SOLO-NZ Op-Ed: A One-eyed Demonic Bastard Thanks You for Your Donation

Philip Duck
March 5, 2009

Between one-third and one-half of Cambodians live in crushing poverty as they try to survive on a dollar or less a day. That poverty motivates many poor peasant families to sell their young daughters into brothels; one-third of Cambodia’s prostitutes are under the age of seventeen and sentenced to a life of being caged in a grubby shack to service grubby men, for nothing more than a bowl of rice each day.

Poverty results in one half of Cambodian children under the age of five being underweight, and infant mortality stands at 95 deaths per 1000. More than half of those deaths are due to diseases and infections that can easily be prevented by vaccines. The percentage of its population living with HIV/Aids is the highest in Asia and it has been estimated that more that 7 million Cambodians- that’s 64% of the population- carry tuberculosis. Poverty means an average life expectancy for a Cambodian is just 56 years.

NZAID, the New Zealand Government’s international aid and development agency, has allocated 4.4 million dollars to Cambodia as it attempts to address this suffocating poverty. And who could argue against that- a dollar each from comparatively wealthy New Zealanders to assist the desperately poor. But of course this is not the government’s money to give away; in true Robin Hood style the government steals from the taxpayer to give, without consent, to deprived Cambodians. The government with supreme arrogance gets to declare those who most deserve your money.

That’s despicable, but what if those tax dollars don’t actually help the poor but rather they prop up both an untouchable Cambodian elite and an evil government led by a ruthless killer? What if your money doesn't provide vaccinations for young Cambodians but instead is used to bribe policeman to turn a blind-eye to men having sex with children? How would you feel about your money contributing to that?

Bauk, or gang rape, is almost a sport to wealthy young Cambodian men. These spoilt cowards carry out their deeds with impunity; money, influence and corruption ensure that they will not come to trial.The favourite method for rich wives to take revenge on their husband’s mistresses is to throw a bucket of acid in their rivals face; however political and business power ensure that justice will never be served. And should you have a disagreement in a nightclub with one of Cambodia’s moneyed he might just shoot you. Or more likely he will get one of his bodyguards to do it. Either way for them it’s all risk free. Meanwhile corrupt government officials and developers regularly throw the poor and powerless off their land whilst the police beat them should they resist. And it’s your money that pays for some of that unearned power and the bribes and intimidation, it really is.

Corruption and intimidation have long been a problem in Cambodia and while there have been campaigns by the UN and nations such as New Zealand to make any supply of aid dollars contingent on improvements in basic human rights and the rule-of-law, these have largely failed; the Cambodian government whilst making the right noises, politely gives the finger to its donors and continues as it wishes. Why wouldn’t they, when your money keeps on coming in?

That money makes up more than 50% of Cambodia’s budget but incredibly it is estimated that corrupt practices cost the Cambodian people 500 million dollars every year. That’s hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign aid drained off to support a truly wicked government and their cohorts and used to bully the poor, imprison opponents, censor the media and steal land as and when they please in an environment where corruption is not just tolerated but encouraged.

Foreign taxpayers money started coming in 1992 when the UN established the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC). Its mandate was to implement law and order, rebuild the country’s infrastructure and assist with the re-settlement of tens of thousands of people who had fled the murderous Khmer Rouge regime. Most importantly UNTAC was there to oversee free and fair elections. UNTAC bought more than 9,000 vehicles, spent $118 million on salaries and $62 million on travel and, incredibly, paid a daily hardship allowance to a large number of senior UN officials of more than the average annual Cambodian salary. Two billion dollars was spent in all and they failed.

The lead up to the 1993 elections was marred by violence and political intimidation, particularly by the members of the Cambodian People’s Party (CCP); a party led by Hun Sen. Hun Sen had for some years been the Prime Minister of Cambodia having being installed by the Vietnamese as a puppet and this allowed him to make full use of his already established powers over the police and army. Bizarrely, despite the attacks but most likely because of the immense amount of dollars poured into Cambodia, the UN declared the election to be ‘free and fair.' Nevertheless, regardless of all CCP attempts it was the Royalist party, FUNCIPEC, headed by Prince Ranariddh that headed the election with 45% of the vote against the 36% achieved by the CCP.

However, Hun Sen refused to accept this loss and with heavy threats backed by both military and police force and a few well-aimed grenades he destroyed the new democratic process by forcing a coalition with an unwilling FUNCIPEC. Incredibly this arrangement meant Cambodia was to have two Prime Ministers, with Ranariddh being Prime Minister Number One and Hun Sen, Prime Minister Number Two. Prime Ministers One and Two quickly increased M.P salaries ten-fold. And after spending $2 billion dollars of other people's money the UN sat back and allowed all this to happen and in the process showed Hun Sen that he could do just as he pleased. Meanwhile government and UN money kept on rolling in.

In 1997 Hun Sen, described by Singaporean strongman Lee Kwan Yew as “utterly merciless and ruthless, without humane feelings,” carried out a bloody coup that removed FUNCIPEC from power. Hun Sen, an ex-military commander of the Khmer Rouge was now firmly in control and a series of ‘free and fair’ elections have sinced increased his parliamentary majority. That majority is surely nonsense; since 2000 I have made 8 or 9 visits to Cambodia and I have yet to find one Cambodian supporter of Hun Sen. Not one. What you can find though is fear, hatred and rage for that one-eyed demonic bastard. Yet your money keeps on rolling in.

Following the coup, to further secure his power, Hun Sen shaped 180 new ministerial positions, most of which he proceeded to sell for $100,000 a pop. It’s often claimed that Hun Sen leads the biggest per capita government in the world and it is certainly one of the most corrupt. Yet donor money keeps on rolling in. It keeps on rolling in despite a 2003 UN development report that found that poverty has become much worse under Hun Sen and that the rate of infant mortality rose between 1987 and 2000; not that such matters as infant mortality, tuberculosis or grinding poverty would be of any concern to a man like Hun Sen. And the money keeps on rolling in despite Hun Sen’s public support for the barbarians of the Burmese junta and it keeps on rolling in despite Cambodia’s development as a breeding ground for terrorists. Ultimately your taxed dollars, funnelled through to Cambodia by the UN and government funds these outrages. How do you feel about that?

If well-targeted 4.4 million dollars could achieve many, many positive things in Cambodia. But certainly government has no right to take your money and then decide to use it in its own way, let alone in a way that helps fund Hun Sen and his cronies. Rather, the business of donating is best left to individuals or private companies who can research and scrutinise, should they wish, the many private charities in Cambodia to see where best their money could be used. Hell, they couldn’t do worse at that than NZAID who are also in the process of spending more than 13 million dollars on the one-party states of Laos and Vietnam.

SOLO (Sense of Life Objectivists): SOLOPassion.com

ENDS

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