On the one hand, Cambodians are very traditional and at least on the surface very religious. Marriages are commonly still arranged between the respective parents. At minimum parents reserve the right to veto a marriage with what they consider an unsuitable partner. Tradition among Khmer people calls for the husband to move in with the wife’s parents; with Khmer of Chinese extraction the wife moves in with the husband’s parents. It is, therefore, not surprising so see all those huge villas (of the rich) than can house several families. Even in the countryside, grandparents generally live with their children and married grandchildren.
On the other hand, we know that it is quite customary for rich men to keep a (younger) girl friend on the side. What amazes me, though, is the high incidence with which especially poor people also disregard those traditional values. Generally, it is especially poor people who maintain their beliefs in order to ease the burden of poverty spiritually. Only that way can they keep up a mental balance when observing the differences between their own lives and the lives of more fortunate contemporaries.
I have come to know many examples of poor people that demonstrate an unconscionable and depressing disregard for not only the values of traditional Khmer life but in particular show a despicable disrespect for the lives of wives and children.
A couple of examples: A man married four women and produced twelve children with them. He left or divorced all of them without paying one riel for alimony or child support. After the fourth wive he took up with yet another girl friend who eventually left him when she learned there was nothing to be gained by staying with him. He is a high-ranking officer but belongs to the category whose ‘wives weren’t very good at business’. In other words, he wasn’t able to use his position to generate some degree of wealth. He is now sick and poor. Thanks to his high rank the army takes care of him.
Then there is the case of a policman in his early thirties. He got married and had two children. His wife had become pregnant with their third child. During that pregnancy he met another girl and started having an affair with her. People in Cambodia are still pretty ignorant about birth control so it doesn’t surprise that he got his girlfriend pregnant. This made him leave his family from one day to the next. The wife did not have a job, the children needed to go to school. She couldn’t support herself or pay the daily fees for school. She became dependent on her parents. After the girlfriend had had her baby the husband all of a sudden turned back up at home, promptly impregnating his wife again, only to leave again after a short while. Her husband obviously thought 3 children, one baby, and one on the way was too much for him. In the end, however, he did return to his family but carried on in the usual Cambodian fashion. Husbands simply don’t tell their wives where they are going when they go out at night. He is said to spend a few evenings, sometimes nights at his girlfriend’s house.
In another case, a former soldier, penniless as they usually are, left his wife and four children to live with another, younger woman to produce another four children with her. Needless to say, he didn’t pay child support, let alone alimony to the first wife and her children. The good thing is they are all adults now and can take of themselves. The current wife is on the verge of leaving him for greener pastures, or so she thinks, although no other man is in play here.
Cambodian husbands are notoriously feckle, and although polygamy is outlawed and there is even a law against adultery on the books, it is still a wide-spread practice that Cambodian men keep mistresses on the side. This is not restricted to just the wealthier class; it pervades all levels of society.
The legal system does not help either. Although people can divorce easily, courts usually do not decide on alimony or child support. They restrict their decisions to the distribution of property. Usually, they split any property the couple might have down the middle, sometimes making some allowance for the children in that the wife gets a slightly higher share. Of course, that doesn’t help her in supporting her children. Children are still considered a family’s wealth and the providers for their parents in old age. Consequently, being divorced or just plain deserted, the women have to struggle to bring up their usually multiple children.
A note on divorce decrees: it usually contains an order that the wife cannot remarry or even have relations with a man for 9 months to ensure that she cannot claim a child born in the interim is the former husband’s.
Women are usually a strong partner in a typical Khmer marriage. They usually manage the office in a small family business. They manage the household and the finances, and most property is held in both names. Therefore, it is all the more surprising that they nevertheless end up holding the short end of the stick when the marriage fails or that they have no legal recourse for reining in their wayward husbands, prominent examples to the contrary notwithstanding.
Although Cambodia’s motto is “Nation, Religion, King” and the constitution makes Buddhism the state religion, that doesn’t hinder people from violating the tenets of their religion. Generally, Khmer people are very religious and observe all Buddhist holidays with great enthusiasm. Each home is adorned with a place of worship, but those seem be there more for the wives than the husbands.
Like any religion, Buddhism has several basic tenets or core beliefs. As we see they are broken on a regular basis by common people, that is, people who are not monks or nuns. And even monks are not immune to outside distractions. Those core tenets call for good conduct, virtue, and morality, meditation and mental development, wisdom and enlightenment; as well as the four noble truths, and the five precepts. To go into these would exceed this post.
While there is a big difference between the teachings and the application of those tenets, and many of those differences are manifest in civil laws, the general Western perception of Buddhists is their greater fervor in living their religion. Morality and virtue occupy a prominent position in Buddhism.
However, looking at everyday life now in Cambodia, one cannot but wonder why Khmer society has in reality distanced itself so much from those core beliefs. By nature, we humans are weak and succumb to all kinds of seductions too easily. Cambodia, though not alone with its recent abysmal history (Uganda, Ruanda, Bosnia come to mind) may possibly claim special circumstances for its recent societal evolution. After all, the relatively peaceful development after indedepence in 1953 was disrupted by the unwise policies of the 1960ies of then King Sihanouk, the coup d’etat by the inept Lon Nol, and the ensuing holocaust-like regime of Pol Pot. The Cambodian people went through a mind-shattering experience.
Although people tend to turn to religion in hard times, and most likely this also happened in Cambodia, the following years after Pol Pot saw the rule by atheistic Communists who did not place great, if any at all, emphasis on traditional Buddhist beliefs or values. I was not here – no Westerner was allowed into the country during that period – but judging from reports from the former Soviet bloc, Cambodia probably was no exception in that respect. The period from 1975 to 1993 must have shaped the national character, which may now at least seminally still be felt. Additionally, new-found freedom and better material circumstances may contribute to this ‘live and let live’, or ‘enjoy today as if were your last’ sentiment in Cambodia men.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
Cambodia and Its Cars
Cars are the scourge of mankind; at least that is what some people want to make us believe. Of course, in a sense it is true. People do a lot to own one and once they have that prized possession it becomes the outer symbol of their personality. It is no different in Cambodia, especially after its people had to endure hardship and deprivation for such a long time.
Americans think ‘bigger is better’. They came up with SUVs, gas guzzlers all, never mind past oil crises. ‘What’s the big deal?’, seemed to be the motto. Car makers made their profits on SUVs for the longest time and in the end that trend nearly bankrupted the big three in the U. S. when oil prices hit almost $150/gallon. People just no longer wanted gas guzzlers getting 12 – 14 mpg (15 or 16 ltrs./100km). Even those sporty European cars get around 8 – 10 ltrs/100 kmh.
Cambodians seem to be caught up in that same frame of mind and oblivious to all these market fluctuations and trends when it comes to their status symbol. Looking at the streets of Phnom Penh, prices at the gas pump don’t seem to faze those upper-crust Cambodians who insist on driving 8-cylinder cars at the a. m. abominable gas mileage, judging by the number of those huge SUVs clogging up the streets.
There are two underlying reasons for this. First, there is the concept that a big car gives a man great status (this applies not only to Cambodia, though), which leads some people to drive a Lexus 470 LX but to still live in a wooden shack without proper santitation or even furniture. But then, you will also find someone who struck it rich, even owning a few of those large SUVs. One trend seems to have been reversed, however. The most idiotic of SUVs – the Hummers – has largely disappeared. They seem to have been replaced by those boxy Landrovers, which now seem to be the ultimate status symbol.
Second, Cambodian people seem to have that genetic urge that if someone has or does something they all must have or do the same. In the same vein, if someone starts importing something, e. g. cement back in the early 90ies or batteries, for instance, everybody else jumps on the bandwagon, thinking this is good business, forgetting the basic law of economics that oversupply will depress prices. I could cite numerous examples where that happened, not the least with importing cars, in the end benefitting customers as dealers had to lower their margins and often had to sell below cost. (This urge also seems to extend to overseas Khmer in the U.S., where a large number of whom operate a dougnut shop.)
I know this from first hand experience as I was the first car importer in Cambodia after the opening of the country to the Western world in 1989/90. Government officials wanted to drive a Mercedes car. At that time, they couldn’t afford the bigger models so they opted for the MB 190. I had suggested to get other makes as well as they would be a lot cheaper. Mercedes cars are notoriously expensive on the used-car market. Additionally, the U. S. embargo was still in place at that time so there was only one way to get those cars – from Germany, a country with definitely higher used-car prices than the U. S. No one wanted to hear of it – it had to be the MB 190 in black or dark-blue, possibly silver; definitely no red, no white or light blue. Power windows, power locks, stick shift, no sunroof – those were the criteria. Stick shift because they felt nobody would be able to repair an automatic transmission at the time; no sunroof because if the car rolled over they couldn’t even begin to imagine what would happen.
So one official got a car like this, everybody else wanted the same car. Finally, I convinced some people to raise their status by trying the E-series, the most successful Mercedes series ever. Well, lo and behold, it caught on. And there I was importing MB E200/260/300 cars. Those were good times – import duty was only $2,500 per car. It didn’t last long, though.
But then came UNTAC with their Toyota Landcruisers. Guess what? Exactly; that was now the truck to have, never mind the cost or the gas mileage. Quite a few got stolen, repainted and sold on the black market. The business had become so cut-throat that I decided to just let it go. I didn’t want to go to all the hassle for just a $100-profit. Later, once the U. S. embargo was lifted, they started importing the first Camrys. Well, the same thing happened. Once the first one had gotten a Camry so everybody else wanted one too. The good thing about the dominance of Toyotas, of course, is the ready availability of spare-parts – new and ‘remanufactured’, and every Jim and Jack knows how to repair it.
Since the government ministers and higher-ups all got a Landcruiser as part of their position it became the ultimate status symbol in Cambodia, and still is today along with its brother, the Lexus 470. However, not everybody can afford the large SUV. For those people Lexus has the RS300. How much of a status symbol can it be, though, when every Tom, Dick and Harry drives one?
Nevertheless, the trend goes on unabated with even the latest even bigger models appearing that may be just a year or so old. These vehicles set you back more than $100K. Environmental or financial concerns? Not an issue for some people.
Anyway, I was in the market for another car myself and I had to weigh those exact issues – price, gas mileage, environment. I had been a long-time Mercedes driver, more than 20 years, so I originally wanted to get another Mercedes besides the Toyota 4-runner I use as my workhorse. But the price tag for the Mercedes I wanted seemed kind of high. A decent 2006 E320 from the US would run to about $55,000, pretty steep for a 5-6 year-old car (on account of the approximate 110% you have to add to the purchase price in the U. S. for freight, import duty, luxury tax, and dealer profit, the latter being the smalles item on the bill – about $500). Then I thought maybe an S-series would do just fine as well, although I think it’s a little too big for my purposes. On the plus side, though, there a quite few around in Cambodia. So I checked around. A 2000-model would run to $20,000. Still a nice car, but come to think of it, for me this is still a bit over the top, but compared to the $30,000 for a 2000 Lexus this would be an outright bargain, now wouldn’t it? Being a Barang in Cambodia, however, I don’t need that status symbol that sets me apart from the rest.
In the end I decided on the most reasonable car available in Cambodia these days – a Toyota Prius; great gas mileage, good for the environment, actually quite comfortable, nice quiet ride, and handles well due to front-wheel drive; the price tag was acceptable too. In fact, it was in the same range that same car would cost in the U. S. Well, there are always tricks to beat the customs people, I guess. While looking for my, or rather my wife’s, car I noticed that all of a sudden there were many Priuses for sale at the dealerships. Also, we now noted many driving around in Phnom Penh already. Is this the coming big trend for cars in Cambodia? I just hope it is. Makes sense, too, doesn’t it – with gas prices at $1.20/ltr. Hopefully, Cambodians will eventually see that a car after all is only a means of transportation. By the way, prices range from $13,000 for a 2004 model to around $17,000 - $19,000 for a 2006 model - 2007 and later to arrive soon.
We tried it out the next weekend on a trip to our house in Sihanoukville – we filled up the tank, made the round trip, and still had more than a quarter left in the tank of 45 liters. Although the gas mileage shown was only 37 mpg on average for that whole tank whereas normally it should be around 45 – 48, this is due to the fact that Phnom Penh stop-and-go traffic will lower the mileage. For those of you used to the metric system, 37 mpg is about 6.1 ltr./100 km, 45 is about 5.8 ltr./100 km. Not too shabby, right? Just think of the 20 ltrs. a Lexus 470 uses to crawl along at 5 mph in Phnom Penh.
A note on the salesmanship of those car dealers: don’t expect any of them to come out of their house and jump on you trying to sell you a car; they won’t. Some wouldn’t even come out after you beckon them. I guess they are not really in the business of selling, rather like we need to politely ask them whether they are willing to let us buy a car, perhaps?
And finally here is a list of some of the cars I owned in my lifetime. As you can see I didn’t always follow reason in my car purchases either.
Americans think ‘bigger is better’. They came up with SUVs, gas guzzlers all, never mind past oil crises. ‘What’s the big deal?’, seemed to be the motto. Car makers made their profits on SUVs for the longest time and in the end that trend nearly bankrupted the big three in the U. S. when oil prices hit almost $150/gallon. People just no longer wanted gas guzzlers getting 12 – 14 mpg (15 or 16 ltrs./100km). Even those sporty European cars get around 8 – 10 ltrs/100 kmh.
Cambodians seem to be caught up in that same frame of mind and oblivious to all these market fluctuations and trends when it comes to their status symbol. Looking at the streets of Phnom Penh, prices at the gas pump don’t seem to faze those upper-crust Cambodians who insist on driving 8-cylinder cars at the a. m. abominable gas mileage, judging by the number of those huge SUVs clogging up the streets.
There are two underlying reasons for this. First, there is the concept that a big car gives a man great status (this applies not only to Cambodia, though), which leads some people to drive a Lexus 470 LX but to still live in a wooden shack without proper santitation or even furniture. But then, you will also find someone who struck it rich, even owning a few of those large SUVs. One trend seems to have been reversed, however. The most idiotic of SUVs – the Hummers – has largely disappeared. They seem to have been replaced by those boxy Landrovers, which now seem to be the ultimate status symbol.
Second, Cambodian people seem to have that genetic urge that if someone has or does something they all must have or do the same. In the same vein, if someone starts importing something, e. g. cement back in the early 90ies or batteries, for instance, everybody else jumps on the bandwagon, thinking this is good business, forgetting the basic law of economics that oversupply will depress prices. I could cite numerous examples where that happened, not the least with importing cars, in the end benefitting customers as dealers had to lower their margins and often had to sell below cost. (This urge also seems to extend to overseas Khmer in the U.S., where a large number of whom operate a dougnut shop.)
I know this from first hand experience as I was the first car importer in Cambodia after the opening of the country to the Western world in 1989/90. Government officials wanted to drive a Mercedes car. At that time, they couldn’t afford the bigger models so they opted for the MB 190. I had suggested to get other makes as well as they would be a lot cheaper. Mercedes cars are notoriously expensive on the used-car market. Additionally, the U. S. embargo was still in place at that time so there was only one way to get those cars – from Germany, a country with definitely higher used-car prices than the U. S. No one wanted to hear of it – it had to be the MB 190 in black or dark-blue, possibly silver; definitely no red, no white or light blue. Power windows, power locks, stick shift, no sunroof – those were the criteria. Stick shift because they felt nobody would be able to repair an automatic transmission at the time; no sunroof because if the car rolled over they couldn’t even begin to imagine what would happen.
So one official got a car like this, everybody else wanted the same car. Finally, I convinced some people to raise their status by trying the E-series, the most successful Mercedes series ever. Well, lo and behold, it caught on. And there I was importing MB E200/260/300 cars. Those were good times – import duty was only $2,500 per car. It didn’t last long, though.
But then came UNTAC with their Toyota Landcruisers. Guess what? Exactly; that was now the truck to have, never mind the cost or the gas mileage. Quite a few got stolen, repainted and sold on the black market. The business had become so cut-throat that I decided to just let it go. I didn’t want to go to all the hassle for just a $100-profit. Later, once the U. S. embargo was lifted, they started importing the first Camrys. Well, the same thing happened. Once the first one had gotten a Camry so everybody else wanted one too. The good thing about the dominance of Toyotas, of course, is the ready availability of spare-parts – new and ‘remanufactured’, and every Jim and Jack knows how to repair it.
Since the government ministers and higher-ups all got a Landcruiser as part of their position it became the ultimate status symbol in Cambodia, and still is today along with its brother, the Lexus 470. However, not everybody can afford the large SUV. For those people Lexus has the RS300. How much of a status symbol can it be, though, when every Tom, Dick and Harry drives one?
Nevertheless, the trend goes on unabated with even the latest even bigger models appearing that may be just a year or so old. These vehicles set you back more than $100K. Environmental or financial concerns? Not an issue for some people.
Anyway, I was in the market for another car myself and I had to weigh those exact issues – price, gas mileage, environment. I had been a long-time Mercedes driver, more than 20 years, so I originally wanted to get another Mercedes besides the Toyota 4-runner I use as my workhorse. But the price tag for the Mercedes I wanted seemed kind of high. A decent 2006 E320 from the US would run to about $55,000, pretty steep for a 5-6 year-old car (on account of the approximate 110% you have to add to the purchase price in the U. S. for freight, import duty, luxury tax, and dealer profit, the latter being the smalles item on the bill – about $500). Then I thought maybe an S-series would do just fine as well, although I think it’s a little too big for my purposes. On the plus side, though, there a quite few around in Cambodia. So I checked around. A 2000-model would run to $20,000. Still a nice car, but come to think of it, for me this is still a bit over the top, but compared to the $30,000 for a 2000 Lexus this would be an outright bargain, now wouldn’t it? Being a Barang in Cambodia, however, I don’t need that status symbol that sets me apart from the rest.
In the end I decided on the most reasonable car available in Cambodia these days – a Toyota Prius; great gas mileage, good for the environment, actually quite comfortable, nice quiet ride, and handles well due to front-wheel drive; the price tag was acceptable too. In fact, it was in the same range that same car would cost in the U. S. Well, there are always tricks to beat the customs people, I guess. While looking for my, or rather my wife’s, car I noticed that all of a sudden there were many Priuses for sale at the dealerships. Also, we now noted many driving around in Phnom Penh already. Is this the coming big trend for cars in Cambodia? I just hope it is. Makes sense, too, doesn’t it – with gas prices at $1.20/ltr. Hopefully, Cambodians will eventually see that a car after all is only a means of transportation. By the way, prices range from $13,000 for a 2004 model to around $17,000 - $19,000 for a 2006 model - 2007 and later to arrive soon.
We tried it out the next weekend on a trip to our house in Sihanoukville – we filled up the tank, made the round trip, and still had more than a quarter left in the tank of 45 liters. Although the gas mileage shown was only 37 mpg on average for that whole tank whereas normally it should be around 45 – 48, this is due to the fact that Phnom Penh stop-and-go traffic will lower the mileage. For those of you used to the metric system, 37 mpg is about 6.1 ltr./100 km, 45 is about 5.8 ltr./100 km. Not too shabby, right? Just think of the 20 ltrs. a Lexus 470 uses to crawl along at 5 mph in Phnom Penh.
A note on the salesmanship of those car dealers: don’t expect any of them to come out of their house and jump on you trying to sell you a car; they won’t. Some wouldn’t even come out after you beckon them. I guess they are not really in the business of selling, rather like we need to politely ask them whether they are willing to let us buy a car, perhaps?
And finally here is a list of some of the cars I owned in my lifetime. As you can see I didn’t always follow reason in my car purchases either.
 |
| My very first car - 1953 Beetle - Bought in the late 60ies - great sunroof almost made it into a convertible. |
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| My second beetle - 1954 - after I had wrecked the first one (photo courtesy of 'Classic Cars') |
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| I drove several of those - mostly the E260 - roomy, comfortable, top speed 220 kmh. |
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| The smoothest ride and lines of a car ever - at that time - my 1985 Jag XJS12 - even took it to Cambodia - nobody wanted it as they didn't know it. |
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| The start of the SUV craze - 1992 Chevy Blazer |
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| Jeep Grand Cherokee - great SUV |
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| 2001 MB ML320 |
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| I currently drive this Toyota 4runner (stock photo) - super reliable but a gas guzzler. |
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| Prius - the Hollywood celebrities' car, made famous by Larry David in 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' (stock photo) |
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Promotion of Democracy
The International Republican Institute in Cambodia
I came across this article in the New York Times. On the surface, it may not pertain to Cambodia but it led me to take a closer look.
Excerpts:
NYT
By Ron Nixon, April 14, 2011
WASHINGTON — Even as the United States poured billions of dollars into foreign military programs and anti-terrorism campaigns, a small core of American government-financed organizations were promoting democracy in authoritarian Arab states.
The money spent on these programs was minute compared with efforts led by the Pentagon. ……….They are seeing that the United States’ democracy-building campaigns played a bigger role in fomenting protests than was previously known, with key leaders of the movements having been trained by the Americans in campaigning, organizing through new media tools and monitoring elections.
A number of the groups and individuals directly involved in the revolts and reforms sweeping the region, ……….received training and financing from groups like the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute and Freedom House, a nonprofit human rights organization based in Washington, according to interviews in recent weeks and American diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks.
The work of these groups often provoked tensions between the United States and many Middle Eastern leaders.
The Republican and Democratic institutes are loosely affiliated with the Republican and Democratic Parties. They were created by Congress and are financed through the National Endowment for Democracy, which was set up in 1983 to channel grants for promoting democracy in developing nations. The National Endowment receives about $100 million annually from Congress. Freedom House also gets the bulk of its money from the American government, mainly from the State Department.
“We learned how to organize and build coalitions,” said Bashem Fathy. Mr. Fathy attended training with Freedom House. He said, “This certainly helped during the revolution.”
But some members of the activist groups complained in interviews that the United States was hypocritical for helping them at the same time that it was supporting the governments they sought to change.
Diplomatic cables report how American officials frequently assured skeptical governments that the training was aimed at reform, not promoting revolutions.
Hosni Mubarak, then Egypt’s president, was “deeply skeptical of the U.S. role in democracy promotion,” said a diplomatic cable from the United States Embassy in Cairo dated Oct. 9, 2007.
For the full article visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/world/15aid.html?_r=1&ref=internationalrepublicaninstitute&pagewanted=all#
The IRI website’s mission statement for Cambodia is just normal PR-speak for such an organization. I would assume intelligence services sometimes hide behind similar statements. I do not want to intimate that the IRI is involved in any clandestine activities but the article above points to some highly interpretable agendas for those organizations.
The IRI finances at least in part the CCHR and as recently as October 2010 supported Kem Sokha. As a matter of record, Kem Sokha resigned from his post in 2007 after employees of the CCHR accused him of corruption and embezzlement of funds. He is now president of the Human Rights Party and has lately been in the headlines for his mental acrobatics in pushing for a merger with the SRP and soliciting their party members to join the HRP at the same time.
The IRI is widely known among informed circles in Cambodia as the organization that publishes annual surveys of public opinion, which at least for the past few years have always shown a favorable rating of the CPP-led government. As a reminder, as this was reported in the press before, the one for 2010, published in January 2011, for instance, found among other things:
1. 76% believe the country is headed in the right direction
2. 72% and more of all age groups believed that it is headed in the right direction
3. Between 65% and 77% witnessed corruption
4. Only 0.4% reported that they had no rice to eat several times a week
5. 36% think border demarcation impacts the country the most
For item no. 5 it is not clear whether the Eastern or Western border is meant. I would venture to think that people were thinking of the Thai border with its periodic outbursts of fighting over the Preah Vihear issue rather than the SRP-alleged border encroachments by Vietnam.
The IRI regularly draws the ire for those surveys from especially the SR Party, which claimed the respondents were too afraid to voice their true concerns and no great credence should be attributed to the survey. The general state of the country, all the pressing problems notwithstanding, belies that claim, which has not deterred the SRP from reiterating it and similar claims at every twist and turn.
The question arose in my mind what exactly the IRI’s agenda might be in light of that article above. They have been active in Cambodia since 1992 and one of their aims was to strengthen political parties. It appears that they have failed miserably in that department. Both the SRP and HRP are in a dismal state, and by all appearances in no position to challenge the dominating role of the CPP. The latter, however, is stronger than ever. This might raise the question in some people’s minds whether the IRI rather helped that party entrench and solidify that party’s power to such an extent that it seems all but impossible to unseat them in any of the next elections, barring any unforeseen events. Seeing the reality on the ground, however, I don’t think that party needed any outside help. Its leaders know how to play the instruments of politics.
Sam Rainsy is hoping that events similar to the one in Tunisia and Egypt, and now in Syria and Yemen, may one day happen in Cambodia as well. By deductive reasoning from the NYT article, the IRI’s role might substantially be the same in Cambodia as in those Arab countries. In that case, Sam Rainy’s hope appears to have some substance. Does he know more than appears to the naked eye?
On the other hand, the article points out one very essential fact of the U. S.’s policies towards autocratic regimes. Strategically, they assist and support the regimes, whether it is for economic or military reasons. At the same time, as the purported ‘greatest’ democracy, they profess to foment and support democratic movements and reforms through other means, e. g. through NGOs like the IRI, which are funded by the U. S. Congress. In Cambodia, you have the IRI on the one hand, and joint military maneuvers of Cambodia’s RCAF and the U. S. forces on the other. Hun Sen’s son even attended West Point, from which he also graduated. Additionally, the U. S. Navy makes repeated friendly calls to Cambodia. All this indicates a rather close official relationship.
Hosni Mubarak, the deposed Egyptian president, was ‘deeply skeptical of democracy promotion’. According to their website the IRI provides country-wide civic education, which indicates they are indeed involved in ‘democracy promotion’. In other words, the U. S. and the IRI believe this country needs democracy-building, despite the fact that, after all, Cambodia is a democracy, although the absolute majority of the CPP makes it a virtual one-party state. Civic lessons are a subject for middle and high schools. From my experience they are part of the curriculum in Cambodia. The question is whether these lessons do help the young generation really understand the principles and characteristics of a true democracy and whether they do need the help from organizations such as the IRI. Currently, it appears as though the people as a whole do not pay particular attention to these things. They are happy the way things are and value stability and economic progress more than truly democratic components and values.
Given the positive surveys and the virtually non-public profile of the IRI in Cambodia it appears that their work in the democracy-building process is directed not at helping to bring about (regime) change but to really enhance public awareness of the true characteristics of a democracy. That involves first and foremost a multi-party system. And this is exactly where Cambodia is lacking. Officially it does have a multi-party system but with the current opposition parties in such a disarray and without any true party leadership and mired in their internal power struggles, the IRI’s work looks to be a long and arduous task. Are they playing a similar role as in the Arab states, though? I don’t think so. First, Cambodia is not at the center of a volatile region such as the Middle East, in which the U. S. has vital interests. Second, I don’t think Cambodia would stomach any unsettling activities given that China and Vietnam have much greater influence on the government than the U. S.
I came across this article in the New York Times. On the surface, it may not pertain to Cambodia but it led me to take a closer look.
Excerpts:
NYT
By Ron Nixon, April 14, 2011
WASHINGTON — Even as the United States poured billions of dollars into foreign military programs and anti-terrorism campaigns, a small core of American government-financed organizations were promoting democracy in authoritarian Arab states.
The money spent on these programs was minute compared with efforts led by the Pentagon. ……….They are seeing that the United States’ democracy-building campaigns played a bigger role in fomenting protests than was previously known, with key leaders of the movements having been trained by the Americans in campaigning, organizing through new media tools and monitoring elections.
A number of the groups and individuals directly involved in the revolts and reforms sweeping the region, ……….received training and financing from groups like the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute and Freedom House, a nonprofit human rights organization based in Washington, according to interviews in recent weeks and American diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks.
The work of these groups often provoked tensions between the United States and many Middle Eastern leaders.
The Republican and Democratic institutes are loosely affiliated with the Republican and Democratic Parties. They were created by Congress and are financed through the National Endowment for Democracy, which was set up in 1983 to channel grants for promoting democracy in developing nations. The National Endowment receives about $100 million annually from Congress. Freedom House also gets the bulk of its money from the American government, mainly from the State Department.
“We learned how to organize and build coalitions,” said Bashem Fathy. Mr. Fathy attended training with Freedom House. He said, “This certainly helped during the revolution.”
But some members of the activist groups complained in interviews that the United States was hypocritical for helping them at the same time that it was supporting the governments they sought to change.
Diplomatic cables report how American officials frequently assured skeptical governments that the training was aimed at reform, not promoting revolutions.
Hosni Mubarak, then Egypt’s president, was “deeply skeptical of the U.S. role in democracy promotion,” said a diplomatic cable from the United States Embassy in Cairo dated Oct. 9, 2007.
For the full article visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/world/15aid.html?_r=1&ref=internationalrepublicaninstitute&pagewanted=all#
The IRI website’s mission statement for Cambodia is just normal PR-speak for such an organization. I would assume intelligence services sometimes hide behind similar statements. I do not want to intimate that the IRI is involved in any clandestine activities but the article above points to some highly interpretable agendas for those organizations.
The IRI finances at least in part the CCHR and as recently as October 2010 supported Kem Sokha. As a matter of record, Kem Sokha resigned from his post in 2007 after employees of the CCHR accused him of corruption and embezzlement of funds. He is now president of the Human Rights Party and has lately been in the headlines for his mental acrobatics in pushing for a merger with the SRP and soliciting their party members to join the HRP at the same time.
The IRI is widely known among informed circles in Cambodia as the organization that publishes annual surveys of public opinion, which at least for the past few years have always shown a favorable rating of the CPP-led government. As a reminder, as this was reported in the press before, the one for 2010, published in January 2011, for instance, found among other things:
1. 76% believe the country is headed in the right direction
2. 72% and more of all age groups believed that it is headed in the right direction
3. Between 65% and 77% witnessed corruption
4. Only 0.4% reported that they had no rice to eat several times a week
5. 36% think border demarcation impacts the country the most
For item no. 5 it is not clear whether the Eastern or Western border is meant. I would venture to think that people were thinking of the Thai border with its periodic outbursts of fighting over the Preah Vihear issue rather than the SRP-alleged border encroachments by Vietnam.
The IRI regularly draws the ire for those surveys from especially the SR Party, which claimed the respondents were too afraid to voice their true concerns and no great credence should be attributed to the survey. The general state of the country, all the pressing problems notwithstanding, belies that claim, which has not deterred the SRP from reiterating it and similar claims at every twist and turn.
The question arose in my mind what exactly the IRI’s agenda might be in light of that article above. They have been active in Cambodia since 1992 and one of their aims was to strengthen political parties. It appears that they have failed miserably in that department. Both the SRP and HRP are in a dismal state, and by all appearances in no position to challenge the dominating role of the CPP. The latter, however, is stronger than ever. This might raise the question in some people’s minds whether the IRI rather helped that party entrench and solidify that party’s power to such an extent that it seems all but impossible to unseat them in any of the next elections, barring any unforeseen events. Seeing the reality on the ground, however, I don’t think that party needed any outside help. Its leaders know how to play the instruments of politics.
Sam Rainsy is hoping that events similar to the one in Tunisia and Egypt, and now in Syria and Yemen, may one day happen in Cambodia as well. By deductive reasoning from the NYT article, the IRI’s role might substantially be the same in Cambodia as in those Arab countries. In that case, Sam Rainy’s hope appears to have some substance. Does he know more than appears to the naked eye?
On the other hand, the article points out one very essential fact of the U. S.’s policies towards autocratic regimes. Strategically, they assist and support the regimes, whether it is for economic or military reasons. At the same time, as the purported ‘greatest’ democracy, they profess to foment and support democratic movements and reforms through other means, e. g. through NGOs like the IRI, which are funded by the U. S. Congress. In Cambodia, you have the IRI on the one hand, and joint military maneuvers of Cambodia’s RCAF and the U. S. forces on the other. Hun Sen’s son even attended West Point, from which he also graduated. Additionally, the U. S. Navy makes repeated friendly calls to Cambodia. All this indicates a rather close official relationship.
Hosni Mubarak, the deposed Egyptian president, was ‘deeply skeptical of democracy promotion’. According to their website the IRI provides country-wide civic education, which indicates they are indeed involved in ‘democracy promotion’. In other words, the U. S. and the IRI believe this country needs democracy-building, despite the fact that, after all, Cambodia is a democracy, although the absolute majority of the CPP makes it a virtual one-party state. Civic lessons are a subject for middle and high schools. From my experience they are part of the curriculum in Cambodia. The question is whether these lessons do help the young generation really understand the principles and characteristics of a true democracy and whether they do need the help from organizations such as the IRI. Currently, it appears as though the people as a whole do not pay particular attention to these things. They are happy the way things are and value stability and economic progress more than truly democratic components and values.
Given the positive surveys and the virtually non-public profile of the IRI in Cambodia it appears that their work in the democracy-building process is directed not at helping to bring about (regime) change but to really enhance public awareness of the true characteristics of a democracy. That involves first and foremost a multi-party system. And this is exactly where Cambodia is lacking. Officially it does have a multi-party system but with the current opposition parties in such a disarray and without any true party leadership and mired in their internal power struggles, the IRI’s work looks to be a long and arduous task. Are they playing a similar role as in the Arab states, though? I don’t think so. First, Cambodia is not at the center of a volatile region such as the Middle East, in which the U. S. has vital interests. Second, I don’t think Cambodia would stomach any unsettling activities given that China and Vietnam have much greater influence on the government than the U. S.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
April 2555
The most prominent event in April is, of course, the Buddhist New Year Celebrations. This is the year 2555 on the Buddhist calendar. I remember a song entitled ‘In the Year 2525’ …. will man still be alive?
Well, we have 2011 already and despite some disasters of epic proportions, mankind so far managed to avoid annihilating itself.
Cambodians apparently don’t think much about these things. Their minds were on celebrating. As every year, Phnom Penh was largely deserted as many residents returned to their native villages to celebrate the New Year with their family. We are now in the Year of the Rabbit. People born in the Year of the Rabbit are articulate, talented, and ambitious. They are virtuous, reserved, and have excellent taste. Check your Chinese zodiac. Are you a rabbit?
My family and I spent the weekend, actually the whole week, with a couple of friends in our house in SHV. One day we went down to Ocheuteal Beach for a picnic, which was packed as was to be expected. Nevertheless, tables and beach chairs were still available, probably because not everybody wanted to shell out $20 for a place to sit. Beach restaurant owners always rent out their chairs on holidays (although we did get one for free for the International New Year). It makes sense, of course. People usually bring their own food and drink, so the restaurateur doesn’t really make any money on that so they charge for the chairs and tables instead; quite legitimate in my mind. $20 might seem a little steep though.
What was striking was the virtual absence of foreigners on the beach. Normally they stroll along the new boardwalk. It seems they don’t really want to mingle with Cambodians. Tourists probably have some reservations to go to places where they only see native faces, but what about the expats? I read somewhere (an expat wrote it) people can’t go there because of all the Cambodians. Now that is odd, isn’t it? What’s he doing here?
Here is a picture of the parking lot when we left the beach at 4 pm. It is not as full as on International New Year and the evening people hadn’t come yet, but nevertheless, it is a sign of incipient affluence, as limited as it may be and regardless of what the SRP makes you believe, but it is a sign nonetheless.
An American journalist wrote a book about Cambodia. Now the stupidest sentence I read was that Cambodians don’t smile. He was here in 2008. I am wondering where he went. But he should have seen the faces of the people at the beach or of the young people who pelted passing motorcycles with little water bombs. Besides that, the book is reportedly full of inaccuracies, though it also contains some detailed accounts of how the rich got rich in Cambodia. But any interested person knows that already. He even made the news on Bayon TV. Needless to say, he got blasted.
Speaking of the opposition, Sam Rainsy made headlines again in April. On one occasion he likened the CPP leadership with the Khmer Rouge, saying land expropriation occurs in a similar fashion now as during the KR period. Although the CPP spokesman dismissed this as remarks from a man who now knows he can never return to his homeland, I am sure they irked the mentioned people inside anyway. Someone said Sam Rainsy acts now exactly like his father who had become disillusioned with Sihanouk’s rule and spoke out against the king. We know the result. He mysteriously disappeared. SR has practically become a non-person anyway, which may render the same result. Let’s face it he is no Nelson Mandela who came back from political prison and led the nation to independence.
The other item with which he got into the news was his rejection of Kem Sokha’s party merger plans. He is right in that instance, of course. As mentioned in a previous post, Kem Sokha must be suffering from some sort of delusion. He must somehow be completely disconnected from the real world.
On another and non-political note, I heard from a friend there is a new development going up in SHV. The company BS Holiday Villa and Condominiums is selling weekend cottages starting at $15,000. I couldn’t believe it. It is supposedly located about one kilometer from the beach. That I wanted to see for myself. So one day I drove around looking for that development.
After some inquiries I found the Villa and Condo compound. Here is the entrance and what the smaller villas look like.
The price tags, however, started at $125,000. The location is anything but prime land. Following the road to Otres Beach you turn left instead of right at the junction to Otres Beach. The road goes up the hill a little and there it is. The rear of one side of the villas faces the sea, but the other one has no view at all. Next to it is an empty lot, which is intended for those weekend cottages, indeed starting at $15,000 for a simple wooden contraption, up to $60,000 for a more elaborate cottage. Again, the location simply sucks. That money buys you a lot of weekend hotel rooms outside the big holidays. I am not sure how many takers for the villas or for the cottages they corralled. Maybe I am too negative in my assessment of the situation, but to me this looks like another failed investment. I don't know what the "BS" stands for, though.
But I also thought the 300,000 or so ‘flat houses’ in Phnom Penh were a flop, and many of them were. That doesn’t keep one company from starting one new development after another in the Phnom Penh Thmey section of town (the Borei New Worlds).
Further up that road in SHV I spotted another one of those in my mind absolutely non-sensical developments. The picture speaks for itself. I didn’t bother to check the prices.
Well, we have 2011 already and despite some disasters of epic proportions, mankind so far managed to avoid annihilating itself.
Cambodians apparently don’t think much about these things. Their minds were on celebrating. As every year, Phnom Penh was largely deserted as many residents returned to their native villages to celebrate the New Year with their family. We are now in the Year of the Rabbit. People born in the Year of the Rabbit are articulate, talented, and ambitious. They are virtuous, reserved, and have excellent taste. Check your Chinese zodiac. Are you a rabbit?
My family and I spent the weekend, actually the whole week, with a couple of friends in our house in SHV. One day we went down to Ocheuteal Beach for a picnic, which was packed as was to be expected. Nevertheless, tables and beach chairs were still available, probably because not everybody wanted to shell out $20 for a place to sit. Beach restaurant owners always rent out their chairs on holidays (although we did get one for free for the International New Year). It makes sense, of course. People usually bring their own food and drink, so the restaurateur doesn’t really make any money on that so they charge for the chairs and tables instead; quite legitimate in my mind. $20 might seem a little steep though.
What was striking was the virtual absence of foreigners on the beach. Normally they stroll along the new boardwalk. It seems they don’t really want to mingle with Cambodians. Tourists probably have some reservations to go to places where they only see native faces, but what about the expats? I read somewhere (an expat wrote it) people can’t go there because of all the Cambodians. Now that is odd, isn’t it? What’s he doing here?
Here is a picture of the parking lot when we left the beach at 4 pm. It is not as full as on International New Year and the evening people hadn’t come yet, but nevertheless, it is a sign of incipient affluence, as limited as it may be and regardless of what the SRP makes you believe, but it is a sign nonetheless.
An American journalist wrote a book about Cambodia. Now the stupidest sentence I read was that Cambodians don’t smile. He was here in 2008. I am wondering where he went. But he should have seen the faces of the people at the beach or of the young people who pelted passing motorcycles with little water bombs. Besides that, the book is reportedly full of inaccuracies, though it also contains some detailed accounts of how the rich got rich in Cambodia. But any interested person knows that already. He even made the news on Bayon TV. Needless to say, he got blasted.
Speaking of the opposition, Sam Rainsy made headlines again in April. On one occasion he likened the CPP leadership with the Khmer Rouge, saying land expropriation occurs in a similar fashion now as during the KR period. Although the CPP spokesman dismissed this as remarks from a man who now knows he can never return to his homeland, I am sure they irked the mentioned people inside anyway. Someone said Sam Rainsy acts now exactly like his father who had become disillusioned with Sihanouk’s rule and spoke out against the king. We know the result. He mysteriously disappeared. SR has practically become a non-person anyway, which may render the same result. Let’s face it he is no Nelson Mandela who came back from political prison and led the nation to independence.
The other item with which he got into the news was his rejection of Kem Sokha’s party merger plans. He is right in that instance, of course. As mentioned in a previous post, Kem Sokha must be suffering from some sort of delusion. He must somehow be completely disconnected from the real world.
On another and non-political note, I heard from a friend there is a new development going up in SHV. The company BS Holiday Villa and Condominiums is selling weekend cottages starting at $15,000. I couldn’t believe it. It is supposedly located about one kilometer from the beach. That I wanted to see for myself. So one day I drove around looking for that development.
After some inquiries I found the Villa and Condo compound. Here is the entrance and what the smaller villas look like.
The price tags, however, started at $125,000. The location is anything but prime land. Following the road to Otres Beach you turn left instead of right at the junction to Otres Beach. The road goes up the hill a little and there it is. The rear of one side of the villas faces the sea, but the other one has no view at all. Next to it is an empty lot, which is intended for those weekend cottages, indeed starting at $15,000 for a simple wooden contraption, up to $60,000 for a more elaborate cottage. Again, the location simply sucks. That money buys you a lot of weekend hotel rooms outside the big holidays. I am not sure how many takers for the villas or for the cottages they corralled. Maybe I am too negative in my assessment of the situation, but to me this looks like another failed investment. I don't know what the "BS" stands for, though.
But I also thought the 300,000 or so ‘flat houses’ in Phnom Penh were a flop, and many of them were. That doesn’t keep one company from starting one new development after another in the Phnom Penh Thmey section of town (the Borei New Worlds).
Further up that road in SHV I spotted another one of those in my mind absolutely non-sensical developments. The picture speaks for itself. I didn’t bother to check the prices.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
What opposition?
Kem Sokha, the head of the Human Rights Party (HRP), recently stated that he would welcome any defector from the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) after Mao Monivann, an SRP MP, had done so and joined the HRP. Later it was clarified that he was expelled for non-conformism; that sure is a severe dereliction. Normally, opposition politicians defect to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) in the not so vain hope for plum jobs in the current power structure or sweet business deals.
At the same time, however, there are talks under way, currently stalled for several reasons, for the two opposition parties to merge so they can be a more formidable force in the next elections to be held in 2013. Kem Sokha’s invitation must have been a slap in the face of the SRP leadership. With his statement, he has shown a childlike naïveté. Who in his right mind would want to negotiate with such a back-stabber, that’s what it is called in other parts of the world? I guess even in the rough-and-tumble world of politics this is considered pretty much unacceptable and intolerable. It is no wonder then that the SRP doesn’t really want to share their bed with such an infantile megalomaniac.
But the SRP is no exemplary proponent of freedom and democracy in this Kingdom of Wonder either. As previously mentioned on this blog, they are rather headless right now. Sam Rainsy keeps calling from Paris espousing the same litany and travels all over the world pronouncing the imminent end of Hun Sen’s rule, using Libya as an example. Mu Sochua is equally absent many times traveling all over the world to all kinds of forums on behalf of her pet project – women’s rights, not that this is a bad thing per se, but it surely won’t help her party in Cambodia. Additionally, Sam Rainsy has been hit with another lawsuit in Cambodia – this time brought by Hor Nam Hong, similar to the one Hor Nam Hong brought in France. The only difference appears to be, if I read this right, the lawsuit here is criminal whereas in France it was civil. He errs too when he says he can’t be punished twice for the same matter. Anyway, all this has the trappings of dealing the final blow to His Excellency the Permanent Exile. One blogger, normally an ardent supporter of the SRP, even termed the current events in the party as self-destruction, accusing the second-tier leadership of being undemocratic, autocratic, self-dealing, favoritism, even of nepotism. Well, people who have followed my blog for some time will remember that back in 2009 I had quoted one Timothy S. Chhim, a Khmer-American attorney from New York, who had worked in the SRP election campaign and who had just brought forth those same observations. Are those SRP sympathizers finally waking up to reality?
Clearly, the opposition is in such great disarray, clueless of what to do, that they won’t even get that small number of seats in the next election unless, of course, they find a new leader who can put them back on the right course and who has appeal for the masses in Cambodia, not only for those geriatric overseas Khmer and xenophobes.
Here is a nice but late April fool’s Day hoax gleaned from Timothy’s blog:
Breaking NEWS FROM APFD news.
Fearing that Cambodia may turn to be Libya number 2 because of Sam Rainsy’s recent threat and prediction Hun Sen has decided to step down and is willing to leave the power to the brand new administration headed by the President of the United Cambodian Party.
The United Cambodian Party or UCP was formed freshly by leaders of all opposition parties to help rescue Cambodia from being swallowed by Vietnam.
Meanwhile many overseas Cambodians are busy applying for various positions including ambassadorial positions throughout the world.
The new president of UCP cannot be reached for comment.
AFPD News, of course, being April Fool’s Day News.
At the same time, however, there are talks under way, currently stalled for several reasons, for the two opposition parties to merge so they can be a more formidable force in the next elections to be held in 2013. Kem Sokha’s invitation must have been a slap in the face of the SRP leadership. With his statement, he has shown a childlike naïveté. Who in his right mind would want to negotiate with such a back-stabber, that’s what it is called in other parts of the world? I guess even in the rough-and-tumble world of politics this is considered pretty much unacceptable and intolerable. It is no wonder then that the SRP doesn’t really want to share their bed with such an infantile megalomaniac.
But the SRP is no exemplary proponent of freedom and democracy in this Kingdom of Wonder either. As previously mentioned on this blog, they are rather headless right now. Sam Rainsy keeps calling from Paris espousing the same litany and travels all over the world pronouncing the imminent end of Hun Sen’s rule, using Libya as an example. Mu Sochua is equally absent many times traveling all over the world to all kinds of forums on behalf of her pet project – women’s rights, not that this is a bad thing per se, but it surely won’t help her party in Cambodia. Additionally, Sam Rainsy has been hit with another lawsuit in Cambodia – this time brought by Hor Nam Hong, similar to the one Hor Nam Hong brought in France. The only difference appears to be, if I read this right, the lawsuit here is criminal whereas in France it was civil. He errs too when he says he can’t be punished twice for the same matter. Anyway, all this has the trappings of dealing the final blow to His Excellency the Permanent Exile. One blogger, normally an ardent supporter of the SRP, even termed the current events in the party as self-destruction, accusing the second-tier leadership of being undemocratic, autocratic, self-dealing, favoritism, even of nepotism. Well, people who have followed my blog for some time will remember that back in 2009 I had quoted one Timothy S. Chhim, a Khmer-American attorney from New York, who had worked in the SRP election campaign and who had just brought forth those same observations. Are those SRP sympathizers finally waking up to reality?
Clearly, the opposition is in such great disarray, clueless of what to do, that they won’t even get that small number of seats in the next election unless, of course, they find a new leader who can put them back on the right course and who has appeal for the masses in Cambodia, not only for those geriatric overseas Khmer and xenophobes.
Here is a nice but late April fool’s Day hoax gleaned from Timothy’s blog:
Breaking NEWS FROM APFD news.
Fearing that Cambodia may turn to be Libya number 2 because of Sam Rainsy’s recent threat and prediction Hun Sen has decided to step down and is willing to leave the power to the brand new administration headed by the President of the United Cambodian Party.
The United Cambodian Party or UCP was formed freshly by leaders of all opposition parties to help rescue Cambodia from being swallowed by Vietnam.
Meanwhile many overseas Cambodians are busy applying for various positions including ambassadorial positions throughout the world.
The new president of UCP cannot be reached for comment.
AFPD News, of course, being April Fool’s Day News.
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