Public Confidence in Institutions Still Low: Analyst

Lao Monghay, a former researcher of the Asian Human Rights Commission and independent analyst. (Photo: by VOA Khmer)

Monday, 05 December 2011
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer | Washington, DC

“This confidence will strengthen the state institutions, [and bring] more legitimacy.”

Despite government efforts over the last 18 years, Cambodian institutions have struggled to gain the public’s confidence and implement constitutional rights and freedoms, an independent analyst says.

Lao Monghay, a former researcher of the Asian Human Rights Commission, told “Hello VOA” on Thursday that people’s right to assembly and other freedoms have been curtailed in recent years.

Sok Khemara hosts 'Hello VOA' 02 December, 2011

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New laws have made it harder for large groups to amass, and the government even has a designated protest site, Freedom Park in Phnom Penh, he said.

“Obviously there are still difficulties in the use of rights, rights and freedoms,” he said, speaking as a monthly guest on the show.

Mixed bag for country in report on 'failed states'

Wednesday, 01 July 2009
Written by Sam Rith
The Phnom Penh Post

CAMBODIA continues to be "in danger" of a failure of state institutions, according to a new report by the US-based political magazine Foreign Policy, which said the country was marked by "endemic corruption" and a loss of confidence in state institutions last year.

The 2009 Failed States Index, released last month, rated Cambodia as the 49th least-functional of the 177 states surveyed between May and December 2008, rising slightly from 48th in last year's ranking.

But while the Kingdom's ranking improved, its aggregate score fell slightly. Twelve categories were used to formulate the "failed state" ranking, with Cambodia rating highest in "delegitimisation of the state", which the magazine defines as "massive and endemic corruption or profiteering by ruling elites", resistance of rulers to transparency and accountability and the "widespread" loss of confidence in official institutions.

Cambodia received the best ratings for its relative lack of refugee populations and benign security apparatus.

Foreign Policy noted that the rankings were only a general guide to a country's progress, saying that "the pace and direction of change, either positive or negative, varies".

Senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said Tuesday that it was Foreign Policy's right to compile lists, but made it clear the government was making efforts to improve the situation in Cambodia.

"It is their right to make rankings based on their research," he said.

"We are making efforts for our people to have [everything] that other countries have, including a strong democracy and respect for human rights."