Cambodia: A land up for sale?
By Robert Walker
BBC World Service
Ramon Fil says he was tricked into signing away more land
Romam Fil is moving rapidly through a dense patch of forest. Every few
metres he pauses and points to edible plants and roots that the Jarai people of
north eastern Cambodia have relied on for generations.
Then suddenly the trees come to an end. In front of us is a vast
clearing, the red earth churned up and dotted with tree stumps.
Beyond that, stretching as far as we can see is a rubber plantation, the
young trees are still thin and spindly and sway gently in the breeze.
This is the scene of a battle the Jarai people of Kong Yu village have
been fighting, and losing for the past five years.
It started when local officials called a meeting and said they needed
some of the forest.
"They told us they wanted to give part of our land to disabled soldiers,"
said Mr Fil.
"They said if you don't give us the land, we'll take it. So we agreed to
give them a small area, just 50 hectares."
They cleared areas where our people had their farms, and they
destroyed our burial ground
Romam Fil
The villagers say they were then invited to a party and when many of them
were drunk they were asked to put their thumbprints on documents.
"Most of us don't know how to read or write, and the chiefs did not
explain what the thumbprints were for," said Mr Fil.
The villagers later found they had signed away more than 400 hectares -
and the land was not for disabled soldiers, but a private company who began
making way for the rubber plantation.
"They cleared areas where our people had their farms, and they destroyed
our burial ground," said Mr Fil.
Political connections?
Lawyers for the owner of the plantation company, a powerful businesswoman
called Keat Kolney, insist she bought the land legally.
The Cambodian government has been accused of undermining the poor
But groups advocating for local land rights in Cambodia say part of the
reason she was able to acquire the land is because she is married to a senior
official in the ministry of land management.
It is not the only case where those closely connected to senior
government figures are alleged to have taken land from poor Cambodians.
Five years ago, in north-western Pursat province a large grazing area was
turned into an economic land concession - land the government grants to private
firms for investment in large-scale agriculture.
It was allocated to a politically well-connected company called
Pheapimex.
"They just came one day with their bulldozers and started clearing the
land straight away," said Chamran, a farmer in the area.
"So we organised a demonstration but then a grenade was thrown among us -
we don't know who by. Nine people were injured. The military police pointed a
gun in my stomach and said if you hold another demonstration we will kill you."
Transparent process
Under the law, land concessions granted by the government should not
exceed 10,000 hectares but the Pheapimex concession, although much of it is so
far inactive, covers 300,000 hectares.
Global Witness, an environmental pressure group, estimates Pheapimex now
controls 7% of Cambodia's land area.
The requirement is that you have enough capital, you have the
technology to develop the land
Phay Siphan
Download the podcast
The organisation says the company's owners, a prominent senator and his
wife, have strong links to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Pheapimex did not reply to requests for a response to these allegations,
but the Cambodian government maintains that the process by which private
companies acquire land is both transparent and legal.
"The requirement is not to be close to the prime minister," said Phay
Siphan, spokesman for Cambodia's Council of Ministers.
"The requirement is that you have enough capital, you have the technology
to develop the land."
'Kleptocratic state'
It is not just in rural areas that people complain of losing land.
Cambodia's recent stability, following decades of violence, has attracted
a rapid boom in tourism and a race among foreign and local entrepreneurs for
prime real estate on which to build new resorts.
Farmers have been threatened with jail if they demonstrate
Many of the country's beaches have already been bought up.
And rights groups estimate that 30,000 people have been forcibly evicted
from their homes in the capital Phnom Penh over the past five years to make way
for new developments.
The roots of the problem date back to the 1970s when the brutal Khmer
Rouge regime abolished private property and destroyed many title documents.
A land law passed in 2001 recognises the rights of people who have lived
on land without dispute for five years or more, but in many cases it is not
being implemented.
The UN estimates hundreds of thousands of Cambodians are now affected by
land disputes.
The government has said that they are not forcefully taking land
from farmers
But land is not the only state asset being sold at an alarming rate.
Beginning in the 1990s, large swathes of the country's rich forests were
bought up by logging companies.
Now sizeable mining and gas concessions are also being granted to private
enterprises.
Eleanor Nichol of Global Witness believes individual members of the
Cambodian government, right up to the highest levels, are benefiting.
"Essentially what we're dealing with here is a kleptocratic state which
is using the country and its assets as their own personal slush fund," she
said.
The Cambodian government rejects these allegations.
"They could accuse [the government of] anything they like. Cambodia
operates under a modernised state of law. Everyone is together under one law,"
said Phay Siphan.
Back in Kong Yu village, the Jarai people are waiting to hear the result
of suit filed in a local court to try to get their land back.
"If the company gets the land, many of our people will starve," says Mr
Fil.
"If we lose the land, we have lost everything."
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Cambodia Discussion (CAMDISC) - www.cambodia.org" group.
This is an unmoderated forum. Please refrain from using foul language.
Thank you for your understanding. Peace among us and in Cambodia.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected]
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/camdisc
Learn more - http://www.cambodia.org
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
