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By SOURN SEREY RATHA
Guest Commentary
March 13, 2008
CRANSTON CITY, R.I., United States, When we talk about human rights violations in Cambodia we cannot avoid the corruption issue, because corruption is the foundation of human rights violations. A corrupt government cannot eliminate corruption.
The corrupt government in Cambodia must behave as a terrorist government in order to protect its autocratic power, based on a network of officials and their relatives. Currently, when we talk about Prime Minister Hun Sen, his family and his government, we cannot avoid talking about the corruption and human rights violations his government has committed.
From 1979 to 1984, all officials of the Communist Party of Cambodia were supported by Vietnam. They did not have actual salaries; their daily needs were provided by the party, which was controlled by Vietnam. From 1984 to 1991, the party changed its policy, encouraging its officials to get honorariums from the government. They received full salaries from 1991 to 1993 and after 1993 to the present.
If we calculate the salary of party officials from 1991 to the present, plus their benefits and pensions, it is impossible that they could have acquired the assets they currently own.
The anti-corruption non-governmental group Global Witness has reported that Hun Sen's government destroyed Cambodia's forests through logging activities for the benefit of his family and the political, military and business elite. This report did not mention other natural resources exploited by the government for its own interests, including the gemstone mines in Pailin and Ratanakiri and the gold and silver mines in Kampongthom.
Aid from the international community through the Consultative Group set up in 1996, which aimed to renew Cambodia, has not been accounted for through regular auditing procedures; most of that assistance has gone to private pockets.
At present it is easily seen that officials of the Hun Sen government and their families own a lot of property, have money in bank accounts, and utilize funds and material out of balance with their annual incomes. This is corruption. It is not something that involves the farmers or the poor. It is an area that belongs to the government and its officials.
Hun Sen's government is a corrupt government. He and his family are a symbol of corruption in Cambodia because he is the leader of the country's corrupt officials and businessmen.
Hun Sen strengthens his power by using the money exploited from the nation's resources and its people to support his own private soldiers, who violate human rights and threaten the people.
By SOURN SEREY RATHA
Guest Commentary
March 13, 2008
CRANSTON CITY, R.I., United States, When we talk about human rights violations in Cambodia we cannot avoid the corruption issue, because corruption is the foundation of human rights violations. A corrupt government cannot eliminate corruption.
The corrupt government in Cambodia must behave as a terrorist government in order to protect its autocratic power, based on a network of officials and their relatives. Currently, when we talk about Prime Minister Hun Sen, his family and his government, we cannot avoid talking about the corruption and human rights violations his government has committed.
From 1979 to 1984, all officials of the Communist Party of Cambodia were supported by Vietnam. They did not have actual salaries; their daily needs were provided by the party, which was controlled by Vietnam. From 1984 to 1991, the party changed its policy, encouraging its officials to get honorariums from the government. They received full salaries from 1991 to 1993 and after 1993 to the present.
If we calculate the salary of party officials from 1991 to the present, plus their benefits and pensions, it is impossible that they could have acquired the assets they currently own.
The anti-corruption non-governmental group Global Witness has reported that Hun Sen's government destroyed Cambodia's forests through logging activities for the benefit of his family and the political, military and business elite. This report did not mention other natural resources exploited by the government for its own interests, including the gemstone mines in Pailin and Ratanakiri and the gold and silver mines in Kampongthom.
Aid from the international community through the Consultative Group set up in 1996, which aimed to renew Cambodia, has not been accounted for through regular auditing procedures; most of that assistance has gone to private pockets.
At present it is easily seen that officials of the Hun Sen government and their families own a lot of property, have money in bank accounts, and utilize funds and material out of balance with their annual incomes. This is corruption. It is not something that involves the farmers or the poor. It is an area that belongs to the government and its officials.
Hun Sen's government is a corrupt government. He and his family are a symbol of corruption in Cambodia because he is the leader of the country's corrupt officials and businessmen.
Hun Sen strengthens his power by using the money exploited from the nation's resources and its people to support his own private soldiers, who violate human rights and threaten the people.
Externally it appears that Hun Sen's government was created through elections, but the actual inside story is that it is held together by military power, power fueled by corruption and corruption headed by Hun Sen's family, which leads the government.
The people of Cambodia should be clear about the corruption in their country. The international community should also understand this point. The 2004 World Bank report "Cambodia at the Crossroads," the World Food Program's case study on Cambodia, the research by Global Witness, and other evidence gathered by international groups documents the leadership's poor governance.
A government that is mired in corruption cannot eliminate corruption. To protect itself it will continue to violate human rights. A government that violates human rights is always afraid of the people, afraid they will organize into a people power movement. Such a movement, which is a form of democracy, could pull down the current corrupt government.
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(Sourn Serey Ratha is chief of mission of the Action Committee for Justice and Equity for Cambodians Overseas, based in Rhode Island, United States. He was born to a farmer's family in Cambodia, earned B.A degrees in law and sociology in Phnom Penh and an M.A. in international policy from Mara University of Technology in Malaysia. He has been a social activist for his country on the national and international levels since 1997. ©Copyright Sourn Serey Ratha.)
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