Dear Editor,

I

strongly disagree with the government's proposals that place an

emphasis on defence in next year's national budget. If we do weight

defence, my first question is with whom might we fight?

If we

think war between Cambodia and Thailand could occur due to the Preah

Vihear case, why not bring the case to the International Court of

Justice now? The solution to this problem is very simple. We should not

make it worse by destroying our own people and resources.

To me, a

proposal for increasing the budget on defence does not make any sense.

Taking a very different view from the proposal, I think health,

education and agriculture should be heavily emphasised. Poverty

reduction is the prime goal for Cambodia as a least developed country.

Spending more money on defence doesn't have any contribution to reduce

poverty in this country.

Cambodia's Millennium Development Goals

indicate that our national budget should be heavily emphasised on the

three sectors mentioned above. Unfortunately, only a relatively small

percentage of the national budget is planned to be allocated to these.

I beg the government and the parliament to reconsider this proposal for the sake of all Cambodian people.

OU Sopheary

Phnom Penh

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