7 January 1979 Liberated Country and Religions
I would like to take this opportune moment to express my sincere appreciation for the efforts made by every Buddhist monks as well as Buddhist monk inspector of the pagoda and its parishioners to build and rebuild this monastery. No matter how old the pagodas were before 1970s, they suffered destructions by wars and the regime of Pol Pot’s genocide. The Pol Pot’s regime uprooted not only Buddhism but also Christianity, and other religions. After the liberation in 1979, the Cambodian People’s Party and the National United Front for Salvation of Kampuchea allowed our people to regain their faiths according to their wills.
It has been 38 years now and we have made efforts together from one stage to another to have profound transformation and changes in our society and nation. While before they did not allow our people to practice religious faiths and destroyed their monasteries, killed or disrobed monks, the liberation on 7 January 1979 transformed those fates and people can practice their traditional faiths. We have built over 4,000 Buddhist pagodas throughout the country, and there are over 50,000 Buddhist monks. Along with Buddhism, we also noted increase of Muslim mosques and other religious faiths. They all have survived together in harmony […]
Inseparable Relations of Secular and Buddhism
There has been a strange incident happened to me because today is the 19th anniversary of my mother’s decease. Normally I stayed in bed until 4 am, 5 am, or even 6 am. However, last night I could and had to wake up at 3 am. I took it that my mother urged me to get myself ready for the trip and religious event here. My mother passed away at a little after 3 am and my wife had her passing moment recorded. It seemed my mother woke me up. Even before 3 am, I had little rest. Today, my children and brothers are celebrating the ceremonial anniversary at the pagoda where we have her remain placed in a stupa. She left me 19 years today […]
… It is true that there is an inseparable relation between the secular and Buddhism worlds. When the secular world is in turmoil, the Buddhist world will also face uncertainty. That is why I keep repeating that we must defend peace because when it does not prevail, no one could talk about democracy, about human rights, and even development. Experiences show us that in 1970, in 1975 and in 1979, the country’s secular and Buddhist worlds could not build but suffered destructions to the roots for incorrect leaderships. As a country, it is important to have peace so that there will be development.
Sharing Win-Win Policy to Myanmar and Others
I had a meeting with the Army’s Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar days ago. We had sought out to learn lessons and experiences from each other. From their side, Myanmar seeks to gain insight of factors relating to successes of Cambodia’s win-win policy. In Myanmar, eight warring factions joined the ceasefire agreement, while seven others do not. More so, the ceasefire observed by the eight warring factions is also fragile. I wish to send a few people of my colleagues who involved in win-win policy making in Cambodia to conduct a study in Myanmar to gain their insights. We then can proceed perhaps to more consultations. We do not see ourselves as guru but consultants on issue how to seek peace and way to end armed conflicts.
We shared our experiences with Nepal on ceasefire and dismantling of armed forces after the elections. Cambodia has had one of the richest and possibly the best experiences to advance from a country of many factions’ rulings and armed forces to one that in united and unified armed forces. It is a miracle and there are not many achievements like this in the world these days. Sri Lanka used its army to defeat the guerilla forces. It was not an implementation of win-win solution. In the Philippines, there is a division of Mindanao, with a prospect that the Abu Sayyaf militants joined with ISIS … It is not a simple issue. In Cambodia, after being torn by wars, we have been able to make peace.
Correct Policy by Ruling Party
It is through peace that we have ascertained and maintained for Buddhism, Islamism, Christianity, other religions as well, we are able to usher in development. With correct leaderships in the field of secular world, we have been able to ascertain these achievements. The question here is whether the party that is leading the state conducts a correct policy or not and how much it permits people to exercise their faiths. In some countries, they permit worship of Buddhism but not Islamism or Christianity, or anyone of the others vice versa.
Another point would rest in how much people themselves have faith in religions that they respect. These are the measuring tools of progress in field of religion. If people continue to have faith and organize religious rituals, it tells how much they have faith in it. It also measures people’s efforts in the construction of related shrines or monasteries. People’s living condition is also indicating how much they can worship their religious faiths. If people are having difficult living condition, they will not be able to build temples and other halls for their religious courses […]
RGC Paying Attention on Rice
… As of now, what could be the most difficult moment for us was to have shortage of rice. The governor of Prey Veng, Chea Somethi, has just made us a report about surplus of rice in the province. This year we have a surplus of about five million tons. However, we are facing difficulty in external markets. Thailand has a surplus of over 10 million tons. Vietnam’s rice export fell. India’s rice production line suffered the same difficulty. As there are plenty of rice to choose, consumers also opted for rice that are cheaper. All this has brought about a difficult condition of rice price to our rice. We are working hard to pay attention on his issue.
In Switzerland, when I attended the World Economic Forum, some complained about high price of rice. I said while they said so, farmer continued to produce at loss. They called for decrease of food prices. Some food producers said if they had to bring down food price, other parties concerned must bring down price of machineries, etc. We sold our rice at low price and have had to pay high for medicines. It was a real conflict. There was a tough competition in the world. Cambodia produces rice, while Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar also do. In the end, countries who buy rice are able to ask for lower price […]
CIA Eavesdropping Going Free
… This is all I have to say to remind our people about peace. It is required that we must defend peace. In other parts of the world, countries are still in conflicts … There is this issue now about eavesdropping or tapping of phones and messages apps like WhatsApp, etc. To prevent this from happening, powerful nations must stop producing those equipments and, in fact, they produce those tools to listen about us. Some 70% of mobile phones these days are targets of tapping. In our country, when there are leaks like that, they bragged about being illegal. However, no one dare says the same thing to the CIA actions. CIA listened even to conversation of leaders in Europe […]
