Graduates of a Japanese scholarship program gathered last weekend to celebrate their association’s formal recognition and to take pride in a program they say shows an alternative to the many scholarship programs riddled with corruption and nepotism.
The Japan Alumni of Cambodia won formal government recognition July 25 after two years in existence. Its 50-plus members are former scholarship winners who studied in Japan. Several members gathered Saturday to celebrate the recognition and to point out that they, unlike similar scholarship winners in the government, earned the honor.
“Scholarships given through the government have no quality candidates, only candidates of cronyism who don’t meet what the sponsor countries want,” Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian Yim Sovann said. Unlike other developed nations with scholarship programs, the Japanese select winners through blind tests rather than handing them directly to officials to disperse, some alumni said.
Yim Sovann had been an official in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports before he won a scholarship in 1994, which he said would have been difficult under other programs.
“If there had been no examination, I would not have gone, because I didn’t have any money for bribes,” Yim Sovann said.
The Japanese scholarships give priority to government officials to travel to Cambodia’s largest donor nation, but select finalists based on exams.
The alumni association plans to send three members to Tokyo for a reunion of Southeast Asian scholarship winners in October, according to a news release from the Japanese Embassy.
