’ businesses and people are the ones holding the best pieces of land, which they bought for next to nothing and are now selling off at huge profits.

Another form involves the awarding of a concession, a land lease, or the sale of a government enterprise. The applying company pays an outright bribe in cash to the official in exchange for favorable terms. The same system applies to government contract bidding processes.

Naturally, corrupt judges who will pass verdicts based on the amount of bribes are one of the most egregious and despicable part of corruption.

Quote from TI’s report:

Cambodians view the police and judiciary as more corrupt than other government and non-government agencies

The second form is the more understandable type caused by poverty.

Quoted from TI’s report:

More than half of Cambodian interactions with police and registry and permit services in 2007 resulted in bribes paid.

Government employees make about $65 - $85 on average per month. The example of a low-ranking policeman will make this abundantly clear. But he is interchangeable with soldiers, nurses, postal workers, employees at the Sangkat, schoolteachers, etc.

He makes $40 a month, on which he needs to support his wife and 2 children. His rent for a typical, rather run-down Cambodian flat is already $45 a month. He also spends about $15 on gas for his moped per month. His food bill runs to about $50 a month. If someone falls ill they don’t go to a doctor, they go to the neighborhood nurse who can provide cheap medicine, or they turn to traditional, oftentimes Chinese, medicine. They buy new clothes only at the time of the Khmer New Year.

His duties vary. Mostly he is posted as traffic police. He shakes down mototup drivers for making wrong turns, or stops right-hand driven vehicles, which are officially banned, and for a little money just lets them go. He said he doesn’t ask for money but takes whatever they give him. His take is about $50 a month.

His wife also has a job. She leaves the house at daybreak to sell cosmetics at the local market, putting in a 12-hour day. She buys these from a supplier who smuggles them in from Thailand, often selling them with a mark-up of only 2-3%, ending up with about a $30 - $50 profit a month; in good months, it can even be $80-$100. She has developed a steady clientele of more well-to-do women. But out of that she needs to pay rent for her very small stall of $25 a month and electrical power of $5-$10 a month to the market operator.

Altogether, this family can barely make ends meet every month. There is nothing left over for savings, for family trips to the beach, for picnics. For fun they go to the riverside, or just stay home and watch TV.

If he didn’t have this extra ‘income’, they would be in dire straits indeed. They don’t have a comfortable life by any stretch in the first place. So given the circumstances he is more or less forced to take those bribes. Morally, he has no compunction about taking them either. Everybody else does it, and it has been a long-standing practice in Cambodia society. People grumble but they live with it.

So would the easiest and simplest solution be just to raise the salaries of all government employees to a level so they could support their families and live a halfway decent life? Yes and no. For a start, though, this would alleviate the most pressing problems the underpaid civil servants face. But it goes without saying that the culture of corruption must be eliminated by a vigorous educational campaign in Cambodian society parallel to the introduction of any reform, otherwise it will produce only a fraction of the intended goal. Before any such measure is to have any effect the creation of a legal framework and environment must precede it to form the foundation from which to work.

But how to pay for it? Currently the government spending equals about 13.9% of the GDP, or (2007) $1,127,000,000.

This breaks down into the following items:

Central administration: $957,932,000
Provincial administration: $169,460,000

According to the projected budget for 2008 wages will constitute

about 3.2% of the GDP or $265,600,000.

Many an observer will quickly point to a possible cut in defense expenditures. With about 6% in defense spending there may be room for some savings, but then, demobilizing a large number of soldiers will only add to the problems in other areas, as most of the de-mobbed soldiers won’t find work elsewhere.

Here are the numbers for the security sector:

Defense and Security: $123,739,000
(Defense Ministry: $ 78,171,000)
(Interior Ministry: $ 45,561,000)

There are no reliable sources on the number of public employees. An inquiry with the government remained unanswered. Sometimes the number of 166,000 civil servants is mentioned, but then there was a report for a pay hike for about 400,000 public workers. The 400,000 would be about 5.7% of the work force. This is a number one can find in countries with highly developed bureaucracies, as in the EU. It appears somewhat high for a country like Cambodia. The 166,000 may not include the military. So if we add 100,000 for the military, we will arrive at 266,000, which we will use in our estimates.

Using the figures above a public employee makes $998 a year on average, or $83 a month. (In comparison a bank teller can make about $200 - $300 a month, in some banks up to $500.)

An adequate take-home pay in order to support a family of 4 used to be $100 a month in the year 2002/3. But those times are long past. With the cost of living increased by an inflation rate of 4.4% through 2007, though personal experience would put this rate more in the vicinity of 10%, $150 - 200 a month would appear to be a reasonable number. Using an increase of roughly $100 or $1200 per year per employee, this would absorb a whopping $319,200,000 of the budget, or roughly 21% of a total national budget of only $1.5 billion. Together with the salaries/wages set forth in the budget already we are looking at $ 585 million. Clearly, this would need to be done in stages.

As it happens, the additional amount is equal to the estimate of money lost to corruption once mentioned by the U. S. Ambassador. If it only were that easy. It would be really naïve to believe that corruption could be eliminated overnight. But, nonetheless and ideally, if the high-level corruption could at minimum gradually be decreased this could largely pay for the overdue increase of public salaries and stop corruption at the lower levels of government.

Poor pay is an ideal breeding ground for corruption – not only in Cambodia. This is why ministerial employees are paid rather handsomely in developed countries. They must remain objective and neutral when it comes to managing other people’s, namely the taxpayer’s, money. By that logic, ministers and state secretaries, and the next level in the hierarchy are paid salaries commensurate with their responsibilities. In comparison, a president of a private enterprise managing about $100 million easily makes $200,000 to $300,000 in industrialized countries.

By that measure, ministers in Cambodia should also make this kind of money, perhaps adjusted according to purchasing power parity, which is roughly 3:1. With all the fringe benefits of their office, their income would then be more than adequate and ought to be an incentive to forgo all other temptations.

There are 31 ministries with 100 ministers and state secretaries in the Cambodian government, including the prime minister. If each earned $200,000 on average, that payroll would be $20 million altogether. Together with the overall government salaries, roughly $600 million will have to be doled out to government employees. That’s a frightening number.

However, if the whole range of measures are taken and enforced firmly, there is a presumption that donor nations will chip in considerably beyond the present $615 million they hand over per year in grants, foreign aid, and long-term loans. Combined with the funds available from the reduction and eventual elimination of corruption and further healthy growth of the economy and increased tax revenues it appears as a feasible undertaking.

With the projected oils revenues as a sort of collateral, persuading and convincing foreign governments will also be so much easier if they are approached with a feasible and practicable plan. But it all hinges on the government’s willingness to go forward with those drastic, in high circles very unpopular, measures.

These remedies are in brief:

· Ensure absolute independence of the judiciary.
· Pass the Anti-Corruption Law with adequate penalty provisions.
· Institute minimum qualifications for each level of government.
· Institute a fair and equitable pay scale according to responsibility.
· Pay normal wages and salaries for government employees, starting at a minimum of $150 a month to be annually adjusted according to the inflation index.
· Pay salaries to state secretaries and ministers comparable to Western salaries adjusted for purchasing power parity.
· Issue strict regulations for the use of discretionary funds by personnel with appropriate authority.
· Institute an Anti-Corruption Government Task Force to enforce, investigate and prosecute violations of the law.
· Abolish cash transactions in public offices, e.g. customs office, and cash payment of salaries.
· Abolish redundant advisory positions for ministers and state secretaries.
· Establish computerized accounting systems in all government offices.
· Establish computerized official documents locked into the accounting system.

Clearly, these remedies require the support of the current nomenclature, that is, the ministers, state secretaries, generals, and big businesspeople, which now all gain from corruption. Although Hun Sen is seen as the strongman in Cambodia, there are two rival factions in his party that are in a sort of Mexican standoff for power. They divided the ministries and staffed them accordingly. So one ministry might have a Hun Sen-loyal minister, but a Chea Sim-loyal state secretary, another one might be staffed the other way around. The powerful and very influential military is equally divided and nothing can be passed and enforced without their tacit consent.

Consequently, even if Hun Sen took the initiative to pass all these necessary measures he would still need the support of the other faction of his party. Conventional wisdom holds that Hun Sen himself really does have the desire and ambition to stop corruption, because his goal is to enter Cambodian history as the founding father of a new nation of prosperity and freedom.

But it remains doubtful whether he even has the support of his own faction for those reforms. This is the simple reason why the long-slumbering law on corruption is still mired in the committees. There is simply too much resistance from the people lining their own pockets.

Watchdog and human rights organizations always call on donor nations to put more pressure on the government to pass those reforms - to no avail so far. Although it is cynical, the donors have come to accept that foreign aid benefits the powers that be first, and the population second; they just can’t cut their foreign aid because that would enhance the plight of an already poverty-stricken people. So they continue to give in the hope that increased material well-being that comes with economic development will eventually lead to better living conditions and the observance and respect of and for human rights.

To paraphrase Barack Obama’s campaign slogan, ‘Yes, it can be done’, or another old saying, ‘Where there is a will, there is way.’

Is There an Alternative to Hun Sen?

The signs of an election campaign Cambodian style are beginning to show all over Cambodia, from pennants, bunting, little flags, to party symbols. Hardly a day goes by without some announcement or political statement by the protagonists. Speeches by politicians abound, albeit still without much of substance. Cleaning up the streets seems to be all the rage these days.

Hun Sen, the wiliest of them all, stole the show by persuading some higher-ranking opposition party members to join his party. He confirmed himself that he rewarded them with lucrative advisory positions in his government. He thus conveyed the impression to the population as a whole that the CPP must be the better party when even opposition party members defect the SRP and join the CPP. To the people on the street it is just normal you get a reward if you do something that’s good for somebody. After all, this is the country where you can obtain the title of Okhna from the King by donating $100,000 to the public coffers.

He cited his authority to hire these people as advisers in the face of an outcry by some other opposition politicians. It is rumored there are about 500 such advisers in total at a cost of $24 million per year, which undoubtedly would be a big drain of public funds, especially in the face of roughly half the national budget being financed by foreign aid.

No doubt, Hun Sen is a very controversial figure, berated and condemned by his opposition and most humanitarian organizations for his tolerance of corruption, presumed active participation in violations of basic human and civil rights, shady business dealings, and cronyism, among others. Certainly, his failures and shortcomings are abundant. Foreign governments and their diplomats express their misgivings and reservations in more guarded tones, couched in convoluted diplomatic language. But one has to hand to it to him; Hun Sen has learned how to play this game very adeptly.

But then, Cambodia has seen an economic growth unparalleled by any other country in S. E. Asia, a fact which underlines the donor nations’ contention that economic development and material well-being are the first step in a nation’s development and will automatically lead to better living conditions for everybody and the respect for human and civil rights. Additionally, donor nations no longer engage in ‘nation building’, as the U. S. president once called it. They assist but don’t really want to interfere directly or even meddle in another country’s affairs, especially a country without strategic and economic value. This hands-off policy has sometimes led to tragic consequences, as in Darfur, but those consequences are nowhere near reality in Cambodia, in spite of rampant land grabbing and forced evictions.

Hun Sen follows a time-honored Cambodian political tradition by playing off one power against the other. China has become the largest benefactor of Cambodia. Officials gleefully note that China is the best friend of Cambodia because it helps without any strings attached. Authoritarian China does not pay much heed to human rights either, so what right would they have to admonish other countries? If the West doesn’t want to lose its influence in part of SE Asia entirely they must play along, and play along they do. The donor nations have recognized that Cambodia needs Hun Sen more than it needs a regime change. They are aware of the detrimental consequences of a regime change to the country and its current stability, even if some see it as precarious.

Given the internal structure of the government and the fact that Cambodia is ruled by an oligarchy with Hun Sen at the helm, it is very doubtful there is any one person in Cambodia today that could replace him. He has shown great adroitness in handling and keeping in check both his opponents within his party and the military as well as conveying to the people as a whole that he is the best leader for Cambodia. The resistance any of the other contenders would meet would be too great to overcome. He would most likely be a failure once in office. Hun Sen has achieved progress on the economic front, established political stability, and personal freedom (although with limitations), with promises of more to come.

And the people are listening and they believe him. His message is the most credible one. There is no taste for political upheaval in the population. They just want to go about their lives and try to enjoy it as best as they can. 75% live in the countryside. They see what’s happening in Phnom Penh and the provincial capitals, and they believe and hope that these things will spill over to them sooner rather than later. Corruption is a fact of life for them. History has ingrained it into their minds. Outside the educated urban population, most don't even know the size and loss to the economy caused by it. To them the rich wield the power, and if it means they get richer because of that power, their stoicism accepts this also as a fact of life.

And all these people don’t really see any personality with substance that could lead the country better than Hun Sen on its path to prosperity and eventual more freedom. One runs on an anti-government platform and is seen as too weak by the majority – this includes the recently more affluent population in Phnom Penh. Another one runs on human rights and is dismissed as a non-starter. The royalists are in a shambles. Who else is there?

The Cambodian people also want continuity after the civil war and the turmoil of the past Communist regimes. Half the population is under 21 years of age. They did not experience that past. They have different things on their minds and are following in the footsteps of their Western counterparts in their materialism. With more economic development and wider-spread affluence, current idealistic thinking among the young urban population will wane, and they will be absorbed into the mainstream and become part of the establishment.

As unfortunate and sad as it may be to some, the answer is no. There is no alternative to Hun Sen. Discounting the years before 1993, Hun Sen has been prime minister for 15 years and will most likely continue to head the country for the next 5 years. The more progress he accomplishes in the coming years the longer he will be in power. In Europe there are no term limits and they have seen heads of state serving longer than 15 years, so Hun Sen’s reign is not unique.