Thursday, August 12, 2010

“Only until you give young people a chance to do so will you realize whether they can lead ...”: Hear that Hun Xen?

A leader who clings on to power in Cambodia: Hoon Xhen (Photo: AFP)

Leadership Chances for the Young Limited: Mentor

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Wednesday, 11 August 2010

“Only until you give young people a chance to do so will you realize whether they can lead or make efficient and effective decisions.”
Leadership roles in public institutions are lacking for today's youth, a development expert said Monday.

“In some institutions, young leaders who are well-educated both locally and overseas are not offered the chance to tap their full leadership potential,” Chheang Vannarith, executive director of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, told Hello VOA on Monday.

“Although some young people are offered the chance, they have to work on skills that are different from what they have obtained abroad,” he said “This is a waste of our valuable human resources.”

As many as 300,000 Cambodian youths are entering the labor force each year, but not many are in leadership roles in public institutions, which are dominated by their elders.

Many find no way into the labor market at all, according to the 2009 UN report on Cambodian youth.

Chheang Vannarith, who leads a young leader mentoring program, said youth leaders have longer-term visions for the development of the country.

“The simple reason is that younger leaders are going to live longer than the old, so they look at the long run,” he said.

Older public leaders should provide more experience to the young and offer them chances to develop their leadership potential, he said.

“Only until you give young people a chance to do so will you realize whether they can lead or make efficient and effective decisions,” he said. “How can you say they can’t do it if you never offer them the chance to show their potential?”

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

“How can you say they can’t do it if you never offer them the chance to show their potential?”


True. BUT, you can't simply wait for someone to give you that chance. You got to work hard to earn it. The main problem with a lot of people, young and old, is that they think they deserve a good office job or good pay etc, and they're not willing to start from the bottom. Because of that attitude, they end up hurting themselves.

When I first came to the West and was studying at high school, I had to work in the farms picking up tomato, potato, etc because I don't have any experience to put on my resume to get a job in the city. I left at 5:30AM in the morning and got back home around 8:30PM at night. That was my Summer jobs. I did that for two years, then I got a job at a Japanese restaurant as a dishwasher the year after. With these experiences, I applied and got a job at a school warehouse packaging and shipping school supply a year later. The year after that I got a job as a sale person at a car accessory store.

... After so many jobs like that, I finally landed on a job as a junior engineer at a high tech firm when I graduated from college... and I have been with the same company since. The people who interviewed and hired me said they hired me because I was a hard working person by looking at what/where I worked in the previous years. That 's why they gave me a chance, i.e. hired me.

I'm not the only one. In fact, many Khmers who came to the West in the 80's have gone through similar situation. We worked very hard from the very bottom of the society.

So my message to all youngsters is the following: Have a positive attitude and keeping working hard, you will succeed. Don't sit and wait for someone to give you a chance. Go out and work to earn it!

Anonymous said...

of course, everywhere you go or live you have to play by the rule, regulation, policy, law, and so forth. keep in mind too that young people must be trained both overseas and in cambodia to adopt, adapt and learn the system and incorporate or infuse the learned skills into cambodian way. keep in mind too the cultural difference, the khmer etiquette, customs, etc... just keep an open mind. gaining life, practical experience takes time to mature as well. be patient. share with others what you learned from overseas, especially what you learn from america, europe, etc... make room to evolve and grow, and so forth. learn the social skill in getting and working along with others different from you. it is better to get your foot in the door and then move on from there. of course, we all start somewhere, somehow. listening more, and talk less. be smart. young people are suppose to keep learning. if you disagree, it is ok; just remind yourself that it's not the end of the world and agree to disagree. make compromise as life is so full of compromises as long as we come into contact with other people who are different from us. don't be selfish; share what you learn or know with each other in the work place in cambodia. be grateful that you got the opportunity to excel while others less fortunate than you do not. knowledge and education knows no boundary. do learn from everybody, i don't care who they are; we all can learn something from everybody e.g. friends, enemies, strangers, peer group, family, the elderly, the youngs, acquaintaince, the opponents, the teachers, the professors, monks, bishop, etc, etc... this is called keeping an open mind. god bless all.

more importanly, learn to think critically, logically, and analytical skill for in the real world and in life, this skill along with listening is essential to one's successes in life, etc... trust but always verify. limit the habit of buying into rumor or hearsay, instead verify the fact. learn to forgive and forget something not important. praise your god everyday for peace of mind, etc...

Anonymous said...

learn about khmer culture, khmer custom and etiquette, khmer civilization, khmer heritage, khmer language, etc... it will take you a long way to success in life in cambodia. always help and be polite with each other. be proud of who we are; we are khmer people, citizen and we are a member of the world community. love ourself, our country and always help others less fortunate than ourself because we all need help sometime in our long line of life. never say never. who knows! today we are fine, tomorrow is another day and thing can change for better or worse. love our family, our nation for we khmer a proud nationality. and help to promote our beautiful country, culture, etc...

Anonymous said...

HE NEVER GIVE YOUNG PEOPLE A CHANCE OR LEAD UNTIL SOMEBODY KILL HUN SEN OR GET RID OF HUN SEN. REMEMBER HE HAS A SON TO REPLACE ALREADY.
KHMER MUST TO STAND UP AND DON'T WAIT FOR SOMEBODY TO DO FOR YOU. RISE UP NOW FROM INSIDE AND OUTSIDE.

Anonymous said...

ah kwack never care about others! Mptherfucker sold the country with the help of ah Youn Vietnamese dark power !

Anonymous said...

don't be so cynical or skeptical or pessimistic. give people a chance, a benefit of the doubt until they proved otherwise. use psychology to win the heart and mind of the people, but deceiving them only works once; the second, you will get caught, and people will lose confidence in your credability and so forth. i bet you if your pray and practice god's will, you can change mr. hun sen's mind because goodness reward goodness and evil intention rewards evilness, etc... all common sense, too, my dear. be enlightened! god bless all.

Anonymous said...

Ah doggy hun sen under he supervision of yuon. he is a slave and a puppet of yuon since 1979 and being stubborn to be prime minister for his whole life. that bastard is stupid, doll, silly, illiterate, crazy, mentalill, insane but wants to be hero by killing and destroying Cambodian country and Cambodian people to satisfy ah yuon hanoi.

Anonymous said...

kanduoy mae ah choy mray, ah chkae yuon kantob, ah kbot reas, ah samlam reas doembey tro kdo ah yuon srokey yoeur, ah slab muoy pouch, ah tevada pak ra muk, ah slab khmean dey kob, ah noruok roab sen choan, ah slab khmean nona sday, ah kanh cheas dach thlay bos yuon, ah sam rae, ah ta ngaen o bok, ah luok chat, luok protes, ah min skoal ak sar muoy ang tae mean sanh nha bat bandit, ah kvang mhkak, ah phnek muoy cham heang, ahaeng meul min chbas te pruos ah mhkang teat chea phnek seb pak nimit, ah chhkuot ning chhluok kanduoy yuon, ah sdach sam rae, ah sdach ta pae, ah sdach ot dey, ah sdach kanh cheas, ah sdach ayong, ah sdach khmean pouch, ah sdach khmean khsae sralay, ah sdach lngi lngeu pok thngas, ah sdach kvang mkhak, ah sdach peal, ah sdach ok (sdok ach), ah sdach a (sda ach)....

Anonymous said...

Being an old generation,I did not totally accept the old one.New generation can make a difference.The old generation did not adapt a new one fast.From a generation to another generation is quite difference.I thought the old one always use absolute power.It is ME,nobody can do it;that what he/she said.Even I am pretty old,I still believe that new generation can make a big difference because he/she will learn step by step;let give him/her a chance to lead.We saw,heard every single hour about the regime in Phnom Penh is under Vietnam govt. control and Khmer will become Indochina federation(Vietnam,Khmer, and Lao)soon.Khmer country will vanish soon or later.On behalf of myself,I believe in new young generation can make a big,big,big difference! May all gods bless new young generation!

Anonymous said...

ah hun xen aos lak chapchap nis

Anonymous said...

To be a good person you need three things:
1. Education
2. Experience
3. Good will

Anonymous said...

8:38Pm! HOW ABOUT

RESPECT OWNSELF AND OTHERS!
COMPASSION WITH ACTION TO HELP.
DON'T BE LAIZY AND TAKE ADVATAGE ON OTHER ( THAT CALL CORRUPTION)
OBEY LAW!

Anonymous said...

2:08! THE WORLD BUILD BY HUMANBEING FOR 1000s OF YEARS IT BASE ON PASS EXPERIENCE AND NEW INVENTION! OLD AND YOUNG ARE IMPORTANT TO BUILD THE BETTER WORLD!

DON'T BE AN OLD FOOL!

Anonymous said...

no more age discrimination in cambodia, please! that's part of the paradigm shift, all can help to make a real difference in cambodia, old or young, really! that's should be part of the national reform, no age discrimination. if you are at legal age you are capable, no age discrimination, ok!

Anonymous said...

no jealousy is allowed! only law abiding citizens is allowed to lead cambodia, ok. and don't forget to get good education, too, ok! help to modernized cambodia so people don't call us poor or third-world again. leave that name to the history books only, ok! wake up, people. this is not the dark ages, really!