… autocracy that followed the end of the most tragic and genocidal KR regime at the very end of the 1970s. The country was like a company where the boss decides on everything from buying toilets papers to hiring who he wants. Checks and balances were unknown or didn’t exist, the legal system resembled the kangaroo court, and everybody was satisfied and threaded along.

To paraphrase William Pitt, a British Prime Minister in the 2nd half of the 18th century, nepotism is the off-spring of unlimited power that is apt to corrupt the mind of those who possess it.

Then came 1993 with some sort of democracy that lays parallelly with the existing autocracy. This gave birth to a compromise arrangement with a two-head leadership. Nepotism of the past became a highly prized example for the new party to copy and to put it into effect for its interests. Nepotism had then found the most fertile ground to breed and to grow. Each party stashed the administration with its minions regardless of competence, qualification, skill, educational background … the unwritten rule was that every position must be filled by 2 persons, one from each party. Parity obliges!

Within the society, it is even and often heard that: “if you do not know how to “si sam nauk”, it means you are not smart!” What type of society do people live in when good character and virtue are turned upside down and indicted by corrupted thinking and attitude! Furthermore the old Khmer phrase “si toach dôay toach, si thom dôay thom” remains 101% valid more now than ever!

In the words of George Bernard Shaw, democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.

Nepotism promotes new nepotism, and the process self-multiplies at exponential rate. Cambodia is then like a pizza pie owned by a patriarch who distributes each slice to each nephew at his own pleasure and with no question asked. Old-boy network, that is!

John Steinbeck, once said: Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts  … perhaps the fear of a loss of power.

So, Kacvey, you can then wonder how do we go from here to tame this monster called nepotism and its bedfellow called corruption?

In the latest report on world corruption, Transparency International studied the level of corruption in the public sectors in 175 countries, Cambodia …

To be continued to “The nephews – Part III”

My dear Kacvey

The cacophony in Phnom Penh about Khmer Chéat Tè Muoy ខ្មែរជាតិតែមួយ (KCTM) and/or Khmer Chéat Pi Béy ខ្មែរជាតិពីរបី (KCPB) must be about to break your ear drum as it is so loud but unfortunately devoid of scrupulous knowledge or refined intellect. The bigger a drum is, the more hollow is its interior emptiness, and the louder is the sounds it produces.

There would not be easy answers to your question how the issue will play out. In fact, some angles of the issue had already been touched upon in previous posts, i.e. “Independent Cambodia”, “A Khmer American in Massachusetts” and “Pain in the “nec””.

Fractions and partisanship are formed along the line of real Khmerness of mono-nationality and foreign passport holders. Both sides seem to advance any pell-mell arguments and justifications that only serve their own immediate interests. Some even shamelessly used foreign countries examples to defend their undefendable point of view. The gibberish and horse trading will go on at the expense of the millions of Khmers who are constitutionally eligible to vote.

Quite a number of KCPB are holding high and very high positions and status in the leadership of Cambodia, and the outcome of the 28 July 2013 elections had seated a number of KCPB as deputies to the national assembly.

If they cannot come up with a solution that serves Cambodia in the long range, in a real and true democracy, the sovereign and independent people of Cambodia should be directly consulted in such a big issue like this one. A referendum at national level would allow the millions of Khmers to express their wish and to tell the country what type of leaders they want.

You, Kacvey, certainly recall, as a matter of a historical reminiscence, your time in Paris in the late 1960s when General De Gaulle decided to consult the French with a constitutional referendum on 27 April 1969! The French said “NO” to him and he resigned from the presidency and proudly left Rue Faubourg St. Honoré for Colombey-les-deux-Eglises. That’s courage in politics!

Respect of democracy in Cambodia is the duty of both KCTM and KCPB.

Postscript.

Kacvey, you certainly have a few KCPB among your acquaintances in Phnom Penh. Please share this link with them as it is about the Mayor of London who happens to hold dual citizenship (UK and US) and his fiscal situation with the US IRS.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/nov/20/boris-johnson-us-tax-bill