Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday urged Cambodia’s artists to perpetuate the nation’s cultural integrity by refraining from copying foreign art.
Addressing a crowd at Phnom Penh’s Chaktomuk Conference Hall on National Culture Day, Mr. Hun Sen said that contemporary artists had a duty to uphold the standards of those who came before them.
“Please avoid stealing and copying the achievements of foreign art…. It is a disgrace to the nation and an action that is against the culture and civilization of the Kingdom of Cambodia,” Mr. Hun Sen said.
The prime minister gave no examples of the artistic indiscretions to which he referred but urged the Ministry of Culture to ensure that youths are well informed on the laws and ethics of plagiarism.
The Ministry of Culture, the prime minister said, must also ensure that ethnic minorities and Khmer people come together to share art and culture, likening a non-diverse society to a garden with flowers of only one color.
Mr. Hun Sen also asked the crowd to keep eating and cooking traditional Khmer foods such as pickled cucumbers, papaya with fermented fish and smoked fish.
