For Workers, Special Obstacles to Voting

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
17 June 2008

[Editor's note: In the weeks leading into national polls, VOA Khmer will explore a wide number of election issues. The "Election Issues 2008" series will air stories on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a related "Hello VOA" guest on Thursday. This is the first in a two-part series examining the role of workers in the election.]

The increasing price of gas may be one deterrent for voters this year, but workers say they will also have to overcome the policies of their bosses.

Many garment workers live in Phnom Penh but hail from rural provinces, where they are registered to vote. This can make travel for voting expensive, and requires time off for work.

Independent groups have worked hard to encourage factories to give their workers time off for Election Day, July 27, but workers say they worry individual factory owners have little incentive to do so.

Workers say in the 2007 commune elections, they were forced to work overtime during the elections, but they were not given time off. They are worried the same will happen in July.

The July election was very important, said Nov Sokheoun, 25, a garment worker at the Teratec factory, who is registered in Kampot province. "I wish to attend to vote, although my province is 120 kilometers far away from Phnom Penh."

Some workers representatives say there should be no problem.

Chuon Mom Thol, president of the Cambodian Union Federation, said there should be no problem, and he plans to make a request to the Ministry of Labor to allow workers time off to vote.

Om Mean, undersecretary of state for the Ministry of Labor, said on Monday the ministry issued an official letter to all unions and factory owners to allow garment workers to vote. When the factory owners receive the letter, they will respect the ruling of the government, he said.

There are 394 factories in Phnom Penh, employing 340,000 people, according to the president of the Free Trade Union, Chea Mony.

Good Citizens of Kingdom of Kampuchea

Sat, 26 May 2007
By Jayakhmer
OpEd posted online

In a representative government where people elect their leaders, people should be the ones who have the power. As the 2008 election draws near each day, I have been noticing that people behave a certain way toward the elected officials. As I though again and again about this issue, the conclusions I could come up with are either the elected officials take people for granted or people do not yet understand their important responsibility in a democratic society.

The general election in 2008 will be our fourth democratic election. It is time that we, the people, examine our roles and responsibilities more seriously. If we do not take for responsibility for our action, do not expect our elected officials or our government to do so. After all, we voted for our elected officials that enable them to hold a certain governmental position.

Our most solemn obligation, I could think of as a citizen of the Kingdom in a democratic society, is to vote responsibly.

Once we voted for our party in the election, we grant them a certain privilege to our leaders to lead us. It would be an egregious error on our part to trust our elected official or our party leaders blindly. Although we trust our leader, we must verify by asking questions and verifying issues. To trust alone is not good enough.

A responsible citizen respects his/her elected officials but exercise his or her rights by asking questions and clarifying issues. It is quite natural that some times our elected officials feel uncomfortable about the inquiries. It is our rights to know. As a good and responsible citizen, we are responsible for the direction of our nation. The more we exercise these rights the better it will be for Cambodia and the more our elected officials will get used to it.

The recent spat between the RFA staff and the Prime Minister was a perfect example of good citizenship. The journalists' job is to ask questions and clarify issues so that speculations can be avoided. The Prime Minister should be prepared and welcome this kind of opportunity. The era of following the leaders blindly is over. This applies to all political parties. Government official and party leaders should expect tough questions from constituents and the press.

Although it is your prerogative as citizens to use the way with which you are comfortable, I am not advocating for using of abusive language at all. More often than not abusive language tends to burn bridges and generates harsh responses. Political dialog and political discourses can be done in civilized manner.

I know that decades of wars and conflicts divided us into CPP, Republicans, Democrats, and Royalists. On top of that there are those who are working hard to keep us that way.

But do we have to be divisive? The choice is ours.

We have to change the way we think, the way we vote, and the way we interact with each other if we are to survive as a nation. Make your vote count. Think of ourselves as Khmer as citizens of Kingdom of Kampuchea first before we are as a member of a party.

Remember we, the people, have the power to change the direction of our country. Please exercise your rights and vote responsibly.

Jay