Tuesday, 25 November 2008

Mr. Sar Kheng Warns Against the Culture of Preparing Documents Asking for Ranks and for Positions - Monday, 24.11.2008

Posted on 25 November 2008

The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 588

“Phnom Penh: Referring to the Anti-Economic Crimes Police Department as an obvious example, Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng, the Minister of Interior, warned police officers of the Minister of Interior they should eliminate the culture of preparing document to ask for insignia of rank and positions, and he warned officers who commit wrongdoings that not only their appointment to a certain position may be revoked, but also they will be dismissed from the the list of staff.

“This warning was affirmed by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minster of Interior again and again, as he presided over a program to announce and to assign the positions of the director-general of the national police, and to award insignia of rank to high ranking police officers of the Ministry of Interior in the afternoon of 21 November 2008.

“In front of many civil servants participating in the event, Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng said that over a course of time, we saw that some departments have fulfilled their duties rightly, but some departments have not. For example, the Anti-Economic Crimes Police Department, which was previously called the Economic Police. He said, ‘Then, because of many disagreements, I changed it to be called Anti-Economic Crimes Police. But how can they fight against economic crimes, when they commit wrongdoings themselves? Now, those preparing documents for positions of directors of departments are many. Some have been reassigned from positions of directors of departments, but they disagree to leave.’

“He continued to say, ‘I want to eliminate the culture of preparing documents to ask for insignia of rank and to ask for positions; such a culture must not exist any longer. Otherwise, at last, we do not have a police with the capability to work, because of these preparations of documents for higher insignia of rank and for positions. As for those who do not prepare document and who are expert police officers for a long time, they were seldom seen promoted. As long as there is such a culture, we cannot find capable police to work. This is the problem.’ He added that the government rules the nation, which it is not a simple work; it is not just to control a unit. Therefore, we must think of officers who have sufficient capability for the work.

“The Deputy Prime Minster Sar Kheng asked how many economic crimes the Anti-Economic Crimes Police is involve to fight so far? He answered himself that there are none. He said that he has not received any reports about the achievements of the Anti-Economic Crimes Police, but only reports of complaints against them. He continued to say that previously, there were cases that cars or trucks were caught and brought to police stations, but after there were solutions according to Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen’s policies, it seemed that there were no results as achievements. Moreover, there were cases that forces are deployed in order to block cars for extorting money.

“Regarding this problem, the Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng called on Khmer citizens to help report any real information related to the Anti-Economic Crimes Police to be dealt with, to end the present situation.

“He issued an order for the Anti-Economic Crimes Police to withdraw all forces from anywhere, because the director-general of the National Police is fulfilling his duty, saying that there is no legal basis to deploy forces to block cars or trucks for money.

“He pointed out that doing so, there will be no more people preparing documents to ask for positions of directors of the departments of the Anti-Economic Crimes Police.’ He added that he does not agree with the culture of preparing documents for higher insignia of rank and of positions.

“Mr. Sar Kheng asked, ‘If we fail to eliminate it, who will be cursed?’ It is the Prime Minister and the Minister of Interior only; therefore, if it would be allowed to continue, our police would loose its respectability.

“He drew the attention to look at the Anti-Economic Crimes Police in other countries, like to see what the French economic police does, that has achievements in preventing crimes, and he compared it with the Cambodian Anti-Economic Crimes Police that can only order one group of police forces to the National Road 4, and another group to the National Road 5, showing that they are not expert police forces to fight economic crimes. Mr. Sar Kheng emphasized that he means action, ‘If you continue to do as before, I will not only cancel your appointment, but I will also strike you from the staff list.”

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.16, #4750, 23-24.11.2008
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Monday, 24 November 2008

No comments: