Dear Editor,

In her article "Sport complex under threat" (Phnom Penh Post, September

13 - 26, 2002, p.14) Helen Grant Ross showed the comprehensiveness of the design

of the Olympic Stadium and the genius of the architect, Mr. Vann Molyvann, who designed

it.

Its construction cost quite a bit though to the Cambodian nation in terms of its

scarce resources, of its alienation to China's ideological interests, and of the

suffering of the residents in the vicinity whose old houses had to be demolished

and who were coerced to move away to make way for it - and for villas and other houses

of the rich and powerful.

That was creative destruction though, and what came out was a splendid, imposing

and praiseworthy stadium. It was an integral part of a city of the living which Phnom

Penh really was. And this stadium together with all the space around it should be

preserved and maintained in its original design as part of Khmer heritage.

What is being done in the space which is an integral part of the stadium is simply

destructive creation. It would require an exercise of creative destruction in order

to put an end to this destructive creation.

- Lao Mong Hay, Phnom Penh