The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 679
Important Announcement
Would you please mouse-click, further up on this page here, on About The Mirror to read information about changes implemented, in view of several changes starting from 1 September 2010.
Thanks,
Norbert Klein
Editor of The Mirror
Social stability depends on a situation where the citizens trust that the law is implemented. Not every time when somebody thinks to be treated unjustly this is also true. But the fact that every week there are several reports of demonstrations of groups of people, in different parts of the country, who feel they are suffering injustice – mostly related to land use and land rights – should be a sign of alarm. Social stability can be enforced for some time, but that is different from social stability based on peace and justice.
In 2002, the Prime Minister had said in his opening speech to the Consultative Group Meeting between representatives of the Cambodian Government and representatives of cooperating countries and international institutions:
“We are conscious that corruption in the public machinery, be it judiciary or administrative or any other, increases transaction costs for everyone and reduces predictability in law enforcement and implementation of government’s policies… The government believes that enactment of adequate laws and regulations to prevent and punish corruption is crucial for addressing this problem.”
And in December 2005 he warned that if illegal land seizures were not brought under control, they could lead to a farmers’ revolution.
Are these words of the Prime Minister out of date?
Seeing that during many of present demonstrations people carrying pictures of the Prime Minister and the First Lady shows that many people still have hope in interventions by the Prime Minister to provide justice – even when they have lost confidence that the normal process of the courts will achieve this goal.
Violations of the law happen regularly and massively, as claimed in the Cambodian press, and this is also confirmed by high ranking officials of the government. Just to quote some examples from the current week:
- Contraband Is Massively Imported while Members of the Authorities Are Collecting Colossal Amounts of Money
- Prime Minister Hun Sen Had Often Warned against It, but Frequently Heads of Some Institutions and Units Continue to Nominate Their Children’s Spouses or Other Relatives to Take Their Positions When They Retire
- Tax Officers Who Collect Excessive Amounts of Money from Road Tax Payments Face Dismissal [so this is happening]
- Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Order to Intercept Forestry Crimes Is No Longer Followed [recently, there is more illegal wood transported]
- Disabled Veterans and Retiring Civil Servants Complained about Difficulties to Get Their Salaries [as they were told to wait from day to day]
Not all press reports are verified – but if there are repeatedly reports about the same kind of violations, one would expect concerned statements from the Press and Quick Reaction Unit of the Council of Ministers, explaining to the public what the authorities are doing to check what is going on to rectify what is wrong.
It is surprising that, instead, the spokesperson of the Press and Quick Reaction Unit of the Council of Ministers, Mr. Tith Sothea, when requested to look into problems in the way society is operating in spite of the regulations of the Constitution of 1993, made appeasing statements. He said that the government always rules the country following the law, adding, “If the opposition party wants further reforms beyond this, it has to wait until it wins the elections.” Many people who are convinced they suffer injustice do not want to see a complete political change, they just want to see that the laws and the Constitution of 1993 are really implemented.
When the 2010 report of Amnesty International drew the attention to the plight of thousands of Cambodian citizens suffering from forced relocations – in case of Group 78 in the Tonle Basak commune and other cases – the same spokesperson of the Press and Quick Reaction Unit of the Council of Ministers accused Amnesty International not to have studied the actual situation. Even accusations were made that such reports about the plight of Cambodian people asking for justice are only written to gain money for the writers. One might expect that the spokesperson would rather elaborate what the government is doing to help the people who have lost their homes, where they had had their livelihood – though poor – established for many years.
Will the Minister of Justice also be accused of “not to have studied the actual situation” for blaming the court system of not functioning according to the law, and therefore not delivering justice:
- The Ministry of Justice Released a Letter to Warn Judges and Prosecutors Who Read Newspapers during Hearings and Assign Clerks to Assume Their Responsibility Instead
When a Delegation of the European Parliament recently visited Cambodia to Study the Medical Sector, they observed the gap between what the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia says, and the realities they met. The Mirror carried repeatedly reports about sick people who could not get proper attention in hospitals if they were not able to pay first.
The public is not so much interested in claims by the Press and Quick Reaction Unit of the Council of Ministers that everything is all right. It would rather be interesting to read more about what measure are taken or planned to bridge the gap between the requirements of the Constitution – from which we quote here – than to be referred to a possible change by electoral vote, if the people want to see the Constitution implemented.
Some related quotes from the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia – always interesting and important reading:
- Article 72: The health of the people shall be guaranteed. The State shall give full consideration to disease prevention and medical treatment. Poor citizens shall receive free medical consultation in public hospitals, infirmaries and maternities.
- Article 74: The State shall assist the disabled and the families of combatants who sacrificed their lives for the nation.
Please recommend The Mirror also to your colleagues and friends.
Did I already tell you just how I really like each and every subjects on your website ?
I believe everyone in Cambodia agree that the laws are not being implemented. This is the problem. Many people talk about the problem but few have any practical solution to the problem. You have a very good platform where you can do that but instead, I think, you have spent most of you time just describing problems and finding the facts and figures to support the arguments. If appropriate, I want to give you some food of thought. In addition to describing the problems in your writing, why not also analyze their root causes:
– Why the people always go to the PM when they have problems? Why the court can’t help them?
– Why things will be taken seriously only when the PM shouts although the laws are there? why the practice itself is not appropriate in a true democracy?
– how to eradicate the abuse of law?
– how to ensure that laws can be implemented and cover everyone in the country and I mean everyone?
….
I believe the readers will thank you very much if you can do this.
@Samnang – Thanks for your observations: “You have spent most of your time just describing problems and finding the facts and figures to support the arguments. If appropriate, I want to give you some food for thought. In addition to describing the problems in your writing, why not also analyze their root causes…” – Thanks also for your advice.
Please consider the different roles of the different actors in a society: What you describe as what I try to do – “describing problems and finding the facts and figures to support the arguments” – is what the press, what the media in general have to do. And by connecting different facts – like I did with putting two quite different statements originating from the World Bank onto the Mirror of 9.9.2010, I provide also some analysis. But what you finally ask for is actually the task of all the members of the public electorate in a democratic society – to actively and constructively consider the facts, discuss them publicly, and consider if and what actions can be taken to improve society, and to help every time at elections, to set the direction for the future.
I really appreciate your comments, and I hope that the new layout of the Mirror – providing some more space on the right half of the page, for Comments and Discussion – will be used more and more for such discussions – as a contribution to social development.
The media provide information – and the people use it constructively.
what i would like to suggest is a change of style in the editorials, which you can express your opinions and that should not differ if you are a public electorate or from media. You are already doing it – the analysis, the interpretation… – but for me not in the right path. It seems that you are talking about things on the left while things on the rights are more useful and practical. While you focus a lot on the problems, don’t you feel urged to view the problems from a different perspective, and listen to another political philosophy that you have been ignoring, and write something that is more thought provoking and straight to the point? In an editorial, you should not limit what you write, if you really want to help this country with you pen. I feel your articles are very similar to those of the opposition newspapers, but more civilized. plentiful but ineffective.
@samnang – Thanks again for your response and suggestions. First, thank for saying that my writings are “civilized.” – I do not believe at all that personal attacks and insults have a place in serious discussions. But I do not see that I refuse to “listen to another political philosophy that you have been ignoring” – the fact that in the new layout of The Mirror since 1 September 2010 there is more space allocated for “Comments and Discussion” reflects exactly this interest: to provide to our readers more space to enter into dialogue with what I write. You are very welcome to point to things you feel are more practical (but I missed them), to add “a different perspective,” what you think I have been “ignoring” – please contribute your comments “straight to the point” where you think I missed the point. What is effective in the end is what is being transformed into positions taken and promoted which find a response in a wide range of society.
And I would be happy to see more of our readers to join in this discussion.
the “practical”, “different perspective”, “straight to the points” stuff are already in my very first comment, so there is no need to say it again here. For the political philosophy stuff, I want to mean that what you have written focus exclusively on the already-known political forces (the CPP, SRP, HRP or the royalist). You have been ignoring the emerging philosophy. From the new philosophy, you will find those “practical”, “different perspective”, “straight to the points” stuff.