Category: Government and Society

Getting Wired

The Ministry of Mines and Energy announced that by the end of this year, 88% of villages and 75% of households nation-wide will have access to electricity.  The lack of available, cheap electricity has been a major drag on the country’s development and industrialization.  The ultimate goal is for 100% electrification by 2020, with the power coming from hydropower plants, coal-fired plants, and some biomass-fired plants and solar farms.  It’s an ambitious goal but a vitally important one.

NSSF Signup

Cambodia has the beginnings of a social security system, being implemented in three stages.  A couple years ago the first phase was introduced, offering compensation for employees injured on the job.  Now the second phase is coming into play, a general health-care plan.  Today all the 150+ Maryknoll project employees had to come to the Maryknoll office to sign up and have their ID pictures taken.

The neighbors must have wondered what was going on as a mass of people descended on the Maryknoll office located on a rather quiet street.
Once inside, each staff member was photographed against the white background and then issued a National Social Security Fund ID card. It was surprisingly out of character for a government office to set up this registration site for us rather than forcing each employee to visit two separate sites to submit documents.

Social Security in Cambodia

Several years ago, Cambodia started to develop a social security system for the welfare and protection of its citizens.  It was implemented just three or four years ago with the introduction of a scheme to care for workers injured on the job, what would be called workmen’s compensation in the United States.  This year a second phase is being rolled out, a healthcare plan; and a third phase, old age pensions will be introduced a few years from now.

Because the plan is relatively new and not well understood, an official from the National Social Security Fund came to Maryknoll today to speak to representatives of the Khmer employees of Maryknoll’s six projects.

The ministry actually called this meeting–a relatively rare instance of the government being proactive–but they were late for their own meeting so the Maryknoll staff from different projects used the time to get to know each other better and discuss some common issues.
When the ministry official did come, he spent 2+ hours explaining the program and answering questions from the staff who must now go back to their projects and repeat the explanation to the staff under them.

Cambodian Government:Corrupt, Incompetent 9

This is No. 9 of the nine examples of incompetence and corruption that appeared in the headlines of The Cambodia Daily in just two days.  People trying to preserve their houses and lands in the face of sand-dredging are visited by government thugs.

Wednesday, 9 August 2017

Thursday, 10 August 2017

 

Cambodian Government:Corrupt, Incompetent 8

This is No. 8 of the nine examples of incompetence and corruption that appeared in the headlines of The Cambodia Daily in just two days.  In this article the Cambodian government continues to abuse indigenous peoples and separate them from their ancestral lands.

Wednesday, 9 August 2017

Thursday, 10 August 2017

 

Cambodian Government:Corrupt, Incompetent 7

It’s all changed!  Earlier I noted that it has intrigued me through the years that the Cambodian government has tolerated the Cambodia Daily‘s reporting about corruption and incompetence in the government here.  That’s all stopped. 
The government has now closed down the Cambodia Daily as of 4 September 2017, supposedly for unpaid taxes.  The government is after the non-government press, foreign radio sources (e.g., VOA and RFA), foreign governments (especially the USA and the EU), and any critical NGOs.  The present government is really running scared and so now, even ten months before the national elections in July, 2018, they are criticizing, harassing, and prosecuting any opposition voices.  That is particularly true of opposition politicians who are being arrested and imprisoned on what many consider political charges rather than real offenses.

This is No. 7 of the nine examples of incompetence and corruption that appeared in the headlines of The Cambodia Daily in just two days.  In this article the Cambodian government once again prevents any ASEAN criticism of China in ASEAN statements.

Wednesday, 9 August 2017

Thursday, 10 August 2017