Washington
15 December 2009
"...many of the corruptors work in the government" - Mam SithaThe fight against corruption should not be viewed as antagonistic towards the entire government, a leading anti-graft advocate said Monday. Instead, laws, regulations and policies should be aimed at anyone involved in corruption, leaving aside those who aren’t.
“Don’t confuse them,” said Mam Sitha, president of the Cambodian Independent Anti-Corruption Committee.
“To fight against corruption is to fight against those who commit corruption,” she said, as a guest on “Hello VOA.” The issue can be confused as anti-government, she said, “because many of the corruptors work in the government.”
Last week, the Council of Ministers green-lighted a draft anti-corruption law that has been in the works for more than a decade and is anxiously awaited by donors and other organizations. The bill, which has nine chapters and 57 articles, is expected to be debated in the National Assembly soon.
Critics like Mam Sitha, however, worry the law will be difficult to enforce and is missing key components to stanch the country’s endemic corruption.
For example, a strong law should call for public—not secret—declarations of assets by public officials and must protect informants, she said.
A strong law will also have an independent corruption committee that is under the prime minister, not the Council of Ministers, Mam Sitha said, and should carry enough authority to dissuade political interference.
In the current climate, people are afraid to speak out on corruption, even if they witness it, and a newly passed criminal law has little to allay those fears, she said.
The criminal law, which was passed as a precursor to the anti-corruption law, upholds as criminal offenses both defamation and disinformation. Critics charge that both offenses have been used in punitive attacks on government critics, including journalists and opposition members.
5 comments:
Government is the role model of corruption and crimes for society so how it can pretend to fight against corruption or crimes. Just laying and empty word as always to please international community that supports this criminal and corrupted system for what they call peace and stability. Stability and peace for these people is first of all pay and enforce this Khmer rouge system to asphyxia Khmer revolt against these tyrants and killers.
Dear 5:37 Am
Please try to start positive thinking rather than negative always..Have you ever thought your comment always discourage all Khmer people who is ready to fight for corruption?, of course, we could not fully gain as we require, but we also need to have something from the beginning... Don't do prejudgment before the reality coming...keeping hope is the most successful tool to fight enemies..
Khmer
Curruption starts from big people to small people. Clean out currution in the entire country is the only way to save the country from go down hell.
Greed is the source of all corruption! Some of these big political figures or high ranking officials within AH HUN SEN government always want more and more and more of everything! Don't these guys know when to stop?
How do you pass the fucken law to stop greed? Nobody can pass the fucken law to stop greed because greed is part of human nature!
All the ugliness going on in Cambodia due to corruption must run its course before the whole corruption system collapse and only then the whole Cambodian people can do something about it!
It is unfortunate the AH HUN SEN government do away with the capital punishment otherwise most of his officals will be executed in broad daylight like China executed their corrupted officials in broad daylight for the public to see!
Cambodia must bring back CAPITAL PUNISHMENT!
communication is very important if we were to get the message across to people. a lot of time, miscommunication is the worst culprit in any human interaction, really!
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