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Unofficial Translation
Selected Comments at the Norton
University’s Graduation and Diploma Presentation
09 June 2010
It is indeed a great pleasure that after
meeting all of you on June 30 last year, today, June 09, I have a chance to meet
once again the rector, leaders and professors of the Norton University. Last
week some of the guests who were present at the graduation of the Royal School
of Administration might be recalled that I had presented an important topic
about sickness of being main actor. I would like to thank rector of the Norton
University for giving me the honor of being present in the presentation of
diploma to 1,179 graduates.
I could recall that in 1997 I was present in
the inauguration of the University of Norton and after 13 years today according
to the rector’s report a lot of progress has been achieved. I am so happy to
have noticed realistic development concerning the University, which, started
from being a faculty and hired building for its operation, has now had its own
building of five stories on some four-hectare land. I am sure this will be a
major material base for long-term and sustainable training of human resources.
I would like to take this opportune moment
to express my sincere appreciation to the Norton University as well as its
management and professors for making their efforts in human resource training,
which as of now some 8,413 students are taking up their studies. In the process
of making progress and development, our country is noted to have a high
percentage of people of young age. High figure of students taking up studies in
universities prove this. It is in that sense that I give my appreciation to the
participation by the private sector in human resource training, together with
efforts provided by the state.
Human resources who have got later works at
national or international institutions could be of Cambodian pride. I have
prioritized our policy on human resource training that is based on challenging
capacity, which to me competition not only exists in the field of trade but also
in human resource capability too. I just gave my speech at the World Economic
Forum (held in Ho Chi Minh City, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam) on
Cambodia’s effort in strengthening its competing capability, and institutional
capacity is vital in responding to this challenge.
It is our pride that more of its nationals
have taken up positions and jobs in various regional and international
institutions, such as the Asian Development Bank, and various others, where more
Cambodians are working. This is a realistic sign of human resource training
objective. I would like to covey also my appreciation for the effort for making
an investment on new premises possible on the other side of the river of Tonle
Sap. It is true that traffic would be an issue but the Royal Government is
working it out to build a new bridge at Jroy Jangva along with the existing
Cambodian-Japanese Friendship Bridge, with the fund provided by China so as to
cater to the need for traffic volume that is growing everyday.
As of now some countries could not give a
proper evaluation of the Cambodian situation and offered to help us build roads
with a 6 or 7 meter wide standard. It clearly proves that they had no idea how
far Cambodia has gone. As of now, according to current development level,
Cambodia would benefit from at least nine-meter wide and eleven-meter wide
roads, while in addition to that we now also have had to build overpasses.
In relation to human resource training, the
University has offered some 150 scholarships so that I could give them to
students from poor families. The University also offers 50% scholarships to
students with promising capability ranking between number one and three in all
generations. This should be seen as a contribution to help with relieving
hardships of poor students. Let me take this opportunity to give my
congratulations to the University that it has been marked to provide the best
education on information technology in the Kingdom of Cambodia.
I would like to take this time to express my
sincere thanks to students who excelled in their studies in this University.
Human resource development is different from human life saving as blood
transfusion could be performed from one person to another, while knowledge and
know-how have had to be provided by professors and achieved only by students’
own efforts. It is in this knowledge that I wish to give my appreciation to all
graduates who have finally achieved their objectives in becoming intellectuals
for the sake of families, communities and country.
I also take this solemn occasion to thank
parents and/or sponsors who have made efforts together with their sons and
daughters until they successfully finished their studies. However, as this stage
of study comes to an end, one should not completely abandon studying. Study has
no ending. No one in this world happens to know all and everything. The world is
facing numerous challenges whereby both leaders and people at large have to
understand their evolutions and respond to.
Knowledge and know-how have had no ending.
Things evolve by the hour and changes in regional and world politics are also
included. It is required that we have to keep abreast of tension in the Korean
peninsula, internal issues of countries in the region, the Gaza incident between
Israel and the Palestinians, the oil leakage in the United States of America,
missile shield in Poland, etc. In addition to that we also have world challenges
such as climate change that requires a proper study and adaptation to the
environment.
Last week the Cabinet in its meeting
discussed a sub-decree in relation to bio-safety that I have instructed
concerned authorities not to go to either extreme left or right. When they take
a precautionary stand, the measure would go all the way to preventing inflow of
seeds, but when they let it loose, influx of seed would be allowed freely. We
also have not made experiment as far as food safety is concerned for our people.
For instance, some seeds have been tested and verified by other countries’
standard to be giving a high output but whether consumption of those products
would cause any consequence has had to be studied. Climate change has indeed
caused so many disastrous effects. Some seeds have had to be developed to be
resilient to climate condition that is higher in temperature and also lacking of
water. Climate change is indeed a challenge. This proves that we have to keep on
studying and it should not be an end on the day we graduated.
You may have learned about this meeting of
Cooperation Forum for the Development of Cambodia in which I gave a keynote
address. Cambodia’s development partners have agreed to a financing of some
1,097 million dollars for 2010 and close to three billion US dollars for
three-year project, though some countries could not declare their contributions
for 2011 and 2012 at this stage at all. As far as this point is concerned, in
the Cabinet’s meeting, I have shared it through the VDO link with provincial
leaders as well as the armed forces, and urged them to speed up reform process.
Our friends have placed their trust in and
supported us and it is our duty to fulfill the task not for the sake of
satisfying someone’s criteria but for our people in line with that of our
partners’. This is what I call we have to reciprocate in kind to friends who
come to help us. I wish to note here that when I mention about some 1,100
million US dollars, all we could see is the figure. Those who doubt may have to
approach relevant embassies in Phnom Penh as their questions to the Government
would not be responded.
Take for instance they may ask the Japanese
embassy as Japan gave the most among donors to Cambodia. We do not get hold of
the money as the money has been given according to pre-selected projects. In
certain cases, projects have undergone bidding process in donor countries too.
It is in this pattern that questions relating to corruption, if any, should be
asked to foreigners and not to Cambodians. What we did was witnessing the
groundbreaking and inauguration of achievements.
One should not ask the Government as to
where the money has gone for this might prove one is unintelligent. I would be
shamed that being leaders either of political parties or non-governmental
organizations, yet they have no knowledge of how the money is being used. I
would feel ashamed for the opposition party because we all are Cambodians. They
are so naïve as to say that why the Royal Government does not get the money
given to distribute among the people, like elderly people, as per diem for
purchasing their side meals. Well, they could not fool the people as people have
failed them by their votes.
We have noted faithful acceptance among out
partners and this is not because this time we have had a bigger amount of money
than previously at all. In 2009 we have some nine hundred million US dollars.
What I wanted to say is that though there is financial crisis and economic
downturn the Cambodian development partners have indeed increased their
commitment from some nine hundred million to over one billion dollars. What
should be highlighted here is work result. It should be noted that the
development partners and the Cambodian side have had similar appreciation and
understanding of challenges for Cambodia. We have come to a point that there is
a need for harmonization between Cambodia and its development partners and among
partners themselves.
As mentioned earlier, while we get help from
friends, it is indeed important for us to help ourselves and we should do the
best we can that result would not put our friends in a difficult situation for
the decision they made on behalf of their tax-payers. We need to work out on
this and move forward. I have brought with me a topic here on ten disequilibria
that need to be addressed in the Cambodian context to share with you all. In my
book “Ten Years of Cambodia’s March,” written in 1988 and published in 1989, I
mentioned about four disequilibria only – Demand versus supply, Income versus
expenses, Import versus export and Money versus goods. The number of imbalances
has gradually increased to six, to eight and to ten lately. Among them, as of
early part of the third term legislature of the Royal Government, a new one is
imbalance between need for socio-economic development and limited human
resources.
In the last five years, this sort of
imbalance has shrunk gradually thanks to increasingly effective efforts in
strengthening institutional capacity and training of human resources. As far as
import versus export is concerned, it should be noted that there are certain
countries with which we have increased our exports to a volume bigger than
importing from them and some are on reversal trend. It is in this sense that we
have to keep on pushing for a foreign trade balance. This is not an issue for
one political party or Government but there requires efforts from all sectors of
society, especially the role of private sector.
In my address to the World Economic Forum I
mentioned above it is true that the state withdraws from a certain areas but
that does not mean the state abandons all. In certain areas the state has to
keep its necessary intervention especially in post-crisis period or at the time
of a fragile upturn. With the state budget alone we could not respond to demand
for growth. Therefore the private sector has been encouraged to help in driving
for growth. Let’s all learn the Greek’s experience in which the country is
nearly broke.
Putting the Greek’s experience in picture, I
would warn people about making promises. Take HE Hatoyama, former Prime Minister
of Japan, he finally accepted that his promise could not be fulfilled and he had
to resign in relation to the issue of the US base in Okinawa. Some people in
Cambodia recently make reckless promise that if s/he is going to be elected,
s/he will get back the Kampuchea Kraom (the lower part of Cambodia, which is
currently a part of Vietnam). They have gone this far. What if they could not
fulfill it? In the map that he deposits at the United Nations, Samdech Preah
Norodom Sihanouk, the King Father, does not include the part of territory into
Cambodian sovereignty. Also not included are provinces of Surin, Borei Riem,
Sisaket, Ubun, etc. which are currently parts of Thailand.
Therefore I would warn people making
promises to be careful. As far as topic of salary increment is concerned and
also campaigned by the oppositions, I must say no one would want to do so more
than I because this would alleviate hardships among our civil servants. The
question here is where we get the money from. Increasing salary of 20% per annum
has been a difficult target to achieve. We have overused the budget earmarked
for personnel and decided to trim the priority package and bonus so as to
strengthen the salary system.
What we need to do here is to take up
responsibility in guaranteeing management of macro-economics and political
stability while driving economic growth and speeding up reforms. I used to say
and I am still saying it out loud that with reforms, it is 99% that we will
survive, and without reforms, only 1% would be the rate for survival.
As of today the Football World Cup is
approaching and I beg our people not to go into betting. As we have now closed
down CamboSix a betting company I would urge local authorities to observe this
regulation. I have chosen the period between June 18, the celebration of Samdech
Preah Reaj Akka Mohesei Norodom Monineath Sihanouk’s birthday anniversary and
the Cambodian People’s Party anniversary on June 28 for the inauguration of the
first overpass. I also have instructed the Governor of Phnom Penh to pool the
remaining sum to build another one at the Pet Lok Sangh intersection.
I need to take this moment to thank HE Kep
Chuktema of Phnom Penh Municipality and HE Uk Rabun of the Ministry of Economy
and Finance on issue of collecting daily permission fees for keeping order. In
the Reasmey Kampuchea newspaper I found the article “Investment for Order
Keeping is a Fireball.” I did not know it has brought about so complicated
issue. I apologize to our people, especially though vendors in the markets or
elsewhere for the concerns they have with regard to this fee collection system.
I faithfully make an apology in my capacity as the top responsible in the Royal
Government. The issue has been resolved now and this will not happen again.
However, as far as order is concerned, I
would urge you all for an understanding and to refrain from placing your items
on sale in the pavements or feeder roads causing traffic congestion of travelers
and also to pay attention to hygienic issue too. Both sellers and customers
have to take collaborative measures in keeping our city clean as it would be a
good thing for all. The company in charge of fee collection for public order is
Rath “Sen” Sopheap and I was surprised to see the word “Sen” in there as this
would lead to a misunderstanding that the company has something to do with me.
As far as I know Rat Sopheap is the name of
the company owner but the company is named with an inclusion of “Sen” there.
From now on the Ministry of Economy and Finance and related sectors must be
proactive and take appropriate measures. They should not wait for Hun Sen to
have a say on all issues. I want the whole mechanism to function all at once
without having to wait for order all the time. It has been annoying that
everyone seems to have attached “recommendation of Samdech Prime Minister” to
their actions. I am quite concerned with this. We have rule and law and it is
your competent authority recognized by law to enact them. All I want is
institutions abide by and implement law and sub-decree in relation to
institutional organic establishment.
There was a reportage on Bayon TV about a
sub-national level authority who said “in accordance with the recommendation of
Samdech Techo (Hun Sen) to remove people’s homes …” in a case involving illegal
infiltration and settlement in a protected forest. It was the sub-national level
responsibility to look after the forest. However, you left the protected forest
infiltrated and encroached upon. In that circumstance you resorted to “Techo’s
recommendation.” This proves the mechanism does not function. That I have taken
matter into my own hand in some instances is because it has been necessary.
It has taken us a long time to get this far
and so many attempts on my life have been made known. The last attempt was at
Siemreap province on my way to see HM the King Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk.
It is not a simple matter as we have gone through so many hardships. This has
brought us a pride that we have reunited the country not for a short period of
time but for a long time to come. I was asked in a meeting with the French Prime
Minister about the Khmer Rouge and its ideology, whether it has all died. I told
him that the Khmer Rouge’s fallout this time is on both organization and
ideology.
I have two concerns in fact as we
implemented the win-win policy. My first concern was whether or not there would
be revenge. It does not happen and it so proves that the win-win policy has in
fact united us thanks also to the fact that our country embraces Buddhism that
revenge is not in our belief to resolve the problem. This development has proven
impossible in Sudan where Darfur is under so many tribal groups. In Cambodia it
has proven to be effective because we all are one nation, live under one
Constitution, HM the King and the Royal Government.
My second concern was if the remnant forces
disagreed. I could recall this fact that after gaining independence in 1953, in
villages where I lived (Kompong Cham) there were armed groups and robberies.
They did not join any particular group but became armed robbers. People lived in
fears till 1964-65 before the Government forces arrested the group leader. But
it is a successful story that the former Khmer Rouge forces decided to return to
the fold of our nation altogether. Therefore, the Royal Government, the
civilians and armed forces as well as the private sector must work to strengthen
peace for the country.
There was an armed clash incident at
Tropeang Prasat district between the Cambodian and Thai forces. HE Chea Tara
called and reported to me before going live from Trpeang Prasat. It was noted to
be an incident and still impossible to verify, which forces are the Thai
soldiers from? On our side it was the military forces of Tropeang Prasat
district. It was not a conflict that spilled into general border conflict. It
could have been a misunderstanding and both sides are in contact to figure it
out. We do not want conflict and are working to sort it out./.
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