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The Khmer Chronicles / Issue Nr 9: About ethics and corruption rankings
But Cambodia is more and more part of the world... In 2007 it was listed nr 162 out of 179 (the last position being shared by Somalia and Myanmar). In 2006 it was in 151st place with 163 countries listed (Haiti was last). In 2005 Cambodia was 130th out of 158 countries. In 2004 it wasn't listed (which doesn't mean there was no corruption). So I guess one can say that the situation is not really brilliant on the corruption front in Faraway Kingdom. One of the first things a cambodian child learns at school is corruption: every day the kids have to give 500 or 1000 Riel (0,25$) to their teacher to attend class (in a school system where education officially is for free), and supplementary private lessons are mandatory to pass examinations at the end of the year. But a teacher's salary is between 40 and 60 dollars a month. This could explain that. Should it? If there is corruption at the lowest level there must be higher up? Sure, but the higher you go the more difficult and risky it gets to prove. And if as a journalist you find something juicy, does the amount of press freedom available allow you to expose the scheme? Well not necessarily, and that's the trouble with countries where corruption is institutionalised: usually press freedom can be bought as well. If silence can't be bought with some, thugs can be bought to put physical pressure on the journalist. If the journalist escapes the thugs (although 9 journalists died since 1993) there are ways to bring him to court. Etc.. That beast eats you from within... It's all over the place: journalists get a free meal and an envelope with "compensation money" at press conferences or have to pay money to get an interview. Or journalists blackmail people they have sensitive information about.
LICADHO (a Human Rights organisation) published a report on press freedom in Cambodia. It is an interesting read. The only way for a journalist to escape all this is ethics. Very strong ethics (and decent salaries). All the journalists at Ka-set are signatories of a charter giving guarantees to its readers they will be provided with independent and corruption-free informations. I must say that it is easier for foreign journalists not to get involved with corruption. Because usually (not always mind you) they have higher salaries than their cambodian colleagues, and after all a big chunk of the annual budget of the country comes from the countries these journalists come from. A certain facade of press freedom to keep the money flowing in has to be maintained, and foreign correspondents are usually put under less pressure than the cambodian reporters. Does that make Cambodia a dangerous place to work in? No not necesarily. A more difficult one when sensitive areas have to be unraveled? Yes definitely: navigation between all those rocks is tricky...
Ethical journalism alone will not solve the corruption problem of course. Civil Society is also putting pressure on the government. Last friday a petition with over 1 million thumbprints will be handed over to the MP's at the National Assembly. Finally it's the MP's and the government who have the power to tackle corruption, and they are working (since several years) on a law about corruption. But did I write somewhere that the beast eats you from within and that it's all over the place? I think I did... Links:
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There was a time when Cambodia was not even listed on Transparency International's 
Reader comments (2)
Don't complain too much John. At least they let you operate as a foreign photojournalist and presumably you get a visa allowing you to do that. Just north in one of your neighboring countries you'd be very lucky to get that. I only know of one falang (foreigner) who supposedly has, or had, a visa allowing him to operate as a PJ and only then because he was supposed to be working as an 'advisor' to the local govt. run rag. And forget doing the kind of things you do in Phnom Phen. That would get you on the first bus to the border minus your camera, if not a spell in jail until your embassy bailed you out with promises of more aid to the govt. Outside of the falang community here the very concept of photojournalism doesn't even exist, and judging by what I see on gallery walls even they rarely stray from the usual cliches.
Comment posted by Nigel Amies on May 21, 2008
Nigel,
I couldn't agree more with you for knowing Laos a bit as I spent quite some time there (on a tourist visa) between 1991 and 2000 for the Mountain People story (http://johnvink.com/story.php?title=Book_Peuples_d_en_Haut).
But Cambodia poses as a democracy. Laos doesn't.
The tribunal tries to be exemplary. I doubt there are or were fair trials for war criminals or for crimes against humanity in Laos.
In Cambodia there are expectations regarding freedom of expression. In Laos there aren't. At least that is clear.
What I was trying to explain in my writing is that corruption is a direct threat to freedom of expression. But of course it is better to be rich and healthy than sick and poor, and living in a democracy without corruption is better than living in a totalitarian state with high corruption levels... Living in a democracy (or what looks like it) with high corruption is in between.
Cambodia is nr 162 on the TI corruption index, Laos is nr 168.
Take care out there...
Comment posted by John Vink on May 21, 2008