The state handed out 24,094 medals in just half a year of decrees, thousands of them to “donors” whose gifts remain mostly under wraps but add up to at least tens of millions of dollars.

Six months of the Royal Gazette — books 49 through 96 for 2022 — contain 306 relevant documents dating from June 23 last year through November 28. These royal decrees and prime ministerial sub-decrees bestow official honors accompanied by medals to civil servants, monks, foreign partners and private individuals.

Combined, the 306 documents add up to 24,094 honors. They also reveal significant sums of money passing between private individuals and public bodies as donations. This is an example of Cambodia’s entrenched “patronage” system, where the ruling party exchanges favors with business, the public and among its members to amass power.

Police officers top the lists of honors for the six-month period, receiving 7,939 medals. Soldiers and government officials also feature prominently on the honors lists; together, such civil servants received 19,218 honors during the half year of decrees.

Few details are given on the honors themselves, but examples of the medals given out include “Sena Jayaseddh,” or victorious servant or forces, for acts of bravery in defending the country and repressing rebellions; and “Sahametry,” or cooperating together, for friendly foreign staffers.

For the remainder of medals, a large portion goes to 2,765 individuals specifically noted as being donors. The purpose and amounts of most of these donations are undisclosed, though with the exception of donations to pagodas.

These pagoda donations — making up just over a third of total donors — are large, totaling $29 million from 1,058 individuals. Most are listed as being for constructions, though it is unclear exactly when the donations were made. Spread out over 52 documents, the gifts average $28,000 per donor.

Another rare disclosure of donation amounts comes from 91 contributions to “Prey Veng’s development” honored in three separate prime ministerial sub-decrees on September 13, 2022.

The first document enumerates 11 large donations, ranging between $33,000 to $81,050 per donor for a total of $524,850. The second sub-decree has 32 relatively smaller donations between $5,000 and $13,000. The third lists 48 donors but does not disclose amounts. The total is at least $761,900 with more than half the donations undisclosed.

These large sums appear to be only the tip of the iceberg. For the whole six-month period, there are around 1,700 other donors who received medals, but their donation amounts are undisclosed. Some prominent names appear, such as Prime Minister Hun Manet’s cousin Hun Kimleng, and many are listed as his or her “excellencies.”

Their purpose is largely unspecified or falls under the category of “development.”

A further insight comes from 48 oknha titles that were handed out during the six-month period, as each of them requires a donation of at least $500,000 to the state. This equates to at least $24 million for the oknha titles alone, which are honors designated for prominent businesspersons.

Medals Awarded in Book 49 to 96 of the 2022 Royal Gazette

Police		7,939
Officials	Local education officials	3,313
	Local administration officials	957
	Various	661
	Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training	463
	Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts	439
	Ministry of Land Management	361
	Cambodian Mine Action Center	171
	Ministry of Interior	170
	Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications	141
	Ministry of Environment	119
	National Election Committee	78
	Ministry of Economy and Finance	21
	Ministry of Health	20
	State Secretariat for Civil Aviation	2
	Cambodian National Council for Women	2
	Ministry of Defense	2
	Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation	1
		6,921
Soldiers		4,358
Donors (to)	Unspecified	1,170
	Pagoda	1,058
	Development	490
	Cambodian Red Cross	20
	School	14
	Health	6
	Military	4
	Park	3
		2,765
Individuals	Mostly unspecified, includes monks, overseas Cambodians, etc.	1,879
Partners	Foreign missions, universities, NGOs, etc.	232
Total		24,094