By Samnang
Samleng Yuveakchon Khmer (Voice of Khmer Youth)
According to a study by an international organization and a US newspaper, Cambodia's economic freedom is only 56.5 percent out of a score of 100 percent, which would mean total freedom. According to the 2007 assessment of 110 countries, Cambodia is the world's 102d freest economy and is ranked 18th out of 30 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Its overall score is 2.7 percentage points lower than last year. The main causes that led Cambodia to obtain a low ranking and low scores are corruption and weak rule of law in many areas.
Concerning this problem, former US Ambassador to Cambodia, Charles A. Ray, who is Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs, reminded the Cambodian Government to improve and speed up reforms in order to attract more foreign capital for the development of the country. Charles A. Ray suggested that the Cambodian Government should further improve its investment atmosphere in order to attract foreign investment if this country wanted to achieve an economic growth comparable to that of other countries in the region.
Charles A. Ray made this suggestion in his address to journalism students of the Royal University of Phnom Penh, as well as local and international reporters at the Cambodian Information Technology Institute on Tuesday afternoon, 16 January, as part of his 3-day official visit to Cambodia from 15 to 17 January.
Charles A. Ray stressed, "Cambodia must respect the rights of its workers as much as possible and make its banking system and economic rules and regulations better than what they are now in order to guarantee foreign investment in Cambodia."
Reacting to Charles A. Ray's recommendation, the spokesman of the Cambodian Government, Khieu Kanharith, said that even if the former ambassador did not raise this issue the Cambodian Government would look into it because it is bound by duty to perform all these tasks.
Dr. Kang Chandararot, chairman of the Cambodia Development Resource Institute, agreed with Charles A. Ray's view when he emphasized that both the Cambodian citizens and the investment companies mostly do not trust the banks because of corruption and the weakness of the rule of law and the justice system in Cambodia.
Observers and NGO officials also supported Kang Chandararat' s view because current corruption and bureaucracy in Cambodia have spread everywhere at an alarming rate and the Royal Government led by Prime Minister Hun Sen seems to lack the will to really fight corruption. The fact that the Royal Government has set up an anti-corruption unit with Om Yentieng as chairman is just a ploy to cover up the alarmingly widespread corruption plague.
In its recent report the Cambodian Government boasted that Cambodia's economy grew as much as 13.4 percent in 2005 and in 2006 the economic growth could be from 8 to 9 percent. However, at about the same time there were reports showing that a number of foreign investors had plans to pull their capital out of Cambodia and move their investment to other countries because of the pervasive corruption and labor rights abuses in this country. Some NGOs discovered that corruption has caused Cambodia to lose $1 million in income everyday, which represents a very serious corruption case.
At the end of 2006, Transparency International [TI] ranked Cambodia 151st out of 163 countries in corruption index. This ranking means that Cambodia is among the world's most corrupt countries, which is why its growth and development are stunted. Senior officials of the Cambodian Government led by the Cambodian People's Party [CPP] were not happy with the TI finding. But they were not willing to push for the early passage of the anti-corruption law.
Independent observers criticized that there was a frightening scope of corruption and bureaucracy in Cambodia's main state institutions, causing huge losses to the national budget. The state institutions most blamed for being plagued with corruption include the Cabinet of the Council of Ministers controlled by Deputy Prime Minister Sok An; the Ministry of Economy and Finance controlled by State Minister Keat Chhon; the Trade Ministry controlled by the family of State Minister Cham Prasith; the Customs and Tariff Service controlled Pen Simorn; the Judiciary, the Cambodia Development Council, the Economic Police Department, and so on. Even the Ministry of Inspection controlled by Mrs. Men San-an, member of the CPP Permanent Committee, is also notorious for being corrupt.
Many quarters still clearly remember that at the Consultative Group meeting in early March 2006, the head of the Cambodian Government, PM Hun Sen, clearly promised to the representatives of the international community and aid donors that he would push for the passage, ratification, and promulgation of the Anti-corruption law in October without any more delay. However, to this moment, no one knows where this Anti-corruption law has been shelved and what has become of the penal and civil codes. This led US Ambassador Joseph A. Mussomeli to criticize at the end of 2006 that the Cambodian Government made very nice speeches but was bereft of any a truly viable policy against corruption.
Analysts of Cambodia's economic situation assessed that in creating the Anti-Corruption Authority to supersede the roles of Ministry of Inspection and the National Audit PM Hun Sen does not show a real will to combat corruption. If the government has a genuine anti-corruption policy, it should strive to bring the penal and civil codes into existence as soon as possible and should avoid making excuses to slow down the passage of the anti-corruption bill through the Cabinet of the Council of Ministers.
These analysts also criticized the National Assembly for not showing any enthusiasm to endorse the penal and civil codes as soon as possible and for working hard only to produce useless laws instead. For example, the law to silence the National Assembly members and the law on monogamy recently passed by the National Assembly are receiving criticisms from all directions because they are laws that cause more complications to the Cambodian society. As for the anti-corruption law, the National Assembly headed by CPP Honorary President Heng Samrin does not try to pass it as quickly as it should.
-------
Note: Voice of Khmer Youth (VoKY) is affiliated with Funcinpec, a coalition partner of the government of what VoKY calls "One of World's Most Corrupt, Less Economically Free Countries."
Concerning this problem, former US Ambassador to Cambodia, Charles A. Ray, who is Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs, reminded the Cambodian Government to improve and speed up reforms in order to attract more foreign capital for the development of the country. Charles A. Ray suggested that the Cambodian Government should further improve its investment atmosphere in order to attract foreign investment if this country wanted to achieve an economic growth comparable to that of other countries in the region.
Charles A. Ray made this suggestion in his address to journalism students of the Royal University of Phnom Penh, as well as local and international reporters at the Cambodian Information Technology Institute on Tuesday afternoon, 16 January, as part of his 3-day official visit to Cambodia from 15 to 17 January.
Charles A. Ray stressed, "Cambodia must respect the rights of its workers as much as possible and make its banking system and economic rules and regulations better than what they are now in order to guarantee foreign investment in Cambodia."
Reacting to Charles A. Ray's recommendation, the spokesman of the Cambodian Government, Khieu Kanharith, said that even if the former ambassador did not raise this issue the Cambodian Government would look into it because it is bound by duty to perform all these tasks.
Dr. Kang Chandararot, chairman of the Cambodia Development Resource Institute, agreed with Charles A. Ray's view when he emphasized that both the Cambodian citizens and the investment companies mostly do not trust the banks because of corruption and the weakness of the rule of law and the justice system in Cambodia.
Observers and NGO officials also supported Kang Chandararat' s view because current corruption and bureaucracy in Cambodia have spread everywhere at an alarming rate and the Royal Government led by Prime Minister Hun Sen seems to lack the will to really fight corruption. The fact that the Royal Government has set up an anti-corruption unit with Om Yentieng as chairman is just a ploy to cover up the alarmingly widespread corruption plague.
In its recent report the Cambodian Government boasted that Cambodia's economy grew as much as 13.4 percent in 2005 and in 2006 the economic growth could be from 8 to 9 percent. However, at about the same time there were reports showing that a number of foreign investors had plans to pull their capital out of Cambodia and move their investment to other countries because of the pervasive corruption and labor rights abuses in this country. Some NGOs discovered that corruption has caused Cambodia to lose $1 million in income everyday, which represents a very serious corruption case.
At the end of 2006, Transparency International [TI] ranked Cambodia 151st out of 163 countries in corruption index. This ranking means that Cambodia is among the world's most corrupt countries, which is why its growth and development are stunted. Senior officials of the Cambodian Government led by the Cambodian People's Party [CPP] were not happy with the TI finding. But they were not willing to push for the early passage of the anti-corruption law.
Independent observers criticized that there was a frightening scope of corruption and bureaucracy in Cambodia's main state institutions, causing huge losses to the national budget. The state institutions most blamed for being plagued with corruption include the Cabinet of the Council of Ministers controlled by Deputy Prime Minister Sok An; the Ministry of Economy and Finance controlled by State Minister Keat Chhon; the Trade Ministry controlled by the family of State Minister Cham Prasith; the Customs and Tariff Service controlled Pen Simorn; the Judiciary, the Cambodia Development Council, the Economic Police Department, and so on. Even the Ministry of Inspection controlled by Mrs. Men San-an, member of the CPP Permanent Committee, is also notorious for being corrupt.
Many quarters still clearly remember that at the Consultative Group meeting in early March 2006, the head of the Cambodian Government, PM Hun Sen, clearly promised to the representatives of the international community and aid donors that he would push for the passage, ratification, and promulgation of the Anti-corruption law in October without any more delay. However, to this moment, no one knows where this Anti-corruption law has been shelved and what has become of the penal and civil codes. This led US Ambassador Joseph A. Mussomeli to criticize at the end of 2006 that the Cambodian Government made very nice speeches but was bereft of any a truly viable policy against corruption.
Analysts of Cambodia's economic situation assessed that in creating the Anti-Corruption Authority to supersede the roles of Ministry of Inspection and the National Audit PM Hun Sen does not show a real will to combat corruption. If the government has a genuine anti-corruption policy, it should strive to bring the penal and civil codes into existence as soon as possible and should avoid making excuses to slow down the passage of the anti-corruption bill through the Cabinet of the Council of Ministers.
These analysts also criticized the National Assembly for not showing any enthusiasm to endorse the penal and civil codes as soon as possible and for working hard only to produce useless laws instead. For example, the law to silence the National Assembly members and the law on monogamy recently passed by the National Assembly are receiving criticisms from all directions because they are laws that cause more complications to the Cambodian society. As for the anti-corruption law, the National Assembly headed by CPP Honorary President Heng Samrin does not try to pass it as quickly as it should.
-------
Note: Voice of Khmer Youth (VoKY) is affiliated with Funcinpec, a coalition partner of the government of what VoKY calls "One of World's Most Corrupt, Less Economically Free Countries."
No comments:
Post a Comment