Samdech Hun Sen told opposition parties to open their eyes to see national progress

Kampuchea Thmey newspaper
8th December, 2008
Translated from Khmer by Khmerization

PM Hun Sen (pictured) has launched a personal attack on the Sam Rainsy Party lawmakers who intervened to divert the agenda of the parliamentary session during a parliamentary debate on the 8th of December. The parliamentary session had two agenda: the debate on the draft of the 2009 Financial Accountability Laws and a motion to appoint Gen. Teng Savong as the Secretary of State of Ministry of Interior and the appointment of Mr. Ik Sarou as the Member of Parliament for Pailin.

Samdech Hun Sen said that the campaign season has finished so the opposition parties should not try to exploit for their own political gains and that we must work together. He said that everybody has eyes and he hopes that they will open their eyes to see what Cambodia had in the past and that they must recognise what they don’t see in the past and what they can see now. They must see the whole forest, not see just one tree, he said.

In his reply to questions from the opposition party, PM Hun Sen said despite the defence and security took up 19.5% of the national budget, but it is only equivalent to 1.85% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). But the expenditure on social affairs is 34.7% of the national budget which is equivalent to 3.30% of GDP.

Mr. Cheam Yeap, chairman of parliamentary committee on economy, finance, banking said that most increases on defence budget are due to chapter 64 of the draft laws which focussed on the salaries of public servants and military and security personnel which have received their pay-rises in the last few years.

PM Hun Sen responded to Mrs. Mu Sochua who criticised the government for spending to much on road constructions at the expense of social affairs. The PM said that the roads were also built for Khmer women. He said that may be Mrs. Mu Sochua wanted the government to put the money into the women’s pockets before she will recognise that the government has helped the women.

PM Hun Sen said that everything is inter-related so he asked the opposition not to view the government as a child who know nothing. Mr. Hun Sen said that if the opposition parties are good the people will vote for them. Because they are no good that’s why the people didn’t vote for them and instead they voted for his Cambodian People’s Party.

In regards to the opposition Sam Rainsy Party’s criticism of the land issues, Mr. Hun Sen said that the government recognised that there are problems because in the 1980s the state distributed one hectare of lands to a family with only 3 people ( father, mother and a son). But now the same family has increased their family members to 10 people but they still live on the same one hectare of lands.

Mr. Hun Sen said that in 1979 Cambodia only had a population of 5 million but now Cambodia has a population of about 14 million. So, if we have confiscated the lands from the people throughout the country as has been accused by the opposition party, may be the Cambodian People’s Party will not win any single seat in the parliament, he said.//

Telephone usage and gasoline rationing to take place in Cambodian ministries

20 Nov 2008
By Ky Soklim
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the article in French

A MP from the ruling party found the rationing as a mean to finance the increased military budget for the 2009 fiscal year.

Cheam Yeap, the CPP MP and chairman of the National Assembly committee for economy and finance, proposed to the government to reduce certain “non necessary” expenses in order to increase the country’s security.

“We must decrease the cost of gasoline and telephone usage in other ministries in order to increase the budget for the Defense and the Interior,” Cheam Yeap said on Thursday 20 November during a forum on the 2009 budget which was attended by MPs and civil society representatives.

Cheam Yeap indicated that Hun Sen has the right to rearrange the budget in order to assure the country’s defense. He also said that some of the weapons used by Cambodia are out of date, before quoting: “to have peace, we must prepare for war.”

This is nothing new, since the conflict started between Thailand and Cambodia, the Cambodian government plans on increasing the national security spending.

The 2009 budget plan will be brought to debate on the floor of the National Assembly which was elected in July of this year. The total budget planned amounts to close to $1.8 billion, i.e. an increase of 28% from the 2008 budget. In this budget, the defense spending is increased by 60% because of salary increase for soldiers and police officers.

Cheang Vun, another CPP MP and chairman of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs committee, supported this budget increase. However, he hoped that the government will not set aside the agriculture sector which encompasses many of the poorest people in the kingdom.

The government plans to increase the 2009 military budget

Soldiers who were sent to Ta Moan Thom temples in Ouddor Meanchey Province on 8th of August ill-equipped, without proper uniforms and shoes.

Radio Free Asia
By Huy Vannak
25th October 2008
Translated from Khmer by Khmerization

The Cambodian government, according to sources, said that in the 2009 budget it will increase its military expenditures to double that of its 2008 military budget.

According to the same sources, the military expenditures would be increased to US$500 million.

The government’s plans to increase the military expenditures were made at the same times as when Cambodia is facing a military confrontations with Thailand along its northern borders with Thailand as well as around the Preah Vihear temple areas.

In response to the planned increase of military expenditures, an opposition MP, Mr. Son Chhay, has requested the government to review its past military expenditures.

Mr. Son Chhay said: “in the past, we’ve seen that the military expenditures involved loans from foreign countries to procure military hardware, such as the purchases of patrol vessels from China, when we already have an annual military budget of $US250 million. We have received information that there are embezzlements in the military budget for millions of dollars such as the claims that Cambodia has 140,000 military personnel, when in fact, according to our investigations, Cambodia has not more than 50,000 troops. Secondly, the embezzlements in military materiel such as uniforms, consumption goods such as rice and fuel and so on. And those soldiers who were sent to face a military conflict with the Thai soldiers a long the borders have told journalists that, in the last 4-5 years, they have not received any uniforms or military boots from the government.”

Mr. Son Chhay added that Cambodia needs to strengthen its military, but the government must ensure that the military budget is properly spent or not continues to allow corruption to thrive in the military.

In relation to the livelihood of the soldiers, a senior military official from the Ministry of Defence, Gen. Neang Phat, said at the memorial ceremony for the three dead soldiers, one day after the armed clashes on the 15th October that: “to tell you the truth, our soldiers, during a time of peace, because some of them have wives and children to feed, so during their free time they went to help their wives and children by working in the family’s rice fields. This is the truth. They don’t stay in their barracks all the times. Their monthly salary is only 200,000 Riels ($US50), or more than 150,000 Riels, so they hardly can feed their families.”

At the same time, according to the statement released after the cabinet meeting on the 17th of October, the Cambodian government has decided to increase annual national budget for 2009 to almost $US2 billion, which is an increase of 30% from the 2008 national budget.

The planned national budget has only been approved by the cabinet. It will need to be submitted for approval by the National Assembly in the middle of November.//