Ministry of Justice officials have finalised the first draft of the Legal and Judicial Reform Programme 2023-2028 and the National Policy Document on Covenants, following a two-day Vipassana meditation retreat in Koh Kong province to break away from its busy workplace in Phnom Penh.

The July 22-23 Vipassana was led by Chin Malin, ministry secretary of state and chief of the Permanent Secretariat of the Steering Committee for Legal and Judicial Reform.

Malin said the two-day programme was organised to provide an opportunity for the Legal and Judicial Reform working group to focus on meditating together to find shortcomings, give opinions and exchange ideas.

He said the group revised the policy and strategy documents of the Legal and Judicial Reform Programme and the National Policy documents, which will be submitted to a ministry leadership meeting chaired by Minister Koeut Rith for review. Decisions on further action would be made in the near future.

“The programme is a new methodological mechanism that separates us from our busy offices, and the associated background noise. This is why we went to work in Koh Kong,” he said.

“We took a break from Phnom Penh and sat and meditated, allowing us to focus on using all of our collective wisdom to prepare these documents,” he added.

“[We] will submit the first draft to the minister, who will review it and provide his advice before it is submitted to a ballot in a national workshop,” he said.