LORDS OF POVERTY Enablers of Hypocrisy and Mismanagement

LORDS OF POVERTY Enablers of Hypocrisy and Mismanagement
Written by Theary C. SENG
Friday, 30 May 2008

Let's keep that pointing finger at the government accountable;
however, let's also focus on the three other fingers pointing back at
us. Let's focus on the hypocrisy and outrageousness of the do-gooders
- donors and civil society - in light of other dark, societal norms.

Societal norms
What are some societal norms darkening current Cambodia? And who are
the enablers of these darkening norms?

Outrageous behavior
We live in a society where outrageous behavior - by us Khmer and
foreigners alike - is the norm. As donors, civil society and other
"do-gooders", we enable this outrageousness, and sometimes engage in
it with full confidence that we can get away with it. Take for
example the event of this past Thursday at CSD where "good people"
hired armed Ministry of Interior police to exact emotional violence
(that easily could have turned into physical violence) on staff and
others. Where do we even begin in pointing out the countless,
irregular, illegal, "undue process" and outrageousness of this act?
The more outrageous acts are the norm, the more dense and obtuse we
become; the less we are able to hear and understand, the more
outrageous we become. It's an upward, vicious, spiraling cycle of
raising the volume. "We" in this regard includes both us Khmer and
foreigners.

Disproportionate reaction
Disproportionate reaction is the norm. Instead of reacting to these
outrageous acts with outrage, we stay mute; we claim neutrality; or,
we smile and laugh and shake our heads at the Cambodians or the crazy
foreigners hiding in Cambodian society. We are so used to the
outrageous (which is beyond our scope to exact control) that in order
to still feel we do have sensibility, we over-react to the minutiae
where in light of the totality of circumstances, it has no
significance. This is why killers of millions are permitted to get
away with murder and are still held in awe.
(As an aside, I'd like to make a distinction between fairness and
neutrality, as they are often used interchangeably. If one is a
stakeholder and has adequate information, one can no longer claim
inaction as neutrality and not enable the other side. Neutrality is
reserved for 3rd parties who are not in the know, nor should have
interests in knowing. But to be inactive or not take a stance as a
stakeholder with sufficient information is to not be neutral but to
inadvertently and foolishly be enabling. As I often tell my staff:
As your boss, I want to be and will be fair; I do not want and will
not be neutral. If one staff brings to me shoddy work, and another
excellent work, do not think I will remain neutral and not make a
distinction. To the contrary, if I do not praise excellence and be
indifferent or dismissive of mediocrity, I am being unfair to the one
who worked hard and produced excellence, and stripped all incentives
for future excellence. Fairness relates to using the same measuring
stick; neutrality relates to information and how far or close we are
to a situation.)
Another aspect of disproportionate reaction that is a societal norm
relates to the interaction between a Cambodian and a Westerner.
Generally speaking, a Cambodian is passive and deferential; the
Westerner assertive/aggressive and overbearing. This imbalanced
equation creates a norm whereby a Cambodian will always be at a
disadvantage in relation to her foreign counterpart - in a discussion,
in a negotiation, in a relationship.

Empty verbiage
We Khmers are still lacking in sophistication as our verbiage too
often are viscerally empty and crude; they are understood as such and
accepted as norms. We function at this level of the reality of
unreality.
Foreigners are more sophisticated in masking their e mpty verbiage.
But sophistication is only a higher art-form of façade,
superficiality. One example of how foreigners have normalized the
empty rhetoric is in the area of "capacity-building" or "local
ownership". Foreign donors "train" and train and train and train on
ownership, on building local capacity because it sounds good and
right; just don't "do" ownership, as that competes into their terrain;
competes into their survival; they need to justify their existence
through the "incompetence", the "divisiveness" of the local NGOs, the
local Cambodians. The growing pool of highly capable Cambodians is
swept away by these generalizations to their detriment.

Envy
We are so envious of excellence and success and do nothing to strive
toward them but rather expend our energy in being in a state of envy.
If only envy could stay within the self and not spill into
destructive, obstructive behavior of gossip and tearing down.

Mistrust, distrust
Mistrust arises from misrepresentation, from a disregard for the
sentiments of the affected individuals or groups. It also arises from
political spin. We Khmer must be more careful of this in light our
culture of fear, secrecy and the paranoid produced by the Khmer Rouge
years and other regimes since.

Dependency, perpetuate "Lords of Poverty" mentality
Perpetuating the status quo is perpetuating poor governance,
perpetuating mismanagement, perpetuating a "lords of poverty"
mentality.
In 1993, yes 99% of foreign consultants were justified; now, 5% are
justifiable. The others are embedding and enabling the mentality of
dependency.
Ownership - how many local NGOs are truly "owned" by that director or
senior staff? Many are run (behind the scenes) by consultants and
sometimes ambitious/over exuberance 2nd year law students who have the
legal expertise but cannot "feel" the situation nor understand the
larger vision of what is Cambodia and "Cambodian".

Disincentives of reform
The societal norms mentioned above are disincentives of genuine reform
and change.
The way we at CSD try to fight against these darkening societal norms
is by encouraging a little bit of attitude among the staff. Strike
that. We encourage a lot of attitude. With a lot of heart. It is
the necessary first step toward ownership and social development.
_______________
Theary C. SENG
Executive Director
For past columns, please visit www.csdcambodia.org"Voice of Justice
Program", particularly "A Soulless Nation", "Love for Sale",
"Education through Imagination".
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