The Best of Cambodia & Laos

10
CAMBODIA IN DEPTH
2
CAMBODIA TODAY
generation looking forward to taking its
place in a globalized world, there is also a
trauma and collective confusion that will
take more than one generation from which
to recover. There is also a deep and brooding
anger building, as the rich get so much
richer and the poor stay the same. Cambodia
is still one of the poorest nations of the
world and infant mortality is high. Corruption
is endemic and accepted at every
level of authority. It may be publicly questioned
but it is a billion miles from being
eradicated or even seriously challenged.
There is a phrase in Khmer, “Mien loi,
jeut l’or. Ot mien loi jeut ot l’or.” This
translated means “If you have money you
have a good heart. If you are poor you
have a bad heart.” This karmic perversion
explains some of the attitude to power,
money, and corruption. Wealth, however
corruptly or brutally acquired, is seen in
some way as being its own cosmic reward
and something to be displayed.
In the light of the swift and massive
changes, development in Cambodia
should be seen as a mixed blessing if not
properly charted. There is development all
over the country, but a great deal of it is
driven by carpetbaggers, hedge funds, and
criminals. Cambodia is often described as
a country for sale. There are new natural
resources of oil and natural gas lying offshore
and about to be tapped, but there is
no guarantee that the riches they bring
will benefit any more than a handful of
people. If the destruction of the highcanopy
rainforest and the billions of dollars
generated by the trade in hardwoods is
anything to go by we can be sure that it
won’t be. Foreign speculators and investors
are pumping billions of dollars into developing
Cambodia’s coastal areas. The central
government in Phnom Penh had, in
the ’90s, designated the entire coast and its
islands as state public land that could not
be bartered or developed. Now local communities
live in fear of the relentless land
grabs. As a nation, Cambodia remains
precarious and underpinned by debt and
foreign aid, and it has recently found itself
a refuge for money and speculators fleeing
paralyzed Western financial markets.
Even though not all is rosy by any
means, collective experience has taught the
Khmers to treasure the stability of the last
decade. Although they share many of the
qualities that characterize Southeast Asia,
particularly in the importance of the concept
of “face,” they also have a way of
interacting that is peculiarly Khmer. They
have a casual and warm sense of humor
that will be apparent as soon as you arrive.
Thigh-slapping jokes intersperse a lot of
conversation. Even with all the horror that
has befallen them, the Khmers still love a
joke and a laugh. Khmers also have a
genuine fascination with things foreign.
They are intensely nationalistic, but that
does not mean that they disdain knowledge
of other places or other cultures. That
is unless you are Thai or Vietnamese,
where a historical and persistent mixture
of resentment, hatred, dependence, and
jealousy colors the Khmer view. It mostly
comes out as pointless racism and sometimes
erupts into violence.
While Cambodians are often relaxed
and very good company, this does mask a
less pleasant reality. They have the reputation
for being the most violent people in
Asia, and when that side of them is stirred,
especially in a crowd, you don’t want to be
near it.
Family is the absolute and immutable
foundation of Cambodian society. Even
the direct attacks on the notion of family
perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge in the
’70s did not destroy its importance. When
traveling in Cambodia, people will be
interested in your family and will see no
problem with you being interested in
theirs.
Starting in 2009, the long-awaited process
of putting some of the surviving KR
leaders on trial by a mixed Cambodian
and international court got underway in