By Chheang Yuki Lisa
In an era when people can transfer money, book flights and access essential services from their phones, dealing with government offices in Cambodia can still mean carrying documents from one desk to another.
This points to a larger problem. A government cannot become truly digital while its citizens remain tied to paper.
Although this system has historically sustained governance, the question is whether it can withstand the pressures of the 21st century, especially in an era where everything is digitized.
The main issue with paper-based administration is not merely inefficiency. It is structural fragility because it is unsustainable and weakens the government’s legitimacy as it is prone to three systemic weaknesses when relying on manual documentation.
Firstly, they create transactional delays, as people must travel, queue and resubmit forms, which increase the cost of accessing services and disproportionately burdens rural populations. This also slows development because many citizens find it inconvenient and may stop seeking public services.
Paper systems create information fragmentation, meaning records are scattered across ministries and local offices, making coordination difficult, leaving gaps that undermine accountability, and calling into question the government’s legitimacy in providing efficient services.
Lastly, they enable discretionary practices because paper trails are harder to audit. Officials retain wide latitude in processing documents, which can weaken transparency and, for citizens, signal a lack of accountability. Thus, paper-based systems degrade trust between the government and citizens.
These vulnerabilities become acute during crises such as floods, pandemics or political disruptions that can halt physical offices, which instantly suspend service delivery.
A prime example is the recent war between the US and Iran, which caused a shortage of oil exports globally due to disruptions in the Hormuz Strait, and many countries were affected, including Cambodia.
With rising fuel prices, many faced difficulties commuting to work, school and more, making it even harder to access public services. Without digital backups, continuity collapses gradually, which affects not just the people but the government’s legitimacy, development and sustainability.
In governance terms, this means that paper systems erode institutional resilience, the ability of the state to maintain legitimacy by delivering services consistently under stress.
Digitalization offers a pathway to institutional resilience for both the people receiving public services and the public servants providing them.
The World Bank Group has highlighted that the World Bank’s Cambodia Systematic Country Diagnostic Update shows that strengthening governance and public sector capacity remains a critical priority for sustainable growth.
Similarly, a World Bank policy note emphasizes the benefits of the digital economy as Cambodia diversifies its growth and meets rising citizen expectations by focusing on transformation through digital technologies.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) also underscores the importance of people-centered digital governance to strengthen trust, accountability and inclusive service delivery to serve the ‘people’s rights’.
Therefore, these perspectives converge on a central point. Digitalization is not merely technical reform but a governance imperative.
The civil registry could serve as a cornerstone of reform, improving efficiency and better serving the people. A unified digital database for births, deaths and residency would streamline administrative processes and provide the backbone for other services such as taxation, healthcare, and education.
When the process is digitalized, everyone can access it from all parts of the country, saving time and money on travel and maximizing the use of advanced technology systems. Each layer of digitalization builds on the previous one, creating a more coherent and efficient system.
Legal recognition of digital identities and e-signatures would ensure that online transactions carry the same authority as paper documents. Infrastructure investment, particularly in rural areas, would prevent digital exclusion and ensure that digitalization is perceived as a tool for service delivery rather than surveillance.
Since Cambodia is a part of ASEAN, it is essential to push toward a Future-Ready Public Service Declaration, as seen on the ASEAN Main Portal, which calls for building digital competency, accelerating e-governance platforms, ensuring inclusive e-governance platforms and inclusivity, people-centric services for better development, and spaces for government to connect to the people.
There is also the ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2030 that further envisions seamless infrastructure and intelligent digital government across member states.
This is crucial for the government to start implementing digitalization planning not only to serve domestically but to develop faster and at the same pace as ASEAN peers and internationally, especially when this framework provides Cambodia with guidance and momentum to act.
Ultimately, Cambodia’s governance legitimacy will be determined not only by policy pronouncements but also by the lived experiences of its citizens. Public services are the everyday test of state capacity. With a slower, paper-based system like the one Cambodia uses, it will become ill-suited to future demands, weakening efficiency, transparency, and trust.
Digitalization is the means by which the state can demonstrate competence, resilience and fairness for all, and the question is not whether Cambodia’s public services can survive on paper but whether the state can afford the risks of delay, especially during an era where legitimacy is increasingly digital. Survival on paper is no longer enough.
Chheang Yuki Lisa is a recent honors graduate from the Institute of International Studies and Public Policy, majoring in political science and public administration.
