Here’s a link to my latest story.
Last Thursday, the United Nations Development Programme, in partnership with the BBC World Services Trust, released a comprehensive survey of young people in Cambodia. The results are pretty interesting.
Incredibly, 70% of Cambodia’s population is under the age of 30 – a result of the Khmer Rouge wiping out huge swaths of the older generation – so attempts to understand their attitudes and behaviors are frequent.
One piece of info that I found interesting, but that didn’t make it into the article deals with corruption. Because of sensitivity concerns, the survey didn’t directly ask any questions about corruption. Instead, it attempted to broach the subject tangentially with the following statement: “Government jobs should be filled based on individual skills instead of personal and family connections.”
Respondents had to say whether or not they agreed. Only two-thirds of respondents agreed; 8% were neutral, 13% said they didn’t know, and 13% disagreed.
This was disturbing. 13 out of 100 Cambodian young people think it’s acceptable to award jobs – government ones at that – to friends and family instead of on the basis of merit. That’s a frightening mindset for the country’s future leaders, even if it’s only 13%.
KristinLynch 