Red Cross Declines Funding Women's Statue
By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Original re****t from Phnom Penh
19 March 2008
The Cambodian Red Cross said Tuesday it would be unable to fund a
statue in memory of women and victims of the Khmer Rouge.
The statue, of woman and child, proposed by Youk Chhang, director of
the Do***entation Center of Cambodia, would commemorate the many women
who struggled to rebuild Cambodia following the fall of the Khmer
Rouge.
Youk Chhang put forward the idea to the Cambodian Red Cross, led by
Bun Rany, wife of Prime Minister Hun Sen, in a proposal on
International Women's Day, March 8.
"We can only submit our appreciation and respect to Youk Chhang for
his good initiative," Cambodian Red Cross Cabinet Chief Men Neary
Sopheak said. "However, the Cambodian Red Cross believes the
realization [of the statue] exceeds its current capacity."
Youk Chhang said he did not regret the decision, but urged the
government, the Khmer Rouge tribunal courts and all Cambodian citizens
to consider common compensation for Khmer Rouge atrocities.
The proposed statue seeks to provide some of that reconciliation.
Twenty meters tall, the statue would stand in Phnom Penh's Hun Sen
Park, the bottom three of seven parts buried in the ground, to
commemorate 3 million dead or disappeared under the Khmer Rouge, Youk
Chhang proposed.
The woman would be holding a child in her arms, to symbolize
remembrance of the genocide for later generations. The woman would
face west, into the setting sun, her long shadow a reminder of the
past, her face aglow at dusk, to look toward the future, Youk Chhang
said in his proposal.
He said Wednesday he would continue to seek sponsors for the statue.
|
