Cambodia commemorated the 44th Remembrance Day of “Journey to Overthrow the Pol Pot Genocidal Regime” in Koh Thmar village, Tonloung commune, Memut district, Thbong Khmum province this morning.
The inauguration ceremony of an inscription in Vietnam and other achievements in Cambodia as well as the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Building and tree planting ceremony in Cambodia were part of the commemoration.
The event was presided over by Samdech Pichey Sena Tea Banh, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defence and his Vietnamese counterpart H.E. Phan Van Giang, with many senior civil and military officials of both countries in attendance.
In a Facebook message this morning, Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia said, “June 20 is the 44th anniversary of the day that I decided with pain to use my life to invest in the struggle to rescue the Cambodian people from the Pol Pot genocide regime (June 20, 1977-June 2021).”
The Premier continued that even though now, he and the Cambodian people are living in happiness, he has never forgotten the time when he left the country and the people who were suffering, especially his poor pregnant wife. “I had no better choice because we could not ask for pity from the Pol Pot group. It was that risky and tearful choice had brought about happiness and progress [to the country] until currently,” he added.
On June 20 1977, Samdech Techo Hun Sen, along with four comrades, fled Cambodia to Vietnam through Tonloung commune, Memut district, Kampong Cham province (currently Thbong Khmum province), to form a movement to liberate Cambodia and its people. In 1978, Samdech Techo Hun Sen became a founding member of the United Front for the National Salvation of Kampuchea (UFNSK).
In collaboration with other patriotic movements and with the support of Vietnamese volunteer forces, on Jan. 7, 1979, the UFNSK rescued Cambodia and its people from the genocidal regime of Democratic Kampuchea.
Source: Agency Kampuchea Press