PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Impoverished Cambodia has doubled its 2009 military budget to $500 million (311 million pounds) following this month's border clash with Thailand, officials said on Wednesday, an increase that is likely to anger its donors.
The National Assembly is expected to approve the new budget next week, with the military accounting for 25 percent of all spending, said Cheam Yeap, head of its finance commission.
"This incident has awoken us to the need for our soldiers to be better equipped. We cannot sit and watch Thai troops encroach on our border," he told Reuters. "Our army needs to be more organised, better trained, with newer bases and well-fed troops."
Three Cambodian soldiers and one Thai died in the October 15 firefight in the shadow of the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple, a stunning set of Hindu ruins that have been claimed for decades by both countries.
At roughly 100,000 men, Cambodia's armed forces are a third the size of Thailand's, but remain very large for one of Asia's poorest nations.
For years, international donors have been trying to get Phnom Penh to demobilise thousands of ageing soldiers, many of them former Khmer Rouge guerrillas, to free up more cash for investment in health and education.
In the two weeks since the clash, local army units say they have recruited 3,000 men despite Prime Minister Hun Sen saying he wants a negotiated settlement with Bangkok to disputed stretches of border.
(Reporting by Ek Madra; editing by Ed Cropley and Roger Crabb)
The National Assembly is expected to approve the new budget next week, with the military accounting for 25 percent of all spending, said Cheam Yeap, head of its finance commission.
"This incident has awoken us to the need for our soldiers to be better equipped. We cannot sit and watch Thai troops encroach on our border," he told Reuters. "Our army needs to be more organised, better trained, with newer bases and well-fed troops."
Three Cambodian soldiers and one Thai died in the October 15 firefight in the shadow of the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple, a stunning set of Hindu ruins that have been claimed for decades by both countries.
At roughly 100,000 men, Cambodia's armed forces are a third the size of Thailand's, but remain very large for one of Asia's poorest nations.
For years, international donors have been trying to get Phnom Penh to demobilise thousands of ageing soldiers, many of them former Khmer Rouge guerrillas, to free up more cash for investment in health and education.
In the two weeks since the clash, local army units say they have recruited 3,000 men despite Prime Minister Hun Sen saying he wants a negotiated settlement with Bangkok to disputed stretches of border.
(Reporting by Ek Madra; editing by Ed Cropley and Roger Crabb)
9 comments:
OH!!that what ah Kwack gaing from the conflict??????
We will be slaved to the mother-fucker for live!!!!!
Leave the fighting to the viets!
Where are those damned viets when we need them?
"to demobilise thousands of ageing soldiers to free up more cash for investment in health and education."
= This is a new brave world order and Cambodia has the right to defend itself against any naked foreign aggression! The $500 million military is not that much to maintain the peace and stability in Cambodia! If the donor countries are so against the $500 dollars military budget then they are more than welcome to send their military personnel to guard Cambodian border against the Thai!
By the way, money can buy the peace, the stability, and the deterrence!
some people who criticize cambodia for taking this step don't understand the needs of cambodia. as an independent, sovereigned nation like the rest of the world, cambodia has an obligation to overhaul and beef up its military so we can protect the country. so, to those who don't want to see cambodia doing this, please be fair to cambodia. let this be a lesson for cambodia not to ignore its military upgrading, etc...
I think it is necessary for Cambodia to increase its military spending for the time being for the needs as the nation defenders in the time of war. However I also think the entity need to clean, efficient, trained, brisk, discipline and professional. The number for Cambodian soldiers need to remain between 50,000 to 75,000 strong. Lastly, I think our soldiers deserve better...
Protecting the country at all cost... Only security can bring about developments...
why don't you all peace for peace, if you're going arms it mean you're going fight. Oh next try putting fence around property, right now it's a bit too late for that.
Dumb PAD thai. You now have just woke up a tiger.
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