Sam Rainsy's letter published in The Cambodia Daily, February 9, 2009STIMULUS PACKAGE "REASONABLE" WITH REDUCED GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION
In "Reforms Needed To Tackle Crisis, Forum Told" (Friday, page 1), it was reported that "[Prime Minister] Hun Sen rejected an opposition recommendation of a $500 million stimulus package as 'unreasonable' for Cambodia given its budget."
On January 16, in my capacity as an elected representative of the people, I wrote to the prime minister suggesting that the government adopt a series of appropriate and urgent measures to cope with the unfolding world financial crisis.
In particular, I suggested a $500 million stimulus plan designed to reduce the economic and social repercussions from the global slump that are being increasingly felt by Cambodia ("Sam Rainsy Urges Government To Prepare Stimulus Package", January 19, page 33).
The indirect and negative response I received through the press shows either the government does not yet fully understand the seriousness of the situation or it lacks the sense of responsibility to take appropriate action.
What Mr Hun Sen said at last week's Third Annual Cambodian Economic Forum seems no more than a repetition of long-heard commitments that proved to be lip service for the donors' easy satisfaction. The Prime Minister is quoted as saying: "In the current context, the Royal Government clearly sees the opportunity and needs to push forward the systematic and interrelated reforms, which aim at improving investment and business climate."
The key word among all the empty ones we often hear, is "reforms". But what long-awaited reforms have been implemented over the past 10 years? Land reform? Judicial reform? Civil service reform? Anti-corruption reform? None of them. In particular, the anti-corruption law, which has officially been "in preparation" for more than a decade, is still in limbo.
My proposed $500 million stimulus package is considered "unreasonable" compared with Cambodia's budget of $1.8 billion for 2009. But in 2004, a USAID-funded corruption assessment highlighted the significant loss in state revenue due to smuggling, bribes and other illegal practices, which possibly totaled as much as $500 million.
Since 2004, corruption has dramatically increased, with the plunder of state assets and land grabbing by government officials and their cronies occurring on a larger and larger scale.
Therefore, the above stimulus package could be financed by a reduction in government corruption.
Besides, international financial institutions such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and major donor countries such as Japan, have stated that they have set aside funds to help poor countries cope with the world crisis. But countries like Cambodia must first devise a concrete contingency plan and ask for help in a responsible way.
In the current context dominated by the world crisis, Cambodia needs a significant and thoroughly planned stimulus package whatever the name we give to the series of fiscal and monetary measures aimed at boosting economic activity.
All Cambodia's neighboring countries including China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, have already released their first economic stimulus packages and are preparing new ones in the face of the intensity and the possible duration of the crisis.
Cambodia cannot afford to have leaders who ignore that we are facing an emergency situation that requires prompt and adequate measures. It's very worrying to see our government taking lightly the people's sufferings and distress while having no credible plan for the future. Through a significant stimulus package that comes on top of the already known budget for 2009, any responsible government would implement a number of projects such as:
Member of Parliament
Former Finance Minister
On January 16, in my capacity as an elected representative of the people, I wrote to the prime minister suggesting that the government adopt a series of appropriate and urgent measures to cope with the unfolding world financial crisis.
In particular, I suggested a $500 million stimulus plan designed to reduce the economic and social repercussions from the global slump that are being increasingly felt by Cambodia ("Sam Rainsy Urges Government To Prepare Stimulus Package", January 19, page 33).
The indirect and negative response I received through the press shows either the government does not yet fully understand the seriousness of the situation or it lacks the sense of responsibility to take appropriate action.
What Mr Hun Sen said at last week's Third Annual Cambodian Economic Forum seems no more than a repetition of long-heard commitments that proved to be lip service for the donors' easy satisfaction. The Prime Minister is quoted as saying: "In the current context, the Royal Government clearly sees the opportunity and needs to push forward the systematic and interrelated reforms, which aim at improving investment and business climate."
The key word among all the empty ones we often hear, is "reforms". But what long-awaited reforms have been implemented over the past 10 years? Land reform? Judicial reform? Civil service reform? Anti-corruption reform? None of them. In particular, the anti-corruption law, which has officially been "in preparation" for more than a decade, is still in limbo.
My proposed $500 million stimulus package is considered "unreasonable" compared with Cambodia's budget of $1.8 billion for 2009. But in 2004, a USAID-funded corruption assessment highlighted the significant loss in state revenue due to smuggling, bribes and other illegal practices, which possibly totaled as much as $500 million.
Since 2004, corruption has dramatically increased, with the plunder of state assets and land grabbing by government officials and their cronies occurring on a larger and larger scale.
Therefore, the above stimulus package could be financed by a reduction in government corruption.
Besides, international financial institutions such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and major donor countries such as Japan, have stated that they have set aside funds to help poor countries cope with the world crisis. But countries like Cambodia must first devise a concrete contingency plan and ask for help in a responsible way.
In the current context dominated by the world crisis, Cambodia needs a significant and thoroughly planned stimulus package whatever the name we give to the series of fiscal and monetary measures aimed at boosting economic activity.
All Cambodia's neighboring countries including China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, have already released their first economic stimulus packages and are preparing new ones in the face of the intensity and the possible duration of the crisis.
Cambodia cannot afford to have leaders who ignore that we are facing an emergency situation that requires prompt and adequate measures. It's very worrying to see our government taking lightly the people's sufferings and distress while having no credible plan for the future. Through a significant stimulus package that comes on top of the already known budget for 2009, any responsible government would implement a number of projects such as:
- Setting up mechanisms to support and stabilize agricultural prices in order to protect farmers' revenue and living conditions
- Investing in human resources by increasing spending on education, training and health
- Building infrastructure that Cambodia lacks most (roads, railways, water-control and irrigation systems, housing for the poor)
- Works to protect the environment and to restore the ecological system that has been disrupted nationwide, including replanting trees (reforestation) and dredging lakes and rivers
- Tax cuts and reduction in fees for the use of public services including road tolls and the electricity price
- Special social allowances for the poorest segment of the population
- Loans with reduced (lowest possible) interest rates for small domestic entrepreneurs and the needy.
- In the short term, protect revenue and create jobs by boosting aggregate demand through an increase in public and private expenditures triggering the multiplier effect;
- In the longer term, lay the foundations and create the conditions for a sustainable and equitable development.
Member of Parliament
Former Finance Minister
14 comments:
fucking loser samrainsy! why the fuck ah kim soka and ah samrainsy doing any better for cambodia. Fuck all of these fucking stupid opposition leaders including, samrainsy, kim soka, and ah mother fucking stupid ass fucking Ranarith like father like son. All of you opposition out there need to fucking get together in order to fucking remove ah kwack Hun Sen from his position.
Noi sarep
phnompenh
100% fully agreed with the effort and comment raised by Mr. Sam Rainsy. This is not a bad idea that made Cambodia worse..it is a workable formula for bosting the people living condition during the economic crisis, as well as the double economic downturn hit hard from the border tension with the fucking bandit Siam. So my beloved Cambodia country is not just hit hard by the world economic crisis, but also the regional slump caused by the Siam invasion. Doulble economics hit.
I fully understand the naive and nasty unreasonable reaction from the government political view points, which i believed this caused by personal individual or personal party anger or advantages. BUT I TRUELY HOPE THAT REGARDLESS OF WHAT PARTIES YOU ARE ALL IN, REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE CAMBODIAN AND YOU LIVED IN CAMBODIA. SO REGARDLESS OF YOUR ORIGIN, EVERYONE WHO LIVED AND EARNED THEIR LIVING IN CAMBODIA ARE ALL CONSIDERED CAMBODIAN WHO SHOULD BE LIVED AND DIED FOR THE CAMBODIA COUNTRY AND TO SERVE THE PEOPLE OF CAMBODIA. ALL PERSON HERE ARE ALL CAMBODIAN, NOT THE PEOPLE OF CPP OR SAM RAINSY PARTY NOR FUNCINPEC OR RANARIDTH PARTY.....SO I URGED ALL OF YOU TO STOP BITING EACH OTHER AND WORK TOGETHER TO DEVELOPE CAMBODIA FOR THE CAMBODIAN PEOPLE, REGARDLESS OF THEIR PARTIES AFFILIATION OR RACE. WHEN ALL OF YOU DIED, YOU GET NOTHING. SO YOU BETTER LIVE IN GOOD NAME AND DO GOOD THING FOR THE COUNTRY. REMEMBER WHEN YOU DIED YOUR KIDS, GRANDSON/DAUGTHER, BROTHERS, SISTERS, RELATIVES STILL REMAINED.....SO IF YOU DEVELOPED THE COUNTRY TODAY...IT IS ALSO TO PRESERVED FOR YOUR NEXT GENERATION TO COME. STOP THINKING OF ATTACKING EACH OTHER....YOU ARE ALL TO SERVE CAMBODIA, NOT CPP CAMBODIAN, SAM RAINSY CAMBODIAN, FUNCINPEC CAMBODIAN......ETC. THIS IS VERY SIMPLE TO THINK. WE ARE THE PEOPLE OF THE KINGDOM OF CAMBODIA....
YNL
100% fully agreed with the effort and comment raised by Mr. Sam Rainsy. This is not a bad idea that made Cambodia worse..it is a workable formula for bosting the people living condition during the economic crisis, as well as the double economic downturn hit hard from the border tension with the fucking bandit Siam. So my beloved Cambodia country is not just hit hard by the world economic crisis, but also the regional slump caused by the Siam invasion. Doulble economics hit.
I fully understand the naive and nasty unreasonable reaction from the government political view points, which i believed this caused by personal individual or personal party anger or advantages. BUT I TRUELY HOPE THAT REGARDLESS OF WHAT PARTIES YOU ARE ALL IN, REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE CAMBODIAN AND YOU LIVED IN CAMBODIA. SO REGARDLESS OF YOUR ORIGIN, EVERYONE WHO LIVED AND EARNED THEIR LIVING IN CAMBODIA ARE ALL CONSIDERED CAMBODIAN WHO SHOULD BE LIVED AND DIED FOR THE CAMBODIA COUNTRY AND TO SERVE THE PEOPLE OF CAMBODIA. ALL PERSON HERE ARE ALL CAMBODIAN, NOT THE PEOPLE OF CPP OR SAM RAINSY PARTY NOR FUNCINPEC OR RANARIDTH PARTY.....SO I URGED ALL OF YOU TO STOP BITING EACH OTHER AND WORK TOGETHER TO DEVELOPE CAMBODIA FOR THE CAMBODIAN PEOPLE, REGARDLESS OF THEIR PARTIES AFFILIATION OR RACE. WHEN ALL OF YOU DIED, YOU GET NOTHING. SO YOU BETTER LIVE IN GOOD NAME AND DO GOOD THING FOR THE COUNTRY. REMEMBER WHEN YOU DIED YOUR KIDS, GRANDSON/DAUGTHER, BROTHERS, SISTERS, RELATIVES STILL REMAINED.....SO IF YOU DEVELOPED THE COUNTRY TODAY...IT IS ALSO TO PRESERVED FOR YOUR NEXT GENERATION TO COME. STOP THINKING OF ATTACKING EACH OTHER....YOU ARE ALL TO SERVE CAMBODIA, NOT CPP CAMBODIAN, SAM RAINSY CAMBODIAN, FUNCINPEC CAMBODIAN......ETC. THIS IS VERY SIMPLE TO THINK. WE ARE THE PEOPLE OF THE KINGDOM OF CAMBODIA....
YNL
How does he arrive at the number $500 millions? How does he know it would do the job? How does he know it would be sufficient?
Kuoy Pichet
Don't fall for Ah Scam Rainxy's dirty trick. He's only thinking of the survival of his party during the world financial crisis, not Khmer people. Don't let him see even one USD of economic stimulus.
I strongly suspect that neither side really knows what they're doing. The problem is simply too large, complex, and interconnected with economies of other nations, over which the US has no control. To fix most things in the universe, you have to get it to sit still at least for a short period of time. This is a dynamic situation. If we as a society actually knew what worked, and could establish a cause and effect relationship with any certainty, we would have done it by now. Don’t you think?
Change ain't good for CPP..
Change generally meant that CPP's elites will be more publicly lost their power, money, and beautiful young women, therefore Change is earthly bad for CPP.
50%+1 = Run the country alone.
Ah Scam Rainxy = Shut the fuck up.
Who the hell what book? We want the real thing. Can you do better, 11:44?
It is interesting to see Pouk Ah George Washington Potato Diggers constantly trying to deceive Khmer people by bragging about their education oversea this and that. If what they say is true, how come they think Ah Scam Rainxy is the only one who qualify to run the country in the last 30 years or so? How good can Ah George Washington's school be? It doesn't make make any sense at all.
But more interestingly, Ah Potato Diggers is so stupid that they don't even know they are fooling themselves every time they try to deceive us, hahaha, LOL, hahaha, hahaha, hhahaha.... .
And you CPP leech 12:16 AM...go eat shit and die!
If all of you still fighting who's right and who's wrong?
Just give all those money to me.I believe,I will make it useful for the needy.
It is rather hard to believe how stupid Ah George Washington's Potato diggers are, hahaha, LOL hahaha ...
They are so dumb when they think they are smart enough to steal Cambodia from Khmer people, hahaha, LOL, hahaha ... .
Stop embarassing yourself, Ah Plue!
And you smart CPP leech 3:31 AM...go eat shit and die!
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