Development at What Cost?

Saturday, March 20, 2010
Op-Ed by Pretty Ma

The above video clip of clashes between villagers in Kampong Speu and the authority is one of the repeating evidences long recorded and reported by all concerned human rights and civil society groups. Land evictions have driven large numbers of Cambodian families across the country, young and old into poverty and despair. Without immediate halt and without a change of government policy and attitude, plenty more Cambodians will face the same consequence with almost a certain future of long enduring hardships - a slavery like condition - for generations to come.

The Cambodian government could have conducted a more accommodated and yet humane investment policy. It should find for those evictees a new land with proper compensation of cash and shelter without resorting to forced eviction. If Cambodia can lease out so much land to foreigners, then it should be able to formulate a better inclusive investment policy than what it is doing now for its poor and its indigenous people. Speaking of indigenous people, their culture and life style will forever be altered, not for the better but for a whole lot worse than one can imagine.

The new round of assault on land eviction will reach farmers in remote areas, especially indigenous peoples who live far away from the eyes and ears of the main public. Since Cambodia is poised to focus more and more on developing its plantation economy, rubbers and acacia etc.., then we can expect to see a lot more events similar to the one in Kampong Speu taking place in the near future. Given that the government officials, judges and businessmen are not on the receiving end of the evictions, then its is hard to imagine anyone of them will ever understand the magnitude of the cold pain and daily apprehension of the evictees.

As I am writing this, it brought me back to my earlier years as I tried to explain to foreigners in the camp and in America of my personal experience during the Khmer Rouge, including a massacre on a village which I had witnessed a few days after the graves were freshly buried - the experience remains stuck with you given all the gruesome evidences of blood, hairs still attached to the skin. You can tell a story as good as it gets, but for a listener you can never feel the same or get the complete picture as what you were trying to describe. It would almost be the same to say that you can't really feel what the others are feeling since you are not in his/her shoes. In this case, the corrupt judges and all the big fat cats will never learn nor understand the pain of the land evictees.

Watch the video and take a moment to reflect as those people's lives as theirs are being reduced to practically NOTHING. Haven't we learn anything from the rise and fall of the past regimes for the last 50 years or so? It's all from MISTREATMENT of the people. In Cambodia today, it's on a grandiose scale again from not only political, but also from socio-economic standpoint. The gap is getting a lot wider now and it causes a lot of uncertainty and social distress across the land. People are not sure who will be next on the eviction list? Which companies will come in to evict their lands?

The government's own effort to stray away from democracy has continued to hinder meaningful development in all areas of the Cambodian society. At the rate of contracts signed under land concessions, the need to evict people out will be more frequent. It does not take a Ph.D. to see where the country is really heading to socially, politically and economically. Experiences can pretty much tell a person on the roads where he has walked on and where he will be led to. The government of Cambodia is relatively weak and inefficient. When a Prime Minister has to micro-manage every minor problems of the country, then that country is badly managed. All the institutions are useless. Corruption is like a cancer; it is a ticking time bomb and it continue to spread unmanageably. It corrupts the mind and the soul of everyone involved, rich and poor alike, Cambodian inside as well as those residing abroad.

When one look at a country's development such as ours, he/she needs to take into account the human component, real lives that are being negatively affected since it goes far beyond than just some number of tall buildings of 4-5 star-rated hotels, casinos, fancy restaurants, karaoke bars, massage parlors, and new SUV Landcruisers. There are real costs and many opportunities lost to the nation, especially when we look closely at the fabric of our society today compared to what it was prior to 1970.

While we somehow managed to increase the numbers of buildings, business investments (bad and good), cars, motorcycles, bicycles, perhaps a few more rich individuals than before, but let's also look at the cost of other things as well.

Let's look at the gap between the rich and the poor; the magnitude of corruption (size and scale); the irreversible cost of deforestation factored in the climate change effect; the number of Cambodian beggars and those large number of people who have to seek work outside the country at the mercy of our neighbors; the frequency of land evictions which resulted in large number of displaced persons with no future. The large percentage and still growing number of young women being driven into prostitution, something unheard of during the 60s and the 70s. Then, how many Cambodian women would take risky chance to marry foreigners just to get out of poverty and our of the country altogether? Some were reportedly and severely mistreated, sold and re-sold in South Korea, beating up in Malaysia so on and so forth. The number is staggering, something you have never heard of during the Sihanouk era - the way our Cambodian women are being denigrated is shameful at best. Any country has its low point, but Cambodian women and their dignity are being compromised to the maximum as a result of the Cambodian government's corrupt policies and practices.

There is a complete change in Cambodian mentality not for the better of course - one that I am not at all proud of when you are reaching a point where you cannot really trust anyone anymore, not your relatives, your friends, your physicians, your justice system and your government. Doctors that once trained to save lives have turned to extorting patients for cash. There is a very low sense of morality, pride, compassion and righteousness. Having said that, I am encouraged to see that there are still good Cambodians who have unselfishly taken risk to serve, to promote and advocate Cambodia's interests. Good for them and they deserve all the respect and supports in the world.

So, those are the costs which I think we all need to plug into our calculation in order to see if there is other way to encourage a better policy of development - one that is less harsh on the poor and the country as a whole given its long term implication outlook. Social imbalances, injustices, mistreatment of the needy will lead to some strange unwarranted consequences and history has always reminded all of us not to over indulge ourselves with what we should have learnt from our past. What the Khmer Rouge has taught me is to understand what boil underneath the mistreated people and to be attentive to their despair, as well as to be a bit more humane, fair and kind regardless how little you can be a part of.

Is it too late to change from wrongs to rights?

Cambodia can still advance together, but the government has to change its course of action, policy and direction. A complete halt to all land evictions across the country would be a good start to ensure that people could be moved properly or compensated fairly. The Prime Minister, if he is serious about stability and our people's welfare beings, needs to rid of corruption in its entirety, and the passage of corruption law will need to be modified to reflect that sincerity. The government needs to be more open to public scrutiny and criticism since it is natural that people aren't thinking the same. It needs to be more inclusive in political decision and process in order to secure long term stability and peace among all people. It won't solve all the problems but it will be a tremendous start in advancing the country and everyone involved forward to a more equitable state, poor and rich alike.