December 17, 2007

Corruption in Cambodia

Something that most people do not know about Cambodia, is that it is considered one of the ten most corrupt countries in the world. In recent years, corruption has taken two distinct forms in Cambodia. Both are devastating to the poor who live in Cambodia.

The first form is the wholesale theft of land in the provinces by government and military officials. Land is at a mint right now. And in Cambodia, it is one of the quickest routes to wealth. If you can afford to purchase land, you can save it for a few years and then sell it for many times your original investment. Banks pay a 1 or 2 % return on your money, but land ownership can give you a 100% (or more) return in a very short amount of time. Because of this, many of the rich in Cambodia have begun to use their positions in the government and military to begin to take large sections of land, while paying little to nothing in relation to its actual value. The poor farmer who originally owned the land is left with no property and little to nothing as far as a fair ‘payment’. Many times the provincial people who have lived on the land have no choice in the decision. They are simply told that they will be given some money (which may or may not happen), and that they must leave.

The second form of corruption is the theft of millions of dollars that have come into the country for aid to the poor and needy. Since the United Nations departed from Cambodia in the early 1990’s (after an attempt to reform a people and a government that were destroyed by the Khmer Rouge), those who have taken over the government have found ways to dip into the millions of dollars that have literally flooded into the country. One of the more obvious evidences of this in Phnom Penh is the ubiquitous SUV. This past week I was passed on the road by a Cadillac Escalade that was bigger than any I have ever seen in the States. In the last two weeks I have seen several brand new silver Mercedes Benz’s (one of them even had California plates… I can’t really explain that). I do not want to dismiss some of the successful businessmen who work very hard, but in a country where it is estimated that 95-100% of the government, military and police officials are on the take, it is hard to believe that rich businessmen would be exempt. I also saw in a magazine that there are properties for sale in Phnom Penh that cost a quarter of a million dollars. It is a long story, but when people came back into Phnom Penh in the mid-1990’s, people just took any property that they could find. So many people had been killed by the Khmer Rouge that many of the original owners were dead. Consequently, people just stole the property of dead people and have kept them until the selling price has gotten high enough.

If you do a search on Google, or Yahoo News for Cambodia Corruption, you will find hundreds of articles that attempt to document the un-documentable. The United Nations envoy to Cambodia has been insulted and condemned by Cambodia’s leadership because he recently made a statement that if the government does not take some real action to curtail this problem, there will be civil unrest.

I don’t see much sign of that myself, but, for the first time this week I did actually feel the oppression of corruption myself. I won’t go into why I actually began to feel the desperation that some Cambodian’s feel, but I will say that it reminded me of where David speaks in the Psalms about why God allows evil people to succeed, while those who follow Christ are seemingly allowed to flounder. Listen to what he says in Psalm 55:9-11, “For I have seen violence and strife in the city. Day and night they go around her walls; and iniquity and mischief are in her midst. Destruction is in her midst; oppression and deceit do not depart from her streets.”

And in Psalm 73:2, 3 and 17, “My steps had nearly slipped, for I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked… until I went into the house of God; then I understood their end.”

The only thing that will ultimately change Cambodia, and the corruption that pervades it, is a new heart. Please pray that God will change the hearts of all of the people through the gospel of Christ. Ask God that He will use His children here to be a strong witness to the truth of God. The allure of money and power has always been more enticing than Christ, so it will have to be the surgical hand of God that removes the heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh that has love for God and others.

On a personal note, my Christmas letter will be coming out soon…so, until then may God bless you in every way… especially to be a bearer and a sharer of the new heart that Christ gives.

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