Five Generations of Petanque Gold Medals
On behalf of the Royal Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia, I would like to congratulate Ouk Srey Mom and her trainer Sok Mom. (Minister of Education, Youth and Sports) HE Hang Chuon Naron made a report related to the recent achievement of a gold medal in Petanque, which can be considered as breaking the world record because we have won this gold medal up to five generations – four times by Kae Leng and now by the athlete Ouk Srey Mom making it the fifth generations. It seems a bit strange for boules, invented by European countries, especially France. Historically, France is the owner of this game, and I still remember that when former Prime Minister François Fillon came to Cambodia, his gift to me was a set of boules. Reviewing the background of final matches, those who played in the final were Asians, like Ouk Srey Mom, the last match was against the boules team from the Kingdom of Thailand. Would Europe be still strong for lawn bowling anymore, or are Asians going to be strong for boules?
Compete Properly to Represent Nearly 17 million Cambodians
Let me send a message to our players/sportspersons to pay attention to the game properly, because we are here not just for personal reasons, but also for the whole nation of Cambodia. The sport that gives us this (gold medal) is for the nation and the people, not just Ouk Srey Mom. Today, we have achieved this gold medal as a country and as the Cambodian people. We have determined the protocol of receive the gold medal with escorted motorcades as we do to the heads of state and/or of government. It is not a motorcade of Ouk Srey Mom. If Ouk Srey Mom does not come with a gold medal, there would be no motorcade protocol. The motorcade is accompanying gold medal that Cambodia has received. This is the common honor of the nation.
Every time players/sportsperson are out for competitions, especially the SEA Games, I always tell them to pay attention to compete in the game properly. We are here not just to represent ourselves, but also to represent the entire Cambodian nation, the nearly 17 million people who are behind us. A good or bad match has an impact on the image of the nation, for example, if the match is illegal or there’s use of drugs, it also damages the image of the nation and people. If the match gets good results, it also provides prestige for the nation and the people of Cambodia.
Lawn Bowling/Boules Is Cambodia’s Best Sport/Game
I am very proud and would like to take this opportunity to remind us all about Samdech Vibol Panha Sok An, although he has passed away. What he has left behind is the strengthening of boules. He is not a boules player, but he is a strong supporter of the sport. I would like to commend and thank Samdech Krala Haom Sar Kheng for his continued efforts in this matter, and express appreciation to His Excellency Sar Sokha, who is now the President of the Boules Federation. Let us the successive generation not forget that this boules sport is the strength of Cambodia. Not just in the SEA Games or in Asian Games, but in the world. This time we competed in Spain. We carry gold medals from Spain to Cambodia. It is a good to carry a gold medal but not the Covid-19’s Omicron. If the Omicron came along, we would not have had a party with motorcade protocol plus this gathering […]
Were There No 1970 Coup, Cambodian Sports Would Not Have Gone Backward
I have made a comparison that we are now following in the footsteps of His Majesty the late King Father in the Sangkum Reastr Niyum (Popular Socialist Society) era. At that time, it is true that our country was in a precarious situation, as there was war in the region, Cambodia was an island of peace. We had strengthened sports during the popular socialist society period. What is a testament to the strengthening of the sport is the Olympic Stadium, which symbolizes the efforts made in the period of unstable peace in the Sangkum Reastr Niyum. What is unstable peace or peace with instability? After independence in 1953, Cambodia had peace, but it lacked stability. I have discussed it in detail in my doctoral dissertation in political science. It means that we then had peace, but lacked stability.
There are two points. First, our neighbors are at war, and the impact of US bombings in South Vietnam has created problems for us. Second, internal factors also included the Khmer Rouge, the Khmer Blanche, and the Khmer Bleu to disrupt the building of the country during the Sangkum Reastr Niyum stage. However, there were efforts in the sports at that stage, where previous generations also benefited from. Today, students in all schools are having sports subject and training, although not good, but at least in most schools there is volleyball/basketball, and there are other sports. I think we are following that path. If it were not for the 1970 coup that led to the war, maybe our sport would not have gone backwards.
Sports Based on Competitive Ability, Training and Talent
Now we restart with the effort to move forward in sports, even though we are a small country. I have already said that sports do not care whether you are from a small or big country. From observation, a small country with a small population also is able to qualify for the World Cup. Large countries, with large numbers of people, cannot enter the World Cup. For example, China and India have a population of nearly three billion, but these two countries cannot find the best 11 players for the national team to compete in the World Cup […] the day before, SUZUKI Cup Thailand played against Indonesia. Thailand has more than 60 million people, while Indonesia has a population of 320 million. Thailand won the Cup. So, sports are not about big countries or small countries, it depends on our ability to compete, our training, but also our talent. China is good at small things. They are good at Ping Pong. It is difficult to win over China. There are other areas where China excels. For us it is not sure what we really excel. At least we saw that boules was a great sport in Cambodia because we had already won five gold medals.
ITF and WTF Taekwondo Proposed for 2023 SEA Games
Another sport has not yet listed by the Olympic Committee. I do not know yet whether the 2023 SEA Games will be in the list. Is North Korea Taekwondo in? (Asking the sports representative). Oh, we put in the input. If we already have the South Korea Taekwondo, we should have the North Korea (Taekwondo) too […] if you want to unify Korea, encourage Korea to work for national reconciliation, the International Olympic Committee should put both sports in. South Korea (taekwondo) is in and it remains to have taekwondo of North Korea. That is my request. If we want to promote national reconciliation between South and North Korea, we should encourage the two sports together. Earlier in the Olympics, North and South Koreas joined forces to form a joint team. Well, as it comes to Cambodia, we will take in both the ITF of the North, the WTF of the South.
We put both North Korea’s ITF Taekwondo (and) South Korea’s WTF taekwondo in. We will have competitions in both. (This) is part of the effort for the two Koreas to move towards national reunification. For his part, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said that before the end of his term, he would try to reach a reconciliatory agreement between North and South Koreas. Therefore, if the process leads to a compromise, we outsiders who wanted to see a peaceful Korean peninsula should support these two sports (in the 2023 SEA Games). When one is in and another is not, it reflects a nature of discrimination. We see ITF Taekwondo led by Keo Remi as a strong sport that we could win gold medals in this section […]
COVID-19 Hospital Expedited to Hand Over Olympic Stadium Back to Sports
I know I owe our players/sportspersons. Since COVID-19 was too aggressive, and we had no place (for treating the sick,) we had to transform the Olympic Stadium to a medical center […] now since COVID-19 in our country is relieved, we have returned places we borrowed back to the private sector. However, we have not yet returned our Olympic Stadium to the sports community. (The Phnom Penh City Mayor) HE Khuong Sreng worked with the Ministry of Health to expedite the construction of the hospital to free the patients. Next year at best we can provide the stadium back in time for the sports community. For the time being, they may now go train at our new stadium and/or wherever they could find. We need a little time.
No COVID-19 Patients Left Without Treatment
Of course, we have a small number of patients left, and as of yesterday, the number of patients left in the ICU is only 126. Lok Chumteav Youk Sambath of the Ministry of Health reports to me. We have 126 ICU patients left across the country. This number is not much. The total number is slightly over 500. We also need to reserve. We cannot drop all the cards out of hand. We must be ready and prepared for bad things to happen. Now we have returned to (private owners) centers we borrowed from them – Chip Mong, Ly Yong Phat, Pung Kheav Se’s Koh Pich, Hong Piv, etc. We have to reserve the National Olympic Stadium because we have a number of ICUs there. We need another place as a treatment center for a large number of patients. Of course, we also have Luang Mae Hospital, but we cannot be negligent. We have always been one-stepped ahead in the COVID-19 phase, which we have been fighting it for almost two years.
No Procrastination for Cambodia’s 2023 SEA Games Match Date
I call on all athletes to continue their training efforts as we are moving towards the 2023 SEA Games as scheduled. I am not sure if Vietnam can hold the SEA Games as scheduled (on May 23) […] Vietnam has started to open the country, but the infection rate in the country yesterday was close to 15,000 […] death rate closes to 200.The infection rate is still high, but Vietnam has reopened the economy so that the tournament might be able to take place.
For Cambodia, we do not ask for a delay even if we are busy. We will have the SEA Games in May 2023 and by July (2023), we will organize national elections. We cannot procrastinate. We would like to keep the match date for the SEA Games on the same day as we are counting down. Now to this day, there are 480 days left. So, more than a year as host, we have prepared all the qualifications to respond to this game […] along with sports training, the biggest thing in the country is how to prevent widespread transmission of COVID-19.
Considering 4th Dose to Frontline People, Sportsperson Included
[…] in sports, let Samdech Pichey Sena (Tea Banh) check whether it is time to give the fourth dose to the sportsmen/women? For the fourth dose, we must use Pfizer and it is already available. Let us make a request. Our priority, as I said, is the frontline people and the related parties, elevant sections, including players/sportspersons, journalists, etc.
For three or four consecutive days Cambodia have almost no domestic infection. All infections come from abroad. I just told you, today’s infection is all Omicron. Yesterday at 3 pm, the report came to me and there was not a single infection yet. At 6PM., nine cases of Omicron were discovered by the Institut Pasteur […]
Therefore, I am asking you all to continue to pay attention to the third dose, which is the prescribed booster dose. For Phnom Penh, it is time to vaccinate young people and children. The fourth dose is for at-risk frontline workers. We have over 2,300,000 doses of Pfizer. I think 700,000 doses is enough, and the army, the police, the civil servants, the frontline workers, the sportsmen/women, the reporters, the presenters, the artists, and so on, all listed as frontline workers […]
Omicron Positive Hospitalized; Delta and Alpha Positive Home Treatment
I would take this opportunity to appeal to those infected with Omicron. I do not determine who that person is. I would make a strict order not to allow home treatment. Take them to a hospital. Infected with Omicron is not very dangerous in terms of mortality […] yesterday, Ananta Dayath informed me that the United States has announced the infected number of one million cases/day. I looked at the site because we cannot take anything from other source […] Omicron infection, as we observed, the patients have healthy appetite. Normally (COVID-19 infection) caused loss of smell (which led to loss of appetite). Omicron does not cause major problems, but the main thing is fast infection. I am asking for understanding about setting out this regulation. If we allowed treatment at home, the patient may transmit the disease to children at home and it might spread in the house and in the community […]
We allow (those positive with the virus variants type) Delta and Alpha, with (mild) symptoms to have treatment at home because of their slow rate of transmission. What I wanted to do is, as we did before, to wait for the opportunity to have wider injections of a third or fourth dose of the vaccine. This seem to be the only way to buy time not to let it get into the community […] I would like to submit a strict order and do not need to ask for my opinion. There have been cases that people asked me for advice […] now I issue a public order so that everyone all over the country could hear and no need to ask my opinion again […] I am issuing an order for Omicron positive patients to be treated at the hospital. It does not matter if the person is rich or poor or from which country. We have only one case special for the son of the US Ambassador. The Ambassador made a letter of guarantee. That is also under diplomatic immunity, but for all our citizens … and business people from abroad must go to hospital should they find to be Omicron infected.
10 January 2023 – Opening School Year 2021-22, Kindergarten Included
I would like to share information. I read the message for the opening of 2021-2022 academic year on January 10. At the same time, I allowed at the request of HE Hang Chuon Naron, Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, to reopen kindergartens for children aged 3-5. It should now be the right time to open them. I have called for caution considering the precarious situation […] we have now observed that community-based infections are declining due to vaccinations […] even the 5-year-olds kindergarten kids are mostly vaccinated […]
A notice for the public in general, the schools will open for grandchildren on January 10. Only 5 days away to start school, including small grandchildren who have to go to kindergarten. So far, as we are acting fast, families across the country may not know yet about the reopening of schools on 10 January. The teacher may know, but the parents are not ready yet. Well, I would like to say today that January 10 or in five days from today we are opening the school year 2021-22 […]
Not only kindergartens, we also have to increase vigilance in schools in general because we have over three million students […] how long will it take to finish the grading of Baccalaureate exam papers? This is the only way to ensure integrity. I have already said that while preparing for the Baccalaureate exams, perhaps a professor asked me if it was not a good idea to grade exam papers at provincial level. I replied that they must follow the arrangement of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, because the collection of more than 8,000 professors in Phnom Penh, no one knows the code to give favorable points.
The United States Would Protect Bad Persons or American Schools
There are very strange things to say about scoring favors. Now, there are students (studying abroad) who come out to protest […] speaking of Hun Manet, (someone inferred that) all degrees he obtained are preferential. I think only the United States can answer this question. Would they allow a damage to West Point’s reputation? I am sending this message to the US ambassador, but I am sure he will be watching. Would they allow West Point be defamed by one person? Can the United States say on this issue that West Point has secondary diploma (or) honorary degrees? Does the United States protect bad person or protect American schools?
(You do) not have to protect Manet but (you might need) to protect the school. New York University (NYU), have they gotten that type of master’s degree? … Bristol University in the UK, do you have a type two degree or a doctorate for honor? […] well, (to) protect their educational institutions, only the United States and Britain could come out to confirm. If by doing so they would have inflicted political attacks on the person who have said it, they can leave it at that. We also take note of it. We will see if they protect their educational institutions or bad person.
[…] In the Supreme Council meeting, I joked with William Guang, who involved in robbery the other day, that “a few years ago, I heard Your Excellency challenged Manet for an exam?” I told him – “if you wanted to challenge with Manet, you must learn to be a parachutist.” This subject is the must. If you do not know how to parachute, you could not win the bet” […]
The difference is on this point. This Ph. D holder case – Hun Manet, studied politics, economics, and the military, and in the military, there was a parachute jump […] Sometimes (Manet) he went for training in South Korea or somewhere with his younger siblings as in counter-terrorism training […]
I do not want to talk about politics (but people commented in what I said) – “now I am the Prime Minister. In the future, I will become the father of Prime Minister.” In the next 20 years, I will be the grandfather of prime minister.” Now I declare another step forward – “in 40 years, I will be a great-grandfather of Prime Minister.” Why do I say that? The reason is you are attacking the Hun family. That you do, why we of the Hun family do not react. So we dared to announce that. However, who would live for another 40 years? I asked. It was an insinuation. Do you not understand?
This is a democratic country. (To become a leader/Prime Minister) one has to go through elections. Even if it is organized, but if you cannot get support inside the party, the support in the general elections, the support from the parliament, because (the Royal) Government must receive Parliamentary trust, (you cannot be one). The Prime Minister appointed by HM the King, but in order to have a Royal Government, he has to compose members of the Royal Government and seek the trust of the National Assembly. Only after the trust of the National Assembly that the King issues a Royal Decree appointing the entire Royal Government and allows swearing in […]
ASEAN Chair Resolves Issues on Behalf of Heads of State/Government?
Yesterday I met with the President of Indonesia and I informed and discussed the issue of going to Myanmar. Tomorrow, I will have another (COVID-19) test because it is a condition to travel. When I got back, I am going to have another test at the airport before entering my house. That is a requirement. There can be no immunity beyond that […] I see this comment and it is not that bad, including the one by Kavi Chongkittavorn, a former great journalist for The Nation, now he writes for the Bangkok Post it seemed […] there are commentators talking whether going to Myanmar is to solve problems or is it a blessing or a curse. Some commentators think that the ASEAN chair will solve everything on behalf of the heads of state and government of the member countries. I have already said that please do not trust the ASEAN chair too much, but do not blame the ASEAN chair yet. Wait and see.
Do Myanmar People Want to Fall into Civil War or to Solve Problem
I will go there and I will not go beyond the five-point consensus reached in Jakarta in April 2021. I did not set any preconditions for my trip. When I arrive, I will talk, and the topic of that discussion was the five-point consensus. Well, do you, people of Myanmar, want the country to fall into a real civil war or do you want to solve it? The solution role is given to ASEAN countries. ASEAN has agreed, including Myanmar itself, to the five points of consensus. They have not yet implemented. Countries outside the region have also agreed to provide this role for ASEAN, including providing humanitarian assistance.
My trip to Myanmar is not seeking any interest in my goal. Cambodia is many times smaller than Myanmar and many times less in population than Myanmar but we wanted to ease the situation. The first point of the consensus is the declaration of tolerance and cessation of violence. This goal is what we want to achieve. If you ask Samdech Pichey Sena, HE Hor Namhong, you would have known about my way to negotiate. Wherever I went, I asked for a ceasefire. Whether we reach or do not reach an agreement, I asked for a truce first for the sake of saving the flesh, not to cause death and injury. Humanitarian aid has arrived in Myanmar but has not been in distribution. We needed to find a way to distribute aid everywhere without discrimination.
Myanmar People to Benefit When Peace and Democracy Return
I wanted to discuss all these issues, but I did not set a precondition for my trip. I am going to go. If we needed more time, I can postpone the return on the evening of 8 January. If the negotiations seemed to be possible in reaching an agreement, I could postpone my return until the evening of 9 January and on the 10 January I would fly by helicopter with the Ambassador of Japan to Battambang to inaugurate National Road 5. As for the moment, please do not be too quick to conclude. I understand (there are those) who wanted to burn things to bring Myanmar into eruption of the civil war. There are always people like that. They held demonstrations, burned my photos and flags. How many of them represent the people of Myanmar? I understand. If there is peace and a return to the democratic process in Myanmar, you will benefit from the facilitating efforts of ASEAN member states. However, everything is within the jurisdiction of Myanmar, and we from the outside just facilitate.
Myanmar Situation Not Simple, Unusual Measures Required
So, friends in ASEAN may understand because I will not deviate from firstly, the ASEAN Charter and secondly, the five-point consensus. The five-point consensus is in fact my idea. Let us be frank. I only mentioned three points, but His Excellency the Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong organized and made them into five points. Five points is fine. To begin with is stopping the violence. Now the violence […] even comes from the guerrilla team who planted the bombs, including the bombs near our embassy. Before, they even had them in the embassy, but we discovered them. Well, it is all parties involved are to stop the violence. The situation in Myanmar is not simple, so we have to take unusual measures. Yesterday I told that to the President of Indonesia. That is why I have to go in person. From then on, the special envoys will continue to work together and consult with each other. For example, on provision of assistance, we provide without discrimination. What is the possibility of doing something together? There are many problems. Cambodia has experienced solving this problem. It is not just a joke.
46 Years of Marriage … People Should Honor One Another If Marriage Does Not Work
Today, I saw a message of congratulations, including that read by His Excellency Hang Chuon Naron. Today is my wedding anniversary. That day on this hour it was the time I was in the wedding. At that time, we started to be present in the wedding place from 8AM and it all ended at 3PM. There were 13 couples altogether. At that time, if I am not mistaken, they were reading all 26 biographies. They wrote (biographies of future) wife (because) they have not yet become ones yet. Wives are sitting in the front row and husbands are sitting in the back row, […]
A marriage without the presences of parents/grandparents and they organized it in a way just to complete formality, the Angkar’s way […] however, we can live together for 46 years. Some now blessed by their parents, guardians, priests […] but still end up in divorce. We understand that matter. If you cannot live together, divorce is normal […]
What I wanted to beg now is […] when it comes the time for a divorce […] I am asking them to respect each other. At least we loved each other for some times and, in addition, what will happen to our children in the future? […] I should point out that people looked down on you now, but (they) would look down on your children in the future (too) […] if you have disagreement, could you please quietly part ways and leave each other alone. As for the children, the law has stipulated. If they go to their mother, husband helps raise them […] Please do not tear each other up on Facebook.
Armed Forces, Police, Winning a World Gold Medal Gets a Promotion
For Ouk Srey Mom, Samdech Pichey Sena (Tea Banh) has fulfilled his task. She is now promoted to Brigadier General. Those in the army, the police, the military police, who went for completion and won the world gold medal, (but) not SEA Games, will get a promotion […] I still am not decisive to organize the celebration of the January 7 Victory Day. We cannot have a small celebration nor throw a big one, we are concerned about (pandemic) problem. Well, on January 7, I will go to Myanmar. I have prepared a message for people to raise awareness and understanding about January 7. The message is not long […]./.
