Prime Minister Hun Manet’s Inclination for Quality over Quantity

Khmer Times, Opinion, 23 October 2023 (Link)

Samdech Prime Minister Hun Manet has recently launched various reform programmes that manifested his inclination for quality over quantity.

Indeed, regarding policies, he has tried to ensure the continuity of programmes under the previous administration. Nonetheless, he has introduced some painful public sector reforms focusing on streamlining the administration and quality of public domains.

Below are some specific examples.

In streamlining the public sector workforce, he has stopped the nominations of advisors or assistants with the equivalent rank of minister or secretary of state.

In past practice, some deputy directors, lawyers, Okhnas (tycoons), or deputy governors had additional positions as advisors/assistants to specific leaders. They even had a rank equivalent to a minister or secretary of state.

This system confused the chain of command or command hierarchy because governors are supposed to have lower rank than secretaries of state. Therefore, the governors could not give orders to their subordinates if the latter had an equivalent rank of secretaries of state.

Now Samdech Prime Minister Hun Manet has abolished this system, and those officials concerned have to choose either the position of advisor/assistant without equivalent rank or their original official portfolio.

This reform streamlines the chain of command within the administrative structure and helps streamline budget expenditure.

This is painful, but Samdech Hun Manet mentioned that reform is necessary, and the government shall continue to implement the slogan, “reforms for all, and all for reform.”

Regarding the quality of public domains, he has recently ordered the suspension of public servant exams as he tries to introduce a centralized exam system that the government can control without discrimination, segregation, or special treatment for any specific ministry over the others.

He wanted to make sure that public servant exams is hassle-free, like high-school grade exams conducted by Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron.

Another quality-oriented approach is his attempt to improve the overall quality of public schools.

In the 1990s, Samdech Techo Hun Sen embarked upon a daring reform, which was to introduce private schools when Cambodia had never had such a concept as everyone thought that all education was supposed to be free.

Norton University was the first private school that was established in 1996.

Having free education was a good concept, but in reality, the government did not have the budget capacity to support many schools. Therefore, opening education to the private sector faced severe criticism, but it was necessary to produce sufficient human resources to support fast economic development.

Just imagine that during the COVID-19 pandemic, if Cambodia did not have private medical universities, the country would not have enough medical personnel to fight this deadly pandemic.

Unfortunately, there is also a problem when we leave education at the mercy of the market economy, particularly for primary and secondary education. In this sector, the private sector has overpowered the public sector and has crowded out teaching professionals from public schools.

Complying with the power of the market, school teachers would naturally opt for private schools rather than public ones as they get better pay to support their livelihood.

Now Samdech Prime Minister Hun Manet is trying to rectify this market failure regarding quality education for all. He is trying to conduct targeted reform on the quality of public education.

This reform is important, especially if the government is trying to support nationwide families who cannot afford private school tuition.

Indeed, Cambodian children from all walks of life should be entitled to a certain level of quality education. Hygiene and sanitation in public schools also need serious reforms. Girls have extreme difficulties in using toilets in public schools.

This reform will have sweeping effects on the future Cambodian offspring.

All the above examples indicate Samdech Hun Manet’s efforts to serve the people at large and provide better quality services to the people.