Unofficial Translation

Selected Comments at the “Closing of Stocktaking Conference of Education, Youth and Sport Affairs and Direction Setting For Next School Years”

18 March 2009

Secondary Schools in Comparable Number with Communes

… I wish to have your attention on HE Minister Im Sothi’s report in relation to growing number of schools, students with a special remark on increasing number of kindergarten … According to the report, we have an increase of 101 schools at the primary level, 151 schools at the pre-schooling level, 1,006 placements at 160 schools of junior secondary level, and 315 placements of 32 schools of senior secondary level … These were the objectives declared in Kompong Thom’s Santuk, which since has been known as the Santuk Policy 2002, and was reviewed in 2008. When the plan has been finalized, by 2012 we should achieve our aim to have a junior secondary school for each commune … based on the figures provided on both junior and senior secondary schools, we see that among 1623 communes, we still have communes which are yet to have a secondary school … It is true that we cannot establish schools without taking population and geographical data into consideration at all but educational geography has to be arranged in such a way that our children in all parts of the country have access to nine-year education …

Quality of Education

We now have the accreditation committee for the tertiary education, but I see that it is also necessary to set up accreditation committee to provide inspection and review quality education at the primary and secondary levels as well … We seem to have achieved quantity of providing education but quality should now be our concern as well …  It is a must that we have to make sure that our children have strong basic education as it is necessary to get a firm foundation if we wish them to go far in education … This should also be part of our plan to distribute teaching staff as well … As we now have better road, everywhere in the country is in peace, and more basic infrastructure have been made available, we should think again about re-distributing our teaching staffs to rural areas … It is true that we have more to do so as to bridge the difference between rural and urban development aimed partly to serve this purpose of sending teachers and medical personnel to rural areas …

Trial of Senior Leaders of the Khmer Rouge

Today is March 18, which means on the same day 39 years ago, there was a coup against Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk and the war started to ravage the country … but less has been said as they wish to cover up the truth … In fact they should be the first to get tried because if they did not bring Samdech Preah Norodom down, how could there be Pol Pot? How could there be a war, … I have told HE Ambassador of Japan that I would rather have a failed court in trying the Khmer Rouge leaders but not to have a war again … If we did not have the coup on 18 March 1970, Cambodia would not need to have these de-mining tools, and within 39 years we would have had more population … It was true and I agree with the remark by Khieu Kannharith, Minister of Information, who said those who do not know about the killing should not stand trial, those who know that Pol Pot killed his own people but continued to support him should be brought to serious trial … I told the Japanese Ambassador to provide more money for trial because Japan indeed supported the Khmer Rouge and at some stages in the history, they dared not shake hands with me …

Tips of History

I talked frankly to various Japanese Ambassadors that the first Japanese to shake my hand was former Foreign Minister Mitsutaka … who stared most of the time at me in the Paris Peace Conference … When I met him again in 1990 in Tokyo - I asked him why he gave me that stare. He said – having seen me, it reminded him of the past history of Japan which was full of division and a young fellow came out and united the country. He just imagined that that young Japanese has resurrected in Cambodia – Hun Sen … It may sound weird but it has proven to be a correct imagination too because I have done the job of uniting the country …

Indeed I have teased Japan yesterday that Japan was not independent as before sending envoy to Phnom Penh, Japan had to consult with the United States first, while I was named the Vietnamese puppet but I went everywhere as a free man. In fact I have made so many consultations with Japan  too …

As for the trial issue I would urge a way through … I have a good experience to prove that Cambodian issue could be well understood and resolved by Cambodian themselves … In the process to get a political settlement for Cambodia, and because Japan had been involved largely in it, I wish to give you a piece of record as to how did we get to have Samdech Preah Norodom Sihaniouk as President of the Supreme National Council of Cambodia … There were many attempts by friends to get us along but in the end, then Samdech Preah Norodom Sihaniouk and I reached an agreement through a straight talk by which Samdech became the Head of SNC …

We have done everything we can to achieve peace for the country, to safeguard human life and development … It is unacceptable to just come out of nowhere and shouted ‘change and change’ … Change will be but through elections, by democratic means,  no shortcut allowed,  … What we have left from the former regime in incomparable to any dialectical relation like when the French left Cambodia for Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk … Though they built or made using the Khmer money but they did not destroy them ... Lon Nol took over Cambodia in good condition too, whereas Pol Pot also got Cambodia from Lon Nol in conditions that were intact as well …■

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