Recent Events Underscore Our Loss of Dignity

By admin on January 22nd, 2008

from The Cambodia Daily (January 22, 2008, page 19)

Letter to the Editor by Muoy You, Phnom Penh

 Last week, there pieces of news and events made me reflect on the condition of our country. A poor man knocked a powerful man unconscious with a steel pipe and rammed the man’s car into the wall of his house. While nobody can condone such violence, it might be helpful to reflect on what caused this act of rage. We usually read about the poor robbing, attacking or killing other poor for money or grudge. The rich and powerful were up to then immune from such danger. Not anymore, it seems. When frustrations build, they lead to anger and rage. Fences, however tall, and barbed wire, however impressive, could not protect one that was the object of hatred.

In some countries, a king, a queen, a minister or a major can be seen in the streets, going on a bike or public transport, on their own, without body guards. They have nothing to fear from their people. Such a thing is unimaginable in Cambodia. Why? Is it status or fear or both? If it’s fear, why?  There can only two reasons: (a) they have too many enemies, or (b) they have no faith in the police.

And what turns a man into an enemy? When he is not given a chance and when he is robbed of his hope and dignity. What is dignity? I was there in my reflection when a piece of news gave me the answer to the question.

It seems Cambodia is less poor now. Its GDP has increased, there are less people living under the poverty line. I was really happy with this good news until I read that the poverty line was $o.45 per day.

What can one do with $0.45 a day? Why don’t we all try to live with $0.45 for a day t see how it feels? I had the experience ten years ago, trying to live with, not $0.45 but $1 a day. It was ten years ago and I didn’t take the rent or transportation into account, just food for just myself. I knew what it was like to count every cent before buying something, to choose always the cheapest, to pretend I was not hungry. Now in 2008, what can one do with 1800 riel a day? One cannot even have a car wash. But of course, the poor do not have cars to wash. Only their dignity is washed away.

In 1979, the Cambodian people were the most equal in the world- all of them had nothing. Twenty nine years later, the gap is Himalayan-some have millions of dollars and the crowd has $0.45 a day. How could this have happened?

Some say those poor are lazy or stupid otherwise they would have made it like the others. Either that-we are a nation of lazy and stupid people-or there is something wrong in the economic management of the country and the values that govern our lives. A car knocked a man down. The owner came out and went to check the damage done to his car before he noticed the man and told him off- so much for individual dignity. What about our dignity as a nation?