8th March, 2009
Opinion by Anet Khmer
Opinion by Anet Khmer
"Education, if provided correctly, may be one of the hopeful solutions, if not the only solution, to help change the destructive attitude of the Khmers."
Paying judges a decent salary (Cambodia's Scale of Justice) is the good start to try to create justice in the Cambodian society, particularly justice for the poor, the powerless and those who are not well-connected with the government.
Cronyism, nepotism and corruption are problems deeply rooted in the mentality of the Khmers and they are not going to be easily solved in one generation.
One would have imagined that they had died down to some extent after a few years under the Khmer Rouge regime, but it turned out that deprivation during that time causes paradoxically more greed on wealth and power impossible to satisfy among the so-called elites in our society.
For justice to prevail in Cambodia, a new vision on the part of those in power and those waiting for their turn in power has to come about from their hearts. Among other things that need to happen is the desire to step down after a few terms and let new faces and new ideas take over; otherwise, I do not see any glimpse of hope for future changes in Cambodia, our beloved and unfortunate country.
We continue to destroy our own country and love to blame others for the final destruction of our motherland. We can't change geopolitics and the attitudes of our ambitious, territorially greedy and more powerful neighbours to the east and to the west who will continue to exert pressure and influence on us, but we can organize our society and country in such a way that we shall be strong enough and always united to protect the remaining land we still have and maintain our total independence.
Education, if provided correctly, may be one of the hopeful solutions, if not the only solution, to help change the destructive attitude of the Khmers.
Cambodia has so far continued to squander all the opportunities to develop herself into a much more prosperous, self-sufficient and modern nation.
International aids and sympathy plus our abundant natural resources are not here with us for ever. They will eventually be depleted.
It is too sad that the country has so much natural beauty and abundance, but also too many short-sighted leaders from one regime to the next and there appears to be no end to this.
Cronyism, nepotism and corruption are problems deeply rooted in the mentality of the Khmers and they are not going to be easily solved in one generation.
One would have imagined that they had died down to some extent after a few years under the Khmer Rouge regime, but it turned out that deprivation during that time causes paradoxically more greed on wealth and power impossible to satisfy among the so-called elites in our society.
For justice to prevail in Cambodia, a new vision on the part of those in power and those waiting for their turn in power has to come about from their hearts. Among other things that need to happen is the desire to step down after a few terms and let new faces and new ideas take over; otherwise, I do not see any glimpse of hope for future changes in Cambodia, our beloved and unfortunate country.
We continue to destroy our own country and love to blame others for the final destruction of our motherland. We can't change geopolitics and the attitudes of our ambitious, territorially greedy and more powerful neighbours to the east and to the west who will continue to exert pressure and influence on us, but we can organize our society and country in such a way that we shall be strong enough and always united to protect the remaining land we still have and maintain our total independence.
Education, if provided correctly, may be one of the hopeful solutions, if not the only solution, to help change the destructive attitude of the Khmers.
Cambodia has so far continued to squander all the opportunities to develop herself into a much more prosperous, self-sufficient and modern nation.
International aids and sympathy plus our abundant natural resources are not here with us for ever. They will eventually be depleted.
It is too sad that the country has so much natural beauty and abundance, but also too many short-sighted leaders from one regime to the next and there appears to be no end to this.
1 comment:
Very good piece of opinion. Education is the solution to Cambodian social ills, but institutional reforms would be the best way to effect change in Cambodia. A system must be put in place to force our leaders to change their corrupt mentality. Only change from the top can Cambodia progress.
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