Selected Comments Samdech Moha Bovor Thipadei Hun Manet, to workers in Khan Dangkor and Khan Meanchey, Phnom Penh [Unofficial excerpts and translation]

CMF:

(1) Basic salary, social and health benefits, pensions; a formula of “sharing and helping each other to survive” 

[…] Our workers’ basic salary has gone up. Whether the increase is small or big will depend on the viewer. From the point of workers’ view, you may think that it is less. From the employers’ views, they would say it is quite substantial. How did we come up with this basic salary increments […] we may all see that US$ 4 per month per person multiplied by 700,000 is not a small number. We all must understand the circumstance in which we all are struggling. (The basic salary increase negotiating teams) has come up with this solution or a formula that they have (reconciled to have a basic salary) of US$ 204, which I call the formula of “sharing and helping each other to survive,” in order for us all to be strong […]

(2) Competitiveness is a guarantee of quality and affordable price for the buyer

Many countries manufacture and sell their products to the US market, European markets and other markets. We compete. Our competitiveness is a guarantee (of quality and affordable price) for the buyer. You (must understand that it is like) buyers (coming) from the United States or from Europe carry a package of money and go shopping like we do at the mall […] they are looking for goods of good quality and reasonable price to supply to their stores in the United States or in Europe. If they find our goods with good quality and reasonable prices, they would place orders. If they make big order, you have extra works. If the order shrinks, we face difficulties. As the global economy slows these days, orders from every country dwindle. We must all acknowledge that […]

(3) Increasing workers’ basic salary – a commitment of the Royal Government

As a commitment, we have to adjust (the basic salary of our workers) every year – big or small, according to the economic capability. Even at the time of the Covid-19, many countries did not raise (basic salary) but the Royal Government under the leadership of Samdech Techo had more or less raised salary for you. This is the commitment of the Royal Government […] one may ask if the Royal Government heard anything about the concerns of (employers/investors)? The Royal Government has heard well, but we have also heard the concerns of our workers. More or less, they need to improve their lives. Thus, the Royal Government does not forego (the need to raise salaries) […] you should see that whether what we (achieved) is not as we expected, but it is an achievement (compared to) other countries […]

(4) Landlords requested not to increase rents; clean water and electricity to reach remote places

Salary increase is one thing but the important thing is to keep what you already have in hand. […] First, I am sending a message calling on the landlords to keep their rents as they are […] I know that the landlords are in difficult situation as they had to pay the banks, for instance. However, please understand that the workers may have more difficulties […]; Secondly, I urge the Electricity of Cambodia and the Water Supply Authority of Cambodia to help speed up the connection of clean water and electricity to places not yet connected for the benefit of both landlords and workers […]

Even if EDC (Electricity of Cambodia) loses tens of millions of dollars per month, (the state) is willing to lose in order to take care of people’s lives. This is what the state has done on the part of electricity […] I asked HE Keo Rattanak (Minister of Energy and Mines) to figure out the possibility of reducing electricity prices for more than 20,000 enterprises […] as the reduction (could) help (keep the jobs for) the people. This definitely is affecting all of you […]

(5) Overseas trips for political contacts, diplomacy and marketing

There is this grand uncle who says that going abroad, the Prime Minister of Thailand met with the kind of Elon Musk, whereas Prime Minister Hun Manet met with groups of the spittoons (useless) […] whom does he talk about? Wonder if he does not attack me […] I have schedules to meet with the leaders of the United Nations and of countries including the United States, India, and other superpowers. Saving about an hour and a half of one evening (we had dinner with) with aunts and uncles, and some others. It was a private dinner and he picked on that to attack me for having met with the group of spittoons. It is a dishonoring act […]

I do not know if the person despised any of the uncles or aunts, or any persons that makes him unhappy (with those people who came) to see me. His anger has attacked me too. Anyway, I met more than 2,500 Cambodians there. (The question is if) they are useless people (as he called them in his words “spit bucket” kind of people)? No. Those Cambodian brothers and sisters were willing to put off whatever they do and asked permission from their works to come together to be briefed of the welfare of the nation. As far as meeting with the US private sector is concerned, you ask, was there only the Thai Prime Minister (who) went to meet the American billionaire? Other countries also did that […]

(6) Pfizer will help bring good medicine, affordable technology to Cambodia

I met businesspersons from the companies of Boeing, Pfizer, Abbot, VISA, MasterCard, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips […]. Due to time constraints, I did not meet them separately. I had a separate meeting only with the Pfizer Company, who will come and meet with the Ministry of Health soon. The Company will help bring good medicine, affordable technology to Cambodia […] in the near future, many American companies will come to Cambodia to examine the possibility of making investments […] they will look at all angles. If people wish to humiliate (the RGC’s efforts), let there be some truth in it. I am not afraid of your criticism […] but I have the need to have people’s attention that their leaders also have worked hard to attract investors to Cambodia as other leaders do too. We are doing everything we can to attract investment to our country […] to create more jobs in all fields for our people […]

(7) “100 or 200 people demonstrate as patriots” and “thousands to support the sale of heads”

Some people do not dare to praise (the country’s efforts) because they are afraid they will be insulted for selling their heads. The other day, a young sister Kanitha living in the United States made a show to explain the tax issue (in Cambodia) […] to make people understand the issue […] I thanked and sent a thankful message to the sister. Samdech Techo (sent a thanking message to here). Suddenly, someone insulted her of selling her head to Hun Manet […] as long as anyone is honest they label her/him selling her/his head. In the United States, 100 or 200 people went to the demonstration when I was there they call themselves patriots and sacrificed for the national cause. When thousands of Cambodians from the United States, from Canada, joined the government’s meeting, they said that all of them had their heads bought […] is this valuing their own people? (Citizens have the right to) value different opinions and views […] sister Kanitha did not come out to explain this to me. She explained the issue to the people because there has been some misunderstanding on this tax issue […]

(8) Is “the Mother of the Youngest Child” worthy of hate or pathetic?

I would tell you a story of “the Mother of the Youngest Child” […] an average wealth mother has a youngest child. People around often humiliate the youngest child […] the youngest child is upset with her mother because the house nearby is rich and always able to buy new motorcycles for their children […] some radio stations on foreign soil try to make Cambodians feel like that youngest child […] they incite (people) to overlook what the government (of Cambodia) do for them […]. In fact, the mother of that youngest child has been trying everything she could to build a life from scratch since 1979, to raise her children with bare hands until she could save up money and property, becoming a middle-class, and she devoted everything to support her children for a long time to come […]. Is “the Mother of the Youngest Child” disgusting or pathetic? […]

(9) The Royal Government applies 13 types of taxes

A few days ago, there had been some confusions about the tax on capital gain […] those who were against the RGC tried to fool the people that the new government are imposing 20 kinds of taxes on them, as if the new government is ripping the people of with new taxes. There is no new tax […] the Prime Minister would take his appearance to explain and/or resolve the national issue. Issues that are relating to institutional capacity, the relevant authorities/institutions should be responsible in resolving them. Would that be a yes or no? There is no need for the Prime Minister to take his appearance on every issue and all the time. Some people say why the Prime Minister has not said anything about what HE Kong Vibol (Delegate of the Royal Government of Cambodia In-Charge as Director General of General Department of Taxation) had said (about the tax regime) […]. Even though I did not come out to answer (to the issue) myself, I followed up the matter and ordered the relevant authorities, ministries and institutions to study on issues and take actions […]

(10) Three works to accomplish – continue to provide, to expand, and to add on to

Three jobs (that have been done since the formation of the Royal) Government has been that of the Mother of the Youngest Child doing three things for her child. Firstly, think of something that people have already received and will continue to give it to him or her. Secondly, think about what the new government needs to expand to help our people in need, and thirdly, in addition to what we personally provide in the form of money, what else can we do to help them? Make it easy for him to work and be relieved. I have been doing these three things […]

(11) As long as the CPP continues to lead, it will keep policy of “people first” and “do everything possible for their benefit”

What I would ask from the workers, families and people all over the country is to trust this Royal Government […] has its own policy. The previous term Royal Government’s policy as well as this term, and the next term to come, as long as the CPP continues to lead, it is still upholds such policy of “People First,” and does things for the benefit of the people […]

(12) No new taxation, no increase in existing tax rates, some tax principles to set out at the November State-Private Sectors Forum

[…] Let me confirm to the people that, firstly, the new Royal Government in this new term does not create any new taxes on the people […]. What is the tax? Taxes are the means of sharing from those who have to those who have not […]. That we (have spent) 1,200 million to help about 700,000 to 800,000 needy families a month […] a part of it the tax money we got from those who have […]

In Cambodia we have only 13 types of tax […] some taxes applied since 1982 […] secondly, even the existing taxes, we do not increase the tax rate […] and thirdly, we will introduce some principles related to tax matters during the November private sector meeting […]

In addition to not issuing new taxes and not raising tax rates, I must emphasize to the people the commitment to continue the policy of the CPP to impose no taxes on […] firstly, household farmland, […] secondly, agricultural materials and equipment […] and thirdly, agricultural products […]

We do not tax property that is cheaper than 100 million riel or US$ 25,000 […] there is no stamp duty on the purchase and sale of real estate under US$ 70,000. We continue to impose no tax on registration of one-time transference of property from parents to children, grandparents to grandchildren, husband to wife […] the state charges no road tax for motorcycles and tricycles […] we eliminate taxes and payment of other taxes on street vendors with small baskets in markets across the country […]

What I am begging from relevant authority/institutions is […] the customs officers and tax officials who have worked hard to fulfill their duties in raising revenue for the state to firstly make the (tax collecting) mechanism more effective, not to overlap, not to have two or three taxes, […] secondly, strengthen the mechanism of response to the people. The tax office has set up a call center, and this year alone, there have been more than 100,000 calls in […] increase the use of IT systems to replace all human procedures to make it easier for them to pay taxes quickly and without much trouble […]. Lastly, ensure the ethics of tax officials and the management code to avoid excessive implementation. In the past, most of you worked hard to fulfill your duties as tax officials, but thousands sometimes overreacted […]

We need to recognize the shortcomings that need to be addressed and strengthened so that it is becoming a mechanism that people, especially the private sector, can trust. Strengthen the ethics, procedures and proper practices of all our officials, so there will be no more practices that are excessive to rules and regulations, and improper to principles […]

(13) The more votes for CPP, the more active we serve them; Culture of dialogue requires goodwill and honesty

The way I work, even though sometimes I do not post messages on Facebook or anything, is I keep monitoring, I send out, and I always manage things […] I do not solve personal matters […] I am sure people wanted to give time for the Prime Minister to concentrate on solving your big concerns, right? Let us divide the works and responsibilities instead of having the Prime Minister to do everything, right? The same goes for Samdech Techo, when he was in power. He had numerous responsibilities. Sometimes he sent out a message but most of the works he delegated to ministries/institutions to take care of […]

We have resolved many things since before the government was born. In these 40 days, we have solved a lot. I work day and night, both in the country and abroad, to solve the concerns of the national economy, the livelihood of the people […] I will not stop. I will continue to work for our people as long as they still have confidence in me. You have given your trust and voted 82.3% to the CPP (equivalent to) 6.2 million people. The more you vote for CPP, the more we work for you […] There is this grandmother (in the US) who went to the demonstration and scolded me to the worst possible terms like “the Hun Family are traitors” “step down,” etc. and when they finished with that they said the new government of Mr. Hun Manet should have a culture of dialogue […] a culture of dialogue would work if both sides agree. Is it not? […] Samdech Techo had once embarked on the dialogue culture with the former leader of the National Rescue Party […]. However, it did not work. It failed. Why? Once they agreed to work together, they held hands, and the other side even called his children to meet me, and Samdech Techo for a meal […] but once he went out to France, he insulted Samdech Techo for no reason […] what dialogue culture is that when on one side you wanted dialogue and on the other side you insulted? What dialogue is there? Where is the goodwill and honesty? […]./.

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