Newspapers sellers: Hun Sen offers a gesture of reconciliation

Monday, January 21, 2008
By Nhim Sophal
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr

Phnom Penh newspapers sellers are now quiet. The prime minister decided to compensate each one of them a sum of money following their eviction from the Borei Keila sidewalk. The sellers receive something that allows them to restart their shops and pay off some debts.

The 24 newspapers kiosk owners in Borei Keila, located in Phnom Penh, are now reassured. After their indiscriminate evictions from their shops on 10 January, Prime minister Hun Sen intervened in their favor. The result is that they were all compensated last Friday, with $2,000 each, prior to their move further down, on Street No. 211.

Hok Bun Nat, president of the Association of Kiosk Owners, felt that the amount of compensation was “reasonable,” even though she asked for $5,500 of compensation for each owner for their departure. She also thanked Hun Sen for his “on-time intervention.” According to her, with this compensation amount, the shop owners will be able to resolve their debts and their losses.

The kiosks will be rebuilt just behind the Borei Keila, using a model authorized by the city of Phnom Penh, i.e. using a Khmer style. In spite of everything, the sellers suspect that this new settlement would be as temporary as their old one. Here as well, they are on public sidewalks. Who knows, when these sidewalks will be taken away again to make place for new infrastructures?

Borei Keila kiosks unsparingly destroyed

Demolition of Borei Keila newspapers kioks (Photo: Cambodge Soir Hebdo)

10-01-2008
By Nhim Sophal
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr

The conflict involving newspapers kiosk owners ended in Phnom Penh. The newspapers sellers did not come out as a winner. Appeals made to the government, demonstrations, NGOs help … nothing work: they lost everything. And the cops showed their zeal in evicting them.

On the sidewalk of Borei Keila, it is a scene of despair. The 24 newspapers kiosks have just been destroyed by the district authorities. It was 6:00 AM on Thursday that everything started. The cops set up road barriers on the Zchecoslovakia street, and prevented people from approaching during the destruction of the kiosks. Reporters, passers-by, human rights NGO officials, and kiosk owners were held at bay. “Don’t move! Don’t come forward!” the nervous cops shouted. The even threatened to confiscate reporters’ cameras. All around the district, traffic jam added up to the anguish of the sellers who saw their whole life of labor crumbling under their own eyes. Hok Bun Nat, the president of the Association of newspapers kiosks, sobbed before whispering out: “Nobody can do anything to save my kiosk. It was my livelihood, now, everything is destroyed.”

The demolition of the kiosks, done using an excavator, was completed within a few minutes only. Nevertheless, the kiosk owners did all they can, until the last minute, to delay the inevitable. Even today, the sellers spent 4 hours trying to reach prime minister Hun Sen hoping that he would intervene, but it was in vain. They went from one government office to another, and nobody accepted to listen to their pleas. “We want the prime minister to help us,” Hok Bun Nat said. “He could have done something, it was our last recourse.”

On the authority’s side, the tone differs significantly. “Most of the kiosk owners moved out before the cops intervened,” Keo Sakal, the Veal Vong commune chief claimed. According to her, they were warned in advance about the construction there, and they were given enough time to get going and set up on Street No. 211, located west of Borei Keila. “The Phnom Penh municipality has a project to build 2 new roads along which they (sellers) can set up shops,” she said. “This action does not violate their rights.”

The sellers do not agree with this claim. To move to a new location, means that they have to find new customers. Furthermore, if they accept to move, they will have to set up shops next to private properties again, and nothing guarantee that the same mishap will not take place once again. They asked, each, $5,000 in compensation. This demand was not accepted. Ouch Leng, an investigator for the Adhoc human rights group, supported that the authority acted very badly “by allowing them (sellers) to continue to sell, while knowing full well that it would end up with a demolition as seen now. It would have been better to tell them to stop earlier.” Other street sellers in Borei Keila also have somber mood, the police cordon made them lose their customers. They will lose today’s sale, but at least, they are not forced to move out.