Written by DAP NEWS -- Sunday, 06 September 2009 09:12
The Cambodian Government will provide land for the families of retried soldiers as a pension, according to a Government press released obtained Saturday.
The Cambodian Government will provide land for the families of retried soldiers as a pension, according to a Government press released obtained Saturday.
Soldiers have sacrificed their lives to protect the country and the Government needs to strengthen system of the social safety families, said the statement. The policy will apparently help to encourage and promote the value of the armed forces, as well as actng as a system to strengthen the social welfare and the kingdom’s territorial integrity. The soldiers will not be isolated or marginalized, the Government.
“Prime Minister Hun Sen recommended the withdrawal of all economic concessions that will not be exercised according to contract. Those lands will be divided as social concessions for retired armed forces,” the statement continued.
The Prime Minister request came during a weekly cabinet meeting. He asked the Ministry of Economy and Finance and other relevant agencies to organize the legal regulations for providing a plots of land for retried soldiers, said Khieu Kanarith, Government spokesman and Inform- ation Minister, at a Friday ceremony with Cambodian, Thai, and Vietnam- ese journalists in Kandal province. “The soldier families will get a plot of land about a hectare or two hectares for land for planting agricultural crops and the land will not be able to be sold, transferred, rented, and it will be considered as a pension for their retirement and their valued property,” he said. “The legal procedure will be organized this year and will be implemented in early 2010.”
But not everyone was happy.
“I perhaps will not get a plot of land because I already retired,” said Som Chanthy, a former soldier at the National Defense Ministry. “It is unfortunate for me and my family. I also served the nation for my whole life. But I will wait to see more details about it.” He conceded that he currently receives a monthly pension from the Veteran and Social Work Ministry and added, “my son is very happy about that news because he is a soldier student at That Pong cadet school in Kandal province.”
He said he now works as a phone card vendor near Sampove Meas pagoda in downtown Phnom Penh.
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