Leadership in Local Politics of Cambodia: A Study of ... - CDRI

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����� ���� GñkBUEk (clever people). This refers to those who are more knowledgeable than
ordinary villagers and are effective at mobilising resources or initiating ideas, and villagers
listen to them.
��������������GñkeFVIkar (professionals). To some villagers, those who work with NGOs, state
institutions, teachers or other professional workers are admirable. They understand that
these people have more knowledge than they do and so will listen to them or seek their
advice and help.
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�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
title in order to upgrade their status, to increase their reputation, to have space to expand
their businesses (especially illegal ones) or to evade taxes. Others, although they have not
���������� ������� ���� ������� ���� ������� ����� by villagers. One reason is because of their
wealth and status. Another is because villagers are not sure whether these people had been
given the title or not, or because villagers are not sure what constitutes an �����. Having
this position gives a person a large space to distance themselves and their activities from
villagers. People become fearful of them. ����� do not respect or seek permission from
the local authorities in many cases. Even local authorities would not want to have problems
with them.
������efAEk (boss). This is an owner of a business. The word tends to imply Chinese ethnicity
since historically it has mostly been those of Chinese descent who are business entrepreneurs.
Some of them are middlemen in the villages, buying produce from villagers and selling it
to outsiders and vice versa. Local ������ are in a sense patrons of villages since people are
dependent on them to buy their produce, to employ them or to lend them money.
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