Selected Comments of Samdech Techo HUN SEN. President of the Senate, at the solidarity dinner with the Cambodian performance artists football team and the Khmer martial arts team [Unofficial translations]

Selected Comments of Samdech Techo HUN SEN. President of the Senate, at the solidarity dinner with the Cambodian performance artists football team and the Khmer martial arts team [Unofficial translations]

CNV: 01/11/2024

(1) Were there enough means and support, the Khmer martial arts would have grown faster

Let me take this opportunity to congratulate the success of the football match to raise funds to help the Khmer martial arts (KMA). we have received a temporary figure of more than 1 billion Riels. Today, I do not have political topics to talk to you. I just aim my talk at the effort to strengthen the Khmer martial arts fighters/kickboxers. It has always been the case, so far, that our martial arts contestants gathered in Phnom Penh. If we look at the growth of our sports (of this sort), if there were enough means and support, the Cambodian boxing (or martial arts) would have grown faster. Our athletes have had training since the SEA games (that we hosted in 2023) […] (I) would ask the leadership of Khmer martial arts to pay attention to the selection of (athletes for) a match. If the match is too frequent, […] the athletes will be exhausted. This situation should not be allowed to happen in sports management. In the future, we must pay attention to matching players in contest. We should not do it according to preferences. we lack (KMA fighters) now. The lack of athletes, especially boxers/fighters, could have been the reason of lack of training in sports resources […]

(2) Together strengthen existing Khmer martial arts clubs to ensure the sport sustainability

Maybe I should take the initiative to promote the Khmer martial arts through the experimental lessons that we are learning from what we are doing in Phnom Penh, where we have fans for the KMA clubs to expand support for this sport to the provinces across the country […] I would suggest that we participate together to strengthen the Khmer martial arts by supporting the (existing) clubs. In this way, we can help ensure the sustainability of sport […] we therefore need to train the succeeding practitioners of KMA. However, such training cannot be held only in Phnom Penh. We would let you come (for more training in Phnom Penh when) you have reached the national level so that you will have a place to stay, and training. On the other hand, you have to keep in mind that they are young people who need to learn at school. We cannot make them come to practice sport and drop out of school. The easy way is we provide assistance to the local existing clubs to save us from finding a separate venue […]

(3) Replicating the Phnom Penh experience to local clubs where there are coaches

For example, the Chip Mong Company, […] can help anyone club in Battambang or its own choosing province, […] Deputy Prime Minister HE Keut Rith could support anyone club in Battambang, where there are the most clubs. Deputy Prime Ministers Hun Many and Tea Seiha, may also choose a club – and by doing that we can be more certain to guarantee (the KMA sustainability). Well (this way,) I think it’s more reassuring […] let me be the one standing behind […] we find ways to help provide local level platform for training of the KMA practitioners by linking between the education and training at the club for young people by providing them with a monthly stipend. At the very least, we could ensure that they are getting enough food for training, which is a guarantee of sustainability for the Cambodian KMA practitioners/fighters […] we replicate our experience in Phnom Penh to the local clubs where they already have coaches. We can strengthen the Khmer martial arts in the long run or try to help each other on this to ensure that we have plenty sports resources […]

(4) Stoeung Trang District of Kampong Cham provides four Prime Ministers but no KMA fighters

Why do most KMA fighters originated from Battambang province? Why in my native district, Stoeung Trang of Kampong Cham province, there have not been athletes(/boxers) even at this time? While there are no KMA fighters in Stoeung Trang, in Cheung Prey and Prey Chhor districts (of Kompong Cham) there are KMA fighters […] Stoeung Trang district (of Kampong Cham province) has provided the country up to four prime ministers […] and has got sportsmen in football, volleyball but not in KMA fighting […] in the 1600s, in the war with the Siamese army […] the districts of Prey Chhor and Cheung Prey of Kampong Cham province were the areas from where we moved troops. (As a preliminary conclusion,) any area that had been in battles in the past was an area with abundance of people who possessed martial arts […] this is just a preliminary study. There may be scholars who conduct this study to find out why some places are rich in martial arts and some are almost non-existent […]

(5) Making sure lacking of KMA fighters no longer happen when the time to compete comes

In relation to helping the KMA clubs, I may call on His Excellency, Lok Chumteav, to see which clubs can be helped. I do not want help to go to the club in Phnom Penh only. If we concentrate only on Phnom Penh, we will attract young people from their hometowns to Phnom Penh and certainly they would drop out of school. I want them to be trained on a platform in their native place. I have asked Sitho Nathan to organize with the Khmer martial arts manager to bring the provincial fighters to compete in Phnom Penh […] we should provide more opportunities to bring sports from the provinces to compete in Phnom Penh through the organization by TV stations and/or designated companies that support the competition. In this way, we will have sports resources that do not decrease in the long run. We shall not let the issue of lacking fighters happen when the time to compete comes […] we will continue to work together to make sports of that sort related to Khmer martial arts become the ongoing growing subject […]./.