Asia Times Online :: Asian News, Business and Economy.

Letter

Mar 24, 2005

Verghese Mathews responds

I refer to the lengthy comment (letter, Mar 18) by my friend Senator Ung Bun-Ang, spokesman for the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), to my article Cambodian political road show, which appeared on March 17.

I am surprised that Ung Bun-Ang has completely missed the point in my article and has creatively introduced statistics to subtly suggest, as is wont of some opposition groups, that Cambodia is a failing state if not an already failed one.

He takes strong exception to the statement that it is fair to say that for Cambodia, every year since the Paris Peace Agreement of 1991 has generally been better than the preceding one. Bun-Ang is of course entitled to his point of view, but let us examine the examples he has advanced to contest this.

He claims that the latest available figures indicate that a large percentage of the population are living under the poverty line. This is as true as it is unacceptable, and I daresay will not show any dramatic improvement so long as there are Cambodian politicians who continue with their politicking and one-upmanship instead of addressing the needs of the people. Prime Minister Hun Sen has acknowledged that his government would not be able to reduce reduce the poverty rate to the hoped-for figure of 20% by 2015. According to international analysts, present indicators suggest that about 28% of the Cambodian population will still be poor in 2015.

However, Bun-Ang has ignored an important point that, dismal as those figures are given all the aid that has poured in, it still registers an improvement. Bun-Ang suggested that I should look at World Bank and Asian Development Bank statistics. I certainly did. In a recent joint report by the ADB, the WB and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, it is stated "in the 15-year period from 1990 to 2005, the percentage of Cambodia's poor dropped from about 85% to 78%." That's clear enough.

Bun-Ang adds that the infant-mortality rate has increased. This is also true, but he chooses to look at this in isolation and fails to acknowledge that during the same period polio was successfully eradicated and child-immunization programs have spread to many more villages. World Health Organization figures for 2003 show that more than 76% of all one-year-olds were fully immunized against tuberculosis, 69% against DPT3 (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus) and 65% against measles. These are significant improvements. Likewise there are increasingly encouraging figures in the ongoing campaigns to eradicate malaria, tuberculosis and dysentery among children by the government, United Nations organizations and non-governmental organizations together with a greater rural reach in maternal and child care.

In this context, it is pertinent to note that only 44% of Cambodians have access to clean water, 22% to toilets or latrines and 17% to electricity, which is even worse than in neighboring Laos. In the fight to reduce infant mortality, the provision of clean water and proper sanitation is obvious.

As for adult illiteracy, which Bun-Ang also touched on, Cambodia will continue to face an annual increase in levels in the short and medium term despite the much greater access to education - the school-dropout figures remain high for various reasons, especially poverty.

In the context of adult illiteracy, a bit of perspective can be useful. According to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, almost 80% of the world's population aged 15 years and over is now literate. However, there are still about 30 countries that, by 2015, are unlikely to achieve any more than a 30% improvement over their 2000 literacy rates. This list, interestingly enough, includes Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Comoros, Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Iraq, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Senegal and the United Arab Emirates.

All that aside, it is important not to lose sight of the big picture, and here I shall quote an ADB statement of just last month: "Recent years have seen Cambodia making important progress in ensuring peace and security, rehabilitating institutions, establishing a stable macroeconomic environment, and putting a liberal investment regime in place."

It must be remembered that Cambodia started on a very low base and as such it has not been too difficult to show progress. Of course, much much more needs to be done, and this is where Cambodia's persistent fractious politics is a major impediment.

Incidentally, Bun-Ang may be interested to note the response from a foreigner working in rural Cambodia who also posted his comment on the Internet:

"Excellent unbiased work by the former ambassador to Cambodia. I think the work deserved no less than "A-"! However, I still feel that the work is still leaning toward the SRP. Perhaps, because of sympathy for a smaller party over the dominant one. Nevertheless, it is still an excellent work from a foreigner trained by the West who habitually expect the world to conform to the West way of life. But if one would take the trouble to live among the rural Cambodians that represent 75% of the population, and truly understand what they wished for their country, one will be able to perfect such a noble report."

Verghese Mathews, a former Singaporean ambassador to Cambodia, is a visiting fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

Head Office: Rm 202, Hau Fook Mansion, No. 8 Hau Fook St., Kowloon, Hong Kong
Thailand Bureau: 11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110

Asian Sex Gazette Asian Sex News