DECLARATION of His Royal Majesty Preah Bat Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk
Varman, King of Cambodia, Beijing, 9 July 1994
From 18 March 1970 to today, 9 July 1994
our Cambodian nation and people have known only the deepest and most pitiful
misery and disaster and looking to the future we Cambodians still cannot see the
light of peace and happiness.
T he leaders who continue their pitiless
killing of each other should immediately abandon their mutual hatred, the
neglect of the supreme national interest, the mistaking of personal interest and
ambition and party interest to be the highest values of patriotism.
At
present the international community and the countries who are genuine friends of
Cambodia have the deepest regret at the increasingly serious events occurring in
Cambodia. They say that in the present Cambodian catastrophe, the fighting of
Khmers against Khmers, there can be no winners or losers except one loser the
ordinary, poor people of Cambodia.
It is an undoubted fact that the
ordinary, poor individuals in Khmer society are suffering growing and
incomparable misery. Wherever there is war, it is the ordinary, poor people who
lose their lives, or - if not their lives - suffer the greatest harm of every
kind and lose even their few possessions, have their villages destroyed, have
their houses burned to cinders, lose their chickens, ducks, pigs and buffaloes,
lose their rice fields and gardens, lose their brothers and sisters, sons and
daughters, lose their arms and legs, lose their sight, and lose their honor as
members of the Khmer Angkorian race.
At this time, when Vietnam and Laos
are progressing in every field, including social and economic development, and
their people are uniting together in peace, freedom and happiness, we Khmers,
who boast that we are of the Khmer Angkorian race, instead hate each other, are
happy only when killing each other, happy only when destroying our own nation,
destroying our own country, destroying our own national riches. Having seen
this, the international community and the genuine friends of our country do not
respect us. Even if they smile and are polite to us, in their hearts they look
down on our Khmer nation as a mediocre race.
In view of this hellish
situation, all Khmers, including all leaders, should agree with their hearts and
souls to cease fighting, cease killing each other and instead agree to shake
hands once more, unite together, not forgetting that we are of the same blood,
we are all Khmers, and as Khmers we should pity our country and our
compatriots.
If we can completely abandon the deception of taking our
personal and group interests to be the national interest and if we return to the
truths of Lord Buddha, the Greatest Teacher, the truths of compassion,
impartiality, non-violence, solidarity, peace and fraternity, we - regardless of
which side we are from - can unite and save Cambodia from falling into ruin and
allow it to raise its head and not be ashamed in front of other
countries.
In conclusion, I hope that all leaders on both sides will
follow the poor, ordinary people on the path of unity, non-violence and peace:
the conditions which we Khmers must all reach if our Cambodian people and
motherland are to survive in independence, unity and territorial integrity into
the future.
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