Speech at the 17th Anniversary of the National Cultural Day and the Closing of the National Youth Arts Festival

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Master artists, veteran artists, artists, professors and students, 

Today, it is my pleasure to once again attend the 17th Anniversary of the 3 March National Cultural Day organized under the theme of “Youth for National Culture,” and the closing of the National Youth Arts Festival. The March 3 National Culture Day is a very important national day celebrated for the cause of cultural preservation and promotion. In this spirit, the Royal Government of Cambodia has designated the 3rd of March as National Cultural Day to be celebrated nationwide aimed to boost patriotism and passion for culture among the people from all walks of life both inside and outside the country.

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Selected Impromptu Comments at 17th Anniversary of National Cultural Day and the Closing of the Nationwide Youth Arts Festival

In addition to the prepared text, Samdech Techo made extempore comments on a wide range of topics relating to culture, which have been selected and translated unofficially as followed:

Voluntarily Accept New Culture

It is important to preserve culture for generations to come. Culture is not an invasion. Frankly speaking, it is juts that people accept other culture voluntarily. France spent almost one century in Cambodia. What culture did they leave for Cambodia? Our people and Buddhist monks had done whatever they could to keep their identity – language and alphabets so to speak. Some countries have adopted French language after the French control. Cambodia did not. That was our strong point from the past. We should look into the strong point from the past to strengthen our present and future stand on culture.

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