Duty on Personal Consumption Imports? WTF!!

A friend of mine arrived from the States via Pochentong tonight, and something unbelievably ridiculous welcomed her at this very port of entry!! What a SHAME!

It all began as she was leaving the arrival hall. As you could imagine, she was walking out with her baggage in one hand and a case of personal laptop in the other. For no clear reasons, a group of our proud, hardworking dumbass customs officials quickly approached her and requested to inspect her laptop. Innocent, my poor friend let them look at it, thinking it was simply a part of their protocol. To her dismay, the officials ordered that she paid an import duty of US$150. In an aggressive manner, one of them claimed the Cambodian customs rules dictate a payment for all imports – be it for commercial or personal consumption. <I seriously doubt such a rule exists! It would be excellent if it were practiced well – by all means, Cambodia would benefit millions of dollars from tax. Sigh!>

Instinctively we responded by questioning the origin of the rule. For a fact, we are no novice air travelers. We’ve been to too many countries to know too well about such tricks. Even the world’s strictest nations – the US, UK, Australia, you name it – do not have such a restriction in use.

Despite our polite reasoning and explanation, these leeches wouldn’t care. They proudly said we were under their authority and that we must follow whatever they said; otherwise, the laptop would be confiscated!!! <Ah! Isn’t Cambodia a democratic nation? Is this how democracy works? With authority in hand, does it mean one may create shitty rules and abuse innocent people any times? Holy Molly! Probably the new year fever is raking up their corrupt mind – time to earn extra dirty bucks! That’s why they don’t have even a tiny bit of shame for themselves.>

A friend of us, who was also there, later said she knew a senior customs official who she believed could intervene on the matter. After several phone calls from our side and the other (I meant the intervener), they finally agreed to let us go. I meant going without pay even a single cent. <They must have realized that after all, we were not someone easily messed up with!

Oh my beloved Cambodia! I wonder when such shameless craps end. It’s a same-old matter. Corruption hurts not only our economy but also our people’s lives!!! It’s high time we ended it. I’m so tired of all this!