Selected Comments during the Chat with Handicapped Soldiers

13 April 08



My wife and I are so happy to come see you all at the 317 center of Kiensvay for the handicapped soldiers. In September last year my wife and I came here and listened to your suggestions. We have retained this center while others have been transferred to the Ministry of Social and Veteran Affairs. We have now prepared for their residence where each family will get a plot of 1.5 hectare land and we have reserved a size of 171 hectares land as public property in which 12 hectares for schools, six hectares for pagoda and 6 hectares for health centre, four hectares for market construction and 6 hectares for administrative use, four hectares for electric station and 12 hectares for plants growing to produce biofuel.



Our soldiers and their families will be provided with the land and housing according to the lots they picked according to the lottery. Many generous people have indeed contributed in the building and handling of this charity project for our handicapped soldiers. I would suggest that our soldiers after moving in should reside there at least five or ten years before selling land to others. I have here some financial help and utensils for starting with your livelihoods.



I understand how you feel being a handicap because I an also a handicap. In the name of the people and nation, I would like to express my sincere and deep thanks for them who sacrificed their flesh and blood for the sake of our people. Because of the win-win policy we no longer have people maimed because of war and therefore no one should go on to making this silly mistake to cause bloodshed again at all. As long as I am alive I will not let anyone to make wrong political decision that will bring war to Cambodian again at all.



Those coup makers under Gen. Lon Nol thought about launching it months or weeks or days before the incident took place but its consequences had taken us 38 years to live with in pain and destruction and isolation. A shortsighted and negligent decision in just a split of a second had made us the younger generation spend decades to solve the consequences.



My decision to crack down on the coup on July 2, 1994 and to launch offensive in 1997 were in fact a must that I have to see to them otherwise our country would be in jeopardy of being victimized of war again. The win-win policy has indeed been a good thing for us to put an end to the protracted war. I would from hereon allow no one make wrong decision at all. Some said that only people power will be an effective tool to deal with the CPP. I warn them that it is effective in Ukraine, in Georgia and/or other places but that will be ineffective in Cambodia.



People power in Cambodia should be expressed through the ballots they cast into the ballot boxes and not in the streets. That kind of people power will be in case of necessity be responded with people power of same sort in order to avert the worst outcome. What will happen if we leave the situation evolve like when Lon Nol launched the coup? We had Pol Pot genocide, handicaped people and national disasters.



Toppling the Polpotists and preventing them from returning to power, dismantling them politically and militarily and integrating the country from separations to one united country have all been the handicapped meant for./.

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