SOUNDING BOARD is an outlet for opinions on good and crazy things going on at home (wherever I may be). All are welcome. You are not expected to bring anything except your common sense & sense of humor.
'If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get one million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.'
-Robert X. Cringely (from geek wisdom)
I will be leaving Phnom Penh in a few days. I am not sure how I feel about leaving Phnom Penh.
Part of me wants to go home at once. I need a break from my stressful life at work. I really could use a rest. If you have been reading the few accounts of my work here, youll know that things progressed to hectic-crazy (with lots of unnecessary pressure from a source I'd rather not mention). I do enjoy my work though, save for that. And I believe in what I do.
Yet part of me (somehow, a bigger part of me) feels sad that I will be away from this city, even with all its drive-anywhere motorists that makes you grab your seatbelt or hold on to your seat (in case you ride 'motodup' everyday, like me).
I guess I fell in love with this city. I felt home, actually. I have only managed to throw in a phrase or two, but I felt a deeper sense of belongingness. Cambodians are a bunch of warm, hospitable people, always ready to smile back at you. And when they do, you feel the warmth in the midst of the difficulties they have. For a few hundred riels (1USD = 4,000 riels), you can make a boy or girl happy by buying fruits or delicacy that he/she sells, or just by letting him shine your pair of shoes. For a dollar in exchange of a native delicacy, you can help an old woman get through the day. For a few dollars per week in excess of the regular motodup fee, my driver beams with a smile as he will have extra money for his children's day-to-day educational expenses. And when you feel the day is going too fast, you can sit back, have coffee and read a book along the riverside. No fuss.
Somehow, I stopped dreaming about home after a month or two. And it is probably because I felt happy being here. There is an inexplicable joy in my heart whenever I manage to bring out a smile from a friend, colleague, or from just anyone here. It's the warmth of the smile and the place that lifts my spirit up every single day of my life in Phnom Penh. And even as I get ready to go home, I look forward to my next mission here. I love Phnom Penh.
SOUNDING BOARD
Saturday, August 07, 2004
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Interest group politics through text messages (again)
The Arroyo government seems to be running out of ideas as it plans to impose a tax on text messages. The anti-tax coalition Txt Power threatened legislators on Saturday with a barrage of text messages on Monday to pressure Congress not to pass the government’s plan to tax text messages (INQ7.net, 7 August 2004). I'm totally against this proposed tax. People back home are already spending 15 Pesos (almost US$ .30) per text when they send me messages. I wonder what's the next in the Arroyo government's list? Filipinos are neat freaks - we take a bath everyday, sometimes more than twice a day during summer. Why not impose a tax on that, anyway the government seems to prefer additional tax measures than improving the efficiency of tax collection. I'm being sarcastic now.
It's now time for nasty tax measures because elections are over. Gloria Arroyo can afford to be unpopular now. She may have already forgotten about the role of text messaging during EDSA 2. EDSA 4 (or 3, I lost count already) will not happen. Most organized interest groups are too busy on other things to join this crusade against tax on text (no pun intended). The issue is less earthshaking than corruption, plunder and abuse of human rights.
It's all numbers game in interest group politics. If Txt Power can demonstrate they are a huge bloc of protesters (assuming legislators care about their image to the public especially if they'll seek re-election), then we can all say goodbye to this proposed measure. Txt Power's problem is that the next elections are way too far to be considered by politicians. And these politicians know that Filipinos easily forget.
