Thanks to the PU Leadership
It is indeed my pleasure to have the chance of coming to preside over the graduation ceremony of the Pannhasastra University (PU) and I would seek your understanding that my wife because of her busy schedule could not make it here today. I have had great chances to come here twice once in 2005, on July 19 and today again at the end of the third term of the Royal Government. I thank Dr. Chea San Chanthan, the University Rector, for giving us a thorough report in relation to the progress made by the PU and its training curricula. I would like to convey on this occasion my sincere thanks and appreciation for the professors and leadership of PU for their joint efforts in sharing their knowledge with our students and for the 702 students who have graduated with different degrees today.
My deep thanks also go to the graduates themselves for their own efforts in making such achievements for own and family’s sake and society. Also I thank PU for its offer of 90 scholarships starting from 2006 by which I could make a good selection of those who have no financial abilities to take up further study. In all every year I have about 400 scholarships for giving out to students from poor families in furthering their studies.
I also encourage our graduates to continue their studies to higher level and we also have the issue of job creation to be considered. I have mentioned the ten disequilibria, where jobs and imbalance has been the core of our efforts. It is indeed a complicated process to get jobs created, and to promise jobs for everybody would remind us of the Pol Pot’s commitment that everyone has to have a job to do – even monks had to leave monkshood to do labor in any possible forms irrespective of age or physical condition. No one was left to do anything else but laboring out. It is indeed a hallow promise by the so called Prime Minister to be (in the period of electoral campaign).
Love and Care for Family, Society and Nation
I would recommend you to take up good actions and to make positive performances in response to the efforts and sacrifices that your families have done for your study. First you have to prove your love and care to the family and then to the society and the nation. Your good actions will be a great response to your parents’ consideration. We have the Prochum Ben (Buddhist ritual of offering food and utensils to passed away relatives via the Buddhist monks) coming but I urge you all to first of all pay attention to your parents and/or grand parents who are considered living Buddhas at home.
Neither Fighting nor Terrorist Activities
I am glad to see that we have here today foreign professors who are helping Cambodia in the field of education. For them I can assure that they should not have any worry because there would neither be fighting nor terrorist activities in Cambodia. You can make a lot of money here and pay less for the cost of living. Before no one wants to come to Cambodia and some tourists were warned by their Governments not to travel to Cambodia and some have been permitted to visit only Siem Reap and Phnom Penh cities. On the contrary, now they have reached destinations that we never ever go. Take for instance, the recent US Ambassador was the most frequent traveler and his trip never had been spoiled by any incident at all.
Welcome the New UN Representative
Of course as a country we always have something here and something there but in general safety has been provided for foreigners residing and working in Cambodia. I also would like to take this time to thank Mr. Yash Ghai who has already resigned from his position because even if he stays on he has no chance of meeting me. I am ready to meet anyone to be designated by the Secretary General of the United Nations in Mr. Ghai’s replacement. The situation has proven that Hun Sen is going to be here another five years and Mr. Ghai would not be accepted for the respective period. I have met with the new representative because he wanted to talk unlike the previous one who did not even meet me but rebuked us. I am glad he finally resigned.
CPP Wins – Hun Sen is Prime Minister
Now the fight to become the Prime Minister of Cambodia is over and in 2013, five years from now, we will see who will then take up the challenge to the Prime Minister again. Some politicians have proposed limiting the term of office by the Prime Minister to not more than two times in their topic of campaign … but the term is not determined by them but the by the people’s votes. Cambodia is a Parliamentary regime and people choose parliamentarians. I did not stand to be the Prime Minister in the elections but a member of the parliament. But the Cambodian People’s Party ticketed Hun Sen to be its Prime Minister if re-elected. Comparing to boxers, I would be the one who holds up the championship and those politicians are those who fight to get the record from me. What happens when they failed three or four times like this? I think they have to send in new candidates. Why should they demand so and so to go out? Whatever happens they have to wait for 2013.
The First Meeting of the Fourth Legislature National Assembly
HE Say Chhum called to me as to when we convene the first session of the National Assembly. I have chosen to meet on September 24 because it is the Constitutional day and the ten-year anniversary of the assassination attempt on my life in Siem Reap… The oppositions do not recognize the electoral results but they not only keep their seats but ask for the position of Vice President of the National Assembly and Head of a Parliamentary commission … One of them said through an interlocutor that if Samdech could positively answer to the proposal he would not go to foreign countries which means going abroad to put pressure on Hun Sen. I wish via the same channel in return that he be blessed with successes in Europe, US and in the UN… Samdech Krom Preah (Norodom Ranaridh) said he accepts the electoral results and would like the Government to be formed as soon as possible. I would inform you all that I want Samdech Krom Preah to return to Phnom Penh during the Prochum Ben day. As he behaves himself, so do I…
Male and Female Rate in Passing the Exam and Islamic Code
Out of 78,049 students who go to the high school exam, 55,178 students passed. Among them, 30,196 female students or 70.26% made it whereas male students score a lot less in number. This suggests that male students did not pay hard attention to their studies. Female students have made a great advancement in the exam. I think we should look into this matter more seriously and parents have the responsibility in fixing up this matter. I also have instructed the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports to allow female students of Islamic origin to dress the uniform in accordance with the religion or the requirement by the Ministry of Education. This will ensure that the female students of Islamic origin could go on to higher education.
Press Justification and Thai-Cambodian Border Issue
There has been some misunderstanding not from the part of the Royal Thai Government on a commentary after my meeting with the US Undersecretary of State John Negroponte. The spokesman of the Royal Government of Cambodia already asked for justification of the article of the Bangkok Post newspaper and it was also re-printed here by the Cambodian Daily that I said the Thais should pass the ASEAN chairmanship back to Singapore or on to Vietnam … The Thai Foreign Ministry also summoned our Ambassador to clarify the matter. I would urge the newspaper to be careful in using language which can be instigating conflict. We never ask to cancel the ASEAN chairmanship by Thailand and pass it back to Singapore or on to Vietnam at all. We only have expressed our concern…
In relation to the issue of border conflict, I would like to inform our people of the position that we will uphold in the course of settling this conflict because people would want to know what position their Prime Minister is taking in this matter. Even if I have said it about Thailand it would not be a mistake. Why? There are two major reasons. First the opposition in Thailand has used the issue of Preah Vihear temple as a pretext to oust the Government of Thailand from of power. On September 15, a group of demonstrators brought a request to the Cambodian Ambassador demanding the return of the Preah Vihear temple. As I said, whatever happens in Thailand Cambodia has nothing to concern about, but we have the right to concern when our territory has become involved.
Among the four conditions put out by the opposition, one of them was to take back the temple of Preah Vihear as a precondition in the negotiation with the Thai Government. Why should they expect the Royal Government of Cambodia to stay silent in face of such a bold threat? I would assure once again since there has been some misunderstanding about the issue of Preah Vihear temple. No one could violate the temple which has now become the world heritage site already any breach in this area would be an invasion on not only Cambodia but the world. The conflict area is the part that is outside the temple zone, which is also including the Keo Sekha KiriSvarak pagoda. This spat has occurred because both sides have been using different maps. The Cambodian side has been using the map designed by both France and Siam in 1904, 1907 and 1909 … According to MOU 2000, Thailand recognize the five maps between 1907 and 1909 and the two sides agreed to demarcate the border area in five steps. This signifies that the temples are recognized in the MOU 2000 which was signed by the party which is now in opposition in Thailand and witnessed by then Prime Minister Chuon Leekpai.
It is important to clearly distinguish the source of the problem. As this issue is concerned, Prime Minister Samak who visited Phnom Penh and the Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama were both taken out of office with demand by the opposition to bring them to court for acts of treason which could see the death sentence. We have reserved a certain level understanding for the Thais who happened to be in difficult state of political tension. The issue of the Preah Vihear temple is non-negotiable. Cambodia never uses the word invasion so far because we understand that the issue of the buffer zone has to be discussed as a consequence of use of different maps. We have asked for the situation to return to before July 15, whereas subsequent troop adjustments have been done …
Second, Instability in Thailand brings about the continuation of the presence of troops on Cambodian territory like in Chub Koki, Chuam Sangam, Tamuan and Ta Kobei temples. If the problem does not concern the Cambodian territory, we would not care to say about what is going on in Thailand at all. Cambodia remained silent to the coup in 2006 and I welcomed the visit of then Prime Minister HE Surayuth Chulanondh. I asked HE Hor Nam Hong if we could identify any channel on the Thai part to work with on the matter and the answer was no. I hope the election of the Prime Minister of Thailand will go smoothly. The negotiations have come to halt, even one month after the meeting in Hua Hin. What I am saying is not to expand the conflict but to illustrate the position in principle by the Royal Government like I said in Samraong Tong of Kompong Speu – we will work to shrink and not to expand the conflict. We hope the Thai Government will take similar position and attitude and prevent from any armed clashes to happen…
Many countries in the world have got border conflict with each other but they do not let conflict prevent their relations in all fields at all. They do not revenge each other by closing borders, boycotting mutual trades, chasing out each other’s citizen, etc. If we could not find a solution bilaterally we will go for the third party and that will include also the international court of justice in The Hague…
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