Unofficial Translation

Selected Comments at the Inauguration of the Pursat-Jaret Irrigation System

21 March 2009

... We meet today to put into use the irrigation system of Jaret that HE Lim Kean Hor reported in his speech just now as this has been his imagination and wish since after 1979 … What I remember well is that 24 years ago in one of my trip to this part of the country I visited the broken damn at Damnak Ampil and thought to myself how we can catch water from releasing into the Tonle Sab lake … After some studies we have included also this damn of Jaret … the matter then — how do we go about finding money to get the two damn built?

Coincidentally I visited Australia to witness the signing of the Agreement on Exploring Bauxite in Mondolkiri. The license has brought the Royal Government some stipend to be used in social development and we first wanted to use it for building schools … but later I decided its meaningful use for building the damn and I called HE Lim Kean Hor from Australia to go ahead with the project … We have tried to achieve our aim to catch water before it runs through the Pursat stream into the lake …

Having said so, we will benefit from the hydro power at A Tai and then at Russei Jum for electricity and further down the stream we will catch water in two stages – at Damnak Ampil and Jaret for agricultural cultivation. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to the Ministry of Water Resources and the Ministry of Economy and Finance for their steadfast efforts in making this project reality … We have a nine kilometers main canal and more subsidiary canals need to be built as it has a potential to cover an area of 11000 hectares of rainy season rice, 3500 hectares of dry season rice and 210 hectares of farmland but our intention has been to expand irrigation system throughout the country …

We have started from about 2% to 4% of irrigation land capacity but according to HE Minister Lim Kean Hor we have now increased the area of irrigation to about 49% of total cultivable land … All I want to beg from people in Pursat is that we should cultivate our land when we have water, plant anything rice or other crops … the price of rice has gone down but still higher than before the food crisis last year … In our courtesy call on HM the King, together with a number of Deputy Prime Ministers, we have committed to produce rice while reducing tendency to purchase luxury cars as to whatever might happen from the economic crisis, our people will have sufficient food … The safest country is the one with food security, it may weather impact to a certain extent but more flexible than those with only industry …

I would like to thank our people in Pursat for voting all four parliamentary seats for CPP … the people understand well about those Prime Ministers in example whose promises are illogical and way beyond trust is the promise to increase salary for civil servants while the people are in poor condition, … War and peace is a matter of concern, but tax on agricultural land will be a heavy burden for our farmers … This is the point our people thought of before making their decision on ballots … Maybe they opted for increasing salary by printing more money … which the result will be counterproductive … Some foreign diplomats said I have been too generous as I do not impose tax on land on farmers … You now know that if CPP continues to lead the country, I and other leaders – Samdech Chea Sim and Samdech Heng Samrin, as long as I am the Prime Minister – aside from peace, we have guaranteed that the state imposes no tax on people’s cultivable land …

History is not far from here - the village of Terechhan (Beast) in Kompong Chhnang – under the French colony, Bades – the French representative – led the team to collect tax from our people in the village. because they were so poor, Bades could not collect what he was told to … he threatened with forces causing our people to get angry and lead a mob that killed him …  the village has then been called/named the village of Beast. As I do not impose tax on our people, I also see that the Royal Government has more to do to provide help to our farmers – water canals, roads, bridges, … Before soon Pursat will be a big battery that provides power to many parts of the country from its hydropower damn at A Tai and Russei Jum …

It was because of the coup on March 1970 against then Head of State Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia lost its chance to build the country … on that day, my brother Hun Neng and me were on a motorbike on our way from Suong to Phnom Penh to join with the demonstration, but the Lon Nol people blocked us at the bridge of Jruoy Jangva and on March 23, Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk called on our people to take to the forest to join the struggle. On April 4 I joined the struggle and the date has been kept as my birth date ever since …■

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