Ethics is not a new issue to urgently be discussed in the modern world, but I have seen its abnormality in Cambodia’s society which is a tremendous concern for our national long-term development and international prestige. The fragility of ethics would be referred to inner disorder which is by far more hazardous than external factors. I am not trying to redefine or to reclassify ethics in this article, but I inevitably do that for simplifying your reading only.
I propose three levels of ethics. A person who acts in his own interests and does not produce any negative impact on other’s benefits is called to have ‘Internal Ethics.’ In this lowest level of ethics, people do not concern about the community. In other words, they pay great care of their own interests and follow the behavior proposed by Adam Smith in his 1776 greatest book, The Wealth of Nation. However, many people they value the community’s benefits as equal as or higher than their own welfare. This group of people is called to have ‘External Ethics.’ I tried to finish my ethical definition at this level but I would not pretend to forget ‘Nationalists,’ who put their national interests in the top of their agenda.
In most developed and fast-growing countries, the three kinds of ethical citizens exist and most of the population has at least ‘internal ethics.’ However, in Cambodia, these ethical citizens do exist but they share a small percentage in the population pie. In this context, I had arranged a questionnaire for Cambodians’ people to cast their understanding about the Cambodia’s sources of ethical fragility for 6 weeks and the poll is as follow:
- Five people (41%) believed it is due to education.
- Three people (25%) believed it is due to law enforcement.
- Two people (16%) believed it is due to economic factors.
- The other two believed it is due to leadership.
- Noone believes it is due to other factors, such as gambling, alcohol, culture, family, etc.
Education is a well-developed word and has a very long horizon in the human’s behavior and way of thinking. Education provides a deeper understanding about the impact of one’s decision on his own and community as a whole. Education teaches how to behave in a way that is acceptable by other people as well as in a culture. Furthermore, it provides the concept of rights and obligations, hence, the role of law and regulation. Without these understandings, people would not be able to make a sound ethical decision, and they may challenge with many difficult questions emerged: Should I take someone’s forgotten stuff? Should I cast a vote? Am I unethical to drive fast?, etc. From this point of view, I would propose a vital role of education in any ethical society, but it would not play the urgent role as the Law Enforcement does.
Constitutions, laws and regulations had emerged hundreds of years, and provide people with freedom, rights and obligations. Too much freedom would harm other’s benefits and the society as a whole so that obligations have been introduced to set boundaries and to enforce responsibilities on one’s activities. However, some people may be provided with credentials (or right) so that their benefits would not be unethically manipulated. As you would see, laws and regulations play the most vital role in guiding ethical behavior, but what would you expect if laws and regulations are just on papers and have never been used to oblige wrong doers? This is malfunctioning law enforcement. In reality, people learn from doing or from mistake, which we call experience. Additionally, education would not insure ethical behavior 100%. The more serious penalty of the laws, the more attention paid by obligors. Also, you may have ever heard the first rule of law: Everyone knows the existing laws!!!
Up to this point, I have discussed a lot about two main catalysts of ethical behavior but not yet theorized the linkage between the unethical behavior and the limitedness of choices, so called economic factors. Many people have been educated and have profound understanding about the role of laws and regulations, but they still behave unethically. This may be due to economic factors (poverty and financial crunch) and other limits of available choices.
In conclusion, I would propose a strong recommendation on Cambodia’s current and future leaders on law enforcement and education. The implication is that education would not build in a very short period of time but law enforcement can as we have enough basic rules to guide our country. Moreover, not every (well-) educated person behaves ethically as other constraints do exist. However, education must be reformed from now on if Cambodians want to achieve long-term development and international prestige in the next 30-50 years. Other factors, such as gambling, culture, alcohol, family and so on would be explained as indirect effects of the three factors above, and leadership would not be undermined in the Cambodia’s political arena since it provides a concrete platform for every mechanism needed to build our lovely country.
We would suppose that we have built a basic foundation for our national prosperity and international prestige. It is to produce people with huge general knowledge, firm skills and well ethical behavior. Also, we have discussed a very important constraint on the development of ethical society: economic factors. In addition, economy always plays a prominent role in a country’s welfare and international arena. Therefore, the next topic to be discussed is:
What should be the most important sector to develop Cambodia?
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