By A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D
Last June, the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission's senior researcher, Lao Mong Hay, called for the empowerment of Cambodia's institutions so the people's constitutional rights can be secured. He quoted the architect of European Unity, French economist and diplomat Jean Monnet: "Nothing is possible without men; nothing is lasting without institutions."
Monnet also observed: "People only accept change when they are faced with necessity, and only recognize necessity when a crisis is upon them."
There is a continuing discussion between two officers of the U.S. armed forces in Iraq, a Buddhist and a Muslim, both of Cambodian descent, following a series of my columns in the Pacific Daily News on Cambodia. The view of one holds that government is "responsible" to educate and empower the people to build a better Cambodia; another asserts that government can "set conditions" for people to progress, but individuals must walk the talk and own some consequences.
It's a healthy dialogue. As thoughts are provoked, the door to a horizon of options and perspectives is opened. That's how we grow and progress.
Indeed, man is the impetus to achieve the possible. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights sets as "the highest aspiration of the common people" a world of freedom of expression and belief, and freedom from hunger and from fear. It's an ideal world but nations agreed the declaration must be "a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations."
In practice, man everywhere aspires generally to a life of relative contentment, in an acceptable condition of self-sufficiency and general good health.
The American forefathers believed in the equality of man with unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and in instituting a government among men who give it power to attain these goals.
A country's political system refers to its institutional or structural arrangements -- interest groups, political parties, the three branches of government, the bureaucracy -- to formulate and pursue society's collective goals.
Each institution or structure must perform its specific roles and carry out its functions in order for the political system to make and implement decisions and policies that affect society, economy, and culture. That's how politics functions.
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As an organizing force, every government in the world aspires to fulfill its general ultimate goals to keep the nation independent and free from foreign occupation, maintain order and security, and provide for the economic and social well-being of all citizens.
Budapest-born American Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the State University of New York, Thomas Stephen Szasz, posits, "The system isn't stupid, but the people in it are."
It is humans, from among men in society, who populate the system, be it monarchical, democratic, or communist. On behalf of institutions, which interact with one another in a democratic system, men make decisions and policies, and implement them. This is governance.
Good governance includes participation, the rule of law, transparency, responsiveness, consensus, equity and inclusiveness, effectiveness and efficiency, and accountability, according to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific,. Bad governance is increasingly seen as "one of the root causes of all evil in our societies."
Good governance is an ideal, says ESCAP, but to ensure sustainable human development, there must be actions to transform this ideal into a reality.
The "people" in the system make "good" or "bad" governance.
To guide them, a constitution -- a collection of principles, norms, customs, standards and a set of rules -- is the supreme law of the land. It contains statements of national values, ideas and goals; describes who does what in government; defines each branch's powers and limitations, the division of powers; and legitimizes a government's rule.
Cambodia does have necessary modern institutions and people with expertise to run them. Yet the organizing force under Cambodian Premier Hun Sen has failed to achieve ESCAP's characteristics of good governance. It is riddled with corruption, abuses citizens' rights and tramples its own laws, while still being pledged a billion dollars of aid from the international community in 2009.
Cambodia's 1993-instituted constitutional direct democracy, the National Congress, is supposed to be held once a year by the premier and chaired by the king, to allow citizens to meet the country's leaders "to be directly informed of various matters of national interest" and "to raise issues and make proposals for the state authorities to address." It has never been held. On March 4, the premier said since his People's Party holds a majority in Parliament, it could amend the constitution "to remove it from the constitution altogether."
An individual's action or inaction is determined principally by his or her values (Khmer values include integrity, honesty, hard work, meritocracy), beliefs (in Buddha's precepts and Khmer codes of conduct), interests (in serving the people), and experiences (personal and national).
Sen's abuses of state institutions are actions detrimental to his country's dignity and his people's economic and social well-being, and are violations of his own peoples' norms and values.
Cambodia's political system is not antiquated, but Hun Sen's greed and lust for power are detrimental to Cambodia's reputation on the world stage.
A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.
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