Pentagonal Strategy of the New Prime Minister in Cambodia
Hun Manet, a West Point graduate and the eldest son of the incumbent Prime Minister Hun Sen, has introduced a new national development agenda: the pentagonal strategy. On August 24, at the first plenary session of the 7th Legislature Council of Ministers, Prime Minister Hun Manet unveiled the Pentagonal strategy (Phase 1), the first of a five-phase master plan aimed at transforming Cambodia into a high-income country by 2050. This strategy is seen as the successor to the Rectangular strategy (Phase 1 to 4) of previous governments. The Pentagonal Strategy (Phase 1) closely resembles the Rectangular Strategy (Phase 4) in terms of its essence, priorities, and action plans. This analysis will provide a detailed comparison of the two policies, following the structure of both strategies.
Pentagon 1: Human Capital Development
The focuses and action plans of Pentagon 1 are similar to those of Rectangle 1. Both aim to improve human capital by focusing on education, technical skills, healthcare, and the social protection system. However, there are two differences. First, Pentagon 1 prioritizes strengthening the “quality” of citizens to create a highly civil society with inclusiveness, equity, and morality. Second, the social protection strategy in Pentagon 1 is more specific regarding implementing actors and agencies, building on the achievement of the previous government.
Pentagon 2: Competitiveness Enhancement and Economic Diversification
Pentagon 2 has perhaps the most specific focus among all the pentagons. Like Rectangle 2, it prioritizes hard and digital infrastructures, finding new sources of economic growth, and the financial and banking sectors. Nonetheless, there are two main differences. First, in addition to transport, logistics, energy, and digital infrastructures, Pentagon 2 includes water supply as a prioritized sector, which Rectangle 2 did not. Second, regarding the development of new sources of economic growth, Pentagon 2 focuses on improving value-adding in agriculture, whereas Rectangle 2 did not. Additionally, Pentagon 2 focuses on developing all kinds of extractive industries, while Rectangle 2 focuses only on oil and gas. More importantly, Pentagon 2 indicates the government’s ambition to establish a national petroleum company.
Pentagon 3: Private Sector Development and Employment
The strategies for the development of the private sector and employment in Pentagon 3 are similar to those of Rectangle 3. Both strategies focus on training institutions, job-seeking services, apprenticeships, minimum wage, occupational safety, migrant workers, micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSMEs), public-private partnerships, promotion of competition, and financial services. One minor difference is that Pentagon 3 does not mention the role of the SME Bank established in the previous term.
Pentagon 4: Sustainable Management of Resources
Pentagon 4 and Rectangle 4 have similar elements, focusing on the sustainable management of natural and cultural resources, agriculture and rural development, urban management, environmental sustainability, and readiness for climate change. However, there are five differences. First, Pentagon 4 recognizes demographic dividends as an indispensable part of resilient and sustainable growth, prioritizing issues such as skilled labor, reproductive and sexual health, financial insecurity for the elderly, gender equality, and population age structure. Second, in terms of urbanization management, Pentagon 4 adds more infrastructures than Rectangle 4, such as the installation of CCTV, expansion of flood drainage systems, and urban firefighting systems. Third, regarding the promotion of the construction sector, Rectangles 4 mentions Poipet city (in the northwest, neighboring Thailand) and Bavet city (in the southeast, neighboring Vietnam), whereas Pentagon 4 mentions the revival of unfinished construction sites in Preah Sihanouk (a deep-sea-port province in the southwest) and the transformation of those building into affordable housing. Fourth, Pentagon 4 raises the possibility of introducing a law on wastewater and amending regulations and laws on urbanization, land management, and construction, which came into effect in 1994. Lastly, it includes the use of IT and AI in environmental and climate-friendly practices.
Pentagon 5: Digital Transformation
Pentagon 5 seems to be developed based on the third side of Rectangle 2 (Readiness for the digital economy and Industrial Revolution 4.0). Nonetheless, Pentagon 5 expands more on the aspect of implementing digital transformation in government, business, economy, and finance. It also lists action plans for improving digital infrastructure and trust in the digital system.
Conclusion:
The purpose of this comparison between the Rectangular Strategy (Phase 4) and the Pentagonal Strategy (Phase 1) is to examine how the development roadmaps and objectives of the Royal Government of Cambodia have changed from one generation to another. To sum up, the Pentagon Strategy (phase 1), drawn up by the seventh legislature government headed by a new prime minister, is seen as a continuation of the previous Rectangular Strategy (Phase 4) but with some modifications and broader scopes to reflect the changing political, economic, social, environment, and global situations. They are similar in terms of motto, objectives, priorities, and raison d’etre. They also share similar cores and overarching environments. The five Pentagons and the four Rectangles of the two strategies are not dissimilar from one another. They prioritize people’s education, skills, employment, well-being, and social protection while continuing to develop both hard infrastructure and soft infrastructure and soft infrastructure (effectiveness of governance) to enhance competitive edge and economic growth. The issues of maintaining demographic advantage, preserving resource sustainability, and achieving readiness for climate change are also emphasized. However, the Pentagons of the Pentagonal Strategy (Phase 1) provide more detailed and granular action plans than those of the Rectangular Strategy (Phase 4). In addition, the necessity of improving human capital and embedding technology into every aspect of government, economy, and society is repeatedly mentioned in almost every point of the pentagonal Strategy (Phase 1). Therefore, by understanding the Pentagonal Strategy (Phase 1), Cambodian people can prepare for and adapt to the socio-economic changes brought forth by this new development strategy. Moreover, we also have a reference against which we can evaluate the performance and development promised by the government.
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