Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The ACU is not entirely toothless. Since 2011 it has effectively investigated and pro-
secuted a number of mid-level corruption cases. But on the whole it has left the govern-
ment's foundations of patronage and power untouched. Like the courts, it has become a
handy way of removing factional rivals and other small-fry who have embarrassed the
authorities or fallen out of political favor, leaving the big and politically protected fish
to swim free. While there are many able technocrats and officials within the Ministry
of Economy and Finance who have successfully enacted reforms and promoted develop-
ment in the visible economy, more fundamental reform remains anathema. Any serious
attempt at dismantling the patronage state would risk undercutting the very foundations
of the CPP's support. Today Cambodia remains imprisoned by the founding logic of Hun-
senomics, which was to promote the consolidation of the party's power above all else.
This may well be the defining tragedy of contemporary Cambodia: that the very leaders
who have helped usher the country into a historic period of peace and development have
also been those responsible for corruption, widening income inequalities, urban land-
grabs, and the steady stripping of the country's natural resources. Grateful for their liber-
ation from chaos and civil war, many ordinary Cambodians nonetheless find themselves
in the grip of all the old curses.
