The heartless Scrooge prime couple of Cambodia

The multi-millionaire but heartless prime minister (R) and his heartless Cambodian Red Cross President wife (L) are totally ignoring the plight of poor people coming to Phnom Penh, the capital, to ask for relief. Claiming that "If one gives something, the same people will come back again," the heartless couple rather ignores the misery surrounding them. (Photo RFA)

Friday, June 30, 2006
Hun Sen: nothing for farmers coming to Phnom Penh to ask for help relief

By Kong Sothanarith
Cambodge Soir
Translated from French by KI-Media

Farmers coming from the provinces to ask for help relief in Phnom Penh are not the needy ones, therefore, it is out of the question to give them anything at all. Prime minister Hun Sen flatly said during a graduation ceremony on Thursday. According to Hun Sen, these men and women who are camping under the tamarind trees near the Royal Palace waiting to receive relief donations are not the “real poor.” “The real destitutes are not here, in Phnom Penh. They are in the provinces,” Hun Sen said about those who came to the capital, they came here because they were pushed by a political party. “The real victims [of natural disasters] could not afford to come here. In the past, some told us that that they came from the province of Banteay Meanchey. But when they were put in a truck to take them back home, some got off in the province of Kompong Chhnang, others got off near the Monivong bridge or in Kien Svay,” the prime minister argued. To Hun Sen, the responsible party for these arrivals in the capital is the SRP. “The situation in Cambodia is not the same as in Sudan or Somalia. Here, we don’t leave anybody to die of hunger,” the prime minister added. “If one gives something, the same people will come back again,” he affirmed.

Presenting various reasons, most of them generally linked to land disputes, several hundreds people came to the capital since the beginning of the year to ask for help from Members of Parliament or the government, they settled in front of Wat Botum pagoda. Responsible in the opposition party help them find the support [they need].

Thun Saray, the president of the human rights defense NGO Adhoc, had sharply criticized the statements of the prime minister, qualifying them as “unreasonable” from the mouth of a leader. “He should have understood all the aspects of the problem. It is the hunger that pushes the wolf [to wander] outside the forest. Each of them has their pride and nobody want to be ashamed. If people have [food] to eat, they would not come begging. In these groups, there are very few cheaters,” the NGO responsible said. According to Thun Saray, the root of the problem lies in the land grabbing of thousands of hectares of land by a handful of people. “The natural resources are not allotted equitably. Those who do not have land or own less than half a hectare of land represent 25% of the farmers. If the government ignores this, then it cannot reduce poverty,” Thun Saray said.

Ho Vann, SRP MP from Phnom Penh, considers also that if these people did not have problems, then “they would not [choose to] come to sleep under trees.” “It is the responsibility of the government and the Red Cross to help these people, however, they do nothing. Only the Royal Palace, the NGOs and our party that are giving them something,” the opposition MP deplored.