Pseng-Pseng
The Ghost Power
“When [public servants
salaries] going through bank accounts, ghosts do not know how to get the money;
thus there is no need to look for ghost officials, ghost soldiers, ghost police
officers, or any ghosts. It requires a passbook, and ghosts cannot hold the
passbook.”
Premier Hun Sen, 17 February, 2014
«បានន័យថា ខ្លួនខ្មោច ខ្លួននៅទទួលយកប្រាក់ខែ ដូច្នេះ
លើកនេះយើងចាប់ខ្មោចម្ដង។ មានន័យថា បញ្ហាសាមញ្ញទេ
គឺអ្នកដែលរក្សាក្របខ័ណ្ឌខ្មោចនេះទុក ហើយយកលុយរបស់ជាតិ
យកដាក់ហោប៉ៅខ្លួនឯង
អ្នកនោះត្រូវតែប្រឈមមុខនឹងការកេងយកផលប្រយោជន៍ដោយខុសច្បាប់»។
Anti-Corruption
Unit (ACU) president Om Yentieng, 17 August, 2014, Radio Free Asia
The ACU president seems to disagree with the premier who
boasts they can stop ghost public servants at the bank, despite the latter’s claimed
ability to communicate with King Father’s spirit at the latter’s cremation. Om
Yentieng may see the ghosts are too cunning to let any passbooks stand between
them and the money. Hence, he moves the battlefield from the bank to workplaces.
It is uncertain how or why the ACU president comes to
believe the premier is wrong. It is quite possible the premier’s 29 January
directive that all public servants’ salaries go through their bank account is
not fully implemented. If not, why not? But again, this is not the first time
his directives are ignored.
Or, the direct credit system alone does not, or cannot, work
to starve the ghost public servants who are so much appealed to the earthy
attraction of money. It can certainly make it more convenient to access the
pay. (A Ghostlike Reform, Pseng-Pseng, 28ii14).
The ghost power is demonstrated in the latest case of
jailing three villagers in Chantrea district of Svay Rieng province over a 64
hectare land dispute between at least 50 local families and a military police
(MP) officer reportedly from Phom Penh. The case has been ongoing for more than
a decade; and obviously, nobody has bothered to report it to the premier, who
assures those who care to believe him that none is to be locked up for any land
dispute.
The MP officer wins the case incognito. The supreme court
rules the case in his favour, but Supreme Court vice-president Khoem Pan refuses
to talk about it. Commune police chief in Chantrea Has Siyet says he could not
remember the case details. Svay Rieng provincial prosecutor Hing Bunchea, who
carries out the arrests, says he just follows the court order.
This MP officer is treated like a ghost. Though they refer
to him as Soem Chhean, not many know, or are prepared to reveal, his identity. Svay
Rieng provincial MP commander San Bun Than hangs up when asked if he knows Soem
Chhean. Phnom Penh MP commander, Major General Roth Sreang, denies Chhean is in
his unit. National MP spokesman Kheng Tito pleads ignorance, saying he is
unable to tell if Chhean is an MP officer at all. It seems this ghost is so
formidable that he must be under an unmentionable patronage.
Hence, back to his search for ghosts in all government
workplaces, the ACU president would need all the luck he can muster. He is
dealing with ghosts who are usually invisible; and worst still, their unmentionable
patrons may lie beyond the ACU reach as well.
Still, some little ghosts will be caught and made an example
of. The ACU game is to be seen doing and achieving something – just enough to
intimidate small potatoes and to keep the gullible longing for reforms thrilled,
without doing any real damage to the patronage system that has benefited a few
so much for so long.
Ung Bun Ang
01ix14
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