1 July 2013

[Outrage 1] In February, 2012, Chhouk Bundith, the governor of Bavet City fired his handgun directly into a crowd of protesting young women garment workers asking for higher wages from a factory that makes shoes for the German Puma brand. Three of them were shot and injured. They were lucky they were not killed. Bundith has never been arrested. Originally the charges against him were dropped without explanation, and then because of the outcry, the charges were reinstated. Now five days ago a court has found Bundith guilty of a lesser charge--instead of attempted murder--and sentenced him to eighteen months, a mere "slap on the wrist" for attempting to kill people and injuring them. But guess what? Bundith is nowhere to be found. [Outrage 2] Asked about efforts to apprehend Bundith, the provincial police chief Koeng Khorn said: "We are working on this case, but recently we have been too busy with the election." He and other government officials probably have not worked at their jobs for weeks as they campaign for the ruling political party. The government is basically in a state of suspended animation, officials ignoring their jobs and duties to make sure the ruling party gets re-elected.

19 May 2008

10 September 2005

One of the most disturbing realizations for me here in Cambodia is not the grinding poverty, the lack of a medical and educational and legal system, and all the other major failures of a 21st century society, but rather the inability to trust, even to respect, government officials and the police.

I'm sure there must be a few good people in both the government and law enforcement, but I find myself thinking, every time I encounter a policeman or a high-level official, "You SOB!" The police are affected by the grinding poverty and are on the take, like most people with that possibility, to supplement incomes unbelieveably low. But because of their official position as the guardians of society, it is deeply troubling to me to know that the average person has no one to go to for help, even at the lowest levels of government services.

High government officials are another story. They evidence very little concern for the people they rule, and their actions offer even less help. Instead they lead lives of luxury and privilege and even abuse of others, protected by impunity, nepotism, and cronyism.

And what is really saddening to me is that I now see the US Bush government exhibiting some of those same failures. Five of the eight top men at FEMA are simply Bush loyalists, friends, and campaign workers, with no disaster experience. A significant number of ambassadors in U.S. embassies around the world are Bush's friends from the oil business and other political and commercial alliances. The whole government seems for sale. And even the officials who really publicly screw things up, e.g., in Iraq, are promoted and are given medals! No wonder the image and prestige of the U.S. has fallen to such lows.

19 May 2008

10 September 2005

One of the most disturbing realizations for me here in Cambodia is not the grinding poverty, the lack of a medical and educational and legal system, and all the other major failures of a 21st century society, but rather the inability to trust, even to respect, government officials and the police.

I'm sure there must be a few good people in both the government and law enforcement, but I find myself thinking, every time I encounter a policeman or a high-level official, "You SOB!" The police are affected by the grinding poverty and are on the take, like most people with that possibility, to supplement incomes unbelieveably low. But because of their official position as the guardians of society, it is deeply troubling to me to know that the average person has no one to go to for help, even at the lowest levels of government services.

High government officials are another story. They evidence very little concern for the people they rule, and their actions offer even less help. Instead they lead lives of luxury and privilege and even abuse of others, protected by impunity, nepotism, and cronyism.

And what is really saddening to me is that I now see the US Bush government exhibiting some of those same failures. Five of the eight top men at FEMA are simply Bush loyalists, friends, and campaign workers, with no disaster experience. A significant number of ambassadors in U.S. embassies around the world are Bush's friends from the oil business and other political and commercial alliances. The whole government seems for sale. And even the officials who really publicly screw things up, e.g., in Iraq, are promoted and are given medals! No wonder the image and prestige of the U.S. has fallen to such lows.

29 August 2005

Earlier I claimed a small victory over the blaring noise levels of Cambodia, but in the past two weeks I've had to retreat. The large concrete house next door to us, formerly the location of an NGO, was sold and we thought the new owners were modifying it as we saw them start to tear down interior walls. It turns out they are tearing down the whole building. Our landlord says a government ministry bought the lot and building, and it's probably only the government that could afford to have about 20 Cambodian men and women wrecking the house with sledge hammers.

When they first started, they were working inside and the noise was somewhat muffled. But now they are outside breaking up the remains of the walls and ceilings to get the steel reinforcing rod out for resale. And they start at 5:30 in the morning!!! I couldn't believe it the first morning I was awakened by the sledge hammers in the darkness but it's been going on for four mornings now. And the poor workers don't leave until 5:00 PM, an 11½ hour day for which they probably receive $1.00 or $1.25 for hard labor in the blazing sun and daily torrential monsoon rains. (The photo was taken from my bedroom window.)

Lowering the Noise Level One small victory 29 June 2005 One of the curses of Cambodian culture, at least for the expatriates, is the incessant high-volume noise that is blasted at participants at weddings, funerals, karoake, and just about any occasion where the family can afford to rent a sound system.  The noise levels are incredible.  It is impossible to speak.  There is something in the culture that has developed the notion that broadcasting an event to the neighborhood is desirable and that the sound system must be literally as loud as possible. So today I felt great satisfaction at a graduation ceremony for our students and their parents at a restaurant in Banteay Meanchey Province, when I was able to tell the sound technician "Turn it off!" as he started to flood the eating area with Cambodian pop music.  This was a celebration for DEAF people!  It certainly was not appropriate to blast them with music, and I wanted the parents to be able to talk to each other.  This time I was in control: I was the head of the NGO that made the rental, I was paying for the whole celebration, and when I said to turn it off, they did.  It was wonderful.

2 January 2005

Sometimes it is really embarrassing to be an American living abroad, especially when the miserliness of the United States is so obvious.  Everyone knows the US is the richest country in the world and has the money to do whatever it wants to.  The problem is that when it comes to helping poorer countries in a generous and constructive way, the US doesn't want to.  Many Americans think US foreign aid is really generous.  That's a big misconception.  The US gives the least of its GNP of all the industrialized nations.

Read a very good editorial on US stinginess from the New York Times.

29 August 2004

Yesterday's New York Times featured an article about California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's intention to sign into law legislation recently approved that will allow drivers of up to 75,000 hybrid vehicles to use the state's car pool lanes even when driving alone. The car pool or HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes will be open to alternative-fuel vehicles that meet certain requirements, primarily a specification that they have a fuel-efficiency of at least 45 miles per gallon. At this time, only the Toyota Prius, Honda Insight, and Civic Hybrid will qualify.

Now get this.  William C. Ford, Jr., the chairman of the Ford Motor Company, and an official of the United Auto Workers National Ford Department wrote to Schwarzenegger whining and complaining that the legislation "puts our workers and stockholders at a competitive disadvantage." Ford's letter said that Schwarzenegger might as well promote a "Buy Japanese" campaign.

What nerve!  Everyone knows that auto emissions are a major source of environmental damage. Everyone knows SUVs are a major contributor to the problem. Ford freely chose NOT to build energy-efficient vehicles, and now has the gall to cry foul when a competitor takes the environment seriously and builds a car that is extremely attractive to consumers. (The waiting list for the Honda Prius is months long in California.)

Mr. Ford, it's not the proposed California legislation that puts your workers and stockholders at a disadvantage. It's Ford's callous approach to the environment and the Ford executives' mis-reading of the signs of the times that has caused Ford's "problem." Let us hope that consumers really are starting to demand more energy-efficient vehicles and that Ford's problems will continue and increase as long as the company ignores the environment and continues to promote gas-guzzlers.

11 May 2004

We're making enemies faster than we can kill them.

George Bush must go.  Anybody but Bush in the November elections.  Please!

30 April 2004

Things are starting to take a political turn in this section of the website:

From Slate's Today's Papers:

The Washington Post off-leads a long look at revelations from a House hearing yesterday that less than five percent of the $18.4 billion Congress earmarked for Iraq's reconstruction has been spent because of what one Republican lawmaker called "loss of central command and control." In addition, the Post reports that more than $300 million has been shifted away from aid projects. For example, $184 million for drinking-water will go instead to support the new U.S. embassy in Baghdad; $29 million for "democracy building" will cover administrative expenses.

A bumper sticker:

We didn't elect him. We don't have to keep him.

30 January 2002

Isn't it rather a joke that the Nevada boxing commission has refused to give Mike Tyson a boxing license? It's not OK for him to bite one man's ear and another man's leg and get involved in brawls, etc., outside the boxing ring. But it's OK for another boxer to get in a ring and deliberately try to kill or seriously injure an opponent. Boxing should be banned.

9 January 2002

As undeveloped as Cambodia is, it might seem odd that a big irritation for me here is the practice of people driving cars--and motorcycles!--while using mobile phones. The traffic conditions are already chaotic enough, with people with right-hand drive (and illegal) cars driving in the wrong lane on streets for left-hand drive traffic, and with four or five people in the front seat. And then the driver using a phone to boot as he goes along! Mobile phones are something like cars and other fast vehicles. They are status symbols and signs of the might-makes-right thinking here. It's sad how it's developing an unthinking and unfeeling lack of sensitivity to others. The worst example of offensive mobile phones that I've heard of in any country occurred yesterday at a graduation of a skills training program for disabled people. A secretary of state of a government, cabinet-level ministry was giving her 25-minute speech to the graduates when her phone rang. She answered it in mid-speech and spoke for two to three minutes, explaining why she was running late and saying, no, she couldn't meet people tonight because she was too busy but what about tomorrow at lunch. Worst of all, she never even turned away from the microphone so that everyone in the audience was subjected to her barbaric behavior! Did she apologize for the interruption? Hah!

22 April 2001

Today I went to the main post office in Phnom Penh to get some stamps and mail one letter. I was pleased earlier to discover that at least two branches of the post office are open on Sundays. That little bit of pleasure was the last I received from the postal people here. Today I asked them for 10 2000-riel stamps and 10 500-riel stamps, a combination to make up the postage for a basic 10-gram letter to the US. They didn't have any. Since this was the third time I had gone to the post office only to be told they didn't have stamps, I asked to talk to the supervisor. He was a very nice man and apologized and said that their procedures were responsible for running out of stamps. (I asked him why they didn't change the procedures since this was a repeat performance, but he didn't have an answer for that.) He said he could run the letter I had through a postage machine so I gave it to him, he gave it to the counter clerk, she weighed it, and put 3100 riel of stamps on it! I protested that for one envelope and one piece of paper, that was too much, and he tried to show me that the scale was a fraction over the 10-gram basic weight. It was right on the line, and it wasn't even a postal scale but just a cheap plastic scale available in the nearby market. At that I asked him for the address of the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs and told him I'd just send him a letter to report the PO's performance.

26 September 2000

The Occasional Outburst items always generate more comments from readers than anything else I put up here on the web site.  After the last one, Jim Probst (now working for Maryknoll in Wisconsin) wrote to say he knew exactly what I was talking about from his years working in northeast Thailand along the Laotian border. Then the next day I was scanning some photographs for an AIDS project and the power went off.  It was a nuisance but I took comfort in the fact that it was going to throw the Buddhist wat off the air, too, and I'd get a little period of silence.  But, no!  Within a few minutes they were back, blasting the neighborhood with their amplified chants!  They must have a battery-powered system over there!  It's not fair!

21 September 2000

The Buddhists today set back inter-religious dialogue efforts about ten years, as far as I am concerned. (Not that they are concerned about that since inter-religious dialogue is basically a western preoccupation. The Buddhists are perfectly happy for you to be whatever you want to be.) It's that time of the month when they get on the PA systems and chant and wail at all hours of day and night. It's been going on for three days now actually. Today was the worst, though. I got home this afternoon and they were blasting away with two different PA systems at the wat (temple) next door to us, both playing something totally different and unrelated! Talk about noise! I taped it and am going to prepare an audio file for people to click on and listen to.

30 April 2000

One of the worst inventions of any modern industrialized nation is the 2 round-pin electrical plug created by the British. They were probably the first AC plug in use in the UK, and they're just now being phased out. But in the decades it was the main electrical connector for the British system, it's impossible to calculate how many headaches it has caused. These plugs will NOT stay in a wall or other socket. They have no way of creating tension to keep them seated, and they are always falling out or--what is worse--staying in the socket but being so loose that they do not make connection. I have used a roll of masking tape trying to keep them tight in sockets. I don't know how the British endured them for so many years, but thankfully now they are being replaced by a better--although very bulky--three square-pin plug.

10 January 2000

It is very difficult to decipher handwritten numbers written by a Hong Kong person. 1s, 4s, 5s, 7s, and 9s are particularly inscrutable because many HK people do not write them the way they are printed or typed. They have completely different shapes and forms here so that every time someone gives me a written telephone number or other number, I ask them what each digit is, just to be sure. For example, look at this receipt I received when I bought a pair of shoes. In the Price and Total spaces is written "PP.p". What that really means is 99.9. HK people tend to understand each other's hand writing basically because it has become a cultural thing here. The teachers here learned the malformed numbers from their own teachers who taught malformed numbers, and now the present kids are learning to malform them also. Their number writing is sure a problem for others, though!

Thursday, 24 June 1999

In the United States schools have been closed for the summer holiday for several weeks already. Here in Hong Kong they still have several weeks to go until the usual mid-July end of school. This week most HK schools are finishing up their examinations, but does that mean the students will then be free? No! When the exams are over, HK schools have several weeks of activities while the teachers correct the exam booklets. Instead of spreading various extra-curricular activities throughout the year to create interest, preserve sanity, and develop motivation in both teachers and students, they are all saved until the last weeks of school when the students are exhausted from the exams just completed, and the teachers--even more exhausted--are forced to do extra duty preparing for all the activities while correcting papers. Basically, IMHO, it's because the British education system is focused on exams. The point of education here is not learning but passing the exams, so nothing is allowed to get in the way of preparing for exams during the school year. Then there's this sudden rush of non-stop activity at the very end of the year when in the US both teachers and students want nothing more than to just get away from school. One teacher friend of mine in an all-girls secondary school reported the next few weeks there will see a fashion show, a karaoke competition, a drama festival, and a retreat. Other schools will also have sporting activities. Why not spread activities throughout the year, have exams at the end of the year, and then go home? Send the report cards in the mail instead of forcing kids to wait at school for them! Disclaimer: Obviously the British system and the HK schools are producing some really top-notch students so they can't be all bad!

Tuesday, 8 December 1998

One of the dumbest things the new Hong Kong government did when it took over control from the British in July, 1997 was to make all HK stamps with the Queen's image on them no longer valid for mailing letters. There was an extremely complicated process for exchanging British-era postage stamps for the new stamps. The worst part was that they had to be pasted on official forms and then other forms filled out in triplicate. All of this necessitated hours of waiting in post offices. The postmaster general said that this was necessary because postage stamps are a matter of "sovereignty." But so are coins and the government didn't recall all the coins with the British emblem on them. Invalidating the colonial stamps was especially silly because they would have been used one time and that's it. The problem would take care of itself very easily and quickly, whereas the coins can conceivably keep circulating for decades! Many people kept their colonial stamps, thinking they would increase in value, but actually they are worth less now than their face value, and so recently people have been starting to get rid of them by using them on their letters and hoping the post office won't notice.

Wednesday, 4 November 1998

I really do like many aspects of British culture. Maybe I'm a bit romantic and it's the quaintness, the "old-fashioned" British way of doing so many things that intrigues me. On the other hand, I wish they'd get into the 20th century in other areas, e.g., addresses. The British style is to avoid numbers whenever possible, it seems. A typical British address might read: John Owens Doe The Maples Treffordshire Surrey SM3 9RX England (they use a lot of middle names because, I suspect, so many of their surnames are so bland) That's great if you live in a small, rural village where everyone knows you and knows where "The Maples" is. But if you're trying to find a place in a modern city, such an address is useless. I am continually being asked what the street number is for the Bishop Ford Center, and I have to keep telling people we don't have one. Not that each residence hasn't been identified. Some government department has very thoroughly located and noted every single dwelling and shack in Hong Kong and inscribed some code number on it. Whether it was for taxation purposes or immigration control, I don't know, but each dwelling has a number. But it doesn't have a street number. The post office does an amazing job of delivering mail given that addresses are so jumbled and opaque. Singapore a few years ago had a campaign to identify any residence on the island with a three line address. It's exceedingly simple and works wonderfully. HK could do the same but just lacks the political will. Maybe we're still too close to the British era.

Wednesday, 24 June 1998

Why is it so many new shoes purchased today have shoe laces that are about a mile too long?  I bought some plain black dress shoes and the shoe laces were long enough to wrap around my ankles after tying the bow!  What's the sense in that?  The same happened with a pair of casual shoes that I use for hiking.  The laces are so long I tie them in a double knot and they still drag the ground.  Is this another US fad or just a waste of resources by shoe manufacturers?

Wednesday, 03 December 1997