[T]he Cambodian elite is the ultimate shame of human behaviour

Lexus with police plates, Phnom Penh (Photo: Jules Atkins, Travel Blog)

Transportation for ordinary Cambodians

Elite spend on cars, not the country
March 18, 2010
Letter to the Editor
The Nation

Cambodia needs more money from abroad according to the Cambodian Embassy. Cambodia is one of the poorest countries on the planet. When you walk the streets in Phnom Penh, you will know why they need more money: It seems that most of the country's income is used on luxury cars.

Phnom Penh is the luxury car capital of the world. The dollar-a-day garment-factory girls are bringing the money to Cambodia. The political, administrative, military, police, and business elite take care of the spending - wasting this hard-earned money on cars instead of rebuilding the country.

How is it possible to be so selfish with so much suffering and poverty around you? For me the Cambodian elite is the ultimate shame of human behaviour - in a country that is heavily dependent on development aid from abroad. And the embassy claims it is a democracy!

I come from a democratic country in Europe where our democracy didn't allow private persons to import cars until 16 years after the Second World War. All money was used to rebuild our country. All worked together. That attitude moved us from being among the poorest countries to being the second richest and probably the most fair and even in Europe.

So, Cambodia, if you want to achieve anything as a democracy, you have to wait for luxury until you can afford it. That means the day when the United Nations, Save the Children, the Red Cross, and all the other aid organisations have finally finished their mission in Cambodia.

A JOHNSEN
FLORIDA