Newly-minted Pailin provincial governor Ban Sreymom became the nation’s second woman to hold a provincial governorship. Photo supplied
Minister of Interior Sar Kheng on December 21 congratulated new Pailin provincial governor Ban Sreymom as she became the nation’s second woman to hold a provincial governorship.
Sar Kheng expressed his support for Sreymom and encouraged her to draw on her leadership experience as a parliamentarian to coordinate local government efforts to develop the province further. He called on officials at all levels to offer their cooperation to the new governor.
“I request that the provincial council, the deputy provincial governors, subordinate departments and units, civil servants, armed forces . . . as well as the general public in Pailin province support Her Excellency Ban Sreymom in her efforts to maintain and strengthen peace, stability, security and public order for the benefit of the people of this province and growth in all sectors,” he said.
Sar Kheng advised all capital and provincial governors to continue implementation of the so-called safe village/commune policy and mechanisms to resolve issues raised by the public in an efficient and timely manner. He advocated adopting dispute resolution policies that could function outside the judicial system to avoid and avert a backlog of court cases.
“The policy is directly enmeshed with the security of the people’s livelihoods, so the implementation of the policy gets a lot of support,” he said, adding that the local authorities, particularly the governors of the capital and provinces, have helped to solve people’s disputes outside of the court system.
Sreymom thanked the government for putting its faith in her and, in particular, providing an opportunity to her as a Khmer woman to perform a high-level leadership role. She vowed to learn from her predecessor and colleagues as they continue the work of developing the province.
“I vow to do my best to accept people’s participation, opinions and cooperation so that we may best learn from each other, to justify the trust placed in us by the senior leadership and to fulfil the hopes of residents in Pailin province,” she said.
In the context of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Sreymom said: “I will strive to cooperate closely with [officials] at all local and national institutions in order to overcome the difficulties imposed by this crisis.”
Sreymom replaces Phan Chantul who was transferred to the interior ministry as an undersecretary of state.
Sar Kheng also praised Chanthul for his leadership as the previous governor, crediting him with successful efforts to coordinate development across the province and achieving resolution of many challenging problems and proposals of residents during his tenure.
