ASEAN toward 2015: Challenges and Opportunities for Cambodia

Association of South East Asia Nation was formed on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand by five founding countries: Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia to promote political and economic corporation between its members and other countries. Currently, the ten countries in Southeast Asia such as Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippine, Singapore, and Vietnam are the members of ASEAN. Cambodia becomes the last member of ASEAN on 30 April 1999 after the observation on the political situation, and got the consensuses from its members. Similar to European Union, Asian is divided into three main pillars, which are ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), ASEAN Security Community (ASC), and ASEAN Socio Community (Association of Southeast Asian Nations, 2012). The purpose of creating ASEAN are to accelerate the economic growth, to promote regional peace and security, to enlarge corporation and relationship, and the main arm is to end the war and conflict in the region. However, Cambodia, one of the developing state in the region, seems to be not ready for the regional integration as it has not done quite enough to conclude itself in the region where the others are far more developed compared to Cambodia. Therefore, this essay will show the possible challenges and opportunities that Cambodia would face, joining the integration in 2015.

First, the most concerned problem in Cambodia is the lack of human resources. In fact, our educational system is not strong enough to produce qualified human resources for local and regional completion. The quality of education was every important. We are weak in some areas compared with other countries. We have a lot of schools but the quality is low (Khieu, 2012). Moreover, some Cambodian students study two or three universities but their skill force is the key concerned to compete with other countries. An ILO survey of 500 firms conducted in 2013 suggests that more than haft of the establishments were not satisfied with their employee’s performance (Heng, 2014). Language proficiency is another challenge that hinders the Cambodian in the integration. “It’s more than just a bridge, your major in business, law or whatever, you won’t be able on the stage to compete” (Bun, 2010)

Second, even though ASEAN integration focus on Economic integration, it will obviously affect the Cambodian society. Currently, we fact two main issues in Phnom Penh, they are flooding and traffic congestion. The traffic jams is due to small and narrow roads which are not available for expanding, and increasing in needs for vehicles by the city dwellers (Tim, 2011). Flooding impacted much of the city as heavy rains fell Tuesday afternoon, causing traffic jams as motorists flocked to major thoroughfares in order to avoid smaller roads with poor drainage (Cambodian Daily, 2014). After integration, large amount of newcomers will come to Cambodia for various purposes such investments, job opportunities, and tourist purposes. Therefore, when people can freely travel cross by Cambodia, the situation of traffic congestion will be worse and worse. In addition, the integration will bring us more social issues such as social crimes, human trafficking, and drug trafficking.

In contrast, the integration has a positive effect on the economy and future development of industrial base in Cambodia. Cambodia could likely to attract more foreign investments because Cambodia has relatively low wages. “In the regional context, Cambodia should benefit from the implementation of the AEC to attract investment from services firms to serve the region and the world (Phnom Penh Post, 2012). Sophana (2013) argued that once Cambodia economic is interwoven into ASEANs, Cambodia absorb any company that wishes to partner with local businesses for production and export. Cheap labour is considerable for investors come to Cambodia. Cambodia's daily wage of 200 baht (6.6 U.S. dollars) is considerably lower than the 300 baht (10 U.S. dollars) in Thailand (Roongrote, 2013). By having similar geographical proximity, Thai government has planned to build and expand roads and railways to link the two neighboring countries (Roongrote, 2013). “By 2015, Cambodia will become the daughter of rich family. We will no longer be the daughter of the poor family that no man wants to marry with (Sophana, 2013)”.

Another opportunity for Cambodia is the increased number of tourists. Cambodia will attract more tourists because of its attractive ecotourism sites and cultural tourist sites. In tourism, there will be ‘one billion tourists, one billion opportunities’ by 2015 (Thong, 2013). According to the ministry of tourism, in the first nine months of 2013, Cambodia received 3.5 million international tourists, a growth rate of 18.6 % over 2012. In 2014, the number of tourists is expected to be around 4.2 million international tourist arrivals. The forecast made by mister of tourism, the number of international tourist arrivals will reach five million by 2015, and 7.5 million by 2020. By increasing the number of tourists, Cambodia will create more jobs such as front office, housekeeping, food and beverage services, food production, travel agencies, tour operations, hotel and services. These job titles will create 800,000 direct jobs for Cambodian by 2020 (Thong, 2013). Tourist factor is now a priority for Cambodia as tourism is becoming an important driver for economic growth.

In conclusion, the integration is coming in the very short period of time in 2015. However, Cambodia does not seem to be ready for ASEAN integration. What the Cambodia might face after the integration in 2015 might be both challenges and opportunities; however, challenges seem to be higher than benefits (Chhay, 2012). The Cambodian government and citizens must take action together to improve the standard of people and economy and society. Cambodian people should be aware of current trends in the region and follow up the any situations including political and economic issues not only in Cambodia but in the whole region (Chan & Chhoun, 2012). Significantly, the government should improve the quality of education, industrialization, and the condition of cities to ensure that we will integrate successfully with other countries in the region.    

References

Association of Southeast Asian Nations. (2012). Overview. Retrieved from:http://www.asean.org/asean/about-asean

Association of Southeast Asian Nations. (2008). ASEAN Economic Community blueprint. Retrieved from http://www.asean.org/archive/5187-10.pdf 

ASEAN Economic Community (n.d.). Association of South East Asia Nations. Retrieved from: http://www.asean.org/communities/asean-economic-community

Phnom Penh Security Plc. (2013) Research paper on Tourism Sector in Cambodia. Retrieved from http://pps.com.kh/PPSUploadFiles/iv/424_en-us.pdf

Khieu, K. (2012, August 28). AEC: Cambodia sees challenges. The Nation. Retrieved from http://www.nationmultimedia.com/aec/AEC-Cambodia-sees-challenges-30189153.html

Heng, P. (2014, June 5). Educational Reform: A long-term Strategy to Prepare Cambodia’s Youth for ASEAN Integration. Khmer Times. Retrieved from http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/1945/educational-reform--a-long-term-strategy-to-prepare-Cambodia---s-youth-for-asean-integration/

Bun, T. (2010, February 10). The importance of speaking English. The Phnom Penh Post. Retrieved from http://www.phnompenhpost.com/lift/importance-speaking-english

Tim, V. (2011, August 15). What cause traffic jam in Cambodia?. Khmer Bird. Retrieved from http://khmerbird.com/featured/what-cause-traffic-jam-in-cambodia.html

Sek, O. (2014, July 23). No End in Sight for Chronic Phnom Penh Flooding. Cambodia Daily. Retrieved from http://www.cambodiadaily.com/archives/no-end-in-sight-for-chronic-phnom-penh-flooding-64718/

Surasak, T. (2009, September 2). News Analysis: Cambodia viewed as "best" investment venue for Thais. Xinhua. Retrieved from http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/indepth/2013-02/09/c_132162078.htm

Thong, K. (2013, November 6). ASEAN and the rise of tourism in Cambodia. Tourism of Cambodia. Retrieved from http://www.tourismcambodia.com/news/localnews/11287/asean-and-the-rise-of-tourism-in-cambodia.htm

Chhay, C. (2012). Cambodians will compete will ASEAN countries. The Phnom Penh Post. Retrieved fromhttp://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cambodians-will-compete-asean-countries

Chan, M., & Chhoun, S. (2012, March 26). ASEAN economic community 2015: Challenges vs. opportunity. Cambodia Circles. Retrieved from:http://cambodiacircles.com/articles/54/asean-economic-community-2015-c

Customs and other import duties (% of tax revenue) in Cambodia. (2012).Trading Economics. Retrieved fromhttp://www.tradingeconomics.com/cambodia/customs-and-other-import-duties-percent-of-tax-revenue-wb-data.html

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Memories of my Childhood Days

It was many years ago, but I still remember my childhood when I recall my memories. I have some interesting things to tell about my childhood. I will start from the age when I was 7 years old; I went to school and had a lot of fun with my friends and neighbors.

I used to get up early every day and I had my breakfast before I went to school. I still keep this habit before going to my workplace. It makes me healthy because I rarely skip my breakfast. I usually walked to school with my neighbors. The road to school was not good. The roads were built by a kind of farmland. They were sunk in the rainy season and they were very dusty in the dry season. There were a lot of fish along the road in the pure water. My friends and I attached the fish with our board when we were arriving from school. Our primary school was in a pagoda, so we often played in the pagoda during our break time. In the afternoon, I helped my mother do the housework. 

My friends and I shared a lot of good time together, such as playing hide-and-seek, Krolakoung (ក្រឡាខួង), and Koundom (Bak)​(កូនដំ). Our favorite game was playing in the rain in rice field and swimming in the lake. We were warned to swim in the lake because our parents were afraid of any accidents. We usually escaped to swim away from home which they would not know. As a result, our eyes became red when we spent a long time in the water. Thus, our parents recognized and punished us sometimes. Their forbidden was completely right because once my cousin was drowned. Fortunately, he was rescued on time. From that time, I am really good swimming. 

I still remember those days when I was learning to ride a bicycle. My mother taught me to ride it. I fell and bruised myself several times but I never gave up. I remember that I went into thicket of bamboo once and hit coconut tree once. Finally, I was able to join my friends going around the neighborhood on my bike. I liked riding my bicycle along the tunnels in the rice field. 

I still remember a terrible thing every well. When I was tending cattle with my older brother, one big buffalo attached me. Fortunately, I my brother help me to scare buffalo away. I used to help my brother tending cows and buffaloes. It was not a safe job because I was a young boy and the cows and the buffaloes were big.

I now realize what a wonderful childhood I have had in that times and I wish I could relive those days. I have many interesting things to share with you. But it'll take a lot time to write, so I chose a few of them. I hope you would enjoy them.

This article is originally published at https://khminglish.blogspot.com 
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are just to express feeling or emotion of author and to publish articles for sharing everybody to read and reflect upon their lives.

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My Favorite Games in Childhood

KounDom or Koun Bak (កូនដំ ឬ កូនប៊ាក់)

We divide people into two groups each player have a bamboo stick. Farmland was our playground. A small ball was put in the middle and one representative player from each group has to stay near the ball. After that they courted up to 3, all the players to have competed each other. If they hit the ball pass the line, it means another group is the winner. In the competition, player bet a bit amount of money or rubbish band.

Krolarkoung (ក្រឡាខួង)

In a group, there are about 7 to 10 people. The people are divided into two groups. Before the competition, they have to do lucky draw. The win group will be the runner and the lost group will be the catchers. The catcher group stands in the line to catch other group members. If any member of the runner group can pass all the lines in around way, they will be the winner. If the catchers catch any members, of them, they will be the loser and they have to be the catchers. The game is usually played in farmland or free-space land.

This article is originally published at https://khminglish.blogspot.com 
Please note that NO article on this blog may be copied or reproduced in any form without prior permission.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are just to express feeling or emotion of author and to publish articles for sharing everybody to read and reflect upon their lives.

 

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