2 hours, 41 minutes ago
PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday
that he wants a luxury golf course to be built in the former Khmer
Rouge stronghold of Pailin, adding that even ex-rebels liked to hit
the greens.
"Now if Pailin had a golf course, it would be a good thing," the
premier said, speaking at a road construction project in the remote
town near the Thai border that was one of the last refuges of the
communist guerrillas.
The area is already home to a number of casinos, and has become
increasingly open to tourism since the Khmer Rouge surrendered in
1996, which was the last year that Hun Sen was in Pailin.
In Pailin "the sound of monks chanting has replaced the sound of
gunfire," Hun Sen said, adding that Pailin governor Ee Chhean, a
former rebel fighter, was no stranger to the greens.
Cambodia doubled its number of luxury golf courses last year to four
and hopes to have eight by 2010 in a bid to lure more high-end tourism
from the fast-growing s****t in Asia.
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