The border standoff that began at Preah Vihear temple, above, has made defense spending a top priority for the government.By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
27 October 2008
The government is seeking to increase the 2009 budget for the Ministry of Defense to $500 million, nearly 70 percent more than the year before, a finance lawmaker confirmed Monday.
The increase in defense spending, which the government had sought to reduce in recent years, comes as a sometimes violent military standoff with Thailand continues.
The standoff has made national defense a top priority for the government, said Cheam Yiep, head of the National Assembly's finance committee, and a member of the Cambodian People's Party.
The armed forces need a proper military base, improved wages and health care, better uniforms and better training, he said.
The money for the extra spending would come from a budgetary reserve, Cheam Yiep said.
However, opposition Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Son Chhay said Monday the reserve budget should not be depleted for improving the military. The reserve budget was designed for emergencies such as natural disasters, he said.
"I don't agree with the use of the reserve budget for national defense," he said.
The increased budget for the military will hurt Cambodia's growing economy, he said, citing the US's war with Iraq as an example.
Cambodia is a small country, with 40 percent of its people living in poverty, "so all of the annual budget should be taken care of and have proper evaluation before we send it to the National Assembly," Son Chhay said.
Officials at the Ministry of Economy and Finance declined to comment on the budget, which was proposed by the Ministry of Defense and must be folded into the full 2009 budget for parliamentary approval.
Kong Chandararoth, an economist and director of the Economic Development Institute, said he agreed with the defense increase.
Cambodia's national defense is not at international standards, "so we should increase the national budget" for defense, he said.
Cambodia's total annual budget was increasing every year, so an increase in the defense budget would be proper, he said.
The budget increase comes as the border standoff continues, despite a round of border talks by military commanders in Siem Reap last week and vows by the countries' two prime ministers to prevent further bloodshed.
Cambodia has complained that during a brief round of fighting earlier this month Thai soldiers damaged a corner of Preah Vihear temple, where adjacent land on a disputed border is at the heart of the military buildup.
Thailand issued a statement Monday denying it had fired at the temple and claiming Thai soldiers in the Oct. 15 fighting had been fired on by rockets and mortars, as well as rifles.
The increase in defense spending, which the government had sought to reduce in recent years, comes as a sometimes violent military standoff with Thailand continues.
The standoff has made national defense a top priority for the government, said Cheam Yiep, head of the National Assembly's finance committee, and a member of the Cambodian People's Party.
The armed forces need a proper military base, improved wages and health care, better uniforms and better training, he said.
The money for the extra spending would come from a budgetary reserve, Cheam Yiep said.
However, opposition Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Son Chhay said Monday the reserve budget should not be depleted for improving the military. The reserve budget was designed for emergencies such as natural disasters, he said.
"I don't agree with the use of the reserve budget for national defense," he said.
The increased budget for the military will hurt Cambodia's growing economy, he said, citing the US's war with Iraq as an example.
Cambodia is a small country, with 40 percent of its people living in poverty, "so all of the annual budget should be taken care of and have proper evaluation before we send it to the National Assembly," Son Chhay said.
Officials at the Ministry of Economy and Finance declined to comment on the budget, which was proposed by the Ministry of Defense and must be folded into the full 2009 budget for parliamentary approval.
Kong Chandararoth, an economist and director of the Economic Development Institute, said he agreed with the defense increase.
Cambodia's national defense is not at international standards, "so we should increase the national budget" for defense, he said.
Cambodia's total annual budget was increasing every year, so an increase in the defense budget would be proper, he said.
The budget increase comes as the border standoff continues, despite a round of border talks by military commanders in Siem Reap last week and vows by the countries' two prime ministers to prevent further bloodshed.
Cambodia has complained that during a brief round of fighting earlier this month Thai soldiers damaged a corner of Preah Vihear temple, where adjacent land on a disputed border is at the heart of the military buildup.
Thailand issued a statement Monday denying it had fired at the temple and claiming Thai soldiers in the Oct. 15 fighting had been fired on by rockets and mortars, as well as rifles.
7 comments:
Bloody Thai bully must be stopped by the Hague. The sooner the better! What the fuck is that Hun Sen's Viet slave waiting for???
What defense? That freaking Viet's slave HUN SEN already destroyed everything that is Khmer to depend entirely on the Viet, militarily and/or otherwise.
SPENDING ON DEFENSE simply means spending on the Viet thus making the Viet's life easier to take over CAMBODIA more easily and sooner.
អក
I don't understand why the opposition party members always reject the government plan even though the government does the right thing.
After the cows escaped they are now starting to build the fence, this is a typical planning habits for the visionless Khmer politicians.
The hardware that are in urgent needs: Anti-tanks weapon, SAM (surface to air missiles), triple A (anti aircraft weapon), stinger (shoulder launch anti -aircraft), artilleries, military trucks to transport troops and weapons, some transport choppers. Leave the aircrafts and tanks to a later stage as these require personnel training to operate it and the maintenance costs are high. If the Cambodian government can equip the Khmer soldiers with these latest weapons and provide basic training I think the Cambodians are more than capable of taking on the Thais.
Since the battle fields along the border are mostly dense forest I don't think the tanks can have any advantages at all, it can be easily bring down by one or two soldiers hidden in jungle with the right anti tank weapon. Similarly with aircrafts, it won't be able to see its targets that are hidden in forest easily when flying at high speed and altitude. The Cambodian can achieve this within two years the maximum if they effectively organize it without any corruption and think of national interests first.
C++
Any country in the world would increase their defence spending in time of conflict with their neighbours and beyond. The proposed increase in defence spending looks good on paper: improved wages and health care, better uniforms and better training. But, how do we know where the money will actually go?
Government officials are infamous for their corrupt practices, and transparency is something they use as a door-mat to their toilet everyday. We may end up with more Lexus SUVs in Phnom Penh than the number of RPGs in Preah Vihear. If they used some money to buy more weapons it would be for those obsolete surplus military hardware from Vietnam.
On paper, they do the right things. In practice, they do the naughty things, unless there are proper monitoring and auditing by independent professionals.
Expenses for strengthening our army are not just one-off expenses. They are recurrent expenses that have to be supported every year. It would be naive to believe that the increased army budget would come down to the previous level.
But the need to resort to a strong army simply reflects the weaknesses of our government's diplomacy. And now our unfortunate, poor fellow Cambodians will have to pay for these weaknesses.
Some of them have already joined the army, and if any war breaks out, some of these soldiers would get killed. There will be widows, orphans, their suffering and the suffering of the loved ones.
More money for the army will mean, as HE Son Chhay has rightly put it, less money for social services that the poor need most.
In the present circumstances, the army will get what it wants, there is little doubt. But in the long run we need to improve our diplomacy and our defence strategy.
Towards this end we need to reevaluate the work of our diplomats and military attaches, especially those posted in neighbouring countries. Why our diplomats and military attaches in Thailand had failed to detect any intention of the Thai army to send troops to occupy our territory? Had they failed to do their jobs properly?
Secondly, we need to create the Supreme Council for National Defence provided for in our Constitution, which is chaired by our August King, Supreme Commander of our army. Thirdly, the National Institute of International Relations, attached to the Royal Academy, located on the campus of the Royal University of Phnom Penh II at Pochentong (under the flight path!)together with the Cambodian Institute of Cooperation and Peace (CICP) founded by HE Dr. Kao Kim Huon and Prince Norodom Sereywuth, all should conduct strategic studies looking into developments in and the strategies of neighbouring countries. Many countries in the region have created their respective Institute of Strategic Studies and foreign affairs officials, senior army officers and academics are involved in the work of these institutes.
LAO Mong Hay, Hong Kong
The Khmer government should have a law to make very Cambodian eighteen and over (m/f) to be in the military service. Being in the military doesn't mean you'll be going to war, it means each units has its own purpose to do to protect the country and to provide community services.
The overall strength of the country needs to be developed in both military and diplomacy as one whole strategy. The enemies or neighbors with bad intention will only respect if they realize there will be some significant price to pay for their adventures.
With clear objective in diplomacy and a military than can inflict a cost to reciprocate a malicious intent will let the provocator thinks twice before committing to careless acts.
Post a Comment