Tackling Cambodia's coming crisis
.jpg)
VETERAN POLITICIAN Sam Rainsy is the leader of Cambodia’s largest opposition party. He was elected member of parliament for Siem Reap province in 1993 under the Funcinpec party and later became minister of finance. He was ejected from the party after losing a no-confidence vote in 1994 and in 1995 founded the Khmer Nation Party (KNP), which changed its name to the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP). The SRP received about 21 percent of the vote in the 2008 national elections.Opposition leader Sam Rainsy speaks to the Post about what he would do to address the economic crisis and the threat that job losses, poverty and slower growth pose to the KingdomAs a former finance minister, what would you do to address the financial crisis if you were in the same position now?Even before the financial crisis, I would have done things differently. Regarding agriculture, I would protect ownership for farmers of the land they live on, I am against these megaprojects that are creating farms with tens of thousands of hectares.This is nonsense. It makes farmers landless and turns them into labourers.I don't think this is the right approach. We need to protect the land owned by farmers and provide them with the inputs they need to improve productivity....The current government has granted 99-year leases for companies in what they call the agri-business - I think this approach is totally wrong.Second, regarding non-agricultural sectors, we need to diversify.There is the garment industry, which is the foundation of the economy. So we have to promote and encourage foreign direct investment in a more appropriate way by combatting corruption.Investors are complaining about corruption and they are going to other countries.So we have to attract legitimate investors ... but also high-quality investors with technical expertise, and that will diversify industries.
0 comments:
Post a Comment