Reader discretion is advised:
How do you fight corruption in a country where most people don't see it as
corruption to begin with?
I and a motodop were pulled over by the police again, and we had to pay 2,000
riel each time. It was more a nuisance than something to be extremely angry
about -it's not like they are asking for a lot of money.
But when I asked the motodop driver what he thought about corruption, at first
he didn't really understand the question. I looked the word up in an
English-Khmer dictionary, and he just shrugged and explained to me that it
wasn't corruption.
The motodop was stopped because he didn't have rear-view mirrors on his bike,
and that was the reason they stopped him every time, he told me.
There is a law in Cambodia that says you have to have mirrors on your moto, so
in his mind he was just paying a fine, like we would in Sweden or any other
Western country. That forced me to rethink the whole thing with corruption a
little.
Is the lack of a receipt or a record enough to
call something corruption?
Granted, the money you give to the police officer won't go to the state or be
used for some public good, but then again if you think about it, as my motodop
did, it is the same as paying a fine.
I heard something about the average salary for a police officer being $60 per
month, and some one also told me they often late to pay for their positions. A
woman I met here told me there is no budget for buying gasoline for the police
bikes so if you run away from the police, they are unlikely to chase you very
far or it won't be worth the 2,000 riel [fine], she said.
I went to Udong this weekend by moto, which isn't t the most comfortable mode of
transportation, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. I was pretty soar
once I got off at Udong.
My moto driver, Don, wanted us to go early so we
wouldn't have to go during the worst heat. He looked doubtful when I got back
home at 2 am in the morning about 4 hours before we were supposed to leave. I
managed to drag myself out of bed at 6:30 am sharp, though, and I'm fairly
proud about that.
There
weren�t many visitors in Udong when we go
there so all the small vendors and a group of at
least 20 kids saw me as the only way to make
money that day. Hence I was followed everywhere
I went, and told that I needed to buy flowers,
bracelets or just give them money.
The crowd
started to drop off as we got closer to the
mountain and eventually we were only accompanied
by one girl selling flowers and two boys telling
me that there were 150 steps to go up and 450,
or something, steps to go down. Then they
pointed at the statues and told me how to
pronounce their names in Khmer and when they
were built.
Udong was
beautiful and the temple is well worth a visit
even if the rest of the village is a little
disappointing. I wonder what it looked like when
it was the royal capital. Also, I finally found
good use for those 100 riel notes I never know
what to do with. On every step while you are
climbing up there is a beggar and you are
supposed to give them some money.
Since there
are a lot of steps, it seemed that 100 riel was
the standard amount to give. Because of the
limited number of visitors on this day, many
steps only had a little basket on them and a few
had crutches or a cane as if to show that the
person who would eventually come back and
collect the money from this basket was in need
of some extra money.
I ended up
just giving a little extra to those who were
actually there and didn't give any money to
the lonely baskets.
Finally, at
the top of the mountain, sweaty, muddy and
tired, we went into the main temple. I don't
know why, but religion in general and religions
I don't know much about in particular always
make me slightly uncomfortable, and I'm always
terrified to mess up and do something
disrespectful.
Don told me
to follow his lead so we sat down in front of
the Buddha statue for a few minutes before
walking around the room putting the flowers down
in front of the other statues. I kept seeing
this image of myself falling over and breaking
all the little Buddha statues that were standing
behind the big one, or breaking something else
or, even worse, setting something on fire with
the incense sticks.
It was just
like how I keep imagining myself setting off a
moto-domino every time I walk past a long row of
parked motos. I don't think I messed it up,
but since people here won't really tell you if
you are doing it wrong, I can't be sure.
Anyway, nothing dropped from the sky so I guess
I did OK.
Once we got
down from the hill the boys informed me that
they would take their pay now, and that they
needed $5 to be able to afford school. Their
parents were very poor, they told me, and that
if I thought if was important, it was up to me
to keep them in school so they could learn
English. They had been fairly helpful on our way
up, and they were fairly informative, so I gave
them $1 each.
This Don told
me, was way too much, but he also told me it was
true they had to pay for school. Apart from the
small bribe they have to give to their teacher
every day, they have to buy uniforms, books and
pencils or they can't go to school. I wonder
what world I have lived in since I was certain
primary school in this country was free.
One of my
friends here told me that teachers often buy
their positions, just like the police officers
sometimes do, and then they are paid on average
$40 dollars per month. Even with Cambodian
discounts, that would be impossible to live on
especially if you have a family to feed.
So, I'm guessing, in the eyes of those people
corruption is necessary to survive, which is
kind of scary. I really don't know what to
think about it. Then again, there isn't much I
can do.
About this article: This article appeared in
the Cambodia Daily on Oct 25-26, 2008.
By
Cajsa Collin THE CAMBODIA DAILY
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TIC
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