Selected Comments Samdech Techo Hun Sen at the Congratulatory and Reward-Giving Ceremony to Ouk Srey Mom in World Petanque Competition in 2017, in Ghent, Belgium

[Unofficialtranslation]

cnv: 20/04/2017

Khmer New Year and Gold Medal

May I invite Excellencies, Lok Chumteavs, ladies and gentlemen, to join me in welcoming sportswoman Ouk Srey Mom, who has brought Cambodia, during the Khmer New Year, a new success and honor for the our nation and people […] I would take this opportune moment to express my sincere appreciation for the efforts made by both sportsmen/women and their trainers. I hope that we will continue to score more successes through tireless training to increase your skill and strength. The medal Ouk Srey Mom won today has gone through competition among 45 countries. It is not a simple matter. I am conveying my thanks to the federations of Petanque for their hard works […]

I used to have information about Petanque development and successes in every competition through the late Deputy Prime Minister Sok An. That he already passed away, I am glad that Samdech Krola Haom Sar Kheng agrees to chair the Petanque federations. I agreed to allow Cambodia to host the world Petanque competition in 2019. I hope that more of our sportsmen/women will attend the competition and score more medals.

Today, with pride, I wish to thank the presence of Ms Ouk Kimly, mother of Ouk Srey Mom for her wonderful daughter who has brought fame for our nation. Captain Ouk Srey Mom will be a Major bestowed upon by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense. Captain Nhem Bora is also now a Major. This is our way of encouraging our sportsmen/women in both military and police ranks to make further efforts […]

On April 4, 2017, we had a meeting to inaugurate the indoor section of the Morodok Techo Sports Complex and launched the groundbreaking ceremony to build other sections at the cost of 157 million USD. We have already built grounds for volleyball and basketball and other indoor sports competitions. We have moved in gradual step to victories or we can say a status of being equal in rights and footing with other countries. As I said, it is not always true that a bigger, richer, more populous country is doing better in sports. The key here is to have knowledge and to make efforts in training to betterment our skills and strength.

Time has passed. We have tried together to avert the past tragedy, to remove obstacles and destructions, and make our way in gradual manner to a new era. That we never score gold medal before, we now do in world, regional and sub-regional (Sea Games, etc.) level competitions. We will have to make it to more sports subjects. I am calling on people who like sports to continue to offer encouragement and support our national sports movement as we have always done in the past […]

An Honor for Our Nation

Today, almost the whole cabinet is here present to welcome a victory that is bringing fame for our nation. The honor does not belong only to Ouk Srey Mom, Nhem Bora and Sreang Sorakhim, but to the whole nation. People who never like Cambodian achievements will continue to dissatisfy. Why do I say so? If they are satisfied with our national achievements, in this auspicious occasion, they could have sent a congratulatory message in social media to our heroes. They did not. They would not do anything like that because it would be an applause to the (ruling) Cambodian People’s Party. It is a sad thing. They should know that this is not political party issue but one of our nation and political tendency should not be a matter here.

Is there congratulatory message from any social media of those groups of people? Not only for this victory but also for every victory the Cambodian sportsmen/women did before. That is one very strange nature of Cambodians. They would rather talk around later that Hun Sen spent too much money on sports. It could be a topic for their attack. When we organized boat race event in the water festival, they said we wasted money. When the water was low and we cancelled the boat race event, they blamed us for disrespectfulness of the tradition and/or mocked us for being afraid of demonstrations. Well, we have enough supports to represent our nation – the Royal Government born from the elections with a majority of the people. We represent the nation […]

A Naivety in Politics

It is indeed a good time to say a few words. When I received the ASEAN Lifetime Achievement Award, for some clever dudes, they would send a few words to Hun Sen. Doing so would put Hun Sen in an awkward position. However, thanks to the naivety, Hun Sen owes no gratitude to anyone. In fact, a message saying “To Samdech, my congratulation to your award,” would corner me and I would have difficulty either to reply or not to reply. To reply, there would be no other words by thank. Not to reply I would be seen a mean man. That is politics. With such naivety, there is no need to communicate. We must remember that when one is in despair, we share it. On the contrary, in our despair, not share with us, but also insulted us. However, such extremism would leave a mark for our people to note of their discriminatory nature. That is how much already they could do even when they are not in power yet.

Voting for Peace or War

That the Cambodian People Party is in power everyone can live together. Peace is real. Everyone can do their business according to their ability and resources. Youth would also have rights to choose what they wanted for their lives. We also have open chances for everyone in sports. When the Cambodian People Party is, however, not there, are we sure that there is going to be peace? Accusing so and so of being so and so, insulting, disgracing continues to be in the minds of their leaders and supporters. It is an advice for the forthcoming elections. Shall we vote for continuing peace or returning to war? The Cambodian People’s Party would definitely be a choice of peace and chance for development. This is not a campaign. It is just an advice for peacekeeping for the country to guarantee continued development.

Now look at what tragedy they have had so far in Iraq, Syria, Libya, etc. Would our Cambodian people want those? The role of a ruling party is so important for peace. It would not be peace and national reconciliation because of just a few words as Pol Pot promised in exchange for drops of arms (when they took power from Lon Nol). What happened then? War and genocide came. Would it be a way to go about changing the country to do thing like the coup on 18 March 1970? It changed the country indeed, from peace under the leadership of Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk to a real war, and went on to genocide. Is that what voters want? Do we vote to build up peace or to remove it? We vote for continued development or remove it?

There would not be sports competitions under exchange of fire. Our sportsmen/women would not risk their lives to compete in such situation and I, as Prime Minister of the country, would not allow you to go too. Aside from ISIS threat, we have other risks of terrorism. We all should see the value of peace. For those shortcomings, we must continue to rectify them. The same is true in sports […] Trainers have rules to follow and no one can just make them sound good in words.

Perhaps I have spoken too much. I just remind you that the Peace Palace is not a war headquarters and I did not build it for me to be in here until I die. No one lives to be one thousand. I do hope though to live to no less than 90 years old. I would not be a Prime Minister until I got to that age. However, these buildings are for younger generations. Our sportsmen/women or their children may find your careers to work here. This is a meeting room where heads of states and governments, including the President of the United States of America, gathered. We bestow congratulatory and reward on our sports heroes in here too./.