This document summarizes a student group project on ways to reduce corruption in Cambodia. It defines corruption, discusses the current state of corruption in Cambodia, and identifies some of the main corruption issues in the country. It then explores proposed solutions such as strengthening anti-corruption laws, increasing public servant salaries, and encouraging citizens to refuse paying bribes. Overall, the document concludes that while eliminating corruption completely may not be possible, concerted multi-pronged efforts from both government and citizens could help significantly reduce its prevalence over time.

1. Group 01:
Mr. Heng Chhuy (Combination)
Ms. Eng Vouch Horng
Mr. Duong Vichheka Term of Study: Summer
Ms. Hou Vouchcheang Year of Study: 2013 1
SUBJECT: INTRO-POLITICAL SCIENCE
Topic: How to reduce corruption in
Cambodia?
Prof: Bunthoen THUN

2. Contents
1 Introduction
• What is corruption?
• Corruption in Cambodia
2 Corruption Issues
• Anti-corruption law effects in Cambodia
• Corruption consequences
• Standards expected from public services
3 What should be done to fight corruption?
4 Conclusions and Recommendations 2

3. 1.Introduction
•What is corruption?
• Corruption is the word that all the people don’t
want to hear about. Here are the definitions of
corruption:
Corruption is the misuse of public power (by
elected politician or appointed civil servant) for
private gain.
3

4. What is corruption?
• Dr. Petrus van Duyne: Corruption is an improbity or
decay in the decision-making process in which a decision-
maker consents to deviate or demands deviation from the
criterion which should rule his or her decision-making, in
exchange for a reward or for the promise or expectation of a
reward, while these motives influencing his or her decision-
making cannot be part of the justification of the decision.
• Major corruption comes close whenever major events
involving large sums of money, multiple ‘players’, or huge
quantities of products (think of food and pharmaceuticals)
often in disaster situations, are at stake.
4

5. Corruption in Cambodia
• Corruption is perceived as abuse of
power.
• Its two main causes are thought to be
officials’ low salaries and high
officials’ greed for power and wealth.
• On the other hand, ordinary
Cambodians lack community
solidarity, have little awareness of
their rights, and are afraid.
5

6. Corruption in Cambodia
• According to T.I.’s 2012 Corruption
Perceptions Index (CPI), Cambodia
ranked 157th among 176 countries and
territories listed, with a score of just 22
out of 100—a slight improvement on last
year’s ranking of 164.
6

7. 2.CorruptionIssues
• Nowadays, all the people in Cambodia
know clearly about the issues of
corruption. Corruption the big problem of
developing our country, there are many
issues that we have to know more and
understand about.
7

8. 2.CorruptionIssues
• After decades of civil war and political violence,
corruption has pervaded almost every sectors of
Cambodian public life, with a system of patronage
well entrenched in society. Both petty and grand
forms of corruption are widespread.
• Law enforcement agencies are perceived as the
most corrupt and inefficient sectors, lacking the
independence, resources and capacity to effectively
investigate and prosecute corruption cases.
8

9. Anti-corruption law effects in Cambodia
• As Cambodia has big corruption problem
that must be reduce, Cambodia government
was started to make The Law to Anti-
Corruption.
• The Law on Anti-Corruption approved by
the National Assembly on March 11, 2010.
The purpose is to reduce the corruption in
Cambodia, and is also help Cambodia
improve fast. 9

10. Anti-corruptionlaw effectsin Cambodia
• But since the law was start till nowadays, Law
just is on the paper. Cambodia continues to rank
among the most corrupt countries in the world and
much need to be done to enforce the Anti-
Corruption Law and investigate allegations of
corruption. As our daily activity every day, we
always meet people live with corruption. (“Transparency
International (T.I.) Cambodia”)
• They always use their money or property to get
the power or do everything that they want to do.
10

11. Corruption consequences
• When we say about the consequences,
Corruption has many problems that effect
to all people in Cambodia. Our country
cannot develop fast by corruption also.
According to the book “Saart SaOm” wrote
that; “Corruption invariably implies the
notion of taking advantage, prevaricating,
exploiting others.
11

12. Corruption consequences
• This general perception derives from day-to-day
routine. Most respondents report very similar
personal encounters with corruption, linked to
their daily living experience.
12
Teachers 44%
Commune/Sangkat officials 37%
Traffic police 33%
Nobody 25%
Local police 21%
Govt officials 8%
Who requested money from you or from your
family in the past 12 months

13. Corruption consequences
• Teachers head the list of the corrupt which is
compounded by several examples of corruption
based on familism (Krousa Niyum) and partyism
(Pak Puok Niyum).
13
Corruption will always exist in Cambodia 77
Corruption takes two people 56
A little corruption makes things easier 55
The powerful take advantage of the poor 52
Corruption is the illegal pressure to do something 37
Officials are poor, so they must ask for money 30
Corruption is part of everyday life 22
Agreement with statements (scale -200 to +200.
Significant agreement >50)

14. Standardsexpectedfrom public services
• In this table provides a fairly reliable impression
of how Cambodians consider public employment:
How much should one pay to obtain a simple
Government job (e.g. police)?
14
Nothing 7%
Up to 100 US$ 22%
Up to 500 US$ 27%
Up to 1,000 US$ 14%
More than 1,000 US$ 9%
Don’t know/ No answer 21%

15. Standardsexpectedfrom public services
• As our daily life and activity. We are agree
that the structure of Government cannot
control the bureaucracy everywhere, that’s
the cause of corruption: for instance having
many different collectors of tax payments -
tax officers, local police, traffic police,
firemen….
15

16. Standardsexpectedfrom public services
• The main causes of corruption
16
Officials have low salaries 49%
Officials want money to become more powerful 27%
Cambodia is getting richer and so officials are greedier 25%
People don't understand well how damaging corruption is 23%
Officials threaten people if people don't pay 20%
Denouncing corruption can be dangerous 18%
People are always ready to give a little gift to an official 15%
Everybody knows that it is there, and so they go along with 12%
People don't know the official fees for a service 11%

17. Whatshouldbedonetofightcorruptionin
Cambodia?
• Corruption is observed as impossible to eliminate
completely, but respondents without dissent
thought it could be reduced if the salaries of
officials were substantially raised.
• Most officials would be then ashamed to keep
asking for money. This action should be
combined with a strong anti-corruption law, to be
actively enforced, and with more pressure on the
part of donor countries, IOs and NGOs.
17

18. Whatshouldbedonetofightcorruptionin
Cambodia?
• Fighting corruption is the responsibility of every
Cambodian. Corruption can be reduced if we all
work together. You can help to reduce corruption
in a number of ways:
• Refuse to accept bribes or pay bribes
• Always ask for a receipt when paying a government fee
or other fees
• Ask officials what they use unofficial payments for
when you are asked to pay them
• Allow time for official procedures to be followed and
refuse to pay the speed fee
18

19. Whatshouldbedonetofightcorruptionin
Cambodia?
• Encourage local government offices to publicize official
fees
• Let your commune council members know that you
are concerned about corruption
• Take an active interest in the development of projects
in your commune
• Ask your commune council for copies of official project
budgets and documents
• Advocate for the passing of an Freedom of Information
Law
• Let your member of parliament know that you are
concerned about the government passing an
international standard anti-corruption law
19

20. Whatshouldbedonetofightcorruptionin
Cambodia?
• As a result, the most important part of the Anti-
corruption law will be the establishment of an
independent anti-corruption body that will
investigate and prosecute cases of corruption.
• The best choices to combat corruption, we should
take proper measures such as streaming
administrative procedures, simplifying and
modernizing the tax system, eliminating
excessive regulation, and motivating public
servants in order to reduce the opportunities for
corruption. 20

21. ConclusionsandRecommendations
• Corruption is perceived, above all, as abuse of
power. Respondents saw it as pervasive, a
permanent part of Cambodian life; it implies
giver/taker co-operation; it has some social
utility.
• The main two perceived causes are officials’
low salaries and high officials’ greed for
power and its trappings: they work as a dual
mechanism, top-to-bottom and back. But
people’s ignorance of corruption’s damages
and their readiness to give officials “a little
gift” are important too. 21

22. ConclusionsandRecommendations
• A positive note is that awareness of
corruption-related matters is growing. It
could be developed – through appropriate
campaigns - into an awareness of what are
the right costs of the most common
Govenment services, and into a more
widespread habit of asking for receipt
when asked for money.
22

23. References
• Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, ‘Overview of corruption in
Cambodia’. @ http://www.u4.no/publications/overview-of-
corruption-in-cambodia/
• Clean, ‘Working together to Fight Corruption’. @
http://www.pactcambodia.org/Publications/Anti_Corruption/
Clean_Hand_Leaflet_ENGLISH.pdf
• Indochina Research, February 2007, Saart Saom ‘Perceiving
and Fighting Corruption in Cambodia’. @
http://www.pactcambodia.org/Publications/Anti_Corruption/
Perceiving_and_Fighting_Corruption_in_Cambodia.pdf
• Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer (WASHINGTON DC ) 2012 , 14
August
• The Cambodia Daily ( Phnom Penh) 2012, 06 December.
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