CHBAP PROH, code of conduct of Cambodian men
5 Septembre 2008


Edited by Dr Mai, translation by PADV Cambodia (Partnership Against Domestic Violence)

***I did not want to make any changes in the translation, so the reading might be a little bit tedious...but it is worth it!***

This "law" is very present in the Cambodian culture (especially Chbab Srey, the one concerning women); it is taught at school and has been transmitted from generation to generation for centuries. I cut some parts and left the ones I found most interesting. HAPPY READING!



Chbab (law) Prohh (man),

This is prum'katet (thought/idea)! It is a tradition or idea to advise and it is organized as a story to tell, keep it as a new law to remind you
Keep it for the next generations, to listen so that you don't forget, teaching women and men to keep it within yourself
Walk as a dragon, be concerned with your behavior, you need to do in accordance with the morality, you should behave without mistake
You need to follow the rule, don't be aggressive to the other and your speech to other must be polite

Don't be too nasty and too gentle, be quick, don't be too afraid and don't be too brave, you have to ponder
Though you are sleeping, you have to wake up earlier than the elder and then wash your face and then you need to look after your property before you go to sleep
Don't eat all the beetle nut at once, you need to be thrifty, cut it into pieces otherwise if you eat all your life will create misery for yourself
Your sleep at night must not be too long, and don't put the blanket cover over your body like the dead person
You must wear clothes while you sleep, don't sleep naked
When you sleep, don't be too lazy, don't sleep all day

Be careful, there may be a thief near your wall, trying to steal your property
And if you wake up already don't go to sleep again, you wake up and then find the cigarette to smoke
Though it is dark you have to be careful with all your property, you put the knife near you because you need to protect yourself, you should have the water at your feet (traditional Cambodian women should put drinking water at her husband's feet in case he gets thirsty at night)
You should put the shrine level with your shoulder to worship the god Buddha, you need to keep the fire burning outside the house at night time all night don't finish it
Look after you kitchen and make sure that you have firewood in your kitchen
You have to ensure that you have firewood in your kitchen
You have to be hard working to fill the water into the giant urn
Don't allow your urn to run dry out of water; you may need it at night time or the day time

No matter how long the distance you go, you have to carry your knife with you.
You may be able to cut the branch of the tree to use as the firewood when you get home
Make your day as useful as possible, or use your time as usefully as possible
You have to look after your property, your rice and don't be too kind to others, you have to be thrifty with your rice and look after all your things by yourself
You should have some amount of the things you need to live, and even if you have so little you have to be hard working and try to find more you cannot just do nothing.
You need to be careful with your spending, when you give something away you need to think

During the planting season you have to be hard working to grow all kinds of crops
Don't be lazy and go to ask things from others just because you are too lazy to grow it
When you work you don't need to be worried, don't complain, regardless of your strength, even if weak you do according to your capacity don't just say you are weak
At night time the man has to take the bamboo and make a basket (don't be lazy, use the time) don't give the woman something to complain about
When you want to sell or buy something, discuss with your wife and children
Don't just think that you are a man and then you spend something without thinking and then do the thing without agreement from your wife
No matter where you go, long distance or short distance, you have to inform the person at home so that your sibling/relative can go and find you
At night you shouldn't be so quiet, hiding yourself is not good, you have to be honest so that no one can criticize you.
You have to be confident with what you are doing and not have to hide it from other people

Madness with Gambling
Hunt for chicken and wild duck, or other animals, for fighting, this kind of game is bad (this means you hurt the animals, not use them for eating it is not good)
None of Cambodian people are rich because of or by gambling but property destruction from gambling
Don't be confident in your gambling, all kinds of gambling are inconsistent
Those people tie your feet sometimes they hang you upside down to torture you to get the money back
You will be ashamed of the woman selling in the market because you look like a dead person (because you have been tortured)
Don't be concerned with all kinds of gambling, don't take part in it and avoid it

Madness with women
Madness with the women is the thing that you should avoid because it always makes you absentminded and forget what is right and what is wrong
You forget good deeds and bad deeds and the handcuff that can lead you to death
If the other woman belongs to another man you might be put in jail for adultery or killed by her husband
You create the difficulty and turn your happiness into anger and quarrelling
You create revenge, you don't care for the death of yourself, you make the uncle and the nephew revenge each other
This kind of revenge never ends and it make you feel more and more angry
Sometimes you are handcuffed (caught or punished) but you never change you are not afraid to die
Your head is cut but you never change you think only the passion
Don't be careless with passion, it drive you into unhappiness, don't fail to think about its bad impact

Madness with alcohol
Don't get drunk with alcohol
Because it leads you to lose the control of your spirit, you forget good deed or bad deed
Drinking never makes your mind constant
We are small but we consider others as small as our thumb even though our physical force is equal to lice (although we think it is equal to tiger) and never afraid of other
You become arrogant, you are proud just because the alcohol is in your body, never afraid of other, use arrogant word to provoke the quarrelling
Cursing unreasonably, insulting indirectly, you cause the quarrelling by provoking others
Sometimes when getting drunk they were unconscious and lie down and take off the clothes
When other people see you naked the children will laugh at you but you sleep like a dead person and your vomit is on your body
As a drinker don't say that you are in control, you think you are in control but actually you are drunk in four forms: you are poor but you say that you are rich, the gentle person becomes the cruel one, the frightened one becomes the brave one, and we violate what is right and poison yourself with bad deeds
The drinker is in sin and then loses the honor and won't get happiness
Better not drink wine that would lead to destruction and then go to hell (Buddhist)

John Bingham wrote:I'm always amazed at how strictly local men (and women) adhere to these "codes of conduct." They have this stuff nailed.

The drinker is in sin and then loses the honor and won't get happiness
Better not drink wine that would lead to destruction and then go to hell (Buddhist)

Anchor Moy wrote:This part is true:

The drinker is in sin and then loses the honor and won't get happiness
Better not drink wine that would lead to destruction and then go to hell (Buddhist)

Username Taken wrote:AM, which wat is that?

Username Taken wrote:AM, which wat is that?