Sunday, June 10, 2012

Unresolved Land Issues Could ‘Explode,” Analysts Say

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOLQiu48Bu8

Click below to listen to Hello VOA

Lao Monghay is an independent analyst stopped by VOA Khmer, file photo. (Photo: VOA Khmer)

Friday, 08 June 2012
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer | Washington, DC
"Today’s leaders have failed to protect people’s livelihoods, their freedoms and their rights."
Land issues will continue to be a serious problem for Cambodia’s government, given the high number of continued crackdowns, arrests and violence, analysts say.

“If an issue is covered and unsolved, one day it will explode,” Lao Monghay, an independent political analyst, told “Hello VOA,” in a regular guest appearance. “This exploded once in the history of our country,” he said, referring to the rise of the Khmer Rouge in the 1960s.

Authorities today fail to comply with the law, which leads to unrest and subsequent crackdowns. This has increasingly led to violence, but the courts, too, have been involved in curbing protests, he said.

Sia Phirum, director of the Human Rights Task Force, which advocates for housing rights, told “Hello VOA” that violent crackdowns on land protesters will only lead to more problems. Land development has no transparency, he said, “that’s why the problems happen consistently with developments.”

Negotiated solutions are the only way to move forward, Sia Phirum said. “The use of violence to crack down on people is not a solution.”

Today’s leaders have failed to protect people’s livelihoods, their freedoms and their rights, Lao Monghay said. Part of the blame falls to the National Assembly, whose lawmakers have not properly fulfilled their role as a watchdog over the executive branch. The Royal Palace has also done little to help, he said.

This was a change from the actions of the former king, Norodom Sihanouk, he said. “The suffering of the people is the suffering of the king.”

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

REMOVING HUN SEN AND HIS CRONIES FROM POWER IS THE PERFECT SOLUTION FOR ALL ATROCITIES IN MY LOVELY HOMELAND.

KICKING OUT THE KING, SHUTING DOWN THE ROYAL PALACE, THEN DECLARE TO SECOND REPUBLIC OF CAMBODIA IS ANOTHER SOLUTION FOR A HOPE FOR THE NEW GENERATION. THIS CURRENT GENERATION IS SUFFERING FROM THE FAILED POLICY OF SIHANOUK BECAUSE THIS MAN DID NOTHING FOR THE HIS COUNTRY EXCEPT SPREADING HIS DEMAGOGY TO MAKE PEOPLE WEAK.

Anonymous said...

11:06 AM
Welcome to the Prey Sar or to the Death Valley near your home.

Anonymous said...

to Mr Lao Monghay,

Hun Sen was the Khmer Rouge as we know he has full of Khmer bloods in his hand, will he give up his dirty tricks and behaviors? No Never. Look to Sadam Hussen and Gadiffi. Anyway he has only once eye (depend on phycology he is a psychopath, he want all people do like him in his world).