The Khmer Riche 160310

As you have read in my previous blogs I am really struggling to balance the complete and abject poverty experienced by the majority here in Cambodia, forced on them and hindered by a small percentage of highly powerful 'Khmer Riche'. This small group run Cambodia, politically and economically, with corruption at such a high rate it is very difficult for the average Cambodian to get anywhere without becoming part of the process.

The selling off of land which belongs to indeginous people, who have been working it for years, in order to log it for the highly sought after (and illegal) tropical hardwood is just one of the many ways in which the rich are profiting from taking advantage of the poorest.It is not just a problem in Mondulkiri either, all over Cambodia huge swathes of land have been sold off in order to extract the natural resources, whether it is wood, gold, gems or oil. In the linked article from The Times it says that Cambodia should be making billions a year in oil revenues alone and yet it still receives more than this in foreign aid.

So why, I hear you ask, should we support a country which is so set on not helping itself? This is a difficult question and one I have asked myself many times, especially when I come across corruption perpetrated by Cambodians which directly damages those most in need.

Firstly, Cambodia needs help. The Khmer Rouge destroyed an entire generation of professionals like teachers and doctors, so advisors are needed to temporarily fill the stop-gap. However, the government regularly fails its key workers when they need support the most. For example, teachers are paid $30 a month on average. $30? Even here that is barely enough to support a family for a week. So they need to generate more income and this is done by corrupt practices such as charging students to come to school, making students pay for exam papers or even insisting that the children buy snacks from the teachers spouse. This in turn causes parents to resent teachers and means the poorest will never succeed at school. I have seen this happen regularly and teacher/parent relations are a huge aspect of my work here. However, how much sustainable success can I really have if the Government continues its low salary policy?

Secondly, if foreign aid pulled out from Cambodia it is the poorest who would suffer. The rich elite rely on NGOs to support the poor and I fear that if they did leave in protest at the system, the rich would not suddenly revert to social responsibility. The poor would suffer a huge drop in services and in the short term there would be a peak in mortality rates, not to mention the long term effects such a radical change would cause. The Department for International Development (DFID-British Government) have recently pulled out of Cambodia; I wonder who will be next?

So, although I regularly feel that Cambodia has been let down by those who are supposed to protect, conserve and love their country I do not think it wise to abandon Cambodia to its fate.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7023700.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1