Cambodia Awards Ethnic Chinese With Respect, TrustPHNOM PENH, July 13 (Bernama) -- The Cambodian government and people always respect and trust the ethnic Chinese living in the kingdom, as they have contributed a lot to the economic and social development, Kong Triv, one of Cambodia's four ethnic Chinese senators, told China's news agency, Xinhua, recently.
"The ethnic Chinese in Cambodia can stick to the tradition of working hard, remaining faithful and kind-hearted, and seeking harmony with other peoples, and this is the main reason that makes the mainstream society accept them as one part within," said Triv, president of the KT Pacific Group Limited, a top syndicate of the kingdom of timber, steel, cigarette and beverage production, real estate development and airport management.
After they make some money, they not only have it to themselves, but back-feed the society through helping the poor and donating to charities, which in effect earn them wide recognition, said the tycoon, who spends tens of thousands of U.S. dollars each year for education and social welfares.
"With business success and social contribution, the elite get promoted into the government and the parliament to help govern the country in deputy of the people, which is the top prize the kingdom gives to all the ethnic Chinese," he added.
Besides, the Cambodian government adheres to the policy of national reconciliation and attaches much importance to the role of the ethnic Chinese in the economic and social developments, said Triv.
Meanwhile, China is becoming stronger and more developed, thus providing a powerful lever for the overseas Chinese to perform their contributions to the countries where they stay, he added.
During his term at the Senate starting in January 2006, Triv said, he became one of the witnesses of the country's determination to have China as its trustworthy partner and the ethnic Chinese as one of its major constructive forces.
"We can see that a lot of strategic bridges, roads and power stations were and still are being built by Chinese contractors, which embodies the Cambodian government's trust in them," he said.
"Whatever difficulties Cambodia faces, China is always there to help us," he said, adding that his company also joined hands with China's mainland developers to process agricultural products and conduct real estate project in the kingdom.
Triv, who started out selling bicycles and trading various wares before war ravaged the country, now own or has shares in the country's pivotal industries.
"I do business like the ants and swallows, which can only harvest a little at time but will always keep moving on," he said.
Due to his exemplary role, King Norodom Sihanouk in 1994 entitled him as Lord, a supreme title for Cambodian civilians.
"As a senator and businessman, I will continue living up to my duty of participating in politics, contributing suggestions to the government, serving the ethnic Chinese full-heartedly, and promoting the development of the Cambodian-Chinese friendship and the bilateral economic and trade exchanges," vowed Triv, one of some 700,000 ethnic Chinese in Cambodia, which account for around five percent of the kingdom's total population.
