Posted on 2 October 2008
The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 580
“Officials of opposition parties and of civil society organizations call on the fourth term package voted government to soon adopt anti-corruption laws, which have been delayed for long, in order to avoid criticism that the government led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, the vice president of the Cambodian People’s Party, again has no intention to fight corruption. The appeal by officials of political parties and of civil society organizations was made after Prime Minister Hun Sen stated during the first session of the Council of Ministers on Friday during the previous week that the fight against corruption remains a priority agenda item of the fourth term government.
“Prime Minister Hun Sen stated during that session that the government is still strongly committed to organize and to adopt anti-corruption laws, depending on other major laws as a basis to be adopted in advance. The fourth term package voted Prime Minister said, ‘When we will have created a one-way counter system, the operation [of multiple counters] for corruption will be closed. Before, investors had to go to this ministry a bit and to that ministry a bit, and the gap in approach between the different ministries was the gap of corruption to enter.’
“It should be noted that anti-corruption laws were drafted in 1998 by the opposition party and then, the government redrafted them. Now, the Council of Ministers is checking and editing them again before they are sent to the National Assembly to be adopted. A high-ranking official of the Sam Rainsy Party said that the Sam Rain Party will demand that the government will adopt the anti-corruption laws soon with no further delay, so as to serve the benefit of the citizens and of the nation. The government must not just promise without setting a clear time line by raising different reasons as pretexts like it did previously.
“Regarding the above issue, Mr. Yim Sovann, a member of the National Assembly from the Sam Rainsy Party, said that the government talks very little about measures to fight corruption in its political program, compared to the third term government. Mr. Yim Sovann added, ‘The leaders of this term government do not have really the political will and sufficient commitment to fight corruption – that is a concern for Cambodia. The promise to adopt anti-corruption laws appears on paper only, but to stamp out corruption remains ineffective, because anti-corruption draft laws lack many points, so that they cannot lead to efficient enforcement.’
“Mr. Ny Chakrya, the head of the Monitoring Unit of the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association – ADHOC – said that anti-corruption laws are abundant for ruling the country towards transparency and trust. Mr. Ny Chakrya continued, ‘These anti-corruption laws do not need to wait for the adoption of additional criminal laws, because these laws have their own penalties and procedures. These laws would be better adopted early during the present mandate in order that the process of the fourth term government is transparent from early on until the end of the mandate.’
“Previously, Prime Minister Hun Sen, the head of the Cambodian government, had promised in front of the international community and donor countries to have anti-corruption laws adopted by 2006, but there is no result from Hun Sen’s promise. As for important institutions granting aid to Cambodia, they do not urge the Hun Sen government to take action to eliminate corruption effectively, especially the World Bank. Therefore, an international organization publicly criticized that the World Bank smiles at the corruption in Cambodia.
“People who observe the political and the economic situation in Cambodia said that if Hun Sen does have the will to fight corruption, anti-corruption laws according to international standards might be created early by the fourth term government or even late in 2008. If there is further delay, it means that the fourth term government led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, the vice president of the Cambodian People’s Party, again does not have the intention to fight corruption, which is deeply rooted in Khmer society; this will lead to corruption and bureaucracy spreading stronger in important state institutions, and the Cambodian economy might not develop like the economy in neighboring countries.
“Recently, Transparency International, with it’s headquarters based in Germany, published a report showing that Cambodian ranked 166th among 180 countries worldwide with serious corruption. This report said that Cambodia was the worst corrupt country in Southeast Asia after Burma, a dictatorial country, even worse than Laos. Such serious corruption makes Cambodia to not progress, even though this country has received loans and has received huge amounts of aid from the international community.
“Observers assessed already that if Prime Minister Hun Sen, the vice president of the Cambodian People’s Party, does not care to adopt anti-corruption laws early during the fourth term government, corruption might become more serious than during the third term government, because corrupt officials who steal from the nation continue to administer important state institutions, like during the third term package government – most of them are people from the ruling party. Therefore, if anti-corruption laws cannot be adopted soon, there is nothing to cope with the strong corruption during the fourth term package voted government.”
Moneaksekar Khmer, Vol.15, #3577, 2.10.2008
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Thursday, 2 October 2008
The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 580
“Officials of opposition parties and of civil society organizations call on the fourth term package voted government to soon adopt anti-corruption laws, which have been delayed for long, in order to avoid criticism that the government led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, the vice president of the Cambodian People’s Party, again has no intention to fight corruption. The appeal by officials of political parties and of civil society organizations was made after Prime Minister Hun Sen stated during the first session of the Council of Ministers on Friday during the previous week that the fight against corruption remains a priority agenda item of the fourth term government.
“Prime Minister Hun Sen stated during that session that the government is still strongly committed to organize and to adopt anti-corruption laws, depending on other major laws as a basis to be adopted in advance. The fourth term package voted Prime Minister said, ‘When we will have created a one-way counter system, the operation [of multiple counters] for corruption will be closed. Before, investors had to go to this ministry a bit and to that ministry a bit, and the gap in approach between the different ministries was the gap of corruption to enter.’
“It should be noted that anti-corruption laws were drafted in 1998 by the opposition party and then, the government redrafted them. Now, the Council of Ministers is checking and editing them again before they are sent to the National Assembly to be adopted. A high-ranking official of the Sam Rainsy Party said that the Sam Rain Party will demand that the government will adopt the anti-corruption laws soon with no further delay, so as to serve the benefit of the citizens and of the nation. The government must not just promise without setting a clear time line by raising different reasons as pretexts like it did previously.
“Regarding the above issue, Mr. Yim Sovann, a member of the National Assembly from the Sam Rainsy Party, said that the government talks very little about measures to fight corruption in its political program, compared to the third term government. Mr. Yim Sovann added, ‘The leaders of this term government do not have really the political will and sufficient commitment to fight corruption – that is a concern for Cambodia. The promise to adopt anti-corruption laws appears on paper only, but to stamp out corruption remains ineffective, because anti-corruption draft laws lack many points, so that they cannot lead to efficient enforcement.’
“Mr. Ny Chakrya, the head of the Monitoring Unit of the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association – ADHOC – said that anti-corruption laws are abundant for ruling the country towards transparency and trust. Mr. Ny Chakrya continued, ‘These anti-corruption laws do not need to wait for the adoption of additional criminal laws, because these laws have their own penalties and procedures. These laws would be better adopted early during the present mandate in order that the process of the fourth term government is transparent from early on until the end of the mandate.’
“Previously, Prime Minister Hun Sen, the head of the Cambodian government, had promised in front of the international community and donor countries to have anti-corruption laws adopted by 2006, but there is no result from Hun Sen’s promise. As for important institutions granting aid to Cambodia, they do not urge the Hun Sen government to take action to eliminate corruption effectively, especially the World Bank. Therefore, an international organization publicly criticized that the World Bank smiles at the corruption in Cambodia.
“People who observe the political and the economic situation in Cambodia said that if Hun Sen does have the will to fight corruption, anti-corruption laws according to international standards might be created early by the fourth term government or even late in 2008. If there is further delay, it means that the fourth term government led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, the vice president of the Cambodian People’s Party, again does not have the intention to fight corruption, which is deeply rooted in Khmer society; this will lead to corruption and bureaucracy spreading stronger in important state institutions, and the Cambodian economy might not develop like the economy in neighboring countries.
“Recently, Transparency International, with it’s headquarters based in Germany, published a report showing that Cambodian ranked 166th among 180 countries worldwide with serious corruption. This report said that Cambodia was the worst corrupt country in Southeast Asia after Burma, a dictatorial country, even worse than Laos. Such serious corruption makes Cambodia to not progress, even though this country has received loans and has received huge amounts of aid from the international community.
“Observers assessed already that if Prime Minister Hun Sen, the vice president of the Cambodian People’s Party, does not care to adopt anti-corruption laws early during the fourth term government, corruption might become more serious than during the third term government, because corrupt officials who steal from the nation continue to administer important state institutions, like during the third term package government – most of them are people from the ruling party. Therefore, if anti-corruption laws cannot be adopted soon, there is nothing to cope with the strong corruption during the fourth term package voted government.”
Moneaksekar Khmer, Vol.15, #3577, 2.10.2008
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Thursday, 2 October 2008
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