Development with trust

Returning from an unforgettable journey to Cambodia organized by Asia Society with the World’s President Organization, I feel a lingering affection for this beautiful kingdom. Aside from the awesome monumental culture of Angkor Wat on one hand and the tragic history of genocide on the other, I was most touched by the warmth and gentleness of its people. I searched for the anger, cynicism and evidence of a hard edge that one would expect from a people who had lost one third of its population during the Khmer Rouge regime. Instead, I saw sweetness even in the crippled beggars and children in the markets and temples, in the subtlety of the movements of the dance and in the melancholic resonance of the music.

Perhaps the sweetest experience of all was meeting His Majesty King Sihanouk who embodied profound humility, generosity of spirit and compassion that is drawn from inner strength. We were given the honor and privilege of an audience with His Majesty to deliver to the Cambodian Red Cross, medicines donated by United Laboratories through the generosity of Butch Campos and Dr. Delfin Samson. His Majesty received all 35 of us with indescribable warmth and kindness.

This first ever meeting with a King gave me a new perspective about the value of a monarch in the development of a nation. The security of tenure inherent in a constitutional monarchy allows the King to become a spiritual leader who can stay above the fray. In that state of detachment, the King is able to play the role of balancing different factions in the political landscape. This is possible because today’s monarch is a symbol of the noble purpose, vision or core ideology that everyone can trust.

Meeting His Majesty King Sihanouk, I realized that trust is earned best when the leader is secure and wants nothing nor needs anything other than the good of the nation and his people. This state of being is difficult, perhaps impossible for a politician to attain.

I recalled meeting Professor Richard Locke of the Sloan School at MIT who is currently working on a book called Development Without Trust. His book researches patterns of social and economic development in southern Italy and northern Brazil, two regions supposedly void of trust and institutions necessary for development to take place. Listening to him, I could not help but identify with this as the predicament we find ourselves in – a state where no one trusts each other.

From this view, it truly is a pity that our early colonization stunted any possibility for our ancestors to have evolved the tribal units into a kingdom – an exercise that would have allowed us to experience the process of unification and to develop a common sense of purpose under one appointed or chosen leader. If only the Spaniards came one hundred years later, we might also have learned how to follow the leader in the process.

Short of a king, how to bring ourselves from where we are to a new surge of development with trust in each other is the challenge facing us today. Professor Locke said his book will show that both trust and development can be created even in seemingly impossible circumstances. Until we find out how or until we develop strong institutions that we can trust, I shall cherish the great benevolence I saw in His Majesty King Sihanouk as a great inspiration.

Asia Society and the World President’s Organization profoundly thank His Royal Highness Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Her Royal Highness Princess Marie for generously helping us make our journey to their beautiful Kingdom of Cambodia truly unforgettable. We thank Cambodian Ambassador to the Philippines, Ambassador and Christine Penn, Chief of Protocol for Prince Ranariddh for their help and support.

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