Curse you, evil land-grabbers and land thieves!

Land dispute victims in Siem Reap during a traditional ceremony put a curse on the person who stole their land.

Villagers curse stolen land

Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Written by Chrann Chamroeun
The Phnom Penh Post

CURSED LAND
Local rights group Adhoc, in their 2008 year-end review, reported a more than threefold jump over the previous year, from 40 to 125, in land disputes in which members of the armed forces were implicated in illegal conduct.

A new pattern of superstition has emerged as a last resort for victims of land grabs, as government inaction sends people to new levels of desperation

HUNDREDS of villagers from Lor Peang village in Banteay Meanchey province gathered together last week to perform a traditional ceremony in which they put a curse on the people who stole their land.

"We prayed and burned incense and cursed whoever stole our land to perish," villager Sgnuon Nhoeun told the Post Sunday. She said that using old-fashioned superstitious techniques had been the last choice for the villagers, who felt betrayed by the inaction of government and legal officials.

"The reason that we have this ceremony is because we feel helpless in the face of local authorities and the judicial system," she said.

"One person who stole our land died in a traffic accident last year after we made a similar curse," she said, adding that villagers had also planted small trees on the stolen land.

"Those who stole our land will fade like the leaves we plant on it," she said.

According to Sgnuon Nhoeun, Lor Peang villagers had sold around half of their land to development group KDC. Instead of taking half of the land, however, the company had taken the lot. The dispute resulted in the imprisonment last Novemeber of two of the village's representatives who had protested against the company.

"The villagers have conducted ceremonies like this because they believe it is their last choice. They have no hope in the local authorities or court officials to find justice for them," Sam Chankea, a coordinator for the rights group Adhoc, told the Post Sunday.

Old-fashioned curses reborn

Miech Ponn, a researcher at the Buddhist Institute and an adviser to the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, said that villagers had not conducted superstitious ceremonies like this in a long time.

"People feel no hope and have no belief in the judicial system, so they have decided to mark the occasion by cursing corrupt court officials to comfort their feelings," the 75-year-old said.

"It is not part of Buddhism, but there is nothing wrong with it. People have the right to their beliefs according to constitutional and penal law," he added.

Phnong people in Mondulkiri held a ceremony to curse with death the Hun Sen regime and the VN Dalat Co. for grabbing their lands

Phnong ethnic minority in Mondulkiri held a cursing ceremony

27 November 2007
By Or Phearith
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

A group of Phnong ethnic minority people living in Bou Sra commune, Mondulkiri province, held a ceremony to curse all those who doled out on 26 November and those who received the concession lands that affect the Vil Chum farmlands which belong to the Phnong people.

Phnong people living in La-mess village, Bou Sra commune, Pechreada district, indicated that on 26 November, a group of Phnong people brought a pig to offer to the spirits of the forests and mountains, to help protect their lands so that nobody can take them away from the Phnong people.

An anonymous Phnong person said: “The (Phnong) villagers are very angry that this (Vietnamese) company kept on taking their lands, and the government kept on doling out concession lands to this (Vietnamese) company. The villagers are not pleased with these activities, they bought a pig to offer (to the spirits). The location of the offering is called “atab” in Phnong, there, they curse (those who doled out their lands and those who took their lands) with death.”

The cursing ceremony was done in extreme secrecy after about 50 Phnong families have learnt that the government decided to give away 5,108-hectare of concession lands in Pechreada district, and some of the concession lands include the Vil Chum farmlands belonging to the Phnong people. The concession lands were given away to the Vietnamese Dalat Company to plant rubber trees.

Some Phnong people have demanded $500 in compensation per hectare of non cultivated lands, and $1,000 per hectare of cultivated lands. They have rejected the policy of compensating 1 million riels (~$250) per hectare of their lands: “… per hectare, they gave us 1 million riels (~$250), but we do not agree, we want $500 per hectare of non-cultivated lands, and $1,000 per hectare of lands where we planted our cashew trees.”

Another group of Phnong people said that they may not be able to control their rage, if there is no resolution to their requests. “My name is Iev Sam En. Maybe, I will have to use some violence because when I talked to them, they wouldn’t listen to us, we have no other choice.”

The Phnong people claim that they are willing to swap their lands to go elsewhere where they can continue to grow their crops so that they can alleviate their poverty. But if there is no resolution for them, or no other lands for them to live, they may face famine because 1 million riels per hectare cannot buy lands elsewhere.

Koy Samey, the La-Mess village chief, promised to intervene with the Vietnamese company.

Lay Sokha, the Mondulkiri provincial governor, claimed the same thing: “I will meet this company and I will invite the National Authority for the Resolution of Land Dispute (NARLD) to come and resolve the land issues for them”

The Vietnamese Dalat Company does not have a phone number where it can be contacted.

In 2006, villagers living in Som village, Kampoan commune, Memot district, Kampong Cham province held a ceremony also to curse the powerful government officials as well as those wealthy people who persist on grabbing the villagers’ lands, so that these rich crooks of government crooks may become poorer than them who are nothing but poor villagers.