Pseng-Pseng
Gaps Between Primary Teacher and Prime Minister
“So paying their salaries every month is not a small story... The
world always has rich people and poor people, and there are people who have
high salaries and low salaries, this is very normal.”
CPP
prime minister Hun Sen, 11 March, 2014
“If we compare Mr. Hun Sen and his group to us teachers since
the past, he and his group has [sic] got more and more rich but teachers are as
poor as before. Their children can study overseas, but my children don’t have
the money to go to university.”
Elementary school teacher Kim Darany, 53, 11 March, 2014
The CPP prime minister may
be right to claim that getting paid money every month is a big deal for
teachers who once upon a time used to work for rice, and later for other
necessities. He must feel invincible and proud of the achievement. He is not
too concerned that after his reign of 35 years, the monthly cash payment is no
longer sufficient without an appropriate amount.
While Hun Sen is happy to
cling to the past with any thread he could grab, primary teacher Kim Darany prefers
to live in the present. She is wise to point out the widening gap between the
rich and the poor. She can no longer remain apathetic and wait for a step-by-step
reform constantly promised by the Hun Sen government that has claimed for at
least the past two decades to give top priority to education.
Has the CPP government
been so broke it can only pay teachers a starving wage?
The World Economic Forum,
as noted in the latest report by International Labour Organization, estimates that
10 percent of Cambodia’s annual gross national product (GDP) is lost to
corruption. If the World Bank’s estimated GDP for 2014 of US$17.2 billion is
accurate, then some lucky souls will pocket this year about US$1,720,000,000.
There are so many zeros at the end that many will have serious difficulty in
grasping the magnitude of the loot.
Nonetheless, who are these
lucky souls? According to the Hun Sen wisdom that in life there are those with
high salaries and those with low salaries, they must be the rich and powerful government
officials. There are about 600 top brasses in the CPP government; thus, on
average, each one of them would receive a cool US$3 million this year. Of
course, the Hun Sen wisdom also applies in his cabinet, which means the biggest
bucket of cash must land at the Vimean Ekreach compound.
However, if the primary
school teacher had her way with her wisdom, the US$1.7 billion loot would give
each one of the 110,000 teachers about US$15,600 in 2014. Or, to be fairer,
each one of the whole 200,000 public servants would receive US$8,600 for the
year. There would be no need for anyone to moonlight, and this would put to
shame the opposition’s election promise of US$250 per month.
Considering the fact that
the average GDP has exceeded US$10 billion a year for at least the past five
years, it is only “normal” for the CPP prime minister to prefer going back to
the past to keep all the loots to himself and his personal interest groups,
leaving small potatoes like teachers to continue licking their empty bowls.
And the widening income
gap cannot be any clearer to the primary teacher, or anyone else with their
eyes open, in addition to the wisdom gap.
Ung Bun Ang
14iii14
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