Government and Society – Page 2 – Welcome to Cambodia, and…..

Collaboration with Caritas Cambodia

Maryknoll Cambodia has a Memorandum of Understanding with the government of Cambodia that allows the Deaf Development Programme to operate legally in the kingdom. That MOU will end in December and today the management team of DDP met with the administration of Caritas Cambodia to see about DDP’s becoming part of Caritas Cambodia’s MOU.

The King and He

The new Vatican nuncio (ambassador) to Cambodia is Archbishop Peter Bryan Wells who is from Tulsa, Oklahoma in the United States. Today he met with King Sihomani at the royal palace to present his credentials.

I think I would be happy with a little less of the fancy dress and diplomatic niceties on the part of the church. We could probably carry out the mission of Jesus of loving each other without all that.

Human Rights

Today DDP was invited to a meeting at the UN office for Human Rights and it was quite an interesting and productive meeting. I am not aware of the UN Commission on Human Rights bringing us together before but today they talked about plans for a campaign to promote the human rights of people with disabilities. That is tricky in Cambodia. That type of advocacy is defined as conspiracy by some government officials.

What’s Cambodia Like ? #6

The medical system in Cambodia is not up to international standards. A good example is use of a folk remedy for electrocution: burying people in sand.
[Clipping from the *Khmer Times*]

What’s Cambodia Like #5?

Too many examples of what Cambodia is like are negative. Putting Cambodia in a positive light is its training of Ukrainian soldiers in the clearing of landmines, an area in which Cambodia has a lot of experience.
[Photo from *Khmer Times*]

What’s Cambodia Like #4?

I don’t intend to dwell only on the negative aspects of life and culture in Cambodia but there are so many of them. They certainly can’t be ignored in daily life.

It seems almost every day, literally, there is another story of some government official or military officer or village chief arrested for fraud, selling government land, appropriating land of indigenous peoples, cutting protected forests–you name it.

What’s Cambodia Like #3?

CITA’s proposal notes that the history of the Khmer Rouge regime is not taught in the high school curriculum, along with other important facts that are also omitted. This is what Cambodia children grow up with, a lack of knowledge of even their own country and culture.

What’s Cambodia like? #2

No need to worry about checks and balances and separation of powers and messy things like the rule of law in Cambodia. Everyone should just do what the prime minister says.

Turning a page?

Right before Christmas, Prime Minister Hun Sen made a surprise visit to the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, a gesture widely interpreted as an indication that the Cambodian government wishes to improve ties with the United States.

[Photo from the Khmer Times]

Category: Government and Society