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
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