Pseng-Pseng: Hun Sen’s Robbery Show

Pseng-Pseng

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Hun Sen’s Robbery Show

“Weapons control involves some complicated problems. I’m telling the truth: We control the weapons of our units and we control the legal weapons, but for illegal weapons, we cannot control them. We do not say they are only for thieves, but even civil servants and some private individuals are also using illegal weapons.”

Deputy National Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Mok Chito, 23 December 2015, The Cambodia Daily

“At that time [Intermittent fightings gainst Thai soldiers near Preah Vihear temple] some weapons were allowed to be used. Sometimes, they could not reach their destination and be returned after the event.”

Interior Minister Sar Kheng, 16 December 2015, The Cambodia Daily

“The surveillance cameras are necessary equipment to monitor the traffic situation and other offenses along the street…. They will help to collect images to serve security affairs, like to see who has violated the traffic law,”

Deputy National Police Commissioner Him Yan, 23 December 2015, The Cambodia Daily

“According to reports, robbers with the same faces are the ones fighting with the Phnom Penh Municipal Police. …They come out (of prisons) and rob again and again in many places.”

Premier Hun Sen, 15 December 2015, The Cambodia Daily

“Religions educate people to do good deeds, not to steal and rob. But armed robberies have taken place in the last few weeks”

Premier Hun Sen, 15 December 2015, The Cambodia Daily

Hun Sen springs into actions, or pretends to – and the rest of the herd follows – in response to a litany of street robberies in many cities.

It is likely that they are springing into hot air. First, a working group is formed to “boost understanding among ministries and law enforcement officials to crack down on crime”. It seems like one of those committees in which individuals who can do nothing individually sit to decide that nothing can be done together.

Second, Mok Chito claims they have under control only legal weapons, not the illegal ones. Perhaps, one of his complicated problems is that he does not understand the illegal weapons often come from the legal ones. His minister Sar Kheng admits some of the legal weapons fall into illegal hands. Nevertheless, he does not say how and why the transactions occur. Still, many know how corruption works.

Third, newly-installed street surveillance cameras may not lead to criminals arrest. Video films showing dozens of protestors turning criminals when they brutally assault two opposition parliamentarians in daylight have not produced any arrest beyond the three who confess. After all, one of the protest leaders has just been appointed as a personal assistant to Hun Sen. The selective implementation of law will override any usefulness of those cameras.

Anyhow, robbers are used to pulling faces at Hun Sen. Another group of robbers has for decades robbed the public blind, enjoying, and flaunting their loots. Corruption is robbery, is it not? Hun Sen knows who these office robbers are. He even asks them to look at the mirror and scrub off the dirt on their bodies. All the office robbers can see in the mirror is a smiling dollar sign. They give a different meaning to the famous Harry Truman’s “The buck stops here” – the dollar stops at Hun Sen’s coffer.

Interestingly similarities between the street and office robbers are striking. Both groups are armed, have access to AK-47 riffles, and ready to shoot.

Both have the same faces. Hun Sen says the street robbers are released from prison only to rob again and again. He sees the office robbers day-in and day-out raiding public purses again and again. He must know a notable variation between the two is that the former has been to jail while the latter is at large.

The two groups also share common motivations for their actions: birth defect, greed, or hunger, or a combination of them. Some claim the office robbers have no choice but to rob due to their starving salaries. Hun Sen says he won’t increase them, because the government has no money. He does not say, however, why there is no money in the public purse. He could increase the salaries to the extent that there is no need for all them to rob the public. Then again, this would indeed remove all the thrills from robbing and the fun of flaunting the loots.

And Hun Sen is right the robbers are not so religious.

Ung Bun Ang

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Parthian Shot

The self-esteem of these samdechs is so low that they are asking for respect, in lieu of earning it. It won’t be long before they make Cambodia a “polite” nation.

“Using ‘Mr.’ to refer to samdechs is impolite.”

Secretary of state Mao Ayuth, 17 December 2015, The Cambodia Daily

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