Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sar Kheng on Wednesday ordered all units to stop sending officials who disrespect the rules or are inactive to the National Police Academy of Cambodia as it was a waste of resources.

Instead, he said young, capable officials should be focused on for training and that attending the academy must no longer be seen as a punishment but a consideration for promotions.

Sar Kheng told national police officials at the inauguration of a new five-storey building at the academy on Wednesday morning that the government had spent a lot of money on training the police but this was not valued by some units.

This meant the government wasted time and money, he said, adding that attitudes must change.

“There is an attitude in some units which hold old-fashioned ideas and have not changed their perceptions. This does not add to the development of the country,” he said.

He said that compared to the past, the police, in general, had developed greatly and understood the importance of sending officials for training, but there was a small number of units that still failed to do so.

Sar Kheng called on the heads of each unit to select committed and industrious officials for training at the academy.

“Some units still hold the view that sending officials for training is a punishment, instead of a way to obtain new knowledge and skills to develop their officials’ ability and effectiveness."

“Therefore, heads of units – do not send officials who disrespect the rules or who are inactive for training as it is opposite to what the academy requires and will cause it difficulties,” he said.

However, Sar Kheng said that police chiefs should not get rid of officials who showed a poor attitude to discipline.

“We must try to educate them so that they can become active officials with the ability to have a chance to be sent for training. Some units have sent the same officials again and again for training [without improvement]. Please pay attention to eliminate this problem,” Sar Kheng said.

He advised all unit heads to value and promote young, capable officials who showed potential after graduating rather than those who had not attended training as their work would not develop as well.

Kin Phea, the director-general of the International Relations Institute of the Royal Academy of Cambodia, hailed Sar Kheng’s orders and warned of favouritism within certain units.

“Sar Kheng’s statement is totally right . . . [And] we can see that the way of assigning officials to attend training may be [based on] irregular [factors], such as favouritism."

“It happens inside our state institutions . . . not only in the national police, with some ministries considered family ministries. For example, the father is the minister, the child is the secretary, the nephew is the head of the cabinet and the daughter is the head of finance,” he said.

Kin Phea said the government does not permit favouritism as it can lead to a loss of trust from the people and to serious problems in national administration, so deep reforms had been launched to reduce the practice.