Pursat village chief: “I’m no longer afraid of death because I serve the gov’t since 1986”

Thou Samuth (Photo: Monduleko, RFA)

LAND-GRABBERS Choeung Sopheap (L) and Lao Meng Khin (R) next to Sihamoni. This land-grabbing couple owns the Pheapimex company

Pursat village chief leads protest against the Pheapimex company

25 Dec 2011
By Mondul Keo
RFA
Translated from Khmer by Soch
Click here to read the original article in Khmer

Thou Samuth said: “I’m no longer afraid of death because I work to serve the gov’t since 86 (1986). Since I got out school, I served the nation since then up to the point that I cannot help the people resolve this problem. They [Pheapimex] encroached on my people’s properties, and they also affected me, don’t they know how much I suffer? I saw the people suffering with my own eyes, and I have to help them. I saw the forestry department chief, the environment chief, the company, they are all inflicting suffering on the people and I have to help the people, I don’t want to be the village chief anymore.”

Land dispute between the Pheapimex company and villagers in Krakor district, Pursat province, still drags on the past many years without any solution in sight.

Thou Samuth, the Kralanh village chief in Pursat province, gave an interview after Pheapimex pulled back out its [land clearing] equipments on 23 December 2011.

Recently, Pheapimex cleared land and it encroached on farmlands belonging to 24 villagers in Kralanh village, Kbal Trach commune. The affected area measures about 50 hectares. The land clearing operation also encroached on land owned by the Kralanh village chief and this led to his extreme anger.

Thou Samuth then led the villagers to protest to demand that Pheapimex put an end to the land clearing operation.

Thou Samuth and about 100 villagers reacted strongly against Pheapimex which encroached on land belonging to the villagers.

Thou Samuth – the Kralanh village chief in Kbal Trach commune, Krakor district, Pursat province – indicated on 23 December that Pheapimex cleared land by violating properties belonging to 24 families. The size of the encroached land is about 50 hectares, of which 4 hectare belong to him personally.

Thou Samuth added that, in the name of the local authority, he told representatives of Pheapimex about the effect on the villagers, but they wouldn’t listen to him and they even pushed him to bring a lawsuit against them. He said that he reported the case to the commune chief and the district governor also, but since he did not receive any result, he decided to lead the villagers to protest while hoping that somebody higher up will help resolve this problem.

Thou Samuth said: “I’m no longer afraid of death because I work to serve the gov’t since 86 (1986). Since I got out school, I served the nation since then up to the point that I cannot help the people resolve this problem. They [Pheapimex] encroached on my people’s properties, and they also affected me, don’t they know how much I suffer? I saw the people suffering with my own eyes, and I have to help them. I saw the forestry department chief, the environment chief, the company, they are all inflicting suffering on the people and I have to help the people, I don’t want to be the village chief anymore.”

Khleb Touch, a 37-year-old villagers, confirmed that if Pheapimex does not stop its clearing operation on her lands and lands belonging to the villagers, and if the district and provincial authorities continue to ignore the villagers’ problem, the villagers will bring their protest to in front of Hun Xen’s house directly: “We want the company to stop clearing lands belonging to the villagers because it affects my land and lands belonging to numerous villagers. Not only did the company destroy the forests which we depend on, they also destroyed our crops, our jackfruit trees, our mango trees which bring income to us. They destroyed all of this in order to erase any sign of our livelihood here.”

RFA could not obtain clarification of the Pursat provincial council as of 24 December, nor could we get any information from Ty Kim Tok, the representative of Pheapimex.

Nevertheless, in the past, Ty Kim Tok explained about the villagers’ concerns by saying that Pheapimex is putting into application the tiger skin formula in this economic concession: “The company leases the lands from the government. (1) The company will not touch houses and land belonging to our villagers; (2) Rice fields bearing crops will not be touched, if they are affected, our villagers should send their complaints to me, Ty Kim Tok will accept them; (3) Farmlands that have been cleared by the villagers will not be touched at all.”

On 22 August 2008, the Council of Minister issued a circular No. 1091 S.C.N. to grant a land concession measuring 315,028 hectares to the Pheapimex company for agricultural development. The concession straddles between two provinces: Kampong Chhnang and Pursat. The circular became a concern for villagers in the province for the past several years.

Recently, Pheapimex cleared potato fields belonging to the villagers, and they also removed property markers by claiming that the land is part of their concession granted by the government. A number of communes in Krakor, in Phnom Kravanh districts, and in the city of Pursat were affected by the Pheapimex land concession. The villagers indicated that lack of survey to investigate the negative impact of the land concessions by the authorities have led to a string of protests.

Ven. Sek Koy, the abbot of the Kralanh pagoda, regrets to see the land clearing and the destruction of the villagers’ crops done by the Pheapimex company. He asked the government to help resolve these problems for the villagers: “I really regret to see the land clearing [by Pheapimex] that affects the crops belonging to the villagers. I live here and I depend on the villagers, if they cleared all the villagers’ lands, I don’t know whom I can depend on.”

Tim Sarin, the Krakor district governor, indicated that the district authority is surveying the disputed area, then he will find a resolution to this problem: “As the district governor, I am resolving this problem. This morning I summoned them for a meeting already.”

Khoy Sokha, the Pursat provincial governor, said that, based on maps, this area is located inside the land concession granted to Pheapimex. Nevertheless, he said that he ordered a provincial working group to help facilitate this problem with the company in order to find a middle path that can be accepted by both sides.

Khoy Sokha: “On the Pheapimex side, they only know which land was granted to them, then they will take over that land. To the facilitators, I told them to help review for additional arrangements. I talked to Pheapimex already, asking them for arrangements to be made. I believe that the company does not want to have problem with the villagers either (sic!)”

Nevertheless, Pheapimex immediately stopped all land clearing and pulled out their clearing equipments back to their base after the villagers protested.

On 21 September 2010, the fed-up villagers closed National Road No. 5 once already to protest against Pheapimex which cleared lands belonging to the villagers.