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

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deal with the issues by using their traditional authority along with Buddhist principles and/or
personal threats.
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to me are domestic violence and debt problems. I call my villagers to a meeting in order
to discuss the problem. If they don’t come, I tell them that I will delete their name from
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make wrongdoers follow me. (Ming Rina, commune chief, commune A, interview,
24/4/2008)
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�������������������������������������������������� (Ming Rina, commune chief, commune
A, interview, 24/4/2008)
I have to mediate many domestic violence cases. I often help the couples talk and share
their anger a few days after the event. I have been successful because so far only three
cases ended in divorce. (Ming San, commune chief, commune C, interview, 10/4/2008)
Usually men get drunk and beat their wives or destroy household facilities or steal
money from their wives or bar their children from going to school etc. But when they are
called for training or meetings, they do not attend. In this case, I am effective in directly
facing the offenders when catching them red-handed. I try to explain. If it doesn’t work,
I scold them and try to stop them. I use threats of bringing them to the police. This has
been notably effective. (Ming Ngee, CPP woman councillor, commune A, interview,
24/2/2008)
Although some interviewees claimed that threatening police action was effective, many other
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of cases, suggesting that the shift in the nature of “security” issues is very problematic for
councillors. When they met a case that was beyond their authority or capacity, they either
referred the cases to other authorities or just closed their eyes and ears.
Villagers are so afraid of youth gangs that they stop sending their children to school. But
we, local authorities, don’t know what to do. (Ming Yan, village assistant, commune A,
interview, 25/4/2008)
Both commune chiefs have very little administrative experience, so they often seek my
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I cannot and have to refer to police and court. (Pou Keang, former chief, commune A,
interview, 25/4/2008)
Economic transformation has brought higher land prices and widening economic concessions
for large companies. Councillors’ time has thus been largely taken up by certifying land deals,
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between villagers, other times between villagers and concessionaire or outside speculators and
sometimes involving councillors themselves.
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than pointing out exact boundaries. This is especially the case in commune A, where both local
authorities and villagers are unclear about the boundary between their private land and the land
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