Monthly Archives: June 2015

Funny Things Happened in the City of Tonlé Buon Mouk

21 Sunday Jun 2015

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My dear Kacvey,

So, the extraordinary congress of the ruling party has confirmed what has been known as the sun always rises in the East! Where are the fireworks to celebrate the investiture of the big nabob as president of the party (506 out of 507)? Where are the hurrahs and streets celebrations by the members-at-large of the party? Why this solemn and joyless extraordinary congress organised in such a hurry after the death of the president?

The prologue to the fatigue of power amalgamated with the disinterest of the citizenry?

Anyway, no new faces coming out of the congress at the helm of the party. It’s the same engine that runs the car since 1978 with the same driver and same passengers. The car has a new coat of paint, the people inside with fatter cheeks, dyed and greasy hair, in nicer suits and pockets with heavy load of green bucks; it’s vintage communist-turned-autocratic, disguised as democracy. It’s also a lot of noises but limited substance. As Alphonse Karr’s epigram tells us: “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.” The more it changes, the more it’s the same thing.

There is however one thing that defies political logic, if such logic does exist. The “new” president is seconded by 2 vice-presidents, one of which is the newly appointed president of the senate.

Let take a moment to ponder on this case of one vice-president who is also the president of the senate. According to the constitution, when the king is out of the country, the president of the senate will act as the head of state. Now, in a hypothetical scenario where the king is on a state visit to a foreign country for a number of days, would then “the prime minister and the party president” be hierarchically lower than the vice-president of the party? Meanwhile, if there is an official meeting or ceremony, would “the prime minister and the president of the party” sit behind the vice-president and play second fiddle? Role reversal? And who is the auxiliary ego?

Kacvey, you may be asking why this letter to you? It’s simple: it is an invite to watch people climbing up the tree; when they reach the lofty peak, a heavy and drenching rain breaks out! Where else would they go?

The Apotheosis

17 Wednesday Jun 2015

Posted by in Culture, Event, Social

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My dear Kacvey,

Lately, there is a study which indicated the difference between the US and Cambodia as follows:

– The US has 1 President and a Vice-President, but Cambodia has 1 PM and 9 deputy PMs;

– The US has 16 secretaries and under-secretaries of state, but Cambodia has 486 ministers, secretaries and under-secretaries of state, and

– The US has $16.6 trillion of GDP and $51,688 per capita, but Cambodia has only $14 billion of GDP and $992 per capita.

Kacvey, you can instruct your law school students to do the critical analysis by including the number of military and police generals whose stars might comfortably outnumber those celestial ones in the whole galaxy. Please share the results later on. Thanks.

This preamble is to introduce the disclosure that 2 other high-ranking members (i.e. the deputy PM and minister of interior, and the new president of senate) of the ruling party have just been ennobled to be “samdachs”, right after the departure of another samdach, the previous president of the senate. 1 out, 2 in. Anybody can do anything one wishes in the house one rules!

But why only these 2? And why not also (or one of) the other 2: the deputy PM and chairman of the council of ministers, and the deputy PM and minister of national defense? Step-by-step and subtle elimination, or discreet reshuffling, one wonders!? Any favoritism in filigrane or veiled jealousy in the pipeline?

Nevertheless, could the plebeians also ask themselves whether their skill and talent ennoble Cambodia? Does aggrandizing members of their own clan dignify the essence of being a Khmer? Would this “samdachisation” be followed by an enfeoffment or is it already done in secrecy or in disguise? Middle age European or ancient imperial Chinese customs are indeed taking hold in contemporary Cambodia.

Would it be also ludicrous not to have seen any descendant of kings Norodom and Sisowath conferred or elevated to the rank of samdach, since Sandach Euv? Why, so?

Kacvey, let play some games with words, such as:

– Samdach – What if “am” is deleted, would they later be?

– To eat – Would they “soây”? or: still “pisar, sibai, haup, ah sray, boriphork, …”

– To go – Would they “yéang”? or:” touv, deur …”

– To sleep – Would they “phtoum”? or: “dék, kééng, chaul moung, …”

– To die – Would it be “sokouth”? or: “chaak thaan, moronak, slapp, ngoàb, …”

Well, each society has its own nature, substance and hierarchy, but the bottom line is, as the saying goes, the higher you climb, the harder will be the fall.

Or to paraphrase Montaigne: Si haut que l’on soit placé, on n’est jamais assis que sur son cul.

A Chinese Proverb

11 Thursday Jun 2015

Posted by in Culture, Politics, Social

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My dear Kacvey,

Hope you are not startled by the title!

Well, as of a couple of days ago, the big nabob invoked the metaphysical power of the “préah âng dangkeur sanctorium” located at the confluent of the Tonlé Buon Mouk. He openly dared the minority leader to take an oath (in Khmer: sbââth) at the above shrine for an issue that went back to 28 July 2013, and its aftermath.

Should the issue be restated again? Nah! You already know it quite well: 68 seats, 55 seats, irregularities, boycotting the NA, demonstrations at Independence Park etc … Old and outdated stuff!

But what is creepy and ominous about it is that – may be he is very unhappy about the current development of the “coconculdia” – the big nabob has revived it by including the super-natural factor/element in his provocation. The gist of the issue is that the big nabob wanted the minority leader to take an oral oath with him inasmuch as:

– if his party robbed the 2013 elections, may he and members of his party be stricken by lightnings (roun tèass banh), or

– if it is not the case, may the minority leader be hit by the same calamity.

This is where the whole scenario becomes zany: Does the big nabob believe that préah âng dangkeur holds the key to the truth about the elections results? Does he have a direct telephone line to this holiness? Does he believe that he can manipulate the holiness the same way as he manipulates the nec, then and now?

Kacvey, do yo still recall the time as a young boy, you dare other kids to swear that they did not steal your marbles “kaun/kroab khly” in the pagoda courtyard?

How well Khmer kids customs have fared through the passage of times! They are now picked up and used by Khmer politicians and leaders in the 21st century to settle some old score between themselves.

Perhaps they are going through or living a second rebirth or second youth, the first one being sacrificed to the altar of politics at so early age! Let them then play together whatever game they want to play, without lightning rod though(!), in the rain, thunderstorms, hale, lightnings, hurricane, flood, tornado or deluge, if they really have the guts to match their words with deeds!

One strike! Two strikes! Que sera, sera! What will be, will be! It’s their childish comedy act that strictly concerns themselves.

Weatherman of the City of Tonlé Buon Mouk, please tell its citizenry ahead of time when the big lightning will occur in your next forecast! Thank you in advance!

Well, in the Chinese language there is a proverb: “平时不烧香，临时抱佛脚“(pronounciation: ping2 shi2 bu4 shao1 xiang1, lin2 shi2 bao4 fo2 jiao3) which literally means “to clasp Buddha’s feet when danger arrives.” To a certain figurative extent, it also means to profess devotion only when in trouble. Although this proverb is often referred to students who hastily cram for exams, it could well apply to the swearing at the préah âng dangkeur sanctorium, as men have lost all sense of human rationality, wisdom, logic and good sense.

Will their heart be in their mouth when seeking the divine intervention as a punishment?

By the by, below are other Chinese idioms or words of wisdom that could forewarn us about the fate of autocracy and its aftermath:

1. 树倒猢狲散 (shù dǎo hú sūn sàn) – When the tree topples the monkeys scatter. Rats leave a sinking ship.

2. 一个人不能事奉两个主 (yī gè rén bù néng shì fèng liǎng gè zhǔ) – No man can serve two masters

A Pause for Thought/Une Pause de Réflexion

09 Tuesday Jun 2015

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My dear Kacvey,

You are without a doubt aware of Monday 8 June’s news  in the City of Tonlé Buon Mouk.

As it happened, the aftermath of it would for sure create ramifications and consequences or even crisis on the constitution, politics and institutions in Cambodia. You may also recall the column “Ad interim” posted on Monday 19 February 2015.

Let’s keep politics out of the picture for a moment, and let’s have a pause for thought – even concern, as always for Cambodia – with this passage that Marcus Aurelius wrote in “Meditations” (Book II, paragraph 14):

“14. Even if you were going to live three thousand years, and even ten thousand times that, still remember that no man loses any life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses. The longest and shortest are thus brought to the same. For the present is the same to all, though that which perishes is not the same; and so what is lost appears to be a mere moment. For a man cannot lose either the past or the future: for what a man has not, how can anyone take this from him? These two things then you must bear in mind: the one, that all things from eternity are of like forms and come around in a circle, and that it makes no difference whether a man shall see the same things during a hundred years or two hundred, or an infinite time; and the second, that he who lives longest and he who will die soonest lose just the same. For the present is the only thing of which a man can be deprived, if it is true that this is the only thing which he has, and that a man cannot lose something he does not already possess.”

Kacvey, let’s also share the same with your French-speaking friends:

“Quand même tu devrais vivre trois fois mille ans, et autant de fois dix mille, rappelle-toi cependant ceci: que personne ne perd d’autre existence que celle qu’il est en train de vivre et qu’il n’en vit pas d’autre que celle qu’il perd. L’existence la plus longue et l’existence la plus courte en reviennent au même. Le présent est égal pour tous, égal aussi le moment qui passe et par suite ce que nous perdons apparaît ainsi comme instantané. Nul ne peut, en effet, perdre ni le passé ni l’avenir; car comment pourrait-on perdre ce qu’on ne possède pas? Rappelle-toi donc ces deux points: d’abord, les choses, de toute éternité sont pareilles et tournent dans le même cercle. Qu’importe donc de voir les mêmes choses pendant cent ans ou deux cents ans, ou pendant un temps infini? En second lieu, l’homme qui jouit de la plus grande longévité et celui qui est condamné à la mort la plus prompte perdent une durée égale. Le moment présent est le seul, en effet, dont l’un et l’autre peuvent être privés, car c’est le seul qu’ils possèdent; et ce qu’on ne possède point, on ne peut le perdre.” (Marc Aurèle, Soliloques, Livre II, paragraphe 14.)

 

 

The Web Challenge

05 Friday Jun 2015

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My dear Kacvey,

It has been a few days now that the big nabob has designated/appointed his own junior as a web honcho to represent and defend his party and to carry the spear and the banner to lead the challenge against the Khmer world of social media.

Since social media has been here for quite sometimes, and as they just realize the power of it, it could be said that “it’s better late than never.” Benefit of the doubt is fairness in all games.

In fact, as soon as the news came out, it attracts a lot of attention and curiosity among Khmer social media of all sort of political orientations, present company included. Welcome to the new kid in the block, one would say! And the more, the merrier!

Kacvey, would you have any doubt as to their ability to start the project? Indeed, no. With tons and tons of money that the party and its members have, through corruption or otherwise, they can certainly hire the best web designers in the world and engage any famous ghost writers or the most sophisticated plagiarists to work for them.

Let hope that the words of the big nabob will be translated into actions and result as soon as possible because in the end of the day, it is going to be deeds, not words, that matter. Or in Plautus’s words: “Let deeds match words.”

So, Kacvey, let wait and see:

– how junior’s brain is going to be matched/tested/challenged with other Khmer brains in the world of social media;

– how big nabob’s ideas/perspectives/strategies are going to be presented/articulated/amplified by the so-called “presumed dauphin”, and

– how the old guards of his party fare in the contemporary world where nothing is no longer sacrosanct.

Let the game begin, if you will!