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Page 1: Setting a New Standard: Sam Rainsy on Moving Cambodia ForwardBy Suny Lay
Monday, April 2nd, 2001
Long Beach, CA -- He is not the loud, outspoken man you expect him to be.
He projects neither the overflowing passion of a revolutionary nor the mystique of a man who frequently dodges danger.
Ben Franklin would run circles around his methodically chosen words.
Rather, Sam Rainsy, the leader of the Sam Rainsy Party, seems to have accidentally fallen into the title of Opposition Leader to the Cambodian Government. Though his passion runs deep, he speaks in quiet tones and simple words. He has the patience of a man who is used to chipping at stone, used to waiting. Waiting twenty-seven years to return to Cambodia, waiting for a chance to help guide his country.
In an interview near the end of a trip to solicit US support for several of his policies, he spent several hours outlining to me his hopes and vision for Cambodia.
"We have to start sometime, somewhere," he said, explaining his party's willingness to oppose an entrenched political system where most of the gatekeepers are affiliated with the CPP, Hun Sen's ruling party. In a country where he elicits both feelings of admiration and exasperation, he is determined to reset the stage with what he calls a new set of standards.
According to Sam, everyone makes exceptions for Cambodia today. The standards that are applied to other nations are not applied to Cambodia, and international aid donors accept Cambodia's lower performance because "that is good enough for Cambodia."
In reality, the "new" standards that cause him to sit forward in excitement are not new at all. To him, "new standards" are synonymous with meritocracy, fair play, transparency, and rule of law. While they may be new in a Cambodian context, they are the basic rules by which most of the western world plays.
Although Cambodia has made decent progress in recent years, Sam feels it can do better. Being held to a lower standard means policymakers can get away with greater demands on the international community despite an inefficient use of funds. Not only is this a waste of valuable resources, it is humiliating in Sam's eyes. "We don't want handouts. We want the world and Cambodia to expect the same performance from our politicians and our people that is expected out of everyone else."
Implicit within this discussion of standards, of course, is an understanding that international donors wield a powerful lever by which Sam hopes to reform Cambodia. If the donors start applying world-class standards to Cambodia as a country, perhaps those high expectations will overflow into other aspects of Cambodian politics and business.
"I want to help build a new society organized in a different way," he says with conviction. "I want a society based on selection, pay, and motivation." |
Disclaimer: KC articles are pubished for the information and entertainment of members of KC. The material published is selected for its interest and the views expressed therein are not necessarily those of KC nor its staff. |
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