Khmer culture is being destroyed by corruption, not short skirts

Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Op-Ed by Khmer Borann

My daughters who study at Beltei School also wear short skirt. If you see the female uniform at Beltei School, you will say the skirt is too short. For me, wearing short skirt is not the problem and those who claim that short skirt is the Western tradition are just stupid. Why don’t you look at Apsara at Angkor Wat? What are Apsaras wearing? I think Khmer culture are being destroyed not because of short skirt but because corruption and dictatorship.

I think the campaign by Khmer Teacher Association is politically motivated rather than to preserve Khmer culture. Those who lead the campaign are hypocrite. They claimed that short skirt is the Western tradition and no Khmer culture. I just would like to ask them why they were wearing tie during the demonstration. Everybody knows that tie is not Khmer dress and was brought from the West. Why those people did not say wearing tie is destroying Khmer culture?

It is unfortunate that the Khmer Teacher Association did not focus on the real problem facing Khmer kids and Khmer culture. Everybody knows that the education quality in Cambodia is very low and this is because of lack of school facilities, textbooks, and qualified teachers. In some places, the children have to study under the tree shade because the school building is not available. Why the Association did not think about this?

Because they are paid to low, some female teachers force students to buy candy and cakes. Also some teacher force students to pay unofficial fees. I think the Khmer Teacher Association should think about the increase in teachers’ salary rather that about short skirt. You should be ashamed when you force students to pay unofficial fee which against the professional conscience of the teachers. I think instead of campaigning against wearing short skirt, the association should demand the pay rise from the government because when the teachers have enough salary, they can focus of teaching profession. Forcing students to pay unofficial fees is not Khmer culture; it is corruption. Corruption destroys everything, including the teachers’ salary. One can ask why the salary of the teachers could not be increased. This is because corruption eats all the money supposed to be paid for the civil servants.

I think, as the Cambodian, we should have long vision and should look to the future rather than going back to the Stone Age. Khmer children need more textbooks, libraries, computers, and internet. We need to catch up with the neighboring countries, so we have to focus on the real issues rather than wasting time to think on unimportant thing.