PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Cambodia is pushing ahead with a plan to introduce compulsory military duty, lawmakers said, despite earlier criticism over the government's failure to shrink an already bloated army.


Under the law, which is expected to take effect in 2008, any Cambodian between 18 and 30 years-old is eligible to serve an 18-month tour of duty, said legislator Yim Sovann, who chairs the parliamentary commission now reviewing the law, originally approved by the cabinet in 2004.

"We want to nurture patriotism in our next generation of youth because every citizen has the duty to defend and build the nation," he told AFP.

Conscription could add as many as 10,000 people to Cambodia's armed forces each year, he added.

Cambodia's military now stands at over 112,000, but as many as 40,000 of those soldiers are either disabled or elderly and unable to carry out their duties.

Corruption plagues the military, where commanders often pay for their commissions, creating a bloated officers' corps that includes thousands of generals, colonels and majors.

Dead or discharged soldiers are also frequently kept on the payrolls so commanders can collect their salaries for themselves.

Donors have struggled for years to reduce the country's armed forces, which grew as the result of decades of civil war and are riven by various factions.

The government demobilised 15,000 servicemen in 2001 and agreed to cut back by another 15,000 in 2002 under a
World Bank-funded program.

But the discharges never occurred and the bank suspended its demobilisation efforts a year later after contract discrepancies were uncovered

Yim Sovann acknowledged that demobilisation was an obstacle, saying "the government still has no plan to discharge current soldiers" and that some progress would have to be made before the conscription law goes into effect.


(so wht u guys think-Jonny)

Large military is good but it strained economic development.

lets hope the money is handled in the proper manner & not fall into greedy hands to distribute. That would help minimise any incursion on economic development...............but its so hard to find good & honest help these days.

how are they going to pay for that? it's expensive enough to make all volunteer army. and i think they should instead widen police instead of military.

i think they should ... i dont know.. take care of matters that are more important. like helping kids get off the street, giving jobs to those who needs it, and build cambodian runned companies to compete with sweat shops and such.. i hate it when i buy clothes and it says "made in cambodia" knowing a mother of 4 slaved over 12 hours + .. if i dont buy it, how do they get paid? a very serious dilemma that the cambodians should deal with rather than foreigners trying to 'help'

ha! would u rather for cambodia to be isolated from all foreigner? you gotta be kidding! no country wants to be alone...

there's north korea.

Yeah Cambodia need foreign money.

but it mostly goes to corrupted people with no virtues

^Whatever....as long as money flowing in.

Cambodia increasing its troop strength is commendable. The Thai side will better assess human illegal trafficking with Cambodian partners handling the situation in their border--and us with ours. I look forward to an increased military cooperation between the Kingdom of Thailand and the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Good job! Chai Yo!

^i don't know man. i think conscription actually create troop quality problems. maybe they should have used the money to create better training facilities and then made an aggressive recruitment drive. but i guess if they need it right away, nobody can blame them.

^Yeah remember what happend with Lon Nol's army? Increasing size create opportunity for corruption within the force.

Corruption is a minor problem. Cambodia, a nation that is growing in terms of population, as well as economic standards--needs sufficient man power int he armed forces to control crime as well as maintain national power by legitimizing its government with a strong armed forces.

Its a sign of Cambodia's rise to power in the ASEAN union. I commend the Cambodian government and its people for taking this step! Thailand smiles towards its eastern neighbour!

A proud day for Cambodia and a cherishable day for ASEAN. A stable Cambodia is in essence a stronger ASEAN and continental South East Asia.

Congratulations!