Is Cambodia Slipping Back To Rogue State Status?

Rural residents in Siem Raep Province, Cambodia (Photo: Amber de Bruin)

A new law designed to crack down on NGOs is one of several signs that Cambodia is edging back toward authoritarianism nearly two decades after the UN stepped in following brutal civil wars. The international community, by turning a blind eye to government abuses, is partly to blame.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

By Angélique Mounier-Kuhn

LE TEMPS/Worldcrunch

Is Cambodia about to become an autocratic and corrupted state like the Arab regimes whose governments have recently faced popular uprisings? The question is suddenly very real in the face of increasing concerns about Cambodia’s human rights record.

“The UN’s goal was to bring democracy, but the country is now about to become a totalitarian state,” says an anonymous representative for a human rights NGO. When the UN organized elections in Cambodia in 1993 after a long and cruel civil war, the experience was described as a historical success. Democracy returned to a country long subjected to a series of dictatorships. A vibrant civilian society was developing in a country that suddenly had a younger look and feel.

Cambodia seemed to be heading in a positive direction, even as its two-headed government – led by Prince Ranariddh, who won the election, and the “second Prime Minister,” Mr. Hun Sen – showed signs that the old authoritarian habits were holding on. Almost 20 years later, the official report is disappointing. The country has been progressively destroyed, and the democratic progress erased.

A very rich and arrogant elite has emerged, crowded around Hun Sen and his family. Hun Sen ousted Ranariddh from power after a takeover in 1997. Then, he won the 1998, 2003 and 2008 elections. The elite lives off its privileges and its lofty titles. “It can be described as a rogue state, but you can’t say it out loud,” says another local observer.

Corruption in Hun Xen's Cambodia and the regime's hope for $1 BILLION in foreign handout

Begging time in Phnom Penh

Click the control below to listen to RFA's Yun Samean's report in Khmer

Click here to listen to the report in MP3

Foreign donors' STUPID ineptitude is showing up year after year ... when will they wake up and smell Hun Xen's STINKY injustice?

Foreign donors, Cambodian officials meet over development aid dialogue

April 20, 2011
Xinhua

Cambodian government officials, representatives of foreign development partners and civil society met here on Wednesday to revise the development progress under the foreign aid pledged by those donor countries and to hear Cambodia' s needs for 2011.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 18th meeting of the Government-Development Partner Coordination Committee on Wednesday, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon, minister of finance, said that most of the activities for 2010's social and economic development have been implemented and achieved the goals despite some challenges in resource constraints.

"Cambodia is on the right track to develop its economy, and ie expected to see growth of more than six percent in 2011 with almost all sectors," (sic!) he said.

Aid to Cambodia rarely reaches the people it’s meant to help

Year after year, smiling Cambodian government leaders attend these pledge conferences, holding out their hands. But first they have to listen as ambassadors and aid officers stand at the podium, look them in the eye, and lambast them for corruption and jaw-dropping human rights abuses. (Photo: Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer Service)

Sunday, April 17
By Joel Brinkley

Opinions

The Washington Post

Representatives of more than 3,000 governments and donor organizations are meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Wednesday. If past experience is indicative, they will pledge to provide hundreds of millions in aid.

Year after year, smiling Cambodian government leaders attend these pledge conferences, holding out their hands. But first they have to listen as ambassadors and aid officers stand at the podium, look them in the eye, and lambast them for corruption and jaw-dropping human rights abuses.

Each year Prime Minister Hun Sen promises to reform. The donors nod and make their pledges — $1.1 billion last year. Then everyone goes home and nothing changes. In the following months, officials dip into the foreign aid accounts and build themselves mansions the size of small hotels, while 40 percent of Cambodia’s children grow up stunted for lack of nutrition during infancy.

This year should be different. Over the past two decades, the Cambodian government has grown ever more repressive. Now it is actually planning to bite the hand that feeds it: The legislature is enacting a law that would require nongovernmental organizations to register with the government, giving venal bureaucrats the ability to shut them down unless they become toadies of the state.

Cambodia must unlearn, relearn

"It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not" - André Gide

September 1, 2010
By A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
Pacific Daily News (Guam)

Fourteen million Cambodians, many with vivid memories of Pol Pot's atrocities, continue to endure the degradations imposed by a dictatorship that is legitimized by the international community, even though the government's existence is, itself, a violation of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords that ended the Cambodian conflict.

It's encouraging that some scholars and writers have opened a dialogue with me on whether Cambodians can get out of their current plight, considered bleak and, at this time, unchangeable. The world community has shown no willingness to pressure the current dictatorship to change. We disagree on certain points, but in our interactions respect each other's views.

It is, however, discouraging that the widely held perception of Cambodian social culture is negative, and with some justification. A common view is that the society continues to be characterized by promiscuous, divisive gossip that divides and alienates by: entrenched "reproductive" thinking that is lacking in creativity, innovation and criticality; and a pervasive victim complex that encourages the assigning of blame rather than the acceptance of responsibility.

The familiar image is of trapped Cambodians, unwilling, unable and unprepared to learn, unlearn and relearn.

Quality thinking determines the quality of the future. Cambodians' general practice of blind obedience and unquestioned loyalty blocks the road forward. I debate public policies; inherent in quality thinking is assessing and evaluating. Gentlemen can disagree; some detractors are simply disagreeable and quarrelsome.

The French writer and humanist Andre Gide once said, "It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not."

I am unnerved when I am labeled by some as "anti-Sihanouk" or "anti-Khmer traditions." When I served under President Sihanouk, who led the fight against Vietnamese occupation troops, I found him, and Princess Monique, his wife, charming, gracious and likable. Today, at age 66, I still bow as I walk in front of Khmer elders, I clasp my hands under my chin or on my forehead to express gratitude; and I kneel for a Buddhist monk's prayer and blessing, etc. How to be more respectful of traditions?

Those who know me know political flexibility and political expediency are not unknown to me. Many also know the intellectual in me never allowed me to practice blind obedience and unquestioned loyalty, a factor that landed me in political hot water quite a few times.

I fear an authoritarianism lurking in Cambodians' behavior and attitudes. Not long ago, Pol Pot's mistrust of intellectuals led his Khmer Rouge to kill everyone wearing glasses; Pol Pot's uncompromising "correct thinking" resulted in "tbaung chawb" (hoe blade) -- used by his Khmer Rouge to strike the necks of those with "incorrect" thinking. "No gain to keep; no loss to take out," they said.

Last April, a Khmer New Year's message that made the rounds in cyberspace, from a Khmer physician in Australia, Dr. Kang Kem, prayed the Tevodas to guide the Khmers to unite, love one another and let go of the disastrous and painful past that split Khmers into "generational enemies."

Why? Because while the dictatorial regime consolidates its power, its critics, the Cambodian democrats and rights activists, are in disarray -- divided, fractious, riddled with victim complex and pointing fingers at others.

Cambodians of my generation had learned since elementary school that "l'union fait la force," or unity is strength. Today, "l'union" is with "me" or "my party" who lead; "you" and "your party" follow.

Recall Benjamin Franklin's words, "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately," as he appealed to American rebels either to band together or find themselves hung individually at the British gallows. The 13 American colonies banded together as the United States of America.

And recall Irish statesman Edmund Burke, who warned in 1770, "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."

Lord Buddha teaches: "Everything changes, nothing remains without change."
Cambodians, in general, like other peoples across cultures and national boundaries, rally behind cliched slogans. They talk the talk, but many don't walk the talk. "Yes, we can!" they say. But as a Khmer saying goes, "trokieak slab s'doak" -- "the hip joint lies dead."

Change is an inevitability. But it may not be the change they wanted to see; it can be worse. Let me repeat another slogan: "We are the change we want to see."

It may not be unreasonable to see Cambodians' future as bleak. Their traditional blind obedience and unquestioned loyalty must be abandoned, and they must start learning and using quality thinking, with its creative and critical components, to imagine and innovate, and to question and evaluate. This is a road to survival.

A respected Khmer-American academic reminds me of Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov's dog experiment in classical conditioning, associative learning, as an example of conditioning reflexes.

But wait. If blind obedience and unquestioned loyalty are conditioned, they also can be unconditioned or reconditioned, a challenge for democrats and rights activists!

The Phnom Penh regime and its foreign backers cannot be blind to the small but growing numbers of unhappy Cambodians, even in the regime's military and bureaucracy as well as abroad, who are dissatisfied with the status quo.

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.

CAMBODIA: "Facing Sen's Autocracy: Democrats Hang Together or Hang Separately"

Author Pen Puthsphea

Excerpts from Pen Puthsphea's books

FOR PUBLICATION
AHRC-ETC-002-2010
August 4, 2010

An article by Dr. Gaffar Peang-Meth published by the Asian Human Rights Commission

Dr. Gaffar Peang-Meth

American civil rights icon Martin Luther King said, "The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically." A man’s thinking is comprised of both a creative component and a critical one. Through creativity he imagines and produces. Through critical evaluation, he assesses the outcomes.

King also said, "Nothing pains some people more than having to think."

"It's Angkar, Stupid!"

Last month, Cambodian premier Hun Sen's autocratic regime decided that two general reading textbooks, in question-answer format, used by students across Cambodia since 2006, are critical of him and his ruling Cambodian People's Party: They must be removed from circulation immediately.

One question in the books deemed critical and offensive, asked if Cambodia would be able to develop in the future. Pen Puthspea, the author, suggested in an answer that Cambodia cannot develop in the future because "corruption exists from the top level down to the low level of government, and law enforcement and human rights practices are still below zero."

Puthsphea thought he was doing a good thing by offering students food for thought. "I suggested an answer based on real situation; I provided the pros and cons."

Khmer university students agreed, the books helped them to think, and they will miss reading such thought provoking books. Youth Resource Development Program head Cheang Sokha told a mid-July Voice of America's call-in show, "Cambodia’s higher education system has failed to address a lack of critical-thinking and problem-solving curricula among university students"; and 'student-centered' approaches exist on paper only within higher education."

"If we want to see a society’s fate, we look at how young people's education is invested in," he said. "Now look at the way our current education system invests in young people. How can we hope that our society will have a good fate?"

Puthsphea told Radio Free Asia he received telephoned death threats related to the textbook content.

Thinking is anathema to Sen's autocratic regime.

When citizens think, they see how autocrats' rule has kept them in poverty and ignorance, and they aren't going to like that. Autocrats don't want their rule to be questioned. Intellectuals and dictators don't generally see things eye to eye. Intellectuals don't stop asking questions that put concerned individuals before a vast panorama of possible alternatives from which to choose. Intellectuals shake the status quo, and disturb citizens' sleepy consciences.

Recall Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge who distrusted and killed anyone wearing glasses; and the policy from that era that equated "incorrect thinking" with a "tbaung chawb" (hoe blade)--used to strike the necks of those with "incorrect thinking." The Khmer Rouge said, "Keeping them brings no gain; taking them out brings no loss." More than 2 million people died. "It's Angkar, Stupid!"

Many in the current regime who removed books, were Pol Pot's ranking figures.

The Future?

Recently, an old friend from the Khmer royalist movement sent me two links, which anyone interested in Cambodia must see. You can Google reporter Benoit Bringer's “Cambodge: Les enfants de la decharge” (Cambodia: The Children of the Garbage Dump) and watch a five minute video, or see his gallery of 17 photos of how the poor and powerless survive at Stung Mean Chey dumping site at http://reportagesphotos.fr/G1823-actualite-les-enfants-de-la-decharge-de-phnom-penh.html

Now, Google and read Andrew Marshall's report, titled "Khmer Riche," published in the Sydney Morning Herald on January 12 (I wrote on this in my Jan. 27 "Cambodia today is a country for sale").

Bringer notes that of more than 30 percent of the population who live below poverty line many scavenge the public garbage dump to survive. Marshall describes "rich kids" who can spend ",000 on drinks in a single night" and whose parents' "newly built neoclassical mansions (are) so large that (Phnom Penh's) old French architecture looks like Lego by comparison." What does this tell us of Cambodia’s future?

It's a forecast of an abyss that lies ahead.

It is ironic that in July 2010, those nations that crafted the 1991 Paris Peace Accords on Cambodia, intended to ensure that human rights abuses would not occur, gathered again and bemoaned the deterioration of human rights and free expression in Cambodia.

Cambodian civil rights activists decry the lack of international pressure on the Hun Sen government to live up to the letter and spirit of the Paris Accords. One of those activists is Mu Sochua, who was stripped of parliamentary immunity and threatened with imprisonment because she demanded justice. While the country's ruler mauled her, foreign donors awarded .1 billion in development aid, and the United States bestowed upon Sen's abusive military the honor to host the region's largest peacekeeping military exercise.

Only United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay expressed "serious concern" on July 13, over Sen's "highly politicized" court case against Sochua as "an alarming erosion of both freedom of expression and the independence of the judiciary in Cambodia." Pillay's spokesman, Colville was blunt: Sen's courts provided "no evidence to show either damage to reputation or malicious intent" by Sochua.

Cambodian government spokesman Phay Siphan's dismissal of Pillay's and Colville's remarks as a "personal view that does not reflect the reality of Cambodia," confirmed the Sen regime's philosophy. The international community can think and say what it will. It is actions, in the form of the the .1 billion and the peacekeeping honor, are what matter.

As an email to me from one of Sen's officers reads: "Dogs continue to bark, but the oxcart continues its trip forward." Towards an abyss?

In the Khmer folktale "A Chey," this anti-establishment revolutionary boy, known as Thnenh Chey, who was arrested and taken to the king by boat for punishment, came up with a scheme to escape: He whispered to soldiers on the boat that when they saw him falling into the water they should cheer: "A Chey thleak toek, Hey Oeur, Hey Oeur!" ("A Chey falls into the water, Hallelujah! Hallelujah!") The boy then jumped off the boat and swam away to the chorus Hallelujah!

Cambodian Democrats are on their own

In the final analysis, Cambodian democrats and rights activists must never forget that a government's foreign policy action is determined by what its (elected) leaders define as the country's national interest. Cambodians can bemoan the world's inaction, but must accept that they are on their own in their fight for their freedom and human rights.

However much Sen's autocracy is disliked, the world's governments are not going to exchange the devil they know, and can do business with, with the devil they don't know.

Until Cambodians who oppose Sen's autocracy demonstrate a credible and viable alternative to the Sen regime, the latter is likely to remain in power for years to come, as Sen said he will. The contemporary Khmer "sheep culture" of blind obedience to power and authority, and of unquestioning loyalty and subservience, is not helpful.

The Dalai Lama said, "All human beings, whatever their cultural or historical background, suffer when they are intimidated, imprisoned or tortured . . . it is the inherent nature of all human beings to yearn for freedom, equality and dignity, and they have an equal right to achieve that."

A truth stipulated in the preamble of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights warns: "it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law."

While the international community should be interested in a peaceful and stable world through the maintenance of rule of law, human rights and free expressions, in Cambodia, Cambodians opposed to autocracy would do well to heed Benjamin Franklin's "We must all hang together or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

The views shared in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the AHRC, and the AHRC takes no responsibility for them.
----------
About the Author:

Dr. Gaffar Peang-Meth is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. He currently lives in the United States. He can be contacted at peangmeth@gmail.com.

# # #
About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

International Aid in Context

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Friday, June 11, 2010
Op-Ed by MP

IT should be apparent to all concerned by now that there can be no scope for meaningful reforms leading to the growth of civil society unless political institutions themselves are overhauled. One could say Cambodia had a brief flirt with democracy in 1990s which was violently snuffed out by the coup in 1997 as the Hanoi backed CPP could not see its survival being secured under genuine political pluralism.

It was not so much because Cambodia herself was not ripe or ready for democracy, but subsequent developments (such as the current secrecy surrounding border delineation between Cambodia and Vietnam) indicate that her socialist neighbour to the east was not in the mood to see a vibrant democratic state flourishing next door either. That would be destabilising to a regime which was just content to inaugurate economic reforms without loosening its political grip on their 90 million subjects.

So one could see here domino theory being applied in reverse - a factor in US foreign policy in the 1960s and 1970s in this part of the world.

The donors know the Cambodian regime has holes in its pocket, yet they see nothing wrong in putting their cash into that pocket. If their long term aim is to engage the social rebuilding of a fractured post-war country, irrespective of, or in denial of political liberty and human rights, then they could perhaps succeed to an extent. The state then as repressive as it has been could only be made to feel more invincible and impudent in its flagrant excesses. With every road paved and bridge constructed through loans and donors' money, it is another concrete evidence of a 'win win' strategy and a platform for the ruling party to engineer electoral outcomes at the expense of the politically disenfranchised opposition.

How can judges and policing personnel be trained to be professional in the exercising of their respective duties where their appointments were decided and offices formed solely on the basis of their political affiliations and party memberships?

What are the donors playing at exactly beside fuelling authoritarian rule and giving sustenance to a regime that refuses to accept that it has long outlived its usefulness? If, on the other hand, the donors are pouring in their aid with a view to counteracting growing Chinese influence in the country without insisting on concrete betterment in its governance or even poverty alleviation, they are possibly doing what the Chinese themselves have been decried for doing: aiding rogue regimes.

One is not surprised to learn that Western governments and donors (which include Japan and Australia) do not always make an effort to replicate their domestic conditions or norms through their actions overseas, and this fact can be excused with or tempered by reference to extenuating circumstances, yet the extent to which their own electorate have effectively been kept in the dark over their missions in places like Cambodia is quite alarming. For most people around the world living in aid dependent countries the whole culture of international aid and provision has proved more often than not to be a mixed blessing. The immediate effect of this culture has been to distort the economic realities of the local people by creating a sudden boom in expatriate driven economy that puts some locals in their blessed shade, but many out of their means.

It is perhaps no accident that Cambodia - not unlike most developing countries that have the good fortune of being the chosen ones among recipients of international finance and assistance – is a land of extremes – i.e. that between wealth and object poverty, luxury and destitution, power and powerlessness, security and despair...

Hanoi's puppet Hoon Xhen profits from suppression and aid

Premier Hun Sen Profits from Suppression and Aid

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

"The donors are willing to stamp on their own benchmarks for reform in order to be in the game in Cambodia." - Shalmali Guttal, senior researcher for Focus on the Global South

BANGKOK, June 9, 2010 (IPS) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is savouring another victory. His latest triumph: a string of verdicts against an opposition lawmaker that has guaranteed him the liberty to insult women and get away with it.

His target, however, refuses to be silenced even after her latest showdown with Hun Sen, who celebrated 25 years as the South-east Asian country’s leader this year. Nor has she changed her views about the Supreme Court, which upheld a lower court’s decision against the outspoken parliamentarian in a bizarre case that also put the country’s judiciary on trial.

The superior court’s verdict on Jun. 3, including a fine of 16.5 million riels (4,000 U.S. dollars), was the third judicial ruling against the 54-year-old Mu Sochua. In August last year, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court found the former minister of women’s affairs guilty of having insulted Hun Sen. In October 2009, she lost again following an attempt with the Court of Appeal.

"I will not pay the fine. They can confiscate my property. They can even take me to jail," a defiant Mu Sochua told IPS during a telephone interview from the Cambodian capital. "I think it is a serious mistake for the ruling party to push this case at a time when the country needs reform of the judiciary."

"The judges were under trial from the beginning," she observed of the case that began early last year, when she first filed a defamation case against Hun Sen. It followed a speech he had delivered in Khmer, where he referred to her as "cheung klang" (meaning "strong legs"), a demeaning term for women in the country.

But the powerful leader of the Cambodian People’s Party turned the tables on the parliamentarian from the Sam Rainsy Party. The ruling party stripped Mu Sochua of her parliamentary immunity to help Hun Sen file a counter defamation charge against her. Adding insult to injury, a court dismissed the defamation case Mu Sochua had first filed against the premier.

Hun Sen’s latest judicial triumph has broader implications in a country struggling to get back on its feet after a 1991 peace deal brought to an end decades of bloody conflict. The timing of the superior court’s verdict, in fact, has triggered questions about the role Western donors have in aiding Cambodia’s reconstruction.

On Jun. 3, while Hun Sen was celebrating the silencing of one of the country’s foremost champions of democracy, free speech and human rights, international donors pledged 1.1 billion U.S. dollars in aid for this year, up from last year’s 950 million dollars.

The largest aid package in Cambodia’s history came at the end of a two-day donor conference in Phnom Penh, lifting the pressure on the Hun Sen administration to push ahead with five areas of reform. Three areas spelled out in 2004 by donors included changes to fight corruption and increase accountability, legal and judicial reform and protection of human rights and public administration reform.

That little had changed over the years was highlighted by a coalition of non- governmental organisation (NGOs) on the eve of this month’s donor meeting. "Serious actions, such as court convictions of corruption cases, remain selective or are limited within certain political considerations," stated the NGO Forum on Cambodia.

The financial windfall for the Cambodian regime – despite a record of defamation lawsuits against opposition parliamentarians, intimidation of the media, a growing list of corruption scandals in the natural resources sector and stripping the environment for private profit – has disheartened civil society groups.

"All the talk by donors about strengthening democracy and human rights in Cambodia is just words; it is not meaningful," said Hang Chhaya, executive director of the Khmer Institute of Democracy, which seeks to champion democratic values in the South-east Asian state. "The Mu Sochua verdict was a slap on the face of freedom of speech."

There is a growing belief that Hun Sen’s ability to get away with bullying his opponents while being propped up by the donor community has more to do with China’s spreading influence in Cambodia.

Beijing’s 1.2 billion dollar package in aid and soft loans to Cambodia in December last year confirmed the battle for influence being waged in a country where one-third lives in absolute poverty.

China gave Cambodia the funds shortly after Phnom Penh deported 20 Uighur refugees from Xingjian, a province in north-west China. Both the United Nations and the United States criticised the expulsion, saying it violated international refugee law.

The Uighurs belong to a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority in China.

"The donors have taken into account China’s economic role in Cambodia," said Ou Virak, head of the Phnom-Penh based Cambodia Centre for Human Rights. "There is a lot of self interest at play."

Some analysts admit that Cambodia’s international donors, who include Japan, Australia, the United States and the World Bank, fear that if they walk away, China will consolidate its control, leaving Western donors "little influence."

Such an act would be deeply embarrassing for the donors for another reason. "Cambodia has become the poster child of post-conflict reconstruction since the 1991 Paris Peace Accords," said Shalmali Guttal, senior researcher for Focus on the Global South, a Bangkok-based regional think tank. "Donors couldn’t abandon it now for that would mean admitting failure."

"The Mu Sochua case reveals the lengths they are prepared to go," noted Guttal. "The donors are willing to stamp on their own benchmarks for reform in order to be in the game in Cambodia."

Hundreds of Millions Pledged, Many Reforms Sought [... and none of the reforms will see the daylight?]

The meeting between donors and Cambodia government officials at government place, Phnom Penh. (Photo: Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer)

Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Tuesday, 08 June 2010

“We expect that the Cambodian government will make the best use of our assistance to Cambodia in an effective and transparent way in order to achieve economic growth,” Masafumi Kuroki, Japan’s ambassador, said. “If there is no economic growth, it is very difficult to reduce poverty. So we will strengthen mechanisms to monitor aid.”

Donor countries and international development agencies offered Cambodia up to $1.1 billion in aid this year, which came amid calls for reform. But those reforms can sometimes seem as varied as the streams of aid that accompany them. Local governance, macro-economics, education, the judiciary—each has proponents for reform.

“The money is going down, but there is no local accountability over how that money is spent,” Richard Bridle, a representative of Unicef, told VOA Khmer during an annual donor meeting last week. Once there is local accountability, he said, “they you get the level of scrutiny that allows citizens to be able to hold public servants accountable for the services that are supposed to be there.”

Bridle, whose Unicef pledged $16 million for the government, urged decision-makers to approve local financial laws that could be implemented as early as this year.

His suggestion represents a core reform inside public administration, but it wasn’t the only one. Many conditions were put forward by donors during last week’s two-day meeting.

Donors also pushed for reforms to battle corruption, which costs the country as estimated $500 million a year, or nearly half what donors pledged. The government passed an anti-graft law this year that was 15 years in the making, but it remains to be seen how well it will work. German Ambassador Frank Marcus Mann, in statements during last week’s meeting, asked the government how it will implement the law effectively.

Donors also urged the government to maintain economic stability and to reduce poverty, something they said will require efficient use of the money.

“We expect that the Cambodian government will make the best use of our assistance to Cambodia in an effective and transparent way in order to achieve economic growth,” Masafumi Kuroki, Japan’s ambassador, said. “If there is no economic growth, it is very difficult to reduce poverty. So we will strengthen mechanisms to monitor aid.”

Annette Dixon, the World Bank’s country director, told VOA Khmer at the end of the meeting that she wanted to see more economic diversity, improved competitiveness and investment climate, and land concessions that provide benefits to the poor. The World Bank is also looking for more transparency in managing the revenue of natural resources, she said.

Cambodia’s budget deficit, too, remains a concern.

IMF representative John Nelmes said the government should try to keep the deficit below 5 percent of GDP, which it could do by eliminating tax exemptions and tax holidays for investors that are not in fact the main attraction to them.

The EU, meanwhile, would like to see stronger education and higher enrollment.

“The number of people dropping out of school is still quite high,” said Rafael Dochao Moreno, Charge d’Affaires of the European Commission in Cambodia. “So it is one of the things that you should try to make sure of, that boys and girls have the same rights to go to school. So we can increase the number of girls going to school, and the second is that the rate of students abandoning school should be reduced.”

For all the concerns, donors offered about $110 million more this year than they did in 2009.

International finance institutions, including the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and Global Fund, provided the majority of funding, around $352 million.

Japan offered $131 million, followed by China with $100 million, and the US and Australia with $61 million each. Nine countries from the European Union pledged $255 million, including $65 million from Germany. The UN’s 13 agencies pledged $86 million in total.

Cambodia has around 4 million people living below the poverty line, and donor support has remained a major contributor to national development. Aid has steadily increased, from $700 million in 2006 to $1 billion last year. According to funding data, that could change, with donor funding expected to fall to $958 million in 2011 and $750 million the year after

Meanwhile, Cambodia is carrying around $4 billion in debt.

Rights and development organizations said during last week’s meetings they wanted to see more reform of the judicial system and greater transparency in the management of natural resources, but donor representatives said development can take a long time.

In the end, in a joint statement from the government and donors, each side said they were committed to pushing reforms in public administration, the judiciary, revenue management, and the implementation of the anti-graft law, among others.

Aid donors' record COMPLACENCY?

Cambodia's donors pledge record 1.1 billion dollars for development

Jun 3, 2010
DPA

Phnom Penh - Cambodia's donors on Thursday pledged a record 1.1 billion dollars in financial assistance for 2010 amid warnings that the country needs to improve accountability and transparency.

Japan was again the largest donor, said Finance Minister Keat Chhon, who outlined the government's main focus areas.

'We have our priorities: roads, water, human resources, electricity,' Keat Chhon said. 'These are the top four priorities. We also need funding for legal reform.'

The two-day donor conference, which concluded Thursday, saw Cambodian officials, foreign donors and non-governmental groups gather to discuss the country's most pressing issues.

Last year, donors provided 951 million dollars, around half the government's budget, and, at the time, the largest sum given.

In recent weeks, media reports have revealed that millions of dollars of revenues from resource industries were not properly accounted for.

The World Bank on Thursday singled out as 'critical issues' the need to improve transparency and accountability in Cambodia's handling of public finances and natural resources.

Other complaints have revolved around the use of aid. Japanese Ambassador Masafumi Kuroki indicated his country would provide 130 million dollars, before adding that aid effectiveness could be improved.

'There is increased monitoring of aid between the government and partners, and I think we have to further promote this process of monitoring of aid,' he said. 'There is already a mechanism to do that, and we have to strengthen that mechanism.'

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Hun Sen told the conference that good governance was 'the most important prerequisite for a sustainable and equitable economic development and social justice.'

'In the context of this vision, the royal government considers the fight against corruption as a top priority,' he said, citing a new anti-corruption law and an ongoing crackdown on illegal logging and fisheries as evidence of the government's commitment.

And he said agriculture was the top development priority for the country's mainly rural population because it could both bolster economic growth and ensure food security.

He also pledged to pay more attention to granting land concessions to the poor. Land concessions are a highly contentious subject with large investors in possession of more than 1 million hectares.

The conference was reminded by World Bank country head Annette Dixon that 4 million Cambodians - around one-third of the population - live in poverty while many more are on the margins.

'Life continues to be extremely challenging for the majority of Cambodian rural families, who remain vulnerable to shocks,' she said.

More of Hun Xen's broken promises at the donor meeting?

In Donor Meeting, Hun Sen Vows Deeper Reforms

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Wednesday, 02 June 2010

“The Royal Government considers the fight against corruption as a top priority during its fourth mandate. We have a strong will for implementing these reforms.” (sic!)

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday moved to assure international representatives and aid agencies he was committed to deepening government reforms and fighting corruption, as an annual donor meeting got underway.

Speaking at the opening of the Cambodian Development Cooperation Forum, where donors are expected to pledge more than $1 billion in aid to Cambodia, Hun Sen said the government had made the “utmost efforts to firmly and deeply implement various reform programs and consider them as life or death issues.”

The government will present a $6.2 billion development plan to donors this week, part of an updated five-year strategy for continued reform and poverty alleviation. More than 100 participants from donor countries and international aid groups such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund joined senior government ministers for two days of talks.

“The Royal Government considers the fight against corruption as a top priority during its fourth mandate,” Hun Sen said in a speech that lasted more than an hour. “We have a strong will for implementing these reforms.”

Speaking on behalf of the donors, Annette Dixon, the World Bank’s country director, said meetings would center around “key reforms, which the government is undertaking, particularly in decentralization, public financial management and reforms of the civil service.”

“Further strengthening transparency and accountability in the management of Cambodia’s public finances and natural resources will be fundamental for ensuring more sustainable and inclusive growth,” Dixon said, adding that the government had made important achievements in passing an anti-corruption law and updated penal code.

Critics of the anti-corruption law have said it lacks the teeth to root out the country’s endemic corruption.

Cambodia promises aid use [-More broken promises?]

Jun 2, 2010
AFP

PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIA vowed on Wednesday to use international aid effectively and bring reforms after criticism that billions of dollars in donor money has done little to improve the impoverished country.

Opening a two-day meeting between the government, donors and development partners, Prime Minister Hun Sen said the country would continue public administration, land, judicial and financial reforms.

'The royal government has made its utmost efforts to firmly and deeply implement various reform programs and consider them as a life or death issue for Cambodia,' he said. Mr Hun Sen went on to say his government will ensure 'the effective, transparent and accountable utilisation of the development resources provided by development partners.'

But, speaking on behalf of donors, World Bank country director Annette Dixon complained 'progress has been limited' in government work to improve strategic planning and aid management. 'It is important for the government to take the lead in aligning resources to development priorities,' she said.

The World Bank last week began to investigate allegations that mismanagement of its US$28.8 million (S$40.6 milion) land-titling project has left more than 20,000 people facing forced eviction from their homes in the capital Phnom Penh. The programme was created to implement a system of land ownership in Cambodia after the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge regime destroyed legal documents, but there has been criticism about evictions at the hands of the army and police.

Formal pledges of aid to Cambodia will be announced on Thursday and are expected to reel in over one billion dollars for this year. However, activists have complained of rampant cronyism and corruption. Cambodia received more than US$951 million in pledges last year, despite demands by rights groups that donors get tough on the government's apparent refusal to reform. 'The Cambodian government has been promising to reform for years but nothing had changed,' Global Witness campaigns director Gavin Hayman said in a statement. 'Donors simply cannot continue to turn a blind eye.'

Foreign donors meet to help the dictator oppress Cambodia?

Foreign donors meet in Phnom Penh for aiding Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, June 2 (AP) - (Kyodo)—International aid donors opened the annual Consultative Group meeting here Wednesday to decide on the level of aid disbursements to the country for 2010.

More than 100 representatives from 16 donor countries, including Japan and the United States, and from seven international financial organizations such as the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, are attending the forum. They are expected to make aid pledges at the end of the two-day meeting.

The group has met annually since 1996, and as of today, Cambodia has received foreign aid worth about $4 billion.

In December 2008, considering the global economic crisis, Cambodia had sought about $500 million for 2009, but it received $951.5 million, almost double, as China pledged $257 million, followed by the European Union with $214 million and Japan with $113 million.

Cambodia received aid pledges of $690 million in 2008.

Delivering a speech at the opening of the forum to the group, Prime Minister Hun Sen promised that his government will continue to tackle several key issues including corruption, judicial reform, and land disputes, all of which have been often cited by the donors as being areas of concern.

On Monday, Global Witness, a London-based environmental advocacy group, urged international donors to tackle the gross mismanagement of the country's natural resources.

"The Cambodian government has been promising to reform for years, but nothing had changed," said Global Witness Campaigns Director Gavin Hayman.

Three days ahead of the meeting, members of parliament of Cambodia's opposition Sam Rainsy Party issued a statement praising and acknowledging the progress made in several areas but saying more work remains in key sectors.

Cambodia is one of the world's poorest nations with some 35 percent of its 14.5 million people living below the poverty line, defined as earning less than $1 a day.

Landmine clearing plan is another opportunity for Phnom Penh to beg for more donation

Cambodia needs 10 more years to clear all land mines

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 4 (Xinhua)-- Cambodia has officially requested donor community to extend another 10 years to clear land mines covering the country, said a government official.

Leng Sochea, deputy secretary general of the Cambodia Mine Action Authority said Friday that Cambodia made a request to extend another 10 years to clear all land mines in Cambodia at the summit on a mine-free world, which is being held this week in Cartagena, Colombia.

He said that Cambodia, as a signatory to Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty, was originally planning to clear all anti-personnel mines by the end of this year, but it becomes unrealistic and needs to adjust the timeline.

However, he said, the Cambodian government's commitment to clear all mines within the next 10 years will again depend on donors' community and Cambodia needs a total of 330 million U.S. dollars.

Casualties caused by land mines are still a worrisome fact for many Cambodians living in northwestern parts of the country, even though the number of casualties has declined year by year.

Cambodia recorded a total casualty of up to 4,320 by mines in1996, but the number fell to 271 in 2008.

Civil war had lasted for nearly three decades in the country since late 1960s.

Groups ask donors to intervene

Thursday, 06 August 2009
Sebastian Strangio and Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

FOREIGN donors have been accused of failing to hold the government to account by rights groups who have called on the international community to ensure aid payments support reforms and do not go towards strengthening a corrupt system of government. In the wake of opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua's conviction on defamation charges Tuesday, rights groups said donors were taking no action in the face of an escalating crackdown on government critics.

Sara Colm, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, called the Mu Sochua verdict a "slap in the face" for international donors and the Cambodian people.

"Donors who've been supporting the rule of law and judicial reform programmes in Cambodia need to take a long hard look at the actual lack of progress and good will on the part of the government," she said. "It's really a sham to continue funding judicial reform, rule of law [and] democracy-building programmes."

Others said that if foreign governments are going to provide yearly aid to Cambodia, conditions should be set. "This is taxpayers' money from different countries, and with the financial crisis it's even more important that countries are held accountable," said Naly Pilorge, director of the rights group Licadho.

A report released by the UK-based corruption watchdog Global Witness in February said that the donor community appeared "ill-prepared or reluctant" to hold the Cambodian government to international good governance standards despite pledging nearly US$4 billion in aid since 2002."The lack of public response from donors is another example of a failure on the part of the international community to confront this culture of impunity," said Amy Barry, a Global Witness spokesperson. "Donors must use the influence and leverage they have to promote good governance and hold the Cambodian government to account. Freedom of expression is a crucial element of this."

During a press conference at Sam Rainsy Party headquarters after her court hearing, Mu Sochua called on international donors to ensure foreign aid payments were not poured into a corrupt system. "We call on the international community not just to take note, but to take action," she said.

"We cannot let aid come into Cambodia and go into this system, which provides no justice for the poor."

A spokesman for the US Embassy said the country would continue to "monitor closely cases of defamation and disinformation" to see that proper judicial processes are followed. "The Cambodian constitution provides for free speech, and we hope that the Royal Government will seriously consider the effect that decisions on defamation have on this guaranteed right," the spokesman said.

British Ambassador Andrew Mace declined to comment on the Mu Sochua case Wednesday, but said that representatives of EU governments would be meeting with the government on Friday to discuss the recent crackdown. Officials from the French and German embassies in Phnom Penh could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Mu Sochua, who was ordered to pay 16.5 million riels (US$3,937) in fines and compensation for defaming Prime Minister Hun Sen, is the fourth government critic to have been convicted on defamation or disinformation charges since June. "These recent convictions and sentences seem inconsistent with [international] standards," the Phnom Penh office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement Wednesday. "Their cumulative effect risks stifling public debate on important issues of public interest and reduces the space for the exercise of the most core of democratic values: freedom of expression."

Mu Sochua flew to the United States on Wednesday, after filing an appeal against the verdict. She has said she will refuse to pay the fine. "She has not fled the country. She flew to meet with American representatives to tell them about human rights, the judiciary, land disputes and corruption," SRP spokesman Yim Sovann said Wednesday. "There is nothing to flee."

Donors turn blind eye on corruption

February 18, 2009
By A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
Pacific Daily News (Guam)

The price for human rights and freedom can be very high, but many have been willing to pay the price.

Achieving a balance between those who see activism on behalf of increased civil liberties and a condition of political stability as mutually exclusive has been an historical struggle that continues today.

Western philosophy has focused on human rights and individual freedom. Non-Western philosophies have argued there can't be human rights and freedom in an unstable, disorderly, chaotic society, and that Westerners have been preoccupied with "procedural" democracy more than "substantive" democracy.

Recently, increasing numbers of Western governments have leaned toward supporting stability, security and economic development -- at the expense of rights and freedom -- in the world's societies.

The United States has always been a country that tended to ground American ideals in a pragmatic realism that acknowledges contemporary circumstances without capitulating on principle. This flexibility has been its genius.

On Nov. 4, 2007, the Sunday Washington Post published "What Burma's Junta Must Fear," by a 28-year-old Buddhist monk using the pseudonym U Gambira. In hiding, he was one of the leaders of the All-Burma Monks Alliance that led the September 2007 Saffron Revolution against Gen. Than Shwe's military junta's dictatorial rule.

"We adhere to nonviolence, but our spine is made of steel," U Gambira said. He said he was "awed by the bravery of so many" of his compatriots and "a new generation of activists (who) join to issue an unequivocal call for freedom. ... It matters little if my life or the lives of colleagues should be sacrificed on this journey. Others will fill our sandals, and more will join and follow," he wrote.

On the day his words appeared in the Post, the junta arrested Gambira in Burma. He was disrobed, thrown in the infamous Insein Jail, tortured and sentenced to 68 years.

Then-President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, sided with Burma's pro-democracy groups while more liberal donor groups called for engagement with Shwe.

On Nov. 24, 2008, the Post's "The Freedom Challenge, In Burma, a test of Barack Obama's attitude toward promoting democracy," editorialized, "the global struggle for liberty will rage on long after George W. Bush takes his 'freedom agenda' home to Texas"; and "abandoning the promotion and support of democracy as core American goals would be a terrible mistake."

Cambodia, under Premier Hun Sen, is Burma's mirror.

Business as usual

Domestic and international human rights groups call for actions against Sen's abuses of rights and freedom, but many of the world's governments do business as usual with the government.

Sen lost the 1993 United Nations-organized elections, when nine out of 10 voters chose Prince Ranariddh to lead them. But Sen refused defeat, threatened war, and the world community gave in, creating a "second prime minister" position for the vanquished politician.

Then, as the world watched, in July 1997 Sen ousted Ranariddh in a military coup and seized full power.

On Feb. 3, ADHOC, a leading Cambodian civil rights group, charged in its 8th annual report that the Sen government: restricts public demonstrations -- "Of the 155 peaceful strikes and demonstrations that took place, 108 (70 percent) were suppressed forcibly by the armed forces"; intimidates journalists -- "Journalists were subject to various forms of threats throughout the year, and in one case a journalist was shot dead"; the Sen military is increasingly involved in land grabs -- 125 cases in 2008, compared to 40 in 2007 -- with 164 rights activists threatened and 62,500 families lost land to military seizures of 200-500 hectares of land in each case.

In its January 2008 "Dey Krahorm Community Land Case Explained," LICADHO Canada, a nonprofit, grass-roots organization that seeks to promote justice and human rights in Cambodia, presented a comprehensive description of the Phnom Penh's Dey Krohorm community's forced evictions of residents by authorities.

A 2007 report, "Cambodia's Family Trees," by London-based Global Witness, an anti-graft non-governmental organization, charged Sen and his "kleptocratic" officials with alleged exploitation of forests for personal profit.

On February 5, 2009, in its 70-page "Country for Sale," Global Witness wrote that the same "corrupt elite has captured the country's emerging oil and mineral sectors while Cambodia's international donors turn a blind eye," and listed 13 countries, including the United States, and five international institutions, including the United Nations, as Cambodia's donors.

A must-read document that lists names and shows photos, the report by Global Witness is based on investigations in 2008. The report says, "Cambodia today is a country for sale. ... Over the past 15 years, 45 percent of the country's land has been purchased by private interests." It charges that "millions of dollars" that were "paid to secure concessions ... do not show up ... in the 2006 or 2007 revenue reports from the Ministry of Economy and Finance."

Calling for "a fundamental shift in mindset to go beyond the sanitized rhetoric of good governance," the report urges "a recognition that stripping a country of its assets for personal gain represents a mass violation of the social and economic rights of the country's people."

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.

[Inept] Donors Say Corruption Remains a Concern [... but still turn a blind eye on this issue]

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
10 February 2009

The World Bank and other donors said this week they share the concerns of corruption and governance, following a report by an environmental watchdog that warns Cambodia could squander its oil and mineral revenues.

Global Witness’ “Country for Sale,” released last week, said much of the revenue from Cambodia’s oil and mineral rights will benefit only a corrupt elite unless donors push for better management of the revenue.

The report accused donors of turning a blind eye to corruption while continuing to provide aid to the country.

“The Bank is working with the government to implement projects that address a number of the concerns raised in the report, by generating demand for good governance, promoting sound public financial management and allocating land for sustainable production and conservation purposes,” according to a World Bank statement.

“Although the Bank has not been directly involved in extractive industries in Cambodia, our dialogue with the Government includes discussion of policy reforms that will help to ensure that any revenues generated through extractive industries benefit the people of Cambodia,” the World Bank said.

The Global Witness report points to “the same political elite that pillaged the country’s timber resources” as having “now gained control of its mineral and petroleum wealth.”

US Embassy spokesman John Johnson said he had not yet read the report, but said in general the US was “engaging the government of Cambodia, on all levels, on the issue of transparency and corruption.”

The new US ambassador to Cambodia, Carol Rodley, was serious about corruption, he said.

The Asian Development Bank’s Cambodia director, Arjun Goswami, defended the work of the donor agency, saying it gave “significant weight” to governance and anti-corruption.

Cambodia on brink of oil and mining corruption disaster; donor governments fail to act: Global Witness

Global Witness report calls for immediate moratorium on both sectors until basic governance structures are in place

5 February 2009
Global Witness Press Release

A corrupt elite has captured the country’s emerging oil and mineral sectors while Cambodia’s international donors turn a blind eye, a new report from anti-graft NGO Global Witness claims today.

Cambodia – one of the world’s poorest countries – could eventually earn enough from its oil, gas and minerals to become independent of foreign development aid. The report, Country for Sale, exposes for the first time how this future is being jeopardised by high-level corruption, nepotism and patronage in the allocation and management of these critical public assets.

Country for Sale details how rights to exploit oil and mineral resources have been allocated behind closed doors by a small number of powerbrokers surrounding the prime minister and other senior officials. The beneficiaries of many of these deals are members of the ruling elite or their family members. Meanwhile, the findings suggest that millions of dollars paid by oil and mining companies to secure access to these resources may be missing from the national accounts.

“The Cambodian government does not have a process for allocating resources outside of patronage,” said Global Witness Campaigns Director, Gavin Hayman. “The same political elite that pillaged the country’s timber resources has now gained control of its mineral and petroleum wealth. Unless this is changed, there is a real risk that the opportunity to lift a whole generation out of poverty will be squandered.”

In December 2008, donors pledged US$1 billion in development aid, yet failed to use this opportunity to demand new governance measures for the industries.

Private sector companies also have a role to play in improving the governance of Cambodia’s extractive industries. So far over 75 companies are working in Cambodia’s extractive sectors, including some internationally known operators such as Chevron and BHP Billiton. Country for Sale documents how many of these companies have already paid significant upfront sums to the government. Very few of them have disclosed these payments.

“Companies need to come clean on what they have paid to the government to secure access to these natural resources, or risk becoming complicit in a corrupt system,” said Hayman.

Country for Sale can be downloaded from http://www.globalwitness.org For more information and interviews, please contact Global Witness on the following numbers: In London +44 (0)20 7561 6399 or +44 (0) 7912 516 445 In Bangkok +66 (0)860 520 268

(1) Global Witness exposes the corrupt exploitation of natural resources and international trade systems to drive campaigns that end impunity, resource-linked conflict, and human rights and environmental abuses. Global Witness was co-nominated for the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for its leading work on ‘conflict diamonds' and awarded the 2007 Commitment to Development Ideas in Action Award, sponsored jointly by Washington DC based Center for Global Development and Foreign Policy magazine.

(2) Global Witness’ last report on Cambodia, Cambodia’s Family Trees, showed how a small group of individuals surrounding the prime minister and other senior public officials have exploited the country’s forests for their personal profit. The report can be downloaded from http://www.globalwitness.org/media_library_detail.php/546/en/cambodias_family_trees

(3) Global Witness wrote to both Chevron and BHP Billiton in October 2008 to ask them to reveal any payments made to the Cambodian government or government officials. At the time of publication, Chevron had not responded. BHP Billiton however, did reply to say that BHP Billiton, Mitsubishi and the Cambodian Government have established a joint social development fund. The total contribution of BHP and Mitsubishi is to be US$2.5 million. BHP’s response stated: “BHP Billiton has never made a payment to a Cambodian Government official or representative and we reject any assertion that the payment under the minerals exploration agreement is, or the amounts contributed to the Social Development Projects Fund are, ‘tea money’.” BHP also shared how much had been paid to the Cambodian government, adding: “In accordance with the terms of a minerals exploration agreement with the Cambodian government which granted BHP Billiton and Mitsubishi the right to explore for bauxite an amount of US$1 million was formally paid to the Cambodian government in September 2006.”

(4) Cambodia’s donors are:
Australia
Belgium
Canada
China
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Ireland
Japan
Sweden
United Kingdom
United States
United Nations
European Commission
Asian Development Bank
International Monetary Fund
The World Bank Group

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: The Dey Kraham's UN Special Rapporteur

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Pledges reopen development debate

Deputy Prime Ministers Men Sam An, Nhek Bun Chhay and Keat Chhon (left to right) at the donor-government meeting on Wednesday. (Photo by: Heng Chivoan)

Monday, 08 December 2008
Written by Kay Kimsong
The Phnom Penh Post

VYING FOR POSITION
China led the pack in international aid donations to Cambodia, pledging $257 million for 2009. It was followed by the European Union, which promised $214 million, and Japan with $113 million. The rest of the breakdown was not disclosed by the government.

Civil society groups, concerned that the emergence of China as a major aid player will not benefit the country, urge Western governments to be less complacent about corruption

LAST week's nearly US$1 billion international aid pledge - the largest ever granted under the auspices of the annual Cambodia Development Cooperation Forum - has reopened the debate over the Kingdom's development trajectory, amid concerns over the effect of a fresh influx in foreign aid.

Despite worries about the Kingdom's endemic corruption, government officials have interpreted the unsolicited donations as a unanimous vote of confidence for the government and its ability to effectively manage future development.

"We [are] a train running on the right tracks," Minister of Finance Keat Chhon said Friday, on the last day of the annual donor meeting. "We have put on a good performance. If we had not, [donors] would have cancelled their aid."

However, opposition leaders have lashed out at the pledges, questioning both the philanthropic intentions behind the aid and how far the Kingdom is set to benefit from such a vast injection of cash - which this year came from both traditional Western sources and nations such as China, participating in the donor meeting for only the second time.

"Loans and grants from China are just debt that the Cambodian people will have to pay back in the future," said Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Son Chhay.

He added that donors have consistently pledged more aid every year since the meetings began in 1992, reaching a total of $690 million last year. In 2009, that amount could rise to more than $1 billion once the United States makes its aid pledges.
"Aid can do more harm than good, depending on how it is given."
Chinese strings

According to Son Chhay, donors - especially those such as China - have their own reasons for coughing up cash for Cambodia, which are neither philanthropic nor an indication of support for the government's development work.

Most of the soft loans and grants given by China are contingent on the government's using Chinese contractors to complete earmarked projects.

"Cambodia only really benefits from about three percent of the total loans that China gives," he said. "If China gives a $250 million loan, I think, in real terms, that Cambodia gets about $5 million in benefits."

Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said the government was labouring under the illusion that the Chinese government was proffering aid without strings attached.

"The [government] says China is the nicest donor, since they give without any human rights or anti-corruption agenda," he said.

"Even though Western donors don't hold the government to their demands, at least the West makes demands. China is playing politics in Cambodia. It is very scary."

Western complacency

Others said that Western donors needed to reconsider their complacency in the face of government inaction.

"Aid can do more harm than good depending how it is given," said Sin Somuny, director of Medicam, an umbrella organization for health-related NGOs that attended the donor conference.

Sin Somuny said that donors - particularly traditional Western donor nations - should give civil society organisations more chances to participate in the drafting of the national strategic development plan, and to use them as the primary channel for aid.

"The role of NGOs and civil society groups in providing complementary services, particularly in areas where state services do not reach, is crucial and should be recognised by donors," he said.

Qimiao Fan, country manager for the World Bank, said that the amount pledged was irrelevant next to the way the funds were used.

"I think it is not important how much we have provided. It is important that what we provide is used efficiently and effectively in priority areas," he said, adding that he was not able to disclose the figure the World Bank has pledged.

But improving the regulatory framework and passing the long-awaited anti-corruption law was essential to the proper use of the aid money, he said.

"Adopting the anti-corruption law is not going to be a ‘magic bullet', but we feel it is very important because it does provide an essential legal framework," Qimiao Fan said.

"We believe our support will help protect the poor. We are not here to put pressure on any government."

He added that the government needs to take ownership of reforms and that it was not up to development partners to push the government over the content of domestic reforms.

EU Representative Kerstin Henke, from the German Federal Ministry of Education Cooperation and Development, said the adoption of the anti-corruption law would be an important step.

"I think we have promises on the adoption of the anti-corruption law, which will be a step forward because for all development partners ... good governance is a key issue," she said.

"We have called on the leadership of the government to take more steps to implement the policies which were announced," Henke said, adding that the European Commission has pledged an aid package worth around $634 million over the next three years.