Over 300 million USD Invested on Hostels over Three Years
Since 2016 when I travelled over 5,000 Km to visit a number of provinces, we have invested roughly about 300 million USD in building hostels for teachers and students […] it is true that we have increased per diem for teachers who have accepted their obligations to carry out their teaching tasks to places far from homes. They also need to pay for house rent. However, if we could provide them teachers’ home, it would be a good thing for teachers […]
Arming Cambodian Peacekeeping Troops with Armored Vehicles
We have started from a foundation that was particularly impossible to become a country with amazing progress in education. A US citizen, Ms Eva Mysliwiec, worked in Mali before coming to Cambodia. The military government closed down her organization there. She heard about Cambodia and its difficulties. She came and lived with us […] and has become a Cambodian citizen. After democracy restored in Mali, she went back. However, Mali and Cambodia are in different levels of progress. She asked me for help in building a “Hun Sen” school in Bamako, Mali […] war and terrors continue […]
Last week I approved a request for 15 million USD to purchase armored vehicles to equip our peacekeeping troops. The United Nations is in short of fund to provide much needed military equipment required by peacekeeping missions. That has required each country taking part in the mission to take measures in advance. We cannot leave our troops in harm’s way without what they needed to protect themselves […] that is what happening in Mali in the countryside. In urban area, there were demonstrations against police, military, public officials, and taken parts were teachers. That has prompted students who cannot go on with their studies in public schools to take up studies in private schools. Demonstrators then go on to close private schools down […]
Virtue and Moral of Civil Servants, Armed Forces and People in General
Please pay attention to strengthening virtue and moral for students. There have been issues that are inflicting controversial issues on virtue and culture. What have been the most urgent issues are drug and traffic accidents. I think it is high time for us to educate not only students but also the armed forces and civil servants in general. In the last few days, there have been so many problems. It is a good thing that the Kratie military police head brought out his son to take responsibility for his act of pointing a gun at someone in conflict. There was also this case of accusing someone as thief and taking extrajudicial actions […] these have happened because there were no virtue in them. A car hit a (female) student on motorbike from behind and caused her to die yesterday. Concerned authority must seek for the person who caused accident […]
French Culture and Language in Cambodia
As we have here graduated teachers of French language, let me have your attention that there are three Francophone countries in Asia – Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam […] what happened is every time I met with French leaders like former President Jacques Chirac, we conducted dialogue in English […]. I remember giving my opinion to French members of parliaments and officials when I was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs […] I told them the fading prospect of French language in Cambodia as many who know French died, and not many who learnt French.
I advised to reopen the Alliance Francaise or French Cultural Center in Cambodia. A member of parliament then rebuked me with the fact that France did not recognize the Cambodian government […] I told them it was my real intention for them to keep French language in Cambodia. I told them they should know that even after 90 years of French rule Cambodia has kept its identity and language […] and secondly, besides French, we have English and I have sent many Cambodian students to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe too […] it was until 1990, France hurriedly came with Alliance Francaise. It was a rather late process […]
French Language Used in Medicine, Law and Administration
There was a time when French language saved my life […] when I crossed the Cambodian-Vietnamese border in search for support to liberate the country (from the Pol Pot’s Democratic Kampuchea). In many of interrogations conducted by Vietnamese military officials, there were confusions and misinterpretation of the number of troops under my command […] finally I asked if the interrogator speak any French. I just know a few about military unit hierarchy […] the French term helped us resolved the misunderstanding […]
However, French is still a language we use in medicine, law and even in administration. We will continue to work with the Francophone community for the progress of French language. In November this year, the Phnom Penh municipality will host a meeting of over a hundred Francophone countries mayors. In Cambodia, we have listed Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Kompot, and Battambang in the list of French-speaking cities community. Should the French came with Alliance Francaise and (school of Rene) Descartes earlier we could still have many French speaking people now. At present, many who learnt French speak English instead […]
Fewer Holidays from Next Year
I have contributed to National Institute of Education for the banquet and for hosting a journey to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat. Some of you may have visited it already but traveling there more often to appreciate and to learn more about our temples would not be a bad thing […] I had to go through an urgent document relating to reforms and I will pronounce the package on this coming Friday (29 March 2019). Let me share with you one thing about it. Cambodia is a poor country but we have observed more holidays per annum than other rich countries do. For instance, in Singapore they observe only 11 days of holidays per year while Cambodia observes 28 or thirty days. We need to readjust the number and way we observe holidays to accommodate business (demands for time and labors), while demanding for high wages […]
Making Cambodia Independent, Depending on No Favor from Anyone
We have to take measures to ensure that Cambodia will become a country with development whether there is or is not favors from anyone. We are to depend more on our own strength. We must not allow our country to suffer insult from anyone. We must not allow our country to implement things that are concerns of others. They should also learn of the Royal Government and people’s concerns. They pressurize us to listen to their concerns […]
One way to achieve this goal is to cut out whatever is not necessary – for instance, scanning of goods on risk observation only, etc. in order to facilitate trade flow […] we also removed Camcontrol (of the Cambodia Import-Export Inspection and Fraud Repression Directorate-General) and KAMSAB (Kampuchea Shipping Agency & Brokers) from the process, while bringing down prices of electricity. If countries required Cambodia paying tax for exports to them, we would do it. We will take out the language “this is what I gave you so you needed to do this or I would take it back.”
Not Everything in Cambodia Is Foreign Aid and Loans
In the past, they had done more to Cambodia. They embargoed us politically and economically. Cambodia under Hun Sen’s leadership survived. Cambodia is still under Hun Sen’s leadership. Hun Sen continues to lead active economic policies. We had achieved (average) 7.5% growth so far. We will maintain around 7% growth onward […] I will need a lot of energy on this coming Friday for the two to two and a half hour lecture on reforms that Cambodia is going for […] currently, not everything in Cambodia is foreign aid and loans […]
We have invested hundreds of millions of USD from own saving in many projects […] companies are getting themselves ready to fulfil tax duties since one day that will come when our economy is getting to certain level of achievements. I have laid down terms “exercising internal reforms, making friends abroad, keeping abreast independence.” We are making everyone our friends and trading partners. They us taxes and we do to them too […] for instance, faced with tough competition on rice quality and marketing, Italy proposed to the European Union to levy tax on Indica rice from Cambodia and Myanmar. We could still export to Europe […] 300,000 metric tons to Vietnam and 400,000 metric tons to China. Some has said s/he would come and rule when Hun Sen fell. S/he could not do it her/himself. What a nice thing to say […]
Long-Serving Prime Minister in Cambodian History
In 1998, Samdech Preah Borom Ratanak Kaod, the King Father, said in Siem Reap to many people present that they should accept fate or destiny. Hun Sen is destined to be Prime Minister. Take for instance, the King Father said, “I did not want to be King but they summoned me from Prey Nokor (Saigon or currently Ho Chi Minh City) to be one.” In Cambodia, there had never been anyone holding the post of Prime Minister more than 30 years as I do […] the Cambodian People’s Party has been in power for over 40 years and Hun Sen has been in power for 34 years. To include four more years (of this term) I will be here in power for 38 years. I would continue until 2028 before going into retirement […]
Widening Attacks Make CPP and Hun Sen’s Supporters Solidarity Stronger
(Those politicians) have now expanded their attacks not only on Hun Sen but also to the Hun family line. Let us go on then. They open attack on my children who have nothing to do (with our fight.) They may go on to my grandchildren. In seeing that, they may go on with me on this. The more you do it, the stronger solidarity the Cambodian People’s Party and Hun Sen’s supporters will build. You have widen your targets of attacks and you have caused unpleasant feelings on many. If that is the way to do in politics, I doubt if in your life you will succeed. What makes the person calls on the military to rise up (in arms against the Royal Government?). The Cambodian people need peace and they will enjoy the Ramvong to welcome the Khmer New Year soon […]./.
