Aid donors pledged US$601 million yesterday to help support Cambodia's development this year, bringing the amount foreign governments and international organisations have poured into the impoverished nation over the past 15 years to more than US$7.5 billion.
But there are growing doubts about the sincerity of Cambodia's leaders and their efforts to embrace democracy, with critics saying the goodwill of the international community has borne little fruit since the UN peacekeeping mission in 1991 and the first democratic election in 1993.
The failure to uphold the rule of law and create an independent court system; encourage free speech and a proper opposition, or crackdown on corruption is evident in the frustrations of many Cambodians.
'We have the rule of law but there is a lack of enforcement,' said Lay Sihorn, 48, a jeweller.
Taxi driver Ben Phirum, 41, said the judicial system remained weak and noted false charges were often brought against individuals, who were forced to pay bribes to be released. 'We need to stop the violence and the fake arrests,' he said.
Human rights groups had lobbied the foreign donors ahead of yesterday's meeting about the country's lack of good governance.
Basil Fernando, executive director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, in particular was critical of Prime Minister Hun Sen's use of criminal defamation law to silence his critics.