Sam Rainsy Party (SRP)

1. Proper work and income

The national economy will truly develop if every citizen has a proper job. A proper job is one which provides an adequate income and allows people to live well, respectably and meaningfully. A new government led by the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) will truly develop the economy by giving proper jobs to our citizens, especially the young, because Sam Rainsy has these merits:

He has knowledge, skill and a great deal of experience in the economics sector. He earned a master’s degree in economics from a university in France, has been an economist for many years, was a bank manager in the West, and was once a top minister of economy and finance who are greatly admired by the international community.

He has never been involved in corruption, and loves the nation so much that he dares to unflinchingly protest against corruption.

He has a good relationship with the international community, especially with large, prominent companies in developed countries. These companies will want to set up branches and factories in Cambodia, thus generating jobs for Cambodians, when Cambodia has a new leader who has a lot of knowledge and is moral and just, thus encouraging top private companies and investors to do business in Cambodia.

If each Cambodians has a proper job, they will be free from poverty. Handouts help you survive for a while, but having a job will help you for the whole of your life. A new SRP-led government will help all farmers get enough land to support themselves. It will also help the farmer’s children get better jobs such as working as technical or other staff at the businesses and factories of economic areas which will open in all the provinces and cities of Cambodia after the SRP has won the upcoming election to lead the country from 2008 onwards.

2. Reducing the price of goods

Citizens’ living standards will actually improve when each citizen has a high enough salary and a proper job, and goods are sold at an appropriate price. To reduce the price of goods, the new SRP-led government will take these measures:

Lower petroleum taxes and decrease the profits made by the fuel industry. These measures will enable a cut of 1,000 riel per liter on today’s price of petrol which is 5,700 riel per liter.
Abolish the monopoly of dishonest businessmen, especially groups of unscrupulous Okhna, who continue increasing goods and service prices as they please. Opening up the national economy and not allowing these dishonest Okhna groups to continue to act as they wish will provide the real means to lower all goods and service prices.
Govern Cambodia’s economy in the correct manner so as to balance the riel, our national currency. Today’s government is lowering the values of our riel compared to the currencies of neighboring countries. This is one factor that is causing the increasing in goods prices in our country.
Correctly manage the printing of riel notes to ensure our money is produced responsibly. Overprinting the riel devalues it, which cause an increase in goods prices, such as what happened in the State of Cambodia in 1989-1992.
Distribute state-owned land free to Cambodian citizens who do not have or have a shortage of land, so that they can increase agricultural production. Hundreds of thousands of hectares of land stolen from the state and citizens by corrupt people must be confiscated and made available to the people so that they can farm it- a way of preventing inflation.
When Sam Rainsy served as economy and finance minister in 1993-1994, food prices were lower and stable. At that time, a liter of petrol cost 600 riel, as did a kilogram of milled rice.

3. Free medical treatment

Nothing is more valuable than human lives and each person’s life is equally valuable, regardless of status or wealth. The new SRP-led government will bring justice t its people and create a better health care system offering free medical treatment services to all people. To save people’s lives, Sam Rainsy’s government will take the following measures:

Increase the salaries of all civil servants, including doctors, medical officials and health staff, to ensure that all those who serve the nation can lead a decent and dignified life, so that they will not have to make an informal income in addition.
Abolish corruption in the distribution of medical drugs donated by the international community, so that the drugs can be offered directly to patients free of charge, thus preventing the exploitation and theft of medical drugs by corrupt people who take the drugs and sell them on to patients.
Increase the share of the national budget to be used in the health field in order to build more hospitals, maternal centers and health care centers across the nation and modernized these facilities by providing them with up-to-date equipment.

The additional budget required for the execution of the above policies will be provided from the prevention of corruption, which is responsible for a great amount of loss in the state budget under the leadership of today’s government. According to figures provided by independent experts from the US Agency for International Development, nowadays our state loses US$300- 500 million per year due to corruption. The new SRP-led government will root out all kinds of corrupt practices, and ensure a sufficient budget to build the nation, assist the poor in the health and other sectors and offer a pay raise of at least 500,000 riel (about US$125) per month to civil servants.

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