CPP Tycoon-Senator Ly Yong PhatBy Cheang Sokha
Phnom Penh Post, Issue 15 / 26, December 29, 2006 - January 11, 2007
A woman was shot in the foot when police and security guards fired guns to repel Sre Ambel farmers resisting the destruction of their orchards, now inside 20,000 hectares of concessions the government has granted Cambodian People's Party (CPP) Senator Ly Yong Phat.
According to letters obtained by the Post, on August 2 the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Chan Sarun, signed a 90-year lease of 9,700 ha in Sre Ambel to the Koh Kong Sugar Industry Company for planting sugar cane, and 9,400 ha in Botum Sakor district to the Koh Kong Plantation Company. Both companies belong to Yong Phat. The maximum legal concession is 10,000 ha.
However, much of the land within the concessions is already occupied by people who have been farming it since as long ago as 1979. Human rights workers said Yong Phat's companies had agreed to pay the farmers fair compensation, but they appeared to be reneging: the companies were disputing farmers' titles, or else paying only token compensation, and were bulldozing their way around the smallholders' crops and orchards.
This had led to confrontations, and on December 15 a man who had been active in protests against the companies' actions was found axed to death.
Pich Suon, a villager in Chhouk village, said most of his fruit trees were damaged by company tractors clearing the land and security guards prevented people from entering their farms.
He said the company had paid a little money for the damaged fruit trees but no compensation for his land. In future, people would have no land to farm, he said.
"Everybody here is facing the same problem," Suon said, "We tried to protest but we were fired at by the guards to disperse us."
Seng Sokhim, a lawyer at Community Legal Education Center (CLEC) who visited the site, said more than 400 families in Chhouk, Trapaing Kandorl and Chi Khor villages in Chi Khor Leu commune of Sre Ambel district had protested many times to the company that bulldozing had affected their farms.
Sokhim said some people had occupied the land since 1979; others had been squatting on the land since 1990. Their farms consisted of mango and cashew trees and watermelons.
"I think the company should suspend bulldozing the land and negotiate with people about the impact," Sokhim said. "The government should study the impact on the people before it grants land concessions like these."
Sokhim said that on December 15, An In, 35, who had been active in protesting Yong Phat's occupation of the farms, was fatally axed three times on the back of his head. His body was found 100 meters from his brother's home.
Sokhim said local police said In was axed to death in a revenge attack. NGOs continue to investigate the case to see whether his death was related to the land dispute or because of a personal dispute.
Am Sam Ath, a senior monitor with human rights group Licadho, said that on November 12, the president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, Kem Sokha, Licadho's Kek Galabru and CLEC’s Yeng Virak met with provincial and district authorities, company representative and villagers, and it was agreed that Yong Phat's company would not bulldoze the people's land until it had reached agreement with each farmer.
But the company had continued to use tractors and bulldozers to clear around the people's farms, damaging parts of them and preventing access, he said.
"The company did not respect the agreement," Sam Ath said. "So far there is no solution at all between the people and the company."
Sam Ath said some people were threatened by the company's security guards and some were forced to receive between 150,000 to 300,000 riel ($38 to $75) for their plot of land.
Heng San, a representative of the Koh Kong Sugar Industry Company, said most of the disputed land had been cleared illegally for slash-and-burn agriculture by villagers who had no documents to validate their claims to possession. He said the company will compensate those villagers who can produce documentary title if tractor-clearing had affected their land.
"The land does not belong to our company; we have leased it from the government," San told the Post on December 25. "We will return the land to the state after our contract expires. Our company aims to provide jobs for people; we don't want to take advantage of them."
San said the company had cleared about 700 ha of land in Sre Ambel and had planted sugarcane.
He said local people had been excited to hear that the company was going to develop the area and he accused outsiders of provoking people into protesting for their own ends.
"Our company has invested $100 million on the projects," San said, "We will set up a sugar factory in 2009 and thousands of people in the area will be employed."
San said most of the people in the villages are jobless. At the moment roughly 100 villagers are working for the company and get paid about 10,000 riel a day.
Suon Sitha, deputy governor of Sre Ambel and chief of the land measuring committee in the district, said he acknowledged that some people had protested about the effect on their land of the company's bulldozing.
Bin Sam Ol, deputy governor of Koh Kong, who is coordinating efforts to solve the dispute, said he would drive to the site to inspect the situation. He said the government had allowed Yong Phat's company to invest in the area for the benefit of local residents, not to make trouble for them.
"Before protesting, people should have land titles or recognition letters from local authorities," Sam Ol said, "The company should discuss with people if they agree to sell their land."
He said just over 30 families in the villages had been affected by the land-bulldozing, and more than 20 of them had already reached agreement with the company.
According to letters obtained by the Post, on August 2 the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Chan Sarun, signed a 90-year lease of 9,700 ha in Sre Ambel to the Koh Kong Sugar Industry Company for planting sugar cane, and 9,400 ha in Botum Sakor district to the Koh Kong Plantation Company. Both companies belong to Yong Phat. The maximum legal concession is 10,000 ha.
However, much of the land within the concessions is already occupied by people who have been farming it since as long ago as 1979. Human rights workers said Yong Phat's companies had agreed to pay the farmers fair compensation, but they appeared to be reneging: the companies were disputing farmers' titles, or else paying only token compensation, and were bulldozing their way around the smallholders' crops and orchards.
This had led to confrontations, and on December 15 a man who had been active in protests against the companies' actions was found axed to death.
Pich Suon, a villager in Chhouk village, said most of his fruit trees were damaged by company tractors clearing the land and security guards prevented people from entering their farms.
He said the company had paid a little money for the damaged fruit trees but no compensation for his land. In future, people would have no land to farm, he said.
"Everybody here is facing the same problem," Suon said, "We tried to protest but we were fired at by the guards to disperse us."
Seng Sokhim, a lawyer at Community Legal Education Center (CLEC) who visited the site, said more than 400 families in Chhouk, Trapaing Kandorl and Chi Khor villages in Chi Khor Leu commune of Sre Ambel district had protested many times to the company that bulldozing had affected their farms.
Sokhim said some people had occupied the land since 1979; others had been squatting on the land since 1990. Their farms consisted of mango and cashew trees and watermelons.
"I think the company should suspend bulldozing the land and negotiate with people about the impact," Sokhim said. "The government should study the impact on the people before it grants land concessions like these."
Sokhim said that on December 15, An In, 35, who had been active in protesting Yong Phat's occupation of the farms, was fatally axed three times on the back of his head. His body was found 100 meters from his brother's home.
Sokhim said local police said In was axed to death in a revenge attack. NGOs continue to investigate the case to see whether his death was related to the land dispute or because of a personal dispute.
Am Sam Ath, a senior monitor with human rights group Licadho, said that on November 12, the president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, Kem Sokha, Licadho's Kek Galabru and CLEC’s Yeng Virak met with provincial and district authorities, company representative and villagers, and it was agreed that Yong Phat's company would not bulldoze the people's land until it had reached agreement with each farmer.
But the company had continued to use tractors and bulldozers to clear around the people's farms, damaging parts of them and preventing access, he said.
"The company did not respect the agreement," Sam Ath said. "So far there is no solution at all between the people and the company."
Sam Ath said some people were threatened by the company's security guards and some were forced to receive between 150,000 to 300,000 riel ($38 to $75) for their plot of land.
Heng San, a representative of the Koh Kong Sugar Industry Company, said most of the disputed land had been cleared illegally for slash-and-burn agriculture by villagers who had no documents to validate their claims to possession. He said the company will compensate those villagers who can produce documentary title if tractor-clearing had affected their land.
"The land does not belong to our company; we have leased it from the government," San told the Post on December 25. "We will return the land to the state after our contract expires. Our company aims to provide jobs for people; we don't want to take advantage of them."
San said the company had cleared about 700 ha of land in Sre Ambel and had planted sugarcane.
He said local people had been excited to hear that the company was going to develop the area and he accused outsiders of provoking people into protesting for their own ends.
"Our company has invested $100 million on the projects," San said, "We will set up a sugar factory in 2009 and thousands of people in the area will be employed."
San said most of the people in the villages are jobless. At the moment roughly 100 villagers are working for the company and get paid about 10,000 riel a day.
Suon Sitha, deputy governor of Sre Ambel and chief of the land measuring committee in the district, said he acknowledged that some people had protested about the effect on their land of the company's bulldozing.
Bin Sam Ol, deputy governor of Koh Kong, who is coordinating efforts to solve the dispute, said he would drive to the site to inspect the situation. He said the government had allowed Yong Phat's company to invest in the area for the benefit of local residents, not to make trouble for them.
"Before protesting, people should have land titles or recognition letters from local authorities," Sam Ol said, "The company should discuss with people if they agree to sell their land."
He said just over 30 families in the villages had been affected by the land-bulldozing, and more than 20 of them had already reached agreement with the company.
4 comments:
Cambodian Senator works for himself not for his people?
How much more does he want? Why can't we share? Or is he blind by money? You will anyways old man? Let leave some legacy behind.
Ly Yong Phat is one of the most crooked man in Cambodia. People can study his biography how this animal can make his monies?
This guy is just a maffia that give money to Hun Sen, Sok An et other crook CPP officials..and criminal stars...
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