Im Sothearith

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Public Administration and Personnel: In the Case of Cambodia

Sothearith Im, Ohio University

Introduction

Public administration and public personnel are the key factors contributing to the success of all government affairs. It is not clear if a public administration system plays a more important role than the public personnel in making the government perform successfully and whether the development of human capital or the establishment of a workable government system should be prioritized. In a controversial debate, some argue that a good system makes people work effectively and efficiently, whereas a bad system spoils the public personnel and gives people in the established system an opportunity to commit unethical practices such as corruption and other types of briberies. By contrast, some said the system is established by people; therefore, development of human capital should be prioritized.

In reality, public administration and public personnel are interdependent like the chicken and egg debate. Both the administrative system and public personnel development should be prioritized and improved step by step. In a broader sense, an administrative system can be compared to a road, public personnel or bureaucrats to a driver, and a country to a vehicle. How fast the vehicle can reach its destination depends on how skillful the driver drives, and how good the road is. Although the vehicle is brand new, if it is driven by an unskillful driver on a road that is in bad condition, the brand new vehicle can be wrecked and broken and might not reach its destination as fast as expected. Likewise, the country can be fast developed if it is rich in skilled and well-trained bureaucrats, who work in an established workable system of government. For instance, Japan, which has been facing a lot of natural disasters and has no significant natural resources, has become one of the world’s leading industrialized countries. This is due to the fact that it is rich in capable and competent human capital and administrative efficiency and productivity for national economic development.

In this sense, Cambodia, a small country considerably rich in natural resources and a favorable geographical location with no noticeable natural disaster, has been facing political and economic crises. The crises are undoubtedly caused by a three-decade civil war. The civil war, in fact, did not severely ruin Cambodia’s natural resources, but it ruined its public infrastructure, administrative system and crippled its human capital. Cambodia’s natural resources such as forests, fishes, and germ mines, etc. were severely destroyed by the corrupt system and mismanagement of the current government. Because of the unfeasibility and inefficiency of the established administrative system and the lack of human capital, Cambodia must pay special attention to reforming its public administration and improving its public personnel skills so that it can cope with the current trends of economic development. This paper, therefore, aims to illustrate the importance of administrative reform and how administrative systems and public personnel are interdependent and help drive the Cambodian vehicle to its destination successfully in a timely manner.

Why administrative reform?

According to United Nations (1983), public administrative reforms are defined as "specially designed efforts to induce fundamental changes in public administration system through system-wide reforms or through measures for the improvement of one or more of its key elements, such as administrative structures, personnel and processes" (as cited in Liou 1999, p. 9). In general, if the established administrative system worked very well to respond to the national economic development and meet citizens' needs, the reform would not be put into place. The purpose of administrative reform is, in general, to improve efficiency and effectiveness of bureaucratic performance, public accountability, policy responsiveness, anticorruption measures, and to make bureaucracy more responsive to citizens’ needs and aspirations. Furthermore, according to Caiden (1991), the aim of administrative reform is to improve governmental performance and the administrative system through the advancement of technology, management, administrative innovations, and on-going enhancement of administrative capabilities. The administrative reforms not only provide the necessary infrastructure, systems and attitudes required to implement national development program successfully, but also creates an atmosphere that promotes quality and productivity (Siddiquee, 2002). Similarly, Razin (2004) points out that the objectives for reform usually refer to any one or more of "(1) efficiency and effectiveness in the provision of services and infrastructure; (2) rational and sustainable land use and economic development; (3) local democracy and citizen participation; (4) social justice; and (5) good governance” (p. 624). Being aware of the importance of administration reform, every country in the Southeast Asian Region has reformed its administrative system to realize a free-market economy development (Haque, 2004).

In Cambodia in particular, public administration is often accused of corruption, inefficiency, lack of accountability, and nepotism. To avoid this accusation, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) acknowledges the importance of the administrative reform in improving its unworkable administrative system. Therefore, in August 2004, the RGC stressed in the draft National Program for Administrative Reform that a competent and transparent public administration is able to provide high quality services to Cambodia people (Gardner, 2004, p.1). In order to reform successfully, nature of problems should be identified so that right, feasible solutions can be reached.

Nature of the Problems

In Cambodia, the administrative system has been crippled by the rapid change of the economic system. After the 1993-UN sponsored general election, democracy and a new system of free-market economy were put into place in Cambodia, where the established administrative system and working culture of public personnel were still purely socialist. Cambodia immediately changed its economic system from a command economy, in which competition with state enterprises was not allowed, to a free-market economy, which is full of competition. The immediate change resulted in the chaotic and unworkable system of the current government. This is due to the fact that the whole government system including rules of laws, law enforcement, administrative system, and its public personnel were not ready and incapable of coping with this rapid change. That is why the system continuously generates uncountable problems. The followings are the major problems having been faced by Cambodia.

The Cambodian public sector is excessive. In this term of government, there are over 200 appointed politicians working as governors, deputy governors, mayors and deputy majors in 24 provinces and municipalities (Everyday News, 2005). This expansion has been strongly criticized by opposition parties, NGOs, and civil societies. There are many bureaucrats who have nothing to do because either they are unqualified or they don’t want to do anything due to inadequate salary. Because of inadequate salary, some bureaucrats have a few jobs in the government so that they can have more money. Many people show up only on paid days. Recently, in order to solve the political conflict on power sharing, the RGC has increased the number of ministries, agencies, and positions for political appointees from parties in the coalition government. This makes the public sector even bigger. Therefore, Cambodian public administration reform is urgently needed.

Corruption in the Cambodian public sector is one of the most well-known issues nationally and internationally. According to Liou, (1999a), during the economic transition and development process, the most common problem is generally the issue of bureaucratic unethical and corruptive behaviors. Likewise, most Cambodian public bureaucrats from the street level to the elite level possess corruptive behaviors. The system of government makes bureaucrats become opportunists because this loose, chaotic system provides the bureaucrats who are working in the system with opportunities to corrupt without being punished; instead, they live happy lives on the corrupt money. Therefore, this is an obstacle for administrative reform because these bureaucrats and politicians might not be willing to reform or change the system which benefits them.

Low salaries and no anticorruption laws are major causes of corruption in the Cambodian public sector. According to Im (2005), corruption can be minimized if bureaucrats have adequate salaries, and if strict measures on corruption are taken. Although Cambodia is known as one of the most corrupt nations on earth, and although Prime Minister Hun Sen recently has announced a war against corruption, no corrupt individual has yet been brought to justice. Furthermore, corrupt system encourages distrust among bureaucrats as well as among the whole population and investors. They are always doubtful that those people who implement a certain program will have opportunity to have extra benefits. Nowadays, corruption becomes culture in the Cambodian society. For instance, the most common series of questions Cambodians in the countryside ask their guests are “What is your job?”, “How much is your monthly salary?”, and “Can you earn extra?” The last question refers to corrupt earnings.

In addition, Cambodian public administration is inefficient in delivering public goods and responding to the needs of its citizens. This is due to the fact that most important bureaucrats strongly attach themselves to a political party and tend to follow party lines instead of serving the interest of the people (Im, 2005). Furthermore, according to Jamil (2002), in most developing countries, bureaucrats often consider people as ‘subjects’ who are expected to show obedient behavior to administrators. This attitude pattern is also common amongst Cambodian bureaucrats. The purchase of positions has been also common at senior levels, which clearly shows that bureaucrats who would hold the costly positions intended, through various unethical commitments, to get back the money they had spent.

Most Cambodian bureaucrats and appointed politicians either possess inadequate educational background, or are assigned to hold positions which do not fit their specialization. Most job allocations are done based on degree of political loyalty, seniority or contributions to a political party, but not on skills, specialization, or pre-work experience. Therefore, lack of professionalism within the Cambodian public sector is another major problem. In addition, due to an inadequate salary offered by the RGC, many skilled, capable bureaucrats have been attracted by jobs and offers at NGOs or international organizations.

Government Responses to the Problems

Significant conditions for successful economic development and reform, to mention a few, are "socio-political stability, a flexible, pragmatic, and longitudinal approach, the integration of government and market, and institutional development" (Liou, 1999a, p. 6). The RGC has also realized these significant conditions. The efforts of the RGC should be acknowledged because the RGC has been committed to reforming its system step by step. For instance, at the National Conference on Administration Reforms at Intercontinental Hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on August 25, 2004, Hun Sen assured his audience, including donor organizations and countries, that Cambodia has no choice but to move forward with all reforms, and only “a strong commitment to follow the paths of in-depth and broader reforms will help transforming Cambodia into a nation with peace, stability, progress, prosperity, and a country with freely and openly development, well integrated into regional and world communities”. (Hun Sen, 2004, p. 1). He also emphasizes that the current RGC is the government of employment, equity and efficiency. These points show that the RGC is ready for the reform.

The RGC’s efforts to reform its public administration are crucial in implementing its rectangular strategy[1]. The RGC’s strategic approach has been centered on three building blocks: rationalizing civil service structure and the number of employees, strengthening civil service management, and increasing civil service salaries. The RGC seems to realize the problems and address the solutions to the problem addressed in the previous section. For instance, according to Hun Sen (2002), to improve administrative efficiency and effectiveness, the RGC has been implementing an extensive village and commune-based program of decentralization and deconcentration. A National Committee to Support Communes has also been established to carry out the Law on Commune Administration and decentralization policies. According to Gardner (2004), the Commune Administration Law in early 2001 and election of Commune Councils in 2002 not only helps bring people closer to decisions that affect their lives, but also enables locally elected officials to be accountable to people that they serve. This is one of the great successes of the RGC. Furthermore, with the financial support from the World Bank, the RGC has also succeeded in demobilizing and downsizing significant numbers of its overwhelming inactive soldiers. According to Mathews (2005), as a post-conflict country, Cambodia has done very well to its society. In terms of bureaucratic freedom of expression, Cambodia is better than some countries in the region. In this sense, in the latest Index of Economic Freedom published by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, Cambodia was termed “mostly free” and ranked 63 out of more than 155 countries, which is higher than Thailand in the same category at 71, while Vietnam at 137 was "mostly unfree" and Laos at 150 was "repressed" (Mathews, 2005, p.1). Therefore, these efforts of the RGC should be acknowledgeable.

Recommendation

In general, in order to involve the government in the market economy and to cope with the change of economic development, public and private institutions should be restructured accordingly. The needs for the reduction of bureaucratic corruption, social inequalities, and political influence during the development and transition process are very obvious; and promotion of professional efficiency and ethical values and norms is also crucial (Liou, 1999a). According to the RGC’s rectangular strategy, the RGC also considers these factors crucial for reforming its administrative system. However, the RGC has not yet proved if it is able to fulfill them.

Furthermore, like other Eastern European countries, it is acknowledged that the chaotic system of the RGC was caused by the rapid change in economic development, and Cambodia was not ready for this change. Liou (1999b) compared the reformed experience between China and the former socialist countries, especially Easter European countries, by pointing out that the success of Chinese administrative reform is owing to the gradual reform approach and stable environment. This successful approach should be taken into consideration and set as an example for Cambodian administration reforms.

Although the RGC has fulfilled some of its promises, such as military demobilization and decentralization, there are many other things left unfulfilled. Rectangular strategy proposed by the RGC sounds very good, but it does not guarantee if it can be implemented successfully. Because the RGC has faced many problems, the RGC is obliged to fulfill many tasks to improve the existing chaotic system of its administration, but the following factors might be feasible solutions, in short as well as long-term, to the major problems identified in the previous section.

Because the current Cambodian administration is too big, the government should downsize its public sector. Downsizing the public sector is crucial to reduce the government expenses on unnecessary public employees and to improve capability of the government in delivering public goods to its citizens. According to Ku (1994), Japan was very successful in its administration reform by focusing on downsizing and streamlining government in order to promote administrative efficiency and productivity for national economic development, and at the same time Japanese government promotes the private sector which helps generate employment. Because of the successful downsizing of the public sector, Japanese government is considered the smallest amongst industrialized nations. Japanese government has reduced its bureaucracy by 270,000 by limiting the number of established Secretariats and Bureaus to 128 since 1989 (Moon and Ingraham, 1998, p. 86). Likewise, President Chun of South Korea also successfully downsized the Korean public sector by cutting the total number of staff and positions of his government in 1981 by 46,489 (p. 89). Therefore, if Cambodia can integrate its ministries and downsize its public personnel as well as appointed politicians, Cambodia will be able to save those unnecessary expenses. With the money saved from downsizing the public sector, public personnel’s salary can be raised, quality of service can be improved and corruption can be minimized.

In addition, corruption can be minimized if the public servants possess ethical values. It is obvious that every individual government employee plays an important role in promoting the government’s reputation because a government is made up of all levels of employees, who are also known as, according to Kakabadse, et al. 2003, servants of government, servants of the law, and servants of the public. On Saturday, October 30, 2004 for the first time as Cambodia's new monarch, King Norodom Sihamoni addressed his nation pledging to be a "faithful servant" of the people and promising that “a king is not the master of the country or of the people, [but] a king is a servant of the motherland and the people…. To all the beloved people, through all my life, I will be a faithful servant to all the people, I will always be with the people to share the happiness and suffering” (As cited in CNN News, 2004). Through this message, the King acts as a role model for an ethical and honest public figure and trustworthy individual.

Furthermore, Feldheim and Wang (2004) point out that a primary strategy in creating ethical institutions is through moral leadership. Haggard and Webb (1993); Rondinelli and Montgomer (1990); and Summers and Thomas (1993), also emphasize that in order to assure the success of economic development, an efficient and ethical administrative system is needed to develop and implement development policies and programs; reforming the public sector to overcome unethical and inefficient bureaucratic dysfunctions and problems is also indispensable (As cited in Liou, 1999a). Oftentimes, it is necessary for government institutions to establish ethical standards for its employees. In the United Sates, according to Mitchell (1999), the U.S. Office of Government Ethics issued booklets in August 1992 to its federal employees. The booklets contain principles and rules of ethical conduct for government employees. The ethics dilemma in public service has been addressed by the guidelines, which is an attempt by the U.S. government to regulate the ethical conduct of its employees. Because bureaucrats are drivers of the nations, the ethical bureaucrats make an honest government, which can serve its citizens efficiently and effectively. Therefore, if all bureaucrats possess ethical values, corruption can be minimized and administrative system can be efficient.

In the same context, an example can be drawn from the success of Malaysian administrative reform. In the 1980s, Malaysia introduced several innovative programs such as “punch clock system, name tag, code of ethics in the public service, clean, efficient and trustworthy concept, manual office procedure, desk file, quality control circles and productivity measurement program and leadership by example" (Siddiquee, 2002, p. 109), to instill positive work ethics among public personnel and alter system management and behavioral patterns. Through this program, Malaysia has been self-sufficient and moved itself forward to be one of the industrialized nations in Asia. Therefore, Cambodia needs to reform its administrative system because the current system has generated unethical and corrupt bureaucrats, and these bureaucrats in return worsen the system. If the RGC does not hurry to fix this unworkable system on time, the system as well as unethical bureaucrats, who generated by the system, will naturally spoil and worsen the whole society. According to Ma (1999), administrative reform not only helps produce men of efficiency, but also helps accomplish more to produce men of ethics in order to establish an honest government.

Premier Lien Chan of Taiwan in 1995 launched an Administrative Renovation Program which had a number of elements: a drive against corruption and a program to instill a new public service ethic; staff reduction and administrative rationalization; financial management improvements and expenditure restraint; and service delivery improvements in relations with citizens (Cheung, 2002). Likewise, the rectangular strategy of the RGC is also important to move Cambodia forward to a self-sufficient nation if it is successfully implemented. Therefore, the RGC’s efforts and commitment in implementing its reform policy should be highly encouraged.

Another factor that significantly contributes to the administrative efficiency is professionalism. In Malaysia, professionalism is a key aim, including attempts to inculcate a stronger ethic of public service through the 1979 “Excellence in Civil Service” program (Painter, 2004). Max Weber proposed an “ideal type” of bureaucracy in order to achieve administrative efficiency. The components of his “ideal type” of bureaucracy are specialization of labor, impersonal rules, and employment and promotion based on merit. Based on this principle, China has implemented its administrative reform successfully. According to Ma (1999), one of the first steps the Chinese government made was staffing the public administrative apparatus with technically competent professionals rather than politically loyal cadres. Young cadres with better education were promoted to replace the old, revolutionary cadres who possess inadequate education and who were persuaded to retire. As a result, a new generation of bureaucratic technocrats began to take over public offices. According to Moon and Ingraham (1998), China has established education institutes within various levels of the government and has promoted courses on administrative science. The course introduces the western model of public administration and management skills, including performance-based management, reward systems, and merit-based management. Furthermore, the Chinese government also hired experts from the west and spent some thousands of dollars to send their potential public officials abroad, especially to the U.S. to expose and learn administrative skills. This is a very good example for the RGC to follow. It is acknowledged that Cambodia has established the Royal School of Administration for its current and perspective government officials, but the recruitment process is seen not to be transparent and the course curriculum is not practical. Most students admitted to this school are already strongly attached to political parties, which undoubtedly they will serve political interests rather than the interests of the people.

Furthermore, bureaucrats should not be influenced by politics, which is usually the case in Cambodia. A clear policy should be established. China has established clear goals and directions for its future administration. The directions are to establish objective administrative processes, to clarify the activities of professional administrators, to strengthen the legal mechanism in public administration, and to gradually separate public administration from the Party (Moon and Ingraham, 1998). Like those in other former socialist countries, Cambodian bureaucrats are strongly attached to politics, which creates administrative inefficiency, inequality, and unaccountability. As above mentioned, even China, one of the world’s oldest socialist countries, acknowledges the importance of separation of bureaucracy and politics and has been trying to separate its public administration from political party. China, a socialist country, was able to do this, so it would seem that Cambodia, a democratic country, could do it as well. In fact, Cambodia has already been trying to do it through decentralization. According to Moon and Ingraham (1998), decentralization is likely to be a core part of current administration reform efforts. The decentralization engenders expansion of local autonomy by “dividing roles between central and local governments, delegating administrative authority to local governments, strengthening the financial independence of local governments, establishing an independent local administrative system and establishing legal settings for local autonomy” (Moon and Ingraham, 1998, p. 87). However, most of Cambodian bureaucrats either at street levels or higher levels are strongly influenced by political parties. This needs to be improved.

Conclusion

The commitment, motivation, and capability of public personnel are crucial for the public service delivery and fulfilling responsibilities and successfully implementing development plans (Siddiquee, 2002). Without a workable system, the skilled, committed public personnel cannot deliver public service efficiently. In return, without ethical, skilled, committed bureaucrats, the administrative system cannot function properly. It is obvious that the administrative system and public personnel plays a very important role in driving a country to its preferable destination. In the case of Cambodia, the RGC has been trying very hard to improve its system, but the RGC’s efforts do not seem to pay and do not generate any significant result. The reason might be because no senior officer in the current government has a clean hand or is corruption-free to reform this system. In general, as the Cambodian saying goes if we are not clean, we cannot change others, because if we point a finger at somebody, three fingers point back at us. So, we might be three times as bad. Therefore, since current Cambodian politicians and senior bureaucrats are not clean or corruption-free, they might not be able to reform the chaotic system successfully. In order to reform this chaotic system successfully, Cambodia needs clean, knowledgeable outsider bureaucrats, who are not in the established chaotic system, with support from those old, revolutionary folks, who were already in the established chaotic system. Without support from those folks, the new, clean outsider bureaucrats will not be able to do anything and will be rejected by the system.

Changing this situation is a long-term proposition and time consuming. The step by step approach, which has already been implemented successfully in China, will work, and although it might take a human generation to successfully reform the Cambodian administrative system, waiting any longer is not a good idea. Of course, Cambodia, which has been crippled by its three-decade civil war, can be compared to a person who has just recovered from a serious illness, who cannot walk straight without support from others, but Cambodian people should be optimistic about this reform and development. The recent reaction of the RGC against corrupt individuals in the judiciary sector is a good sign for the system reform. It shows that the government’s top leaders, who have been suspected to be deeply involved in corruption, are willing to fight against corruption and willing to make the society change. If the government keeps this intention and tradition, the hope for the reform success is on the way, and the change can be made in the near future.

Endnote

[1]Rectangular strategy is an integrated structure of interlocking rectangles established by the Royal Government of Cambodia for reforming its administration reform. The core of the rectangular strategy is good governance, focused at four reform areas: (1) anti-corruption, (2) legal and judicial reform, (3) public administration, and (4) reform of the armed forces. For more information visit http://www.car.gov.kh/hunsen/rectangular%20strategy.htm

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Who is to Blame for the Problems in the Cambodian Elementary Education

Sothearith Im
Ohio University

The objective of Cambodian elementary education is not only to equip pupils with basic academic skills like reading, writing and arithmetic, but also to help shape their character and behavior. A Cambodian saying reads, “Shape the iron while it is hot and educate humans while they are young” meaning young humans are easily influenced and educated. Unfortunately, most Cambodian youngsters have been spoilt due to the fact that teachers at elementary schools not only have failed to perform their duties to meet the objective of Cambodian elementary education, but have provoked wrongdoing and acted as bad examples as well. Although most people tend to blame the government for these problems, all stakeholders: the teachers, the government, and pupils’ parents have the same responsibility to bring elementary education back to its mission.

To begin with, the serious problem in Cambodia elementary schools, especially those in the capital city Phnom Penh, is the behavior of teachers. Teachers are expected to act as good role models, but instead, they act as bad examples for pupils. Because of inadequate salaries, teachers collect money from pupils everyday, and they sometimes sell candies or cookies during the break in the class. These activities are seen by pupils from day to day; so, the pupils are obsessed with this behavior. Those students who fail to pay teaching fees will be ignored, given lower grades, or punished in many subtle ways. Because students are exposed to this behavior so often, they soon absorb these bad examples and lose respect for their teachers. As a result, students have performed many immoral acts such as cheating in front of teachers or proctors in examinations, or pointing handguns at teachers’ heads. Therefore, many other problems may also result from improper education.

Generally, teachers have a significant responsibility to be good role models for pupils, since pupils spend most of their time at schools, thus they may learn more from teachers and their peers than from their parents. All teachers know that they have to behave properly because they are seen and observed by pupils everyday. Moreover, everyone in Cambodia knows quite well that teachers cannot live on their government salary. So, if someone applies to be a teacher, he has to be committed, and if he has no commitment or does not like working with pupils, he had better quit the job and find another job rather than stay and spoil the school environment. Therefore, elementary teachers are partly responsible for initiating the problems in elementary school.

The government is also obliged to shoulder responsibilities for restructuring the elementary education so that it meets its objective. Since the primary purpose of elementary education is “to equip pupils with basic academic skills like reading, writing and arithmetic, and to help shape pupils’ character and behavior,” it is believed to play a very crucial role in equipping children with good morality and ethical behavior, so the government has to pay more attention to teachers’ living standard. The most effective solution to the problem is the teachers’ salaries. The problems mentioned above occur due to the fact that the teachers’ salaries do not meet their daily basic needs; so, teachers do not pay enough attention to educating pupils properly, since they need to do some extra work in order to survive. If the government does not raise teachers’ salaries or take any effective measures to improve teachers’ living standard, the Cambodian elementary education will not only fail to achieve its academic objectives, but will also continue to shape pupils’ characters in an unacceptable way.

In addition, pupils’ parents are also partly responsible for the problems Cambodian elementary education is encountering. Parents give money to their children to pay teachers, since they know that their children will be treated unsatisfactorily if they do not pay teachers. However, if no parents give money to their children, their children will have nothing to pay their teachers everyday. If parents are willing to solve the problems, they may approach school management to discuss possible solutions. Instead of pupils’ paying teachers directly everyday, if parents want to help schools, they should contribute money yearly or monthly to the administration so that the administration could manage the money accordingly. Parents should form a parent association so that they could talk with their local school principal effectively about how to deal with the problems. But, parents do nothing about the matter. Therefore, parents are partly responsible for the problems.

In short, these three stakeholders: the teachers, the government, and pupils’ parents should share responsibility for these problems. The Cambodian government should pay closer attention to teachers’ salaries. The government should increase the salary to meet the basic needs if possible; teachers should do their job responsibly; and parents should keep their eyes on all school activities and help give comment for improvement. These three stakeholders can be compared to three cooking stones, meaning the pot is never on without any one of them. Therefore, if the three stakeholders work cooperatively and responsibly, they will be able to solve the problems successfully.

A Shattered Image

Im Sothearith
Ohio University

Sunday, April 03, 2005

Cambodian Broadcast Management Challenges and Appropriate Solutions

Sothearith Im, Ohio University
imthegreat@gmail.com

This paper has been published at http://www.kohsantepheapdaily.com.kh/society/solution28_04.htm

CAMBODIA is a country that has been a laboratory for ideologies and a variety of political structures. It has been through feudalism, absolute monarchy, colonialism, populism, republicanism, Leninist, Marxist and Maoist socialism, and constitutional monarchy. Cambodia’s modern history has also been scarred by almost 30 years of civil war, which led not only to the hindrance of its development, but also to the destruction of all areas of its society, including the media.

Like other emerging democratic countries, Cambodia’s political pluralism is a relatively recent development and the notion of the media as society’s watchdog is not well understood by neither the government nor many media practitioners themselves.

In general, the free exchange of ideas and information is a wise policy for a democratic government to uphold. Ordinary citizens can make good decisions about their nation if they are well informed, and are able to share their thoughts with others, including their leaders. These could be done through the media. Ordinary citizens’ ability to understand and respond to events and issues, however, can be no greater than the ability of media practitioners to identify, comprehend and explain those events and issues. The need, therefore, is for the media to be reliable and ethical in gathering and disseminating the information citizens need to understand their world.

There was a time when the media in Cambodia were such, and were highly respected and trusted by the public. When I was young, my grandfather had told me to try to study hard in order to become a journalist. He saw how Cambodians honored journalists, who were considered highly professional and ethical. This was all before 1975, when Cambodia’s short but harrowing descent to hell began.

Between 1975 and 1978, Cambodia came under the control of the ruthless Khmer Rouge, which dismantled all known social structures in the country and replaced it with its own totalitarian system. During its reign, there was a paucity of publications of all kinds, and the media came under state control.

After the Khmer Rouge government was toppled, many mass media were revived, starting with the SPK (Cambodian Press) and Kampuchea newspaper. Then came the establishment of radio stations, after which came the TVK (Television Kampuchea). All these, however, were still controlled by the state.

A major turning point for Cambodia and the media came in 1992, when the United Nations peacekeeping force arrived to help prepare the country for its first democratic elections in decades. After the UN forces arrived, freedom expression exploded along with multi-party politics. Numerous local and international private media companies – print and broadcast -- were established. Even though their publications and broadcasts frequently spread inaccurate news, rumors, and sometimes even committed slander, Cambodians were still kept better informed than ever in the previous two regimes about what was happening across the country.

In time, the publications and the radio and TV stations began to reveal scandals about the former government and identifying corrupt individuals. In the past, corrupt government officials had not been afraid of anyone, not even the courts, which were perceived to be corrupt as well. But this time around, corrupt officials became fearful of the media.

The fear of any of their wrongdoings being exposed by the media, however, resulted not in reforms among politicians, but in attempts to corrupt journalists. Some political parties also went to the extent of trying to set up media companies of their own. Soon, articles were being written and published largely because money was being exchanged between journalists and politicians. Many of the local news being broadcast by the radio and TV stations or published by the newspapers also became blatantly politicized, with no palpable effort at all to present information in an unbiased and impartial way. At the same time, the increasing competition between media companies led to frequent exchanges of insults in print. Whatever points the media gained among the public in the early 1990s were thus lost.

It is noted that after the 1993 general election, a new democratic government was formed, and radio and television stations were established one after another, most of which were owned by private companies or political parties. The mushrooming of broadcast media, especially television, favors Cambodian people, since it provides the public not only news, but also entertainment. As a result, movie industry was no longer functioning and movie theaters across the countries were shut down. According to the annual report (2003) by Cambodian Ministry of Information, nowadays in Phnom Penh there are 19 radio stations including affiliate stations of BBC and French channels, 9 television stations including affiliate stations of French and Vietnamese channels, and two cables. These companies extend their broadcast capacity to 20 radio stations, 14 television stations, and 31 cable televisions in the provinces. According to H.E. Khieu Kanharith, Cambodian Secretary of State of Information, radios' coverage covers almost 90%, and televisions' coverage covers about 80% across the country.

Although Cambodian broadcast is remarkably mushrooming and enjoying freedom given by the government, Cambodian broadcast management has not yet reached satisfactory standard due to the fact that it is encountering a lack of professionalism, administration mismanagement, and financial problems, and press law and regulations are not properly enforced. This paper will also discuss and suggest the appropriate solutions to these mentioned problems being faced by Cambodian broadcast management.

Professionalism, which plays a crucial role in leading a business to its success, is badly needed by all Cambodian broadcasting corporations. The majority of people working in the fields of media, especially broadcast managers, who are supposed to give their staff proper training to do their job effectively (Gershon, 2000), do not have a degree in media or other related specialization, although some have completed short training courses. Cambodian broadcasters have made clear their desire for greater opportunities to engage in advanced professional and academic studies. Many of them wish to become recognized experts in the fields they work in. These people learn by doing and observation. Although they are able to keep the broadcast operating, the quality of broadcast programs has not yet met satisfactory standards, and the blatant bias may be caused by the lack of education in professions and lack of critical thinking. The lack of education, professional trainings, or creative thinking leads broadcasters to work unprofessionally and to slow dawn the real development of the broadcast professionalism. The hindrance of real development may be due to the fact that broadcasters are unable to keep themselves posted on what is going on in the outside world and unable to adopt the change of its external environment. Keeping updated with the external environment changes is important for all media practitioners, especially for decision makers (Napoli, 2003).

In addition, inadequate qualified staff is one of the main factors causing problem to administration, since responsibility and duty of personnel are not clearly delegated. Some personnel have too many things to do whereas others do not. The overlapping of the personnel’s responsibility leads to the hindrance of good program production and other working process. As saying reads, “too many cooks spoil broth.” At the same time, some unskilled and unproductive staff members have still been employed though they do not contribute as much as expected to the station.

Authoritarian leadership style used in Cambodian broadcast corporations is seen to be impractical for improvement of broadcast field. Cambodia was ruled by socialist regimes for decades; thus its broadcast was totally under strict control of the government. The centralization and bureaucracy have still been strictly used in almost all broadcast stations, since a majority of television directors and managers were former media practitioners in the socialist regimes and get used to the socialist working system. Therefore, their experience has set their mind to the working system and leads to a cognition inertia. As the result of this leadership style, Cambodian broadcasters are seen to be uncreative. According to Covington (1999), creative not only can sustain the existing media, but also engenders the existing media to expand in profitability and audience size. Since the Cambodian broadcasters are uncreative, some broadcast programs do not meet the public satisfaction because of poor quality of the programs, and the program content is adopted from those of other countries, which sometimes do not work in Cambodian society.

Shortage of finance hinders the development of every Cambodian broadcast station. Financial problems have been a major problem to all Cambodian broadcast stations. It is like chicken and egg theory. Because of a shortage of money, broadcast stations are unable to employ skilled professionals. As a result the stations produce poor quality programs, which neither attract audience nor advertisers, who are the financial sources of all the broadcast stations. For instance, most Cambodian radio stations broadcast news published in daily newspapers instead of producing the program themselves. Moreover, low paid media practitioners may accept bribe. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said, “About 25 percent of Cambodian media practitioners are working like kidnappers by demanding money from government officials, otherwise they would report something bad about them.” (Puy, 2000). In addition, Equipment such as transmitters and other digital facilities and equipment are badly needed to catch up with the advancement of information technology. Most broadcast stations in Cambodia are still using analogue equipment and facilities, which leads to low quality of images shown on screens.

Media law, which is believed to help regulates media operation, is not only improperly enforced, but is also thought to be a means used by the government to intimidate media practitioners and censor the media. Since media law was enacted in 1994, the law has been still controversial. Since the laws were passed, several media practitioners have been jailed or threatened (Country Profile: Communications, 2001). Furthermore, absence of copyright law also negatively affects production, especial programming of broadcast station. Copyright law is still being processed and will be passed soon. Without copyright law, program producers may not be motivated to produce good programs. So far broadcast stations have copied programs from one another. For instance, karaoke programs broadcasted live on radio and television, which allow audience to call in and sing, have been adopted from one another.

Solving the above problems being faced by Cambodian broadcast stations nowadays is a long-term proposition. One step forward is by increasing awareness of media’s importance. Another is increasing professionalism among media practitioners. But many Cambodian broadcasters today are sorely lacking even in skills, which only tend to result in haphazard reporting and programming. Media law needs to be modified, and copyright law should be passed soon and properly implemented.

Fortunately, the country’s leaders have not resorted to a crackdown to keep erring media companies in check. Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen said at the official opening ceremony of the Department of Media and Communication, Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), “The best way to change the image of media is to educate media practitioners, not to shut down media agencies.”

As a response to the prime minister’s challenge, the department of media and communication started to offer the first bachelor’s program in media management in 2001. The department has also established partnerships with schools abroad in its efforts to upgrade media education. These are but small steps, to be sure, but they are nevertheless crucial in making the media in Cambodia worthy once more of the public’s trust and developing the media professionalism. Offering bachelor of media management contribute to development of media professionalism in a long run, and other short training courses offered in the country for local media practitioners contributes to the development of media professionalism in a short run. In the transitional period, experienced and skilled expatriate professionals should be hired to work as counterparts with local broadcasters so that they can learn from the expatriate experts.

Leadership styles of current Cambodian broadcast need to be changed and its administration management need to be reformed. As above mentioned, authoritarian leadership style is no longer applicable, since it hinders its personnel’s creativity and demotivates employees. Employees should be given freedom of doing things, and responsibility for business success so that they are motivated, committed, responsible, and have a sense of ownership. Human relations perspective style of leadership, which creates healthy working environment (Gershon, 2001) should be applied in Cambodian broadcast corporations to replace the authoritarian style.

Programming plays a crucial role in attracting audience as well as advertisers. Of all the factors determining the financial success of a broadcast station, programming plays the most crucial roles in bringing listeners and viewers to the station. (Pringle, Starr, & McCavitt, 1999). The larger the audience, the more attention of advertisers can be attracted. To produce a good quality program, programmers and employees have to be creative. According to Covington (1999), creativity significantly contributes to media programming, media promotion and sales. The original program is successfully produced based on the creative concepts and creativity of the involved individuals. The successful programming usually attracts its audience; it links its content with the public interest.

In addition, broadcast coverage is also crucial in contributing to succeeding in attracting audience. The large broadcast coverage, the more audience the broadcast program can reach. According to H.E. Khieu Kanhrith, Cambodian Secretary of State of Information, radios' coverage covers almost 90%, and televisions' coverage covers about 80% across the country. Thus, broadcast coverage need to be expanded so that every Cambodian is able to access the broadcast programs.

Cambodian Communication Commission and an independent governing broadcast body should be officially established with the framework of professionalism to help regulates media, especially electronic media. This commission will help properly enforce media laws and ethics, and propose to amend any articles of media laws which are not appropriate. As above mentioned, the existing media laws have been used as means to intimidate media practitioners, and the laws do not cover all aspects of media. An independent governing body of electronic media, Television Association of Cambodia was established, but it does not seem to actively work. Such a Television Association of Cambodia can play important role in protecting media practitioners from being intimidated as well as sharing professional experience with one another.

To solve the problem successfully a comprehensive research should be done on Cambodian broadcast management challenges and appropriate solutions. It is clear that there are still many big holes in Cambodian broadcast management to be filled. Thus, there will be many things to be done such as developing professionalism by educating or training media practitioners, reforming administration management and leadership styles, adopting copyright laws, and establish Cambodian Communications Commission, etc. Fulfilling this task is a long proposition. Great efforts have to be made by all the involved, radio and television stations, government and educational institutions.

What is more, to solve these problems successfully, the natures of the problems and the needs of the broadcast stations have to be accurately identified. Therefore, a comprehensive research should be conducted. Conducting the comprehensive research on the broadcast management in Cambodia is time consuming and needs great efforts and resources, since sources of materials on Cambodian broadcast management are not at all available. However, the following materials may be helpful and partly contribute to the future research on appropriate solutions to the problems being faced by Cambodia broadcast management these days.

References

Country profile: communication. (2001). Retrieved Nov. 10, 2003, from http://seamedia.org/cambodia.php.

Covington, W. G. (1999). Creativity in TV & cable managing & producing. Lanham: University Press of America.

Gershon, R. A. (2001). Telecommunications management: industry structures and planning strategies. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Napoli, P. M. (2003). Environmental cognitions in a dual-product marketplace: a participant-observation perspective on the U.S. broadcast television industry. The International Journal on Media Management, 6 (2), 100-107.

Pringle, P.K., Starr, M. F., & McCavitt, W.E. (1999). Electronic media management (4th
ed.). Boston: Focal Press.

Puy, K. (2000). Article: Situation of Cambodia Press in 2000. Retrieved Nov. 10, 2003,
from http://seamedia.org/cambodia.php.

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Always Conflict (Khmer Language)

The article has been published at
http://www.acic.info/new_article/alwaysconflict.pdf

Administrative Ethics and Public Trust: The Case of Cambodian Public Administration

Im Sothearith, Ohio University
imthegreat@gmail.com
This paper has been published at http://www.kohsantepheapdaily.com.kh/society/sothearith21_02.htm

The trust a man has earned can be compared to a new blank sheet of paper he holds in his hand. When it is crumpled, it is difficult to make it back into its original shape. In the same way, it is almost impossible to rebuild trust once it is lost. Trust plays a crucial role in humans’ everyday life. It also greatly contributes to all kinds of business transactions in either public or private sectors. In the realm of civil society and democracy, trust can convince citizens that their preferred outcomes can be delivered by the political system, even if they are not involved in the production of outcomes (Garcia-Rivero, et al., 2002). Federickson (1984) also stresses the importance of public trust in public administration. He says in a climate of public trust and cooperation, administrators can work most effectively. Moreover, Garcia-Rivero, et al. (2002) emphasize that political competition between organized groups is needed in a democratic society. The democratic bargaining process will collapse if trust and real representation do not exist. Thus, each group tries to convince citizens that it represents and deserves their trust.

Paluszek (1989) defines ethics as “the study of human conduct in light of moral principles” (p. 747). Ethics also play a very important role in every human society because they make us act effectively in relationship and live peacefully with one another. Ethics help us consider whether our actions are right or wrong. “It also asks us how those character traits that help us flourish (such as integrity, honesty, faithfulness, and compassion) play out in every living [being]” (Shanks, 2003, p. 2). In everyday life, ethics help us get along with one another. Therefore, ethics play an even more important role in public administration because proper ethical behavior can bring positive contact between public servants and citizens. Duncan (1991) also suggests that employees usually expect their leaders to be full of integrity, trustworthiness, forthrighteousness, and honesty. In general, good administrators demonstrate values and ethical behavior because these carry messages of shared purposes, conceptions, and shared standards. Furthermore, in a broader term, Hwang (2001) pointed out that the leaders themselves should have the qualities of sympathy, duty, and righteousness in their work and behavior so that they can encourage others to emulate their example. This paper, therefore, aims to illustrate the importance of ethics and public trust in a democratic government, to examine facts to prove that ethical public administration engenders public trust, and to what extent and how public trust can be rebuilt if it is lost. To examine these, a literature review is completed based on a number of articles from major academic journals regarding public administration.

To begin with, because the votes of people in a democratic society make a democratic government exist, a good democratic government should theoretically be one that works for the public good, serves the interests of its people, and is trusted by its people. Gamson (1968) argues that public trust allows political leaders to make decisions and allocate public resources to attain societal goals (As cited in Chanley, et al. 2000). As Clark and Lee (2001), suggest once this trust is attained, a good government is perpetrated because the trust awarded to the government attract people and resources needed for effective performance. How much the public trusts the government can be measured by the government performance. On the other hand, Clark and Lee (2001) warn that “poor performance fuels an ideology of skepticism toward government while good performance fuels an ideology of trust” (p. 32). Garcia-Rivero, et al. (2002) also emphasizes the significance of public trust in government because without trust in government institutions, citizens will not perceive their rights as being protected. As a result, the citizens will not be interested in being involved in politics, and consequently, civil society will not properly develop.

In addition, every individual government employee plays important an role in promoting the government’s reputation. A government is generally made up of all levels of employees, who are also known as servants of government, servants of the law, and servants of the public (Kakabadse, et al. 2003). On Saturday October 30, 2004 for the first time as Cambodia's new monarch, King Norodom Sihamoni addressed his nation pledging to be a "faithful servant" of the people and promising that “a king is not the master of the country or of the people, [but] a king is a servant of the motherland and the people…. To all the beloved people, through all my life, I will be a faithful servant to all the people, I will always be with the people to share the happiness and suffering” (As cited in Cambodia's king 'faithful servant' 2004, p.1). Through this message, the King hopes to build public trust in his new leadership.

According to Kernaghan and Langford (1990), “public servants have traditionally been advised to act in the public interest; be politically neutral; guard confidential information; protect the privacy of citizens and employees; provide efficient, effective and fearless advice; avoid conflicts of interest; and be accountable” (As cited in Kakabadse, et al. 2003, p. 480). Moreover, lives and interests of the people are affected by the decisions and actions of the public servants, who handle private and confidential information, provide assistance, and manage public funds (Kakabadse, et al. 2003). Therefore, because public servants play such an important role, they must have ethical values so that they can elicit the trust of citizens. The more the public trusts government officials, the more the government as a whole tends to be trusted by the public.

Feldheim and Wang (2004) point out that a primary strategy in creating ethical institutions is through moral leadership. Oftentimes, it is necessary for government institutions to establish ethical standards for its employees. For instance, the U.S. government believed that public trust in the government had been declining. Therefore, the U.S. Office of Government Ethics issued booklets in August 1992 to federal employees. The booklets contain principles and rules of ethical conduct for government employees. The ethics dilemma in public service has been addressed by the guidelines, which is an attempt by the U.S. government to regulate the ethical conduct of its employees (Mitchell, 1999).

However, some scholars have warned that too much trust in government leads to a lot of pitfalls. According to Clark and Lee (2001), too much trust can increase a government’s power, which may result in reducing its accountability. Thus, it is not clear whether worry over eroding trust in government is reasonable because that erosion may be preferable. Joseph Nye, dean of the faculty at Harvard’s Kennedy School, says, “In the long term, the quality of life in a democracy is hindered by too much trust—and by too little trust. If people believe everything they are told, that isn’t healthy. But if they believe nothing, that isn’t healthy either” (As cited in Lambert, 1998, p. 39).

In order to build public trust, or to rebuild public trust once it is lost, the real causes need to be clearly identified and addressed. There are multiple potential causes of the declining public trust in government. The first of which, according to Citrin and Green, 1986; Citrin and Luks 1998; Feldman 1983; Hetherington 1998; Miller and Borreli 1991; and cf. Lawrence 1997, is caused by the performance of the national economy and citizens’ evaluations of it. Greater distrust can be caused by negative perceptions of the national economy (As cited in Chanley, et al., 2000). In this sense, Garcia-Rivero, et al. (2002) also suggest that “variations in the levels of income may have also affected the trust in government” (p. 173). Thus, the economy is one of the factors influencing people’s attitude towards government. In the case of Cambodia, one of the world’s self-insufficient nations, whose government’s day-to-day expenditures depend heavily on foreign aid, the government does not have the ability to serve the common good and its people’s interests. Government employees cannot even live on their salary of 20 to 30 U.S. dollars per month. Due to the inadequate resources, the government does not have the ability to meet the basic needs of its people and its employees. This promotes greater public distrust in the government.

The second potential cause, according to Mansbridge (1997) and Pew Research center (1998), are the social-cultural factors such as crime and social security (As cited in Chanley, et al., 2000). Empirical results of research conducted by Chanley, et al. (2000) illustrate that crime is the most important factor influencing public trust in government. Likewise, social security is in the hands of government and therefore directly responsible for its shortcomings. All citizens in the society heavily depend on government to protect them and to create a healthy and secure social environment in which all citizens can live peacefully. In Cambodia, the government fails to create a secure environment for its people. Crime and violence, human rights abuses, sexual harassment, and political threats often occurr, especially during the election period, when all political parties are busy with their political campaigns and negotiations. All these problems are ignored by the government authority.

The third potential cause, according to Citrin and Green 1986; Citrin and Luks 1998; Craig 1993, 1996; Erber and Lau 1990; Feldman 1983; Hetherington 1998; Miller and Borrelli 1991; Williams 1985; Garment 1991; and Orren 1997, has been attributed to political factors, such as citizens’ evaluations of incumbents and institutions, to political scandals, and to increased media coverage of political corruption and scandals (As cited in Chanley, et al., 2000). Likewise, Garcia-Rivero, et al. (2002) believes that declining trust in government is caused by the perception that the government fails to deliver political goods properly. In the case of the United States, these scholars have noted that since the Watergate scandal, political scandals and media attention of corruption have remarkably increased (Chanley, et al., 2000). Therefore, U.S. citizens’ trust in their government tends to be eroded by the increased exposure to allegations of political corruption. Worse than this, corruption in Cambodian public sector is obvious. Money politics take precedent over formal fair legal and political institutions, government and business contracts, and campaign promises. Generally, when money talks, biased or wrong decisions are usually made.

In addition to citizens’ perceptions of political activities, the Cambodian coalition government, in some respects, does not function properly. This is due to the fact that the two parties in the coalition government do not intend to work together. Furthermore, during the election, some parties refused to accept the results of the election and responded with violence. Once in the government, elected officials tend to follow party lines instead of serving the interest of the people. This engenders distrust from Cambodians as well as from foreign donors. It is interesting to note that foreign donors distrust the Cambodian government because of low paying government jobs, which undermine motivation and encourage corruption; the government’s lack of confidence and its lack of ability to articulate and implement policies; poor management of budget and cash within the government; and weak leadership (Hubbard, 2002). These are widely mentioned as the main sources of low levels of trust in the Cambodian government.

Garcia-Rivero, et al. (2002) argues that deferring degrees of trust is directly related to education, occupation, or income. Those who benefit the most from a system usually like the way the system works and are least likely to want to change it, while Marlowe (2004) points out that it is possible that those who are financially unsatisfied are likely to lack trust in all public institutions. Furthermore, those who have better education and who have better understanding of government affairs are more likely to distrust the government. For instance, the Cambodian People Party (CPP), the party in power for the last three decades, did not win the majority in the capital city Phnom Penh, home to most of the country’s intellectuals, but the CPP won the majority in almost all rural areas where the literacy rate is relatively low.

Although there is increased public attention to government, Mitchell (1999) notices that whatever the reasons, unethical behavior of elected officials, senior public servants, and their subordinates continues to increase. This unethical behavior may be fostered by the fixed culture of the organizations, and powerful people such as chief executives setting the norms and their subordinates following the cultural norms and values of the leaders. In Cambodia, the lack of ethically correct behavior of public senior officers has been unabated. It is apparent that Cambodian government officials accept bribes and engage in sex scandals. This undoubtedly promotes distrust in the government.

When the roots of the problems are clearly identified and addressed, appropriate solutions can be reached. Individual public administrators play a crucial role in building public trust. According to Marlowe (2004), public servants are a part of the solution to the declining trust because a high-performing government can play a vital role in building trust and fighting skepticism. In Cambodia, the causes of the declining public trust in government are the national economy; social-cultural factors, including crime and violence; political factors, including political scandal and corruption; relatively low levels of education; unethical behavior of elected officials and senior civil servants, and the disagreement between the two parties in the coalition government.

According to Chanley, et al. (2000), public trust in government is influenced by political scandals and public perceptions of the economy and crimes. In order to solve the problems, the government needs to be skillful in handling the national economy. Alleviation of public concern about crime might help rebuild public confidence in government. Many factors significantly contribute to national economic development. Usually, tax is one of the main public revenue sources, but the Cambodian government does not have a very good tax system. Furthermore, tax administration is inefficient due to the corruption among tax collectors. Instead of going to the national treasury, a huge amount of collected tax money goes to tax officers’ pockets. This fact does not encourage people to pay taxes because they do not really trust those tax officers. Furthermore, social security is another concern. Social security officers, known as law enforcement officers, should be trained and better paid. The justice system also should be improved. The public and even police officers complain about the courts releasing criminals because of corruption within the justice system. In this term, it is noticed that the Cambodian government has tried to improve the justice system because senior elected officials, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, volunteer to be members of the Cambodian Club of Lawyers. This shows the intention of the government to improve the judiciary system.

Moreover, political scandals, corruption, relatively low levels of education, and unethical behavior of elected officials and senior civil servants are linked and promote public distrust in government. Corruption can be minimized by providing adequate salary to government officials including law enforcement officers. The government should take strict measures on corruption. Although Cambodia is known as one of the most corrupt nations on earth, and although Prime Minister Hun Sen recently has announced a war against corruption, no corrupt individual has yet been brought to justice. Furthermore, because individual public officials play an important role in helping to build and to maintain public trust in government, Cambodian government officials should have proper ethical training so that they become officials with ethical values. According to Thomas (1998), to build and to maintain trust, government officials must make sure that they combine mutual trust with individual citizens and fiduciary trust based on the moral obligation of the government officials performing in accordance with the best interest of the citizens (As cited in Feldheim and Wang, 2004).

Disagreement between the two parties in the coalition government also encourages distrust in government. Recently, Cambodian politicians have filed complaints against one another in court while many people live under the poverty line and in an insecure environment. It is unclear how they can be accountable, responsible, dependable, and trusted by the people while they are busy fighting for their own interest. These elected senior officers are seen to be untrustworthy individuals. Butler (1991) and McAllister (1995) point out that the behaviors of trusted public individuals are judged based on the demonstration of competence, reliability, responsibility, and dependability in their performance of role obligations (As cited in Feldheim, and Wang, 2004). Feldheim, and Wang (2004) also say, “Public trust is influenced by behaviors that display integrity, openness, loyalty, competency, and consistency in administration” (p. 66), and “organizational and individual loyalties, defined as an organization’s ability to meet public demands, have a strong influence on citizen trust. Elected officials’ trust is largely associated with individual workers’ honesty and organizational loyalty” (p. 71).

According to Lambert (1998) “Obviously, the key to rebuilding trust between the press and the public lies in the hands of individual journalists” (p. 42). Likewise, government employees should behave in a way that people see them as honest, open, and loyal individuals because honesty, openness, and loyalty also engender public trust. Feldheim and Wang (2004) also emphasize that:

An effective strategy to improve public trust should emphasize honest behavior by workers, encourage individual workers to be open, and promote organizational and individual loyalty to the public interest. This strategy should begin with moral leadership that builds organizational processes to provide employees with ethical training, develops codes of ethics, provides opportunities for citizen involvement in decision-making, provides service consistency, and rewards employees who demonstrate honesty and integrity (p. 72-73).

In this sense, Feldheim and Wang (2004) also suggest several effective public trust enhancement strategies for managers. First, a management should promote public servants’ integrity through ethics training and ethical codes development. In this sense, managers should act as role models. Second, the management should protect employee openness, which may increase public trust in the organizations. Third, the management should identify public needs and develop tools to meet them to show management loyalty to the common interest. And fourth, the management should make individual public employees aware of what the public needs so that public-service delivery can be improved and the public trust can be built or maintained.

Although the Cambodian government has tried to restore its image, it is still far from acceptable by its people and the international community. The three-decade civil war made Cambodia one of the world’s poorest nations. Although, the Cambodian government has been trying to promote the country internationally, and although Cambodia is gradually moving towards being self-sufficient, it is so obvious that there are so many things left to be done; to mention a few: public personnel management, professionalism, administration reform, judiciary system reform, strengthening law enforcement, and minimizing corruption within the public sector, etc. Fulfilling this task is a long proposition. Furthermore, to solve these problems successfully, the natures of the problems have to be clearly identified and appropriate solutions should be found.

References

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