Minister of National Defence Tea Banh has asked to reformulate the working group tasked with building the Victory Monument ahead of the 25th anniversary in 2023 of the 1998 comprehensive peace achieved through Prime Minister Hun Sen’s win-win policy.

Tea Banh also suggested that the policy be incorporated into national school curriculum to promote the values it espouses.

The minister made the suggestion on December 30 while presiding over the celebration of the 23rd anniversary marking the end of civil war in Cambodia under the win-win policy and the third anniversary of the launch of the Win-Win Monument in Prek Ta Sek commune of Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changvar district.

“Following the recommendation of [Prime Minister Hun Sen], I would like to urge the working group to hold a workshop to study the formation of a national school curriculum based on the content and values of the win-win policy,” he said.

He said that the workshop should be organised around three topics: First, clarify the meaning and definition of the win-win policy and examples of the process of implementing win-win political agreements in various conflicts and locales using specific historical evidence.

Second, discuss the establishment of a procedure that identifies historically important sites of military battles or events in Cambodia in order to construct historical markers and win-win monuments at them which can help present evidence, arguments and testimonies about the implementation of the win-win policy.

Third, discuss the establishment of a central national museum on achievements stemming from the policy.

“In the process related to this achievement, we have to revise [the composition] of the existing inter-ministerial working group as some members of its members have transferred to new tasks. Additionally, this group performed its tasks well in 2018 by holding an exhibition on the achievements of the win-win policy, including the events of the past 20 years,” he said.

Tea Banh said Hun Sen had chosen December 29 as the day to celebrate the policy with an official national festival – which will not be a public holiday but will instead be a national day of remembrance – and also to celebrate the anniversary of the ending of the civil war and the full territorial unification of Cambodia through the policy.

Nem Sowath, head of the Win-Win Monument Construction Committee, presented a report at the event saying that the working group had also received recommendations and approval from Hun Sen at the meeting on February 2, 2020, that touched on Tea Banh’s three major topics of interest.

“Another [recommendation from Hun Sen] from June 2020 was to hold national workshops for reviewing and promoting the content of the win-win policy both nationally and abroad,” he said.