PHNOM PENH: Minister of National Defense Tea Banh expressed his desire to build ‘peace parks’ in all provinces. The parks will be named in honor of Prime Minister Hun Sen, to commemorate the leader who brought peace to Cambodia.

A ceremony was held at the Ministry of National Defence on June 19 to celebrate the 46th anniversary of the Prime Minister’s journey to gather support in Vietnam to overthrow the Khmer Rouge. Deputy Prime Minister Tea Banh made his request for provincial parks at the ceremony and said that they will remind the next generation who brought peace and maintained it in the country.

DPM Tea Banh made the recommendation to Prime Minister Hun Sen, who quickly approved the project to establish parks in his name. They will use his Cambodian honorifics and be called, “Techo Santepheap Parks.”

June 20th is celebrated as the day Prime Minister Hun Sen and his comrades began their journey to free the nation from the genocidal Pol Pot regime in 1977. As the story goes, Hun Sen was only 25 when he, along with four other loyal fighters, left their wives and children to embark on a dangerous mission to gather support in Vietnam for Cambodia’s liberation.

His campaign is credited for the liberation of the nation from the Khmer Rouge, after he returned with the Vietnamese army to overthrow Pol Pot on January 7, 1979. This ended the genocide of millions and set the country on the path toward unity and development, which it continues on today.