Moneakseka Khmer
Translated from Khmer
On Friday, 3 November, the Council of Ministers met and passed the 2007 Financial Control draft law at its regular meeting in the presence of Prime Minister Hun Sen.
When the strongman returned from the ASEAN-China summit, he was all smiles, having secured new loans and aid money from China. He was happy because, with these funds, he hoped to give his government another breather. However, at yesterday's Council of Ministers meeting discussing the 2007 Financial Control bill, our strongman was seen with a gloomy expression as the national debts have zoomed with each passing year because of growing interest. This certainly must be really bad.
Besides, these foreign loans would not have been a problem if they were spent correctly. But they have become a problem when corruption gets involved.
Poet-cum-wise man Kram Ngoy once wrote: "The Khmers keep husking [rice at the Chinese rice huskers], and the Chinese keep jotting down; when comes time to pay, they [the Khmers] have to pawn their rice fields." Likewise, the Chinese debts that Cambodia now owes could entangle future Cambodian generations because of the corruption committed by some current officials. If we cannot get money to repay the Chinese, our recourse would be to hand over our land so that the Chinese would squeeze it of its natural resources. Giving them land is like giving them the country. It would be too ugly to see if China takes over our country, and the world would denounce it. Therefore, the solution is to portion off our land and let the Chinese take over the good pieces in the form of company holdings. After that, the Chinese would send as many of their citizens to occupy these pieces of land as possible, which is what Beijing is doing now.
For example, the ethnic people in Cambodia's northeastern region were recently alarmed to learn that the government had given their land to a Chinese company. This land, to the ethnic groups in the Northeast, had always been their ancestral property that they used to tap resin, to hunt for games, and to grow crops for a living. Now, the Chinese have fenced it off.
Therefore, we see that our land has been portioned off into pieces for the Chinese who now control them through Chinese companies in the provinces rich in natural resources. It is not surprising that Cambodia would soon become part of China since its law is so lax and corruption so pervasive and China is sending in more of their citizens in the guise of skilled workers and their dependents. The reason is that the government has no money to pay back the Chinese loans and its solution is to give the Chinese the land and let them exploit its natural resources in lieu of repayment of the debts, principal and interest inclusive.
The Hun Sen government has taken loans from China. These loans were spent without clear explanation and there were many instances of embezzlement by corrupt officials. This government cannot get money to repay these loans. And beginning this year, the repayment is due as the budget law must include debt repayment.
Now that Keat Chhon has drafted the Financial Control bill to please the aid donors by imposing restrictions on wasteful expenditures, the corrupt officials have no sources to steal from. What is left for them to embezzle is the money from foreign aid or foreign loans. These thefts of foreign aid monies, in the long run, will greatly indebt the future generations of Cambodians, for the loan contracts cover long periods of time and those who took the loans would have died while those still alive would have to pay for them.
Therefore, this certainly is like what Kram Ngoy wrote: "The Khmers keep husking, the Chinese keep jotting down; when comes time to pay, they have to pawn their rice fields." This exactly reflects what is happening now: The government keeps borrowing from the Chinese and the Chinese keep taking record of the loans. When it is time to repay the debts, the government has nothing in hands; so, it portions off the land into pieces and lets the Chinese have them as repayment, using the excuse that the land or forests were concessions to the Chinese investment.
When the strongman returned from the ASEAN-China summit, he was all smiles, having secured new loans and aid money from China. He was happy because, with these funds, he hoped to give his government another breather. However, at yesterday's Council of Ministers meeting discussing the 2007 Financial Control bill, our strongman was seen with a gloomy expression as the national debts have zoomed with each passing year because of growing interest. This certainly must be really bad.
Besides, these foreign loans would not have been a problem if they were spent correctly. But they have become a problem when corruption gets involved.
Poet-cum-wise man Kram Ngoy once wrote: "The Khmers keep husking [rice at the Chinese rice huskers], and the Chinese keep jotting down; when comes time to pay, they [the Khmers] have to pawn their rice fields." Likewise, the Chinese debts that Cambodia now owes could entangle future Cambodian generations because of the corruption committed by some current officials. If we cannot get money to repay the Chinese, our recourse would be to hand over our land so that the Chinese would squeeze it of its natural resources. Giving them land is like giving them the country. It would be too ugly to see if China takes over our country, and the world would denounce it. Therefore, the solution is to portion off our land and let the Chinese take over the good pieces in the form of company holdings. After that, the Chinese would send as many of their citizens to occupy these pieces of land as possible, which is what Beijing is doing now.
For example, the ethnic people in Cambodia's northeastern region were recently alarmed to learn that the government had given their land to a Chinese company. This land, to the ethnic groups in the Northeast, had always been their ancestral property that they used to tap resin, to hunt for games, and to grow crops for a living. Now, the Chinese have fenced it off.
Therefore, we see that our land has been portioned off into pieces for the Chinese who now control them through Chinese companies in the provinces rich in natural resources. It is not surprising that Cambodia would soon become part of China since its law is so lax and corruption so pervasive and China is sending in more of their citizens in the guise of skilled workers and their dependents. The reason is that the government has no money to pay back the Chinese loans and its solution is to give the Chinese the land and let them exploit its natural resources in lieu of repayment of the debts, principal and interest inclusive.
The Hun Sen government has taken loans from China. These loans were spent without clear explanation and there were many instances of embezzlement by corrupt officials. This government cannot get money to repay these loans. And beginning this year, the repayment is due as the budget law must include debt repayment.
Now that Keat Chhon has drafted the Financial Control bill to please the aid donors by imposing restrictions on wasteful expenditures, the corrupt officials have no sources to steal from. What is left for them to embezzle is the money from foreign aid or foreign loans. These thefts of foreign aid monies, in the long run, will greatly indebt the future generations of Cambodians, for the loan contracts cover long periods of time and those who took the loans would have died while those still alive would have to pay for them.
Therefore, this certainly is like what Kram Ngoy wrote: "The Khmers keep husking, the Chinese keep jotting down; when comes time to pay, they have to pawn their rice fields." This exactly reflects what is happening now: The government keeps borrowing from the Chinese and the Chinese keep taking record of the loans. When it is time to repay the debts, the government has nothing in hands; so, it portions off the land into pieces and lets the Chinese have them as repayment, using the excuse that the land or forests were concessions to the Chinese investment.
4 comments:
We must blame this mismanaged government instead. They ( all officials) have their background from very poor education and no financial experience. THe chinese called this officials ( pig officials who want to eat, sex, lazy and messy). From Sunrise to sunset, they are always drunk with spirit and girls. Their bodies are smelly of sex liquids. How can these leaders find prosperity to their people? If they can, any monky also can do!!!!!!
AH HUN SEN is a fucken fool to know that all the Chinese aid and money are in form of a loan shark!!!!
I Cambodian people can't go after AH HUN SEN then they will have to go after AH HUN SEN children and family members!
Mr. Hun Sen! you need to give up and pass the leadership to others who are capable and if you fear of your safety then get out off the country or just take contol of the military and stay out off politic (don't take side) and I can garranty that your legen will last forever as a Cambodian Hero rather than a traitor.
Hun Sen and his henchmen are in this scam together. If he makes any noisy remarks about the increasing debts, it will only be just a show he puts up to fool the people that he cares about the national debts. Of course, it's the future Cambodians who will have to slave away to repay those mounting debts while Hun Sen, his family and relatives and his henchmen live their lives in luxury and commit more criminal acts with impunity.
It is not unusual to find a national project costing US$1 million to be inflated to US$10 millions by Hun Sen's henchmen. A suitable loan is then secured and a favourable private company is selected to do the work. The hidden project cost is then disbursed through an intricate network of bank transactions into the bank accounts of the government officials. Big fish gets big worms, and smaller fish gets smaller worms accordingly. The Ministry of Economy and Finance also plays a major role in this scam.
The same thing is going to happen to Cambodia's oil industry. Its revenue will only benefit the political elite while the Cambodian public will remain poor. Their greed has no limit.
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