University entrance exam system costly and needs reform in Vietnam

Hiep Pham 01 July 2012 Issue No:228

 

Vietnamese school-leavers will sit national university entrance examinations that start on 4 July and last for almost a week, as they compete for places at some 58 universities and colleges, amid ongoing discussion that the exam system needs reform.

The nationwide exam is known as the ‘three commons’. All candidates tackle the same exam questions on the same dates and receive the results on the same date. According to the Ministry of Education and Training, 604,281 students will sit the exam this year.

But the overall number of higher education applications is down by 7.7% compared to last year – students on average make three to four applications to hedge their bets based on universities’ cut-off marks.

Hanoi, with the highest number of applications in the country at 164,000, is down 2,000 compared to 2011. In Thanh Hoa province the number of applications, 79,130 this year, has dropped by 11,000. In 2010 the overall number of applications fell by 12%, from 2.13 million to 1.87 million.

Under the current system, candidates submit several applications to universities in April and then wait for the cut-off marks for each university to be announced while they are preparing for the exam. Students only make the final decision, just before the exam date, about which university to have their entrance exam marked at.

Costly system

But allowing multiple registrations can be costly for universities.

Pham Thai Son, head of the education and training department of the University of Food Industry in Ho Chi Minh City, said the institution had to rent an extra 500 examination rooms to accommodate 22,000 students registered to take the exam. But not all of them would actually take the exam there.

“We will lose about VND600 million (US$28,680) this session, and this doesn't include the fees we must pay for the people who mark the exams. At the end of this session we expect the losses to reach into the billions [of dong],” he told official media in June.

The fee for taking exams is only VND67,000 (US$3.20) per student, and universities and colleges are reluctant to raise the fees to help cover their additional costs for fear that they will lose promising students, officials said.

In the past, universities have called on the ministry to provide additional resources for the exam season. This year both the ministry and provincial governments said they had improved guidance and support programmes for candidates to help them choose universities and reduce the number of speculative applications.

At the other end of the scale, some universities have said they cannot attract enough enrolments because, prior to the exam, candidates tend to apply to the trusted top public universities, which also have lower tuition fees.

Some newly established or private universities receive very low numbers of applications.

Some experts have warned that more education institutions could go bankrupt unless the system is changed.

To counter this, students who fail to gain their first choice have been allowed since 2005 to apply to other universities in a second round organised by the ministry in September or early October or even, in some years, a third round in November.

New rules mooted

From 2020, when a new university law comes into effect, university entrance exams will only be held at top universities, allowing other universities and colleges to select students based on school records.

This was first made public last year when Bui Van Ga, the vice-minister of education, said during a press conference in Hanoi that by 2020, when the higher education system has the capacity to provide about four million places, the ministry-administered exam may be removed, except for some elite programmes.

The ministry would “only monitor the outcome through a quality assurance system”, Ga said.

Under an interim proposal released in February, the ‘three commons’ will continue until 2015 and key universities will be asked to submit new enrolment plans to the ministry for approval before that date.

During the past academic year, the ministry also encouraged several top universities to pilot a separate exam. But according to some university leaders, the government still appears reluctant to provide all universities with the autonomy needed to set up their own admissions schemes.

Prior to 2002, Vietnamese higher education institutions had full responsibility for entrance examinations. But the downside was more cheating and red tape during the selection process, which led to the ministry stepping in to set up the current system.

Bui Ngoc Son, vice-rector of Foreign Trade University, said the ‘three commons’ provided a “balanced solution” in terms of both the quality and cost of the exam.

A meeting of 400 university rectors, organised by the ministry in February, supported the removal of the ‘three commons’ but only in the long run. Many are still sceptical, saying it is not the first time that the ministry has proposed a timetable for change, but later cancelled it.

Others said making proposals for reform without proper consultations merely makes students and their families anxious.
 

End of sanctions may improve prospects for unemployed graduates

Naw Say Phaw Waa04 March 2012 Issue No:211

 

When Than Myint (47) took a tricycle rickshaw from the bazaar to her home in Yangon, she fell into conversation with the driver, who turned out to have graduated from university last year. The 22-year-old told her that jobs were hard to find, even with a degree.

Only arduous work like rickshaw-pedalling was available. “That’s why I have to do this work,” he said.

Than Myint said it was heartbreaking for her to see so few job opportunities for young graduates. But the problem is widespread.

“I was shocked when I saw a classified advisement in front of a huge house. It said only a graduate is qualified for a job as a security guard,” said Yangon taxi driver U Thar Htet (54).

Myanmar has around 616,500 students in higher education, according to 2009 figures, but chances of secure employment once they graduate are poor, and private sector salaries are low.

The government does not publish figures on graduate unemployment, but the problem is now being openly aired.

“I have learned that most of the graduates here are jobless,” National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Su Kyi told people in Waa Tin Ka village, 30 kilometres south of Yangon where she has been campaigning for a seat in by-elections that take place on 1 April.

“I believe that we [the National League for Democracy] should consider as a first step to provide job opportunities for people who have graduated, not yet graduated, middle-age people and old people,” she said on 11 February.

Investment and jobs

With the government appearing to be slowly breaking out of the isolation brought about by 50 years of military rule, Myanmar president U Thein Sein is relying on new foreign investment to create more job opportunities for graduates.

“Investors are eyeing the country,” the president told teachers and students in Sagaing, in the north-west of the country, during the opening of the Arts and Science University on 11 February.

“Efforts should be made to attract investment and to create jobs. When factories are mushrooming, skilled labour, intellectuals and the intelligentsia will be in high demand.”

The government has frequently blamed Western economic sanctions against Myanmar for high unemployment. But Myanmar observers say the situation has been difficult for graduates for most of the 50 years that the military government has been in power.

There are fewer public sector jobs available and students say nepotism and corruption are rife in public sector recruitment. Some students claim that not just contacts, but also bribes, are needed to secure good jobs.

Lifting economic sanctions

Some graduates are becoming more hopeful that things will change after the April election. During a visit in February a European Union delegation hinted that it might lift economic sanctions if enough progress is made on democratisation in the country. Other nations like the US, which first imposed sanctions in 1993 on human rights grounds, may follow.

“This is a transitional time in Myanmar and I wish the Americans and others could lift sanctions, then there would be more job opportunities’, said Zar Li Htun (21), who graduated last year with a degree in geology from Dagon University in Yangon. She is a clerk earning 60,000 kyats (US$75) a month, far below a graduate’s salary of around 150,000 kyats.

“The money is not enough,” she told University World News. But she added that she feels lucky to have got a job right away, as many of her fellow graduates are still seeking work.

Hnin Wutte Yi Phyoe (21), who graduated with a degree in chemistry last year from Mawlamyine University, also considers herself lucky as she joined the family business. “My parents sell clothes downtown. I’m not interested in selling things. But as everybody knows, jobs are very scarce in Myanmar.”

New skills

Meanwhile, with the NLD beginning to bring up the problem of unemployment, there is more pressure on the government to be seen to be acting to improve job prospects. Even if sanctions are lifted, government action will be needed to get graduates and others into jobs.

During a recent session of the Pyithu Hluttaw, the lower house of parliament, speaker Thura U Shwe Mann, in response to a question on how the government was handling unemployment, said it would provide up-to-date labour market information, adopt measures to link job opportunities and jobseekers, develop strategies to create job opportunities and access to foreign labour markets, and train job seekers to help them land a job.

But President U Thein Sein has also said graduates should not rely solely on academic degrees and must develop other skills.

Some observers say the country’s university degrees are not geared towards a modern job market and the way many disciplines are taught is simply out of date.

Students mainly enroll in traditional academic subjects such as physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics or Myanmar literature and are not trained for professions, making it difficult to find jobs that match their degrees. Even university teaching jobs are scarce.

Graduate Zar Li Htun said: “There are no jobs available for those who finish their first degrees with a science major.” And Htet Htet (22), a law graduate from Dagon University, described her degree as “just a piece of paper”.

Mismatch

“There is a big difference between the types of degrees students are graduating with and what the market wants,” U Aye Kyaw, managing director of MHR Human Resource Development, told the Myanmar Times recently.

“There are too few jobs related to the subjects students are completing, and the government cannot create enough jobs for them.”

He added that universities should be allowed to offer subjects needed for the job environment. “Businesses want journalists, human resources and marketing graduates, but universities do not teach these subjects,” he said.

Yet even engineering graduates cannot find appropriate work. Kyaw Thu Han (25) graduated in marine engineering from Myanmar Maritime University in 2009. He has had to work in a variety of non-engineering jobs, including as an interpreter and editor for an environmental NGO.

“Even engineering jobs are low paid. I'm planning to go to Singapore soon,” he told University World News.

Some three million people from Myanmar currently work abroad, often illegally. According to anecdotal evidence, many Myanmar graduates work in blue-collar jobs in countries like Malaysia and Singapore.

Even if Western sanctions are not lifted quickly, new development projects, infrastructure spending and investment growth from other Asian countries could improve graduate job prospects. The World Bank and other multilateral lending agencies like the Asian Development Bank have indicated that they are preparing to return to Myanmar.

Jobs may not have trickled down to Myanmar’s disheartened graduates yet, but recent developments point to improvements to come.

International help to upgrade Burma's neglected university sector

Yojana Sharma25 June 2012 Issue No:228

 

The United Kingdom has said it will help Burma improve its higher education sector, according to an announcement on Monday pledging support to education in Burma at both the school and post-school levels.

“Plans are afoot in tertiary education aimed at strengthening higher education institutions,” said Martin Davidson, chief executive of the British Council, after a meeting in London with Burma’s opposition leader leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

“We hope to provide support and opportunities for academic mobility and develop research and teaching links between academics and students in our two countries

The British Council told Suu Kyi it would continue its work to develop Burma’s education system, which is seen as vital to generate stability and opportunities for the country’s future.

Aung San Suu Kyi described education as key to Burma’s security and development in a speech to the UK parliament on 21 June, during an official visit which included collecting an honorary doctorate of civil law at Oxford University almost two decades after it was first awarded to her.

“It is in education in particular that I hope the British can play a major role. We need short-term results, so that our people may see that democratisation has a tangible, positive impact on their lives,” she said.

“Vocational training and creation of employment opportunities to help address Burma ’s chronic youth unemployment are particularly important.”

She added that in the longer term, Burma ’s education system was “desperately weak” and the country needed a change of attitude, “which is at present too narrow and rigid.”

“The great challenge that a democratic Burma has got, is the great expectations of young people,” said Davidson.

“At the tertiary level there has been decades of under-investment or non-investment and some time ago a great deal of suspicion about the activities of students on campuses, as a focus of dissent, so the university system is in quite a bad way,” Davidson told University World News.

He said partnerships with foreign universities would be based around academic and institutional strengthening.

“The sort of things we are in conversation about is the training of academics – there are relatively few academics who have postgraduate qualifications and postgraduate training; and institutional management and leadership: how do you run a modern university that has been completely cut off.

“There is the beginnings of a conversation on how that strengthening of academics and institutions might take place.”

Need for a plan

However, he added that a detailed government plan for higher education in particular had not yet been drawn up.

“There has to be a willingness of government to invest in tertiary education, and some of the restrictions on academic gatherings are going to have to be relaxed. There is going to have to be the resources and the support, to make institutions fit for purpose,” Davidson said.

Nonetheless, he said assistance to the sector should not wait.

“I would like to think within the next three to six months [the British Council will] have something on the ground in Burma.”

Strengthening teacher training at tertiary level is also a major task, as primary and secondary education participation needs to be increased – one in six children in Burma never get into education and many drop out of primary school.

The British Council has already reached an agreement with Burma’s Ministry of Education to implement a schools programme, training 10,000 English teachers per year from the 20 state teacher training colleges, reaching 41,000 schools and two million Burmese youngsters.

More international help sought

Suu Kyi has frequently stressed the importance of education for her country’s development.

Apart from British initiatives in the pipeline, a number of international higher education cooperation projects have been initiated since the elections in April, when Suu Kyi won a seat in the Burmese parliament. Western countries moved to remove some sanctions.

According to local media in Burma, Rangoon University will cooperate with Johns Hopkins University of the United States to improve its law and political science programmes; Mandalay University will receive aid from the universities of Lyons and Montpellier in France; and Pathein University will receive aid from for training in bioscience research from Montpellier.

India has agreed to open an internet technology university at the location of the Institute of Development of Nationalities in the town of Sagaing by 2013.

And South Korea has offered assistance to build the Myanmar Development Institute, modelled on the Korea Development Institute, providing research and analysis on economics and policy, according to presidential advisor Ko Ko Hlaing.

He told local media in June that special education development centres would be established at the universities of Rangoon and Mandalay with the aim of upgrading overall education standards in Burma.

“Some foreign organisations have offered to promote the Myanmar [Burma] education system. We hope to upgrade the universities including the former Yangon [Rangoon] University,” he said

Higher education politicised

Upgrading the university system is a highly political issue as many of the country’s renowned universities were broken up and moved to the outskirts of cities to prevent students from uniting against the military dictatorship.

Controversy has already been sparked over restoration of the origianal Rangoon University campus in the centre of the former capital, historically a hub of the country’s political movement since the time of Suu Kyi’s father, Aung San.

Classes have not been held in the central Rangoon buildings since the 1990s, after the then military junta began a policy of moving universities to the suburbs to suppress student dissent.

U Myint, a government economic advisor, wrote an open letter in May in his personal capacity in which he suggested restoring university buildings including student hostels in the centre of Rangoon, and reinstating classes as a way of developing Rangoon University into a world-class institution.

Most controversially of all, he suggested rehousing the student union there. The former union building at the Rangoon campus was demolished by General Ne Win after mass student protests against the 1962 military coup.

Government officials disassociate themselves from the open letter.
 

Workers in Thailand dubious of firm’s offer

Friday, 29 June 2012, Eighty Cambodian workers trapped without their passports at a construction site in southern Thailand fear Thai firm Christiani & Nielsen (Thai) Public Company Limited will not keep a promise to allow them to return home.

The workers have complained that almost all of their salaries had been extorted through various fees and that some of them were arrested, stripped, beaten, fined and had their heads shaved by Thai police simply because they had work visas for the wrong location.

Lim Srum, a representative of the group that was sent to a construction site in Songkhla province’s Hat Yai district by Cambodian firm Ap Tse & C Cambodia Resource Co, Ltd, said that the workers were due to get their passports back today.

“We are happy about the pledge of the company, but we are still anxious. We fear the company will lie to us. I miss my wife and daughter,” he said.

The company had agreed to let them return to Cambodia in two separate groups for two weeks each, though it is unclear why any of them would be willing to return.

“Before, we suggested 20 days, but we were afraid the company would not allow.”

Sith Vichey, director of Ap Tse & C Cambodian Resource, said the workers had not completed their contracts so they could not return permanently.

“If they want to come back home, not just to visit, they must wait until the work contract is finished,” he said.

Moeun Tola, head of the labour program at the Community Legal Education Center, said Ap Tse & C Cambodian Resource and Christiani & Nielsen had blatantly breached contractual obligations.

“In fact, the worker can come back home, not just visiting for two weeks; they can terminate the two-year contract because the company is wrong for sending them to work in the wrong place,” he said.

A source close to the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok said Christiani & Nielsen (Thai) Public Company Limited, which has not responded to inquiries from the Post, had absolutely no right to withhold workers’ passports. Sen David

UN and Cambodia's legal eagles hold forum

Friday, 29 June 2012, Bridget Di Certo

 

One day after the highly anticipated – and criticised – appeal hearing of the Boeung Kak 13, judges, prosecutors, lawyers and police from every province in the Kingdom attended a Ministry of Justice and UN Office of Human Rights workshop on Cambodia’s Code of Criminal Procedure.

The key issues on yesterday’s agenda were arrest and police custody, pre-trial detention and judicial supervision, access to lawyers and evidence rights.

“In many countries, allegations of human rights violations are often related to the conduct of criminal proceedings,” Geneva-based director of research at the OHCHR Marcia Kran said in her opening remarks.

Ministry of Justice Secretary of State Hy Sophea, however, made it clear that the workshop was a discussion, not a lecture.

“Cambodia has a position of self-determination as the owner of a nation. We will accept theories from developed countries – but don’t wear the woolen shirt in the hot season,” he said, asking attendees not to “insult” or “attack” the government.

The lack of lawyers in the provinces was a common concern shared by attendees, including Cambodian Center for Human Rights Executive Director Ou Virak, who said that there were simply too few lawyers in the provinces for criminal proceedings to run properly.

“The government really needs to look at public funding of legal representatives … there needs to be incentives for them to go to rural areas, like there are incentives for teachers in the education system,” Virak said.

Deputy secretary-general of the Cambodian Bar Association Nou Tepyrith said that the bar was increasing the number of lawyers it admitted by between 5 and 10 per year. Now the number is about 70.

He also echoed Virak’s sentiment, saying the biggest problem is the relatively low pay of lawyers in the provinces.

International Business Chamber moves to Phnom Penh Tower

Members of the International Business Chamber of Cambodia pose for a group photograph at the company’s office in Phnom Penh yesterday. Photograph: Pha Lina/Phnom Penh Post

Friday, 29 June 2012, Stuart Alan Becker

 

The International Business Chamber of Cambodia opened a new office yesterday on the 12th floor of the Phnom Penh Tower.

IBC Chairman Brett Sciaroni said the move demonstrated a trend of business associations giving more visibility and presence for companies that operate in Cambodia.

“This is one more indication of the professionalisation of business associations in Cambodia,” he said.

“As the IBC has increased its range of activities and its commitment to the public-private dialogue process in Cambodia, we needed more staff and facilities. Phnom Penh Tower is a leading address in Phnom Penh. We chose this location to show the significance of the IBC as a leading business association and we’re not the only business association that’s located here,” he said.

IBC executive committee member John Brinsden said the location reflected what the members deserved.

“This is a dream come true and the reason is the IBC over many years has had loyal members and we on the executive committee felt very concerned that we weren’t really giving our members the prestigious location and facilities they deserved.”

The IBC has more than 80 members, organised by company, and the people who attend are representative of those member companies, including many global brand names.

“This is something we’ve been thinking about for a long time: a prestigious office to serve our members. We provide our members and potential investors in Cambodia with a chance to meet in one place.

We’re here with an address; we’re in the yellow pages. Visiting foreign investors, people having a look around Cambodia can come and talk to our staff and get some basic information and contacts they can use,” Brinsden said.

IBC Vice Chairman In Channy, CEO of ACLEDA Bank, said the new location was a place where members could meet and get information. The IBC’s new executive director, Audrey Tugendhat, who runs the office on a day-to-day basis, said members of the public could visit and receive updates on the IBC social events calendar.

“For instance at the next regular general meeting which will take place at lunchtime on July 4 at Raffles Hotel, our members can bring potential candidates for membership.”

A lesson for Iraq in Cambodia

By Muhammad Cohen

PHNOM PENH - Cambodia's Khmer Rouge mass murder sites affect visitors in different ways. For me, it meant weeping throughout and being unable to reconcile the contrast between massive, deadly brutality on display and the seemingly gentle, friendly Cambodia of today.

Cambodia does itself and the world a great service by preserving the memories of the millions that died during the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge reign of terror under the leadership of Pol Pot. Both Tuol Sleng, the prison known as S-21, and Cheoung Ek, the so-called Killing Fields, remain powerfully evocative even after the passage of decades. But their most important modern day lesson may be waiting to be learned 6,500 kilometers (3,900 miles) away in Iraq.

Some displays at the two sites are positively chilling. At CheoungEk, 15 kilometers south of capital city Phnom Penh, a Buddhist stupa towers over the site's 129 mass graves. The bottom level of the stupa holds clothing from the estimated 20,000 people executed and buried there.

The next eight levels hold skulls from victims arranged by estimated age, many showing signs of fatal blows with shovels or ax handles - favored by the Khmer Rouge as an execution method because it saved bullets. The top eight levels contain bones sorted by type. Paths throughout the two hectare site, once a peaceful mangosteen orchard, still reveal bone fragments and teeth peeking through the soil.

The Khmer Rouge converted Tuol Sleng Primary School and Tuol Svay Prey High School in central Phnom Penh into Security Office 21. The S-21 museum preserves classrooms turned into cells, pieces of the chalkboard still intact; the wire woven into nets across the exterior hallways to prevent inmates from attempting suicide leaps; and metal beds rigged with shackles and car batteries for interrogations.

But the most haunting feature of S-21 are the inmate photographs, row upon row of black-and-white head and shoulder identification shots. Beyond the vacant eyes of the subjects, the portraits are a monument to the banality of evil. The people who took these photographs, developed them, catalogued them, and filed them were simply bureaucrats doing their jobs.

What's too often lost in the use of "banality of evil" is that the banality in no way excuses or explains the evil, which took place on an unprecedented scale in Cambodia. Some two million Cambodians out of an estimated population of 7.3 million perished under the Khmer Rouge regime. By proportion of the national population, that's way more than Stalin, Hitler or Mao murdered, making Pol Pot the all-time leader in mass murder.

Of course, no one kills that many people alone, and that's another incredible thing about visiting those tragic sites in today's Cambodia. Everyone you meet around town seems so pleasant and cheerful, it's hard to fathom how these same people or their parents could have been party to such atrocities.

Examples such as the Soviet gulags, Indonesia's 1965 anti-communist purges, and the 1994 massacres in Rwanda, underline that no nationality, ethnic or racial group has a monopoly on massive scale inhumanity.

Setting the stage
What's also fascinating is that the Khmer Rouge didn't commit murder in the name of religion or ethnicity or nationalism. It was just politics. That's another indication that genocide can happen anywhere when the political conditions are right, as they were in mid-1970s Cambodia.

For centuries, the country was caught between more powerful neighbors, Vietnam to the east and Thailand to the west. Then in the 1960s, Cambodia got caught in the middle of the American war in Vietnam. American planes bombed North Vietnamese bases inside Cambodia, also inflicting massive collateral damage on civilians.

Following General Lon Nol's 1970 rightwing coup that ousted king Norodom Sihanouk, US and South Vietnamese troops crossed the border, pushing North Vietnamese forces further into the interior. More civilian casualties resulted and Cambodia's politics became more deeply dividing.

The US withdrawal from Vietnam in 1973 weakened Lon Nol's government and strengthened the Khmer Rouge. In April 1975, with Phnom Penh surrounded and American aid ended, the government surrendered to the Khmer Rouge.

Academics still debate to what extent the US extension of the Vietnam conflict into Cambodia helped or harmed the Khmer Rouge's cause. The same can be said about the Vietnamese troops. What's clear is that foreigners fighting on Cambodian territory brutalized the population and helped unravel the country's social fabric, paving the way for extremism and tragedy.

A political void following the ouster of a long-serving leader, foreign troops fighting their own war as an away game, and, a neighbor anxious to take advantage of the turmoil - standing amid the mass graves, it seems apparent that Cambodia's past could easily represent Iraq's future.

The American invasion destroyed the political fabric of Iraq (some would argue of America, too). The invaders destroyed Iraq's government, the ruling party, and the army. The country plunged into greater chaos and factional fighting than Cambodia ever suffered before the Khmer Rouge triumph.

Iraq's traditional unfriendly neighbor Iran used the opportunity to fill the power vacuum. According to some, Iran sent in its own operatives. As a bonus, Iran can play the religion card with Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim majority that had been suppressed under Saddam Hussein, who favored the Sunni minority.

The presence of foreign troops fueled an insurgency that forced Iraqis to choose between sides in a fight they didn't want. The violence led to further polarization. It also stunted political growth. Reminiscent of post-coup Cambodia, the government is massively corrupt and largely distrusted.

The withdrawal of American forces hasn't solved Iraq's political problems, just as America's withdrawal from Vietnam didn't lead to Cambodian reconciliation. It was two years after the Americans left Vietnam that the Khmer Rouge came to power and commenced their killing spree.

August marks two years since American combat troops left Iraq. Stay tuned - and hope that in this world vastly more connected than in 1975, genocide can't happen again.

Former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen told America’s story to the world as a US diplomat and is author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, financial crisis, and cheap lingerie. See his blog, online archive and more at MuhammadCohen.com.

Cambodia gives green light to British life insurer Prudential

PHNOM PENH, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Britain's leading life insurer, Prudential Plc, is going to open its office in Phnom Penh, said the British ambassador to Cambodia Mark Gooding on Friday.
Speaking in a meeting with Cambodian deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Keat Chhon, Mark Gooding thanked the ministry for giving an approval in principle on June 28, 2012 to the U.K.-based Prudential Plc to open a life insurance company in Cambodia.
Keat Chhon said that British investment here reflected British investors' trust on Cambodian economic and political situation, adding that Cambodia's insurance development is in early stage and has much room to grow.

Currently, Cambodia has two life insurers. The first one is Cambodian Life Insurance Company (Cambodian Life), which went into services in May, and the other is the Canada-based insurer, Manulife, which was officially launched on Thursday.
Cambodian Life is a joint venture by Cambodia's finance ministry and four other partners, namely PT Asuransi from Indonesia, Asia Insurance from Hong Kong, Bangkok Life Assurance and Bangkok Insurance Public from Thailand.

According to Cambodia's insurance law, an insurance company is required to have the minimum capital of 7 million U.S. dollars.

ក្រសួង​សេដ្ឋកិច្ច៖​ក្រុមហ៊ុន​ផ្ទះ​ល្វែង​ចំនួន​១៧​គ្មាន​អាជ្ញាប័ណ្ណ​ប្រកប​អាជីវកម្ម

ដោយ ដែន អយុធ្យា

2012-06-28

ក្រុម​ការងារ​អន្តរ​ក្រសួង ដើម្បី​គ្រប់​គ្រង​អាជីវកម្ម​អភិវឌ្ឍន៍​អចលនវត្ថុ នៃ​ក្រសួង​សេដ្ឋកិច្ច និង​ហិរញ្ញវត្ថុ រំលឹក​ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​ឲ្យ​បាន​ជ្រាប​ថា សព្វ​ថ្ងៃ​នេះ​មាន​ក្រុមហ៊ុន​ផ្ទះ​ល្វែង ឬ​បុរី​ចំនួន​១៧ សាងសង់​គ្មាន​អាជ្ញាប័ណ្ណ​ពី​ស្ថាប័ន​ជំនាញ​ទេ។

សេចក្តី​ជូន​ដំណឹង ចុះ​ថ្ងៃ​ទី​២៥ ខែ​មិថុនា ឆ្នាំ​២០១២ របស់​ក្រសួង​សេដ្ឋកិច្ច​បាន​បង្ហាញ​ឈ្មោះ​ក្រុមហ៊ុន​ទាំង​១៧ សង់​គ្មាន​អាជ្ញាប័ណ្ណ​ រួម​មាន បុរី រុងរឿង Luxurious Apartment 240 បុរី អាកាសចរណ៍ សំណង់​ផ្ទះ​ល្វែង ម៉ៅ យឹម សំណង់​ផ្ទះ​ល្វែង តុល លន បុរី មនោរម្យ (ឫស្សីកែវ) បុរី សូនី បុរី កាំង ម៉េង Hawaii Apartment & Resort បុរី ពោធិចិនតុង បុរី ភូមិ​ខ្ញុំ បុរី​សែន​មនោរម្យ បុរី ទំនើប​ឡូស៊ីផេង បុរី វាលស្បូវ បុរី New York City ក្រុមហ៊ុន​ផ្ទះ​ល្វែង កូឡុន កម្ពុជា និង​សំណង់​ផ្ទះ​ល្វែង​រុក្ខជាតិ​បៃតង។

មន្ត្រី​ជំនាញ​ឲ្យ​ដឹង​ថា ក្រុមហ៊ុន​ទាំង​១៧ នេះ កំពុង​លក់​លំនៅឋាន​របស់​ខ្លួន គ្មាន​អាជ្ញាប័ណ្ណ​ប្រកប​អាជីវកម្ម​អភិវឌ្ឍន៍​អចលនវត្ថុ ពី​ក្រសួង​សេដ្ឋកិច្ច ឲ្យ​ស្រប​តាម​ប្រកាស​ចុះ​ថ្ងៃ​ទី​១៥ ខែ​ធ្នូ ឆ្នាំ​២០០៩ ស្តី​ពី​ការ​គ្រប់​គ្រង​អាជីវកម្ម​អភិវឌ្ឍន៍​អចលនវត្ថុ​នោះ​ទេ។
ទោះ​ក្រសួង​សេដ្ឋកិច្ច​បាន​បញ្ចេញ​ឈ្មោះ​ក្រុមហ៊ុន បុរី ឬ​ផ្ទះ​ល្វែង​គ្មាន​ច្បាប់ និង​អំពាវនាវ​ឲ្យ​ពលរដ្ឋ​ប្រយ័ត្ន​ប្រយែង​ក្នុង​ការ​ទិញ​ផ្ទះ​ក្តី ក៏​ប៉ុន្តែ​ត្រូវ​បាន​សមាជិក​សភា​បក្ស​ប្រឆាំង និង​មន្ត្រី​សង្គម​ស៊ីវិល​រិះគន់​ធ្ងន់ធ្ងរ​ទៅ​វិញ។

លោក យ៉ែម បុញ្ញប្ញទ្ធិ អគ្គលេខាធិការ និង​ជា​សមាជិក​សភា​គណបក្ស សិទ្ធិ​មនុស្ស នៅ​ថ្ងៃ​ទី​២៨ ខែ​មិថុនា ឆ្នាំ​២០១២ លោក​បាន​ចាត់​ទុក​ការ​គ្រប់​គ្រង់​របស់​ក្រសួង​ពាក់ព័ន្ធ​ទៅ​លើ​ក្រុមហ៊ុន​ សំណង់​ផ្ទះ​ល្វែង ឬ​បុរី ថា មាន​ភាព​អន់​ខ្សោយ និង​មិន​ទទួល​ខុស​ត្រូវ។

លោក​ថា ក្រសួង​ជំនាញ​គួរ​ជា​អ្នក​ទទួល​ខុស​ត្រូវ ឬ​ការពារ​សុវត្ថិភាព​ផ្នែក​ច្បាប់​ជូន​ពលរដ្ឋ មិន​មែន​ពលរដ្ឋ​រង​គ្រោះ​ជា​អ្នក​ទទួល​ខុស​ត្រូវ​ទេ ព្រោះ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល ឬ​ក្រសួង​ជំនាញ​ជា​អ្នក​អនុញ្ញាតិ​ឲ្យ​ក្រុមហ៊ុន​ផ្ទះ​ល្វែង ឬ​បុរី​សង់​សំណង់​គ្មាន​ច្បាប់ ប៉ុន្តែ​គ្មាន​វិធានការ​ទប់​ស្កាត់​ទៅ​វិញ។

លោក យ៉ែម បុញ្ញប្ញទ្ធិ៖ «ពេល​សំណង់​សង់​ហើយ ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​ទិញ​ហើយ ទើប​ប្រកាស​បែប​នេះ​ទៅ​វិញ។ ដូច្នេះ អ្នក​ដែល​រង​គ្រោះ គឺ​ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ ដោយ​សារ​លោក​មិន​បាន​ដឹង ហើយ​ផ្ទះ​អាច​មាន​គ្រោះថ្នាក់​ទៅ​ថ្ងៃ​អនាគត ដោយ​សារ​គ្មាន​ការ​ធានា​រ៉ាប់រង​ច្បាស់​លាស់ ខាត​បង់​ច្រើន​ណាស់។ ការ​ប្រឈម​មួយ​ទៀត គឺ​ការ​ខាត​បង់​ថវិកា​របស់​ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​នេះ ជា​រឿង​មួយ​ដ៏​ធ្ងន់ធ្ងរ​បំផុត។ ខ្ញុំ​យល់​ថា ការ​គ្រប់​គ្រង​បែប​នេះ​មាន​ផល​វិបាក​ដល់​សង្គម​ធ្ងន់ធ្ងរ​មែន​ទែន»។

មិន​ខុស​គ្នា​ទេ សម្រាប់​មន្ត្រី​សង្គម​ស៊ីវិល ក៏​បាន​រិះគន់​របៀប​គ្រប់​គ្រង​របស់​ថ្នាក់​ដឹកនាំ​ក្រសួង​ជំនាញ នៃ​រាជ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល ជុំវិញ​ការ​អនុញ្ញាតិ​ឲ្យ​សំណង់​ផ្ទះ​ល្វែង ឬ​បុរី សាងសង់​គ្មាន​ច្បាប់។
លោក សន ជ័យ ជា​មន្ត្រី​សម្រប​សម្រួល​បណ្ដាញ​រួប​រួម ដើម្បី​គណនេយ្យ​ភាព​សង្គម ប្រចាំ​អាស៊ី​បូព៌ា និង​ប៉ាស៊ីហ្វិក។ លោក​ថ្លែង​ថា ការ​អនុញ្ញាតិ​ឲ្យ​ក្រុមហ៊ុន​ផ្ទះ​ល្វែង ឬ​បុរី រក​ស៊ី​ខុស​ច្បាប់ និង​ប្រាស់​ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​ស្ថាប័ន​ជំនាញ​ជា​អ្នក​ទទួល​ខុស​ត្រូវ។

លោក សន ជ័យ៖ «យើង​ចង់​ឲ្យ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​បំពេញ​តួនាទី​ឲ្យ​បាន​គ្រប់​ ជ្រុង​ជ្រោយ។ ផ្ទះ​ដែល​បាន​ទិញ​ហើយ រដ្ឋាភិបាល​ត្រូវ​តែ​បំពេញ​ភាព​ស្រប​ច្បាប់​របស់​ខ្លួន​ឲ្យ​បាន​ត្រឹម​ ត្រូវ។ ពិសេស​ក្រសួង​រៀបចំ​ដែនដី ឲ្យ​មាន​វិធានការ​ជំរុញ​ឲ្យ​ក្រុមហ៊ុន​តាម​គ្រប់​មធ្យោបាយ ដើម្បី​ឲ្យ​សំណង់​ស្រប​ច្បាប់​ជូន​ពលរដ្ឋ។ បើ​មិន​ដូច្នេះ​ទេ អ្នក​ដែល​រងគ្រោះ គឺ​ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ ហើយ​អ្នក​ដែល​កេង​ចំណេញ​ពី​ផល​ប្រយោជន៍​នៃ​ការ​លក់​អាគារ គឺ​ក្រុមហ៊ុន ហើយ​អ្នក​ដែល​ត្រូវ​ទទួល​រង​ការ​ស្តី​បន្ទោស គឺ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​ទៅ​វិញ​ទេ»។

ទោះ​យ៉ាង​ណា ក្រសួង​សេដ្ឋកិច្ច និង​ហិរញ្ញវត្ថុ បាន​ដាស់​ស្មារតី​ដល់​សាធារណជន មិន​គួរ​គប្បី​ទិញ​លំនៅឋាន​ខុស​ច្បាប់ ក្នុង​គម្រោង​ក្រុមហ៊ុន​ចំនួន​១៧ ដែល​ក្រសួង​បាន​ជូន​ដំណឹង​នេះ​ទេ ដរាប​ណា​ម្ចាស់​ក្រុមហ៊ុន​មិន​ទាន់​សង់​រួច ឬ​គ្មាន​អាជ្ញាប័ណ្ណ​ធ្វើ​អាជីវកម្ម​អភិវឌ្ឍន៍​អចលនវត្ថុ ពី​ក្រសួង​សេដ្ឋកិច្ច និង​ហិរញ្ញវត្ថុ​នោះ៕

ហ៊ុន ម៉ានិត ត្រូវ​តែង​តាំង​ឲ្យ​ដោះស្រាយ​ជម្លោះ​ដី​ធ្លី

លោក ហ៊ុន​ ម៉ានិត (ស្តាំ)អម​ដំណើ​រឪពុក​​ទៅ​ប្រាសាទ​ព្រះវិហារ​។ រូបៈ ជីវ័ន

ភ្នំពេញៈ លោក ហ៊ុន ម៉ានិត នាយរង​ខុទ្ទកាល័យ និង​ជា​កូន​ប្រុស​ទី២ របស់​លោក​នាយក​រដ្ឋ​មន្ត្រី​ ហ៊ុន សែន ត្រូវ​បាន​តែង​តាំង​ជា​អគ្គលេខាធិការ​រង​នៃ​អគ្គលេខាធិការ​ដ្ឋាន ជាតិ​ដោះស្រាយ​ទំនាស់​ដីធ្លី បន្ថែម​លើ​មុខងារ​បច្ចុប្បន្ន​។ នេះ​បើ​យោង​ទៅ​តាម​សៀវភៅ​ព្រះ រាជកិច្ច ដែល​បោះ​ផ្សាយ​ដោយ​ទីស្តីការ​គណៈ​រដ្ឋ​មន្ត្រី ចុះ​ថ្ងៃ​ទី១៥​ខែ​មិថុនា ឆ្នាំ​២០១២។

យោង​ទៅ​តាម​សៀវភៅ​ព្រះរាជកិច្ច​ឲ្យ​ដឹង​ថា លោក​នាយក​រដ្ឋ​មន្ត្រី ហ៊ុន សែន បាន​ចុះ​ហត្ថលេខា​លើ​អនុក្រឹត្យ​នៅ​ថ្ងៃទី៧ ខែ​មិថុនា​ ឆ្នាំ​២០១២ តែង​តាំង​លោក ហ៊ុន ម៉ានិត ជា​អគ្គលេខាធិការរង​នៃ​អគ្គ​អាជ្ញាធរ​ជាតិ​ដោះស្រាយ​ទំនាស់​ដី​ធ្លី​បន្ថែម​ លើ​មុខងារ បច្ចុប្បន្ន​។ នៅ​ក្នុង​មាត្រា​ទី២ បាន​ចែង​ថា​ ៖ «​អនុក្រឹត្យ​នេះ​មាន​ប្រសិទ្ធភាព​ចាប់​ពី​ថ្ងៃ​ចុះ​ហត្ថលេខា​ត​ទៅ» ។

កាល​ពី​ថ្ងៃ​ទី១៣ ខែ​មករា ឆ្នាំ​២០១២ លោក​នាយក​រដ្ឋ​មន្ត្រី ហ៊ុន សែន បាន​ចុះ​ហត្ថលេខា​លើ​អនុក្រឹត្យ សម្រេច​ដំឡើង​ឋានន្តរស័ក្ដិ​ថ្នាក់​ វរសេនីយ៍​ឯក នាយ​ទាហាន​នៃ​កងយោធពល​ខេមរភូមិន្ទ ជូន​លោក​វរសេនីយ៍ទោ ហ៊ុន ម៉ានិត ជា​នាយករង នាយក​ដ្ឋាន​ស្រាវជ្រាវ​ចារកិច្ច​របស់​អគ្គបញ្ជាការ​ដ្ឋាន។

លោក ហ៊ុន ម៉ានិត ដែល​ត្រូវ​បាន​តែង​តាំង​ជា​អគ្គលេខាធិការ​រង​នៃ​អគ្គលេខាធិការដ្ឋាន អាជ្ញាធរ​ជាតិ​ដោះស្រាយ​ទំនាស់​ដី​ធ្លី​នា​ពេល​ថ្មី​ៗ​នេះ បាន​បដិសេធ​មិន​ធ្វើ​អត្ថាធិប្បាយ​ទេ កាល​ពី​ថ្ងៃ​ពុធ​ ដោយ​បាន​មាន​ប្រសាសន៍​ថា​ «ខ្ញុំ​មិន​អាច​ជឿ​ថា ជា​អ្នក​កាសែត​ភ្នំពេញ ប៉ុស្តិ៍​ទេ ព្រោះ​ពុំមាន​អ្វី​អាច​បញ្ជាក់​តាម​ទូរស័ព្ទ​បាន​ថា​ ជា​អ្នក​យក​ព័ត៌មាន​របស់ ភ្នំពេញ ប៉ុស្តិ៍»​ បើ​ទោះ​ជា​លោក​និពន្ធ​នាយក​បាន​ឆ្លង​ឆ្លើយ​ជាមួយ​តាម​ទូរស័ព្ទ ដើម្បី​បញ្ជាក់​ក៏​ដោយ​។

លោក យឹម សុវណ្ណ អ្នក​នាំ​ពាក្យ​គណបក្ស​សមរង្ស៊ី​ បាន​ថ្លែង​ថា មាន​កូន​ខ្មែរ​ជា​ច្រើន​ដែល​មាន​បទ​ពិសោធនិង​មាន​សមត្ថភាព​នៅ​ក្នុង​តួនាទី​ របស់​រដ្ឋ ប៉ុន្តែ​ គួរ​ឲ្យ​សោកស្តាយ​ដែល​ពួក​គេ​ពុំ​មាន​ឱកាស​ដោយ​សារ​តែ​ប្រទេស​នេះ​អ្វីៗ សម្រេច​ដោយ​បុគ្គល​ម្នាក់​។ លោក​ថ្លែង​ថា​៖ «​ខ្ញុំ​សូម​ជូន​ពរ​ចំពោះ​អ្នក​ដែល​ទទួល​បាន​តំណែង​ថ្មី​នោះ​ធ្វើ​ការ​ បម្រើ​ប្រទេស​ជាតិ​ និង​រក​យុត្តិធម៌​ជូន​ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​ដែល​រងគ្រោះ​ដោយ​សារ​តែ​ការពារ​ដី ធ្លី​តិចតួច​របស់​ពួក​គាត់»។​
លោក អំ សំអាត អ្នក​ស៊ើប​អង្កេត​ជាន់​ខ្ពស់​របស់​អង្គការ​សិទ្ធិ​មនុស្ស​លីកាដូ​បាន​ថ្លែង​ ដែរ ថា នេះ​គឺជា​ការ​តែងតាំង​ថ្មី​របស់​រាជរដ្ឋាភិបាល​ទាក់ទិន​ទៅ​នឹង​គោល​ នយោបាយ​ដោះស្រាយ​ដី​ធ្លី​ថ្មី ដែល​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​បាន​ចាត់​តាំង​កម្លាំង​យុវជន​ពិសេស​ចុះ​វាស់​វែង​ដី ធ្លី​ជូន​ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​។ លោក​ថ្លែង​ថា ៖ «យើង​សង្ឃឹម​ថា លោក​ហ៊ុន ម៉ានិត នឹង​ដោះស្រាយ​បញ្ហា​ដីធ្លី​មាន​ប្រសិទ្ធភាព នោះ​គឺជា​អ្វី​ដែល​ពលរដ្ឋ​ចង់​បាន​»។

លោក ចាន់ សូវ៉េត មន្ត្រី​ស៊ើប​អង្កេត​ជាន់​ខ្ពស់​នៃ​សមាគម​សិទ្ធិ​មនុស្ស​អាដហុក​បាន​ថ្លែង​ ចាប់​អារម្មណ៍​នឹង​ការ​តែងតាំង​លោក​ហ៊ុន ម៉ានិត ជា​ប្រធាន​ដឹក​នាំ​បេសកកម្ម​ពិសេស​យុវជន​ចុះ​ទៅ​វាស់​វែង​ដី​ជូន​ប្រជា ពលរដ្ឋ​ថា ជា​ការ​ល្អ​បំផុត​ដែល​លោក​នាយក​រដ្ឋ​មន្ត្រី​បាន​ឲ្យ​យុវជន​ទាំង​អស់​នោះ ធ្វើ​ការ​វាស់​វែង​ដី​ជូន​ប្រជា​ពលរដ្ឋ​ ដោយ​មិន​ឲ្យ​សួរ​ថា បោះឆ្នោត​ឲ្យ​គណបក្សណា ប៉ុន្តែ អ្វី​ដែល​គួរ​ឲ្យ​បារម្ភ​នោះ ​គឺ​ពួក​គេ​ស្លៀក​ពាក់​ឯក​សណ្ឋាន​កងទ័ព ប្រើ​ស្លាក​សញ្ញា ដែន​ដី​នគរូបនីយកម្ម​ ដែល​វា​ធ្វើ​ឲ្យ​ប្រជាជន​មាន​ការ​ភ័យ​ខ្លាច។​ លោក​បន្ត​ថា​៖ «យើង​សង្ឃឹម​ថា លោក​នឹង​ធ្វើ​ការ​បាន​ជោគជ័យ ហើយ​ផ្តល់​យុត្តិធម៌​ដល់​ពលរដ្ឋ​ដែល​រង​គ្រោះ​នៅ​ក្នុង​ជម្លោះ​កន្លង​មក​»៕