A very interesting article about HE
Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2018 8:08 pm
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From what I understand from your posts you are currently 'in the outside world', but yet you see 'some good progress has been made in reducing corruption'.pczz wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2018 11:22 pm there certainly seems to be a pro- reform, anti-reform debate going on. Some good progress has been made in reducing corruption but its not very visible to the outside world. And you get pronouncements from HE about things which don't get enforced, or get enforced only for a short term and not sure if that's people pushing back or its by intention. he is certainly a very smart politician
Sure. Most of the improvements have been in preventing low level corruption by getting people to pay at a bank or wing instead of giving cash over the counter. This applies in many places including tax registration, which I have done, and I believe tax payments, which I have not. The police used to stop barang as a matter of convenience to extract fines, I haven't been stopped for 3 years, but Khmer without helmets behind me have. Village chief did birth certificates for free and family book and residence book after HE told them to stop charging and when I got my driving license renewed I just paid the standard fee at a wing office setup in the grounds of the ministry. Even the photocopier was free. Just this week I see similar things in th MFA building where they are setting up proper counters to issue passports there instead of trekking down to the Passport office. We got a passport at the passport office last year, no need for a minder, no tea money at every desk. Previously you needed to take fist full of small bills to move through, or pay a fixer. Its far from perfect, and of course there are still a lot of payments being made at high level and in some ministries, but things are moving in the right direction.Kammekor wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2018 11:47 pmFrom what I understand from your posts you are currently 'in the outside world', but yet you see 'some good progress has been made in reducing corruption'.pczz wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2018 11:22 pm there certainly seems to be a pro- reform, anti-reform debate going on. Some good progress has been made in reducing corruption but its not very visible to the outside world. And you get pronouncements from HE about things which don't get enforced, or get enforced only for a short term and not sure if that's people pushing back or its by intention. he is certainly a very smart politician
Maybe you could elaborate?
The new passport is an interesting example. There's a multi-tier pricing system, according to the speed you pay a certain price. Seems fair right? But it's a simple scam. Whether you pay for 'fast' or for normal, your passport is processed at the same time, in about 2 working days. The only difference is the time the passport is released - if you pay more, it will be released earlier. So the pricing system has nothing to do with the actual speed, the cheaper passports are simply not released for about 5 weeks so people will pay more.pczz wrote: ↑Thu Jan 25, 2018 8:51 amSure. Most of the improvements have been in preventing low level corruption by getting people to pay at a bank or wing instead of giving cash over the counter. This applies in many places including tax registration, which I have done, and I believe tax payments, which I have not. The police used to stop barang as a matter of convenience to extract fines, I haven't been stopped for 3 years, but Khmer without helmets behind me have. Village chief did birth certificates for free and family book and residence book after HE told them to stop charging and when I got my driving license renewed I just paid the standard fee at a wing office setup in the grounds of the ministry. Even the photocopier was free. Just this week I see similar things in th MFA building where they are setting up proper counters to issue passports there instead of trekking down to the Passport office. We got a passport at the passport office last year, no need for a minder, no tea money at every desk. Previously you needed to take fist full of small bills to move through, or pay a fixer. Its far from perfect, and of course there are still a lot of payments being made at high level and in some ministries, but things are moving in the right direction.Kammekor wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2018 11:47 pmFrom what I understand from your posts you are currently 'in the outside world', but yet you see 'some good progress has been made in reducing corruption'.pczz wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2018 11:22 pm there certainly seems to be a pro- reform, anti-reform debate going on. Some good progress has been made in reducing corruption but its not very visible to the outside world. And you get pronouncements from HE about things which don't get enforced, or get enforced only for a short term and not sure if that's people pushing back or its by intention. he is certainly a very smart politician
Maybe you could elaborate?
Its inherently more fair than before because you no longer have to pay bribes. It's now completely optional to pay for expedited service, regardless of what that really means behind the scenes. If you don't need it quickly, you pay only the official list price. Public servants have less opportunity to steal from the public and the government gets more revenue, which can be used to continue to improve public services.Kammekor wrote:
The new passport is an interesting example. There's a multi-tier pricing system, according to the speed you pay a certain price. Seems fair right? But it's a simple scam. Whether you pay for 'fast' or for normal, your passport is processed at the same time, in about 2 working days. The only difference is the time the passport is released - if you pay more, it will be released earlier. So the pricing system has nothing to do with the actual speed, the cheaper passports are simply not released for about 5 weeks so people will pay more.