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Many of us are familiar with the old nursery rhyme and counting song that sings: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor, Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggar Man, Thief. That’s the American version.
Here in Cambodia, we still have tinkers but now they ride motorcycles hung with all the metal implements of their trade.
The career prospects don’t look too good but maybe he will get enough to pay for supper.
This is No. 4 of the nine examples of incompetence and corruption that appeared in the headlines of The Cambodia Daily in just two days. Try to follow the logic of the Interior Ministry official in this piece.
Wednesday, 9 August 2017
Thursday, 10 August 2017
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It’s encouraging to see a street repair crew using machinery in their work instead of just doing everything with hand tools. There’s some progress being made. OTOH, while the woman with the power tamper is wearing a high-visibility safety vest, she’s also wearing flip-flops.
The scale and pervasiveness of corruption and incompetence in the Cambodian government is really staggering. The Kingdom of Wonder indeed. Today’s article focuses on the police–just as corrupt as the rest of officialdom.
Wednesday, 9 August 2017
Thursday, 10 August 2017
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Money changers are a fact of life in Cambodia where the U.S. dollar is legal currency along with the Cambodian riel. Many workers, e.g., the Deaf Development Programme staff, are paid in dollars and then will change some or all of that to riel for small transactions. The rates change daily and one must be observant to choose a money changer that gives a good rate. Click here to look at the process.
The scale and pervasiveness of corruption and incompetence in the Cambodian government is really staggering. The Kingdom of Wonder indeed. An outsider would have a hard time understanding 
how bad things are. To help such an outsider grasp the enormity of the situation here, look at these selections from articles in two editions of The Cambodia Daily this week. To me it is really interesting that the government seems to ignore what the Daily prints. The government regularly intimidates, threatens, imprisons, beats, shoots, kills critics and opposition people and yet the English newspapers seem to get away printing some really strong—truthful–articles that paint the government in a most obvious bad light.
Wednesday, 9 August 2017
Thursday, 10 August 2017
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It’s mid morning and this granny surveys the street from her front gate.
The scale and pervasiveness of corruption and incompetence in the Cambodian government is really staggering. The Kingdom of Wonder indeed. An outsider would have a hard time understanding how bad things are. To help such an outsider grasp the enormity of the situation here, look at these selections from articles in two editions of The Cambodia Daily this week. To me it is really interesting that the government seems to ignore what the Daily prints. The government regularly intimidates, threatens, imprisons, beats, shoots, kills critics and opposition people and yet the English newspapers seem to get away printing some really strong—truthful–articles that paint the government in a most obvious bad light.
Wednesday, 9 August 2017
Thursday, 10 August 2017
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The fruits sold on the street indicate the season of the year–in the absence of changes in temperature, plants, etc.—and now it’s pineapple time!