In case you were wondering about Kim Yung Il’s current whereabouts, look no further. He’s here with me in Phnom Penh. And we welcome him on his official visit. I have to admit that it’s a little strange to be in a place with a thriving Cuban embassy and in a place where the boulevards are currently lined with Cambodian and North Korean flags. Cambodia and North Korea have a somewhat strange relationship stretching back for quite some time, and this current trip is being conducted with the aim of finally becoming trading partners and of becoming more connected economically. King Sihanouk and Kim Yung Il (and his father) have had a personal relationship that has stretched back since the end of the Korean War, and North Korea provided refuge when the king father Sihanouk fled Cambodia for a while during the 1970’s. This hospitality was thought to be a quid pro quo for Cambodia recognizing the North Korean government from the start. But both gestures seem to be the result of a genuinely close personal friendship that formed and thrived between the two countries’ leaders. The personal bonds between the leaders are so strong that, when King Sihanouk finally returned from his compound in North Korea in (I believe) the early nineties, he brought with him his most trusted men to protect him, and he still uses North Korean body guards as his primary protection. In fact, there is also actually a North Korean restaurant here in Phnom Penh that is owned and operated by the North Korean government. I hear it has officially sanctioned North Korean dancers that dance during the meal as well. I have yet to go but have put it on my must-do-soon list. Nonetheless, it’s been weird riding around town and seeing “Long Live the Republic of Korea” on banners throughout the city.
The other big event that occurred recently was the king father’s 85th birthday last week, which followed the current king’s Coronation Day Holiday two days before. As a result of the king’s birthday, the government ordered his picture to be displayed on all public buildings around the city, resulting in this surreal amount of portraiture instantly rising around the city. Most of the pictures are fairly sizable (of the 1-2 story size) and are typically surrounded by a flat, 2-D frame made to look like a gilded, overly gaudy 3-D gold picture frame.
All of these celebrations and relationships involving the king make Cambodia seem like Thailand; however, though the king does have high symbolic power here and though he is very respected here in Cambodia, this isn’t Thailand, where no criticism of the monarchy is tolerated. When Alexis visited, she explained that she would never think of even saying anything controversial or negative about the king of Thailand even to another Westerner because the king is so revered and can essentially do no bad in the eyes of the people there that she would not even want to be overheard. Cambodia does not quite have the same amount of reverence for its royalty, though it is still a highly respected position.
In other areas of government, people somewhat censor themselves, though. When we had finished looking at Toul Sleng and talking about the Khmer Rouge a few weeks ago, Alexis asked how the current Cambodian government could be described. In a technical sense, it is a democracy, but I think I could more appropriately describe it as simply corrupt. Since UNTAC oversaw the first elections in 1993, a few years after Cambodia gained its independence from the occupying Vietnamese, there have been regularly held elections. At the same time, Prime Minister Hun Sen has consolidated power the longer he’s been in office, and it is fair to say that no one in any high level of government has gotten there without participating in the system and playing the game.
Unfortunately, the more the country develops, the more corrupt the government seems to become, assumingly as a result of the fact that there’s becoming more wealth to be gained from the increasing development. The corruption trickles all the way down to civil servants, and police officers are people to avoid rather then to seek out for help. They are underpaid and, as a result, resort to demanding bribes for things like “traffic violations.” With a salary of $50 a month, though, it’s hard to blame their desire to earn some extra income in order to survive.
The higher ups, however, have no lack of money. Often, some of the nicest cars in town have RCAF plates on them, meaning they are part of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces and meaning that you should not confront them in any way, cut them off in traffic, or offend them, as no one will come to your defense when they decide to do whatever they want to you in retaliation. This is all not to say that these military or police positions can’t be bought either. Unlike in the US, common knowledge on the street deems that there is only a small selection of officers who actually earned their position by passing a test and earning their badges. The rest simply paid to for their uniforms and guns so that they could take advantage of their position of power.
There was a great lift quote in the Phnom Penh Post this past week about obtaining the newly required drivers licenses. Completely seriously, one of the officials in charge of the new licenses declared that giving a license to those who pay an extra hundred dollars immediately is not corrupt. It’s simply for people who need their licenses in a hurry, don’t have time to take the road tests, and are willing to pay a little extra to obtain a license on the spot.
But anyway, back to the democracy issue. In a sense, Cambodia is more democratic than many other places. Elections are held, and there are opposition parties. The San Ramsey Party, led by San Ramsey, has been around for a while and is a legitimately admirable party that constantly points out the ineptitude and corruption of the current government and proposes at least potential plans for solving some of the country’s problems. They are allowed to have gatherings and have speeches and are an officially recognized party that is well known, yet they never seem to win more than a few seats in the government. Additionally, though the media does cover their activities, no newspapers ever really completely endorse or give the facts to support their arguments and positions. There is a certain amount of subtle self-censorship in the Cambodian media. NPR broadcasts a segment on one radio station here, and even though they broadcast freely regularly, they were shut down for a week recently as a result of criticizing Hun Sen “too harshly.” At the same time, their being temporarily shut down and the reason for why was reported in other outlets. And I don’t know of any media that has to submit their stories or newscasts to any officials before publishing or airing them. Overall, there’s a weird sense of self-censorship but an open acknowledgement that it’s happening.
Additionally, Cambodians are not oblivious to what’s going on, and there is a general acknowledgement of the corruption and ineptitude, but I would say that there also seems to be a sense of helplessness as to what to do about it. With elections looming a little over a year away, King Sihanouk just gave Hun Sen some even higher honorary royal title. The king declared less than a week later that Hun Sen has done a great job for Cambodia and that the oppositions should stop running against him and instead choose to unite behind him for the interest of the country. His contradiction couldn’t ring clearer. And I have little doubt that the king and the prime minister have been sharing in the spoils that have been created. But at the same time, the fact that the king would so strongly advocate this kind of support resonates with a certain portion of the population, even if another part becomes more pessimistic.
Anyway, with that, I’m off to correct essays that have seemed to have started piling up higher and higher on my desk.