As oknha ranks grow, honorific loses meaning
Initially a status reserved for a privileged few, the number of businesspeople bearing the honorific “oknha” has ballooned from an estimated 20 individuals in 2004 to some 200 in 2008 and more than 700 today. Traditionally a title of nobility bestowed by the king to honor a chosen few, the title was resurrected by a government sub-decree in 1994. For those wishing to acquire the title, a donation of $100,000 is required along with an ostensible commitment to direct some of their wealth toward the greater good. Meant to confer honor and prestige, critics say the title has become intertwined with a political patronage network in which relatively small donations open the way for lucrative government contracts. Rather than being the pillars of society that the title suggests, a number of high-profile oknhas have in recent years been implicated by human rights and environmental groups in illegal logging, land grabs and other social ills. …
Sek Odom and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/as-oknha-ranks-grow-honorific-loses-meaning-62057/
