Cambodia land mass grows like a weed: Hun Xen

Cambodian Land Mass More Than Originally Thought (sic!), Hun Sen Says

Hun Sen said in a public speech that new measuring technology showed Cambodia’s land to be 181,335 square kilometers.

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer

13 September 2012

WASHINGTON DC - Prime Minister Hun Sen has announced that Cambodia’s total land mass is some 300 square kilometers more than historically stated and wants to put the number in the constitution. His announcement is thought to be a response to political opponents and critics who accuse him of ceding land to Vietnam in a 2005 border agreement.

Hun Sen said in a public speech that new measuring technology showed Cambodia’s land to be 181,335 square kilometers, greater than the traditional number in fact books, though he did not elaborate on the technology.

Land demarcation remains a thorny issue in Cambodia, following the separation of French Indochina and an unwillingness of all countries to readily agree on land borders. The idea that Cambodia is losing land to its neighbors upsets many Cambodians, making the issue a political lightning rod, especially as the country moves toward elections next year.

Critics say Hun Sen should not be tempted to alter the constitution over the new number.

Flouting moratorium, [Hun Xen's] Cambodia approves four land concessions in protected areas

June 27, 2012
Jeremy Hance
mongabay.com

A month-and-a-half after Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen, declared a moratorium on on new economic land concessions, the government has announced four new concessions, each located in protected areas. Economic land concessions have come under the microscope in Cambodia after large-scale protests by local people and the recent murder of forest activist Chut Wutty. Critics say the concessions, which last year totaled two million hectares (4.9 million acres) sold off to foreign corporations, have resulted in local land conflict and environmental degradation.

According to the Phnom Penh Post, the Cambodian government has granted 35,000 hectares (86,400 acres) of economic land concessions to four companies: 8,200 hectares (20,200 acres) in Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary; 9,688 hectares (23,939 acres) in Kirirom National Park; 9,068 hectares (22,407 acres) in Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary; and 9,000 hectares (22,200 acres) in Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary.

However, Hun Sen has denied breaking the government's moratorium by signing the economic land concessions, reports Voice of America. Instead the Prime Minister said that the concessions were agreed on before the moratorium was declared on May 7th.

Any news that are not favorable to Hun Xen are ... deliberate defamation: Hun Xen's lapdog Ho Khmean Sithy

Clarification on granting of land concessions

Wednesday, 27 June 2012
Ho Sithy
The Phnom Penh Post

Dear Editor,

Having seen the article published on June 25 on page four of the Khmer-language Phnom Penh Post, headed “After declared pausing, PM Hun Sen provides land concession to seven companies”, by May Tithara, and on page one of the English-language Post, headed “Hun Sen grants four ELCs, leases allot 35,000 hectares in protected areas”, by the same media, the Cabinet of Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen wishes the editors-in-chief of both papers to publish the following clarification:

Citing the Royal Gazette that “ . . . have signed to provide another seven land economic con-cessions of 56,586 hectares to seven companies . . . ”, the Cabinet of Samdech would like to clarify that the seven sub-decrees (three of them, as the cabinet has already required the Cambodia Daily to clarify, were ratified on May 18, 2012 and the other four on June 7) are the continuation of a procedure of granting land concessions approved before May 7, under order No. 01 BB, signed on May 7, 2012. [KI-Media: Loophole! Loophole! Loophole!]

Please refer to Point 4 of the above order, which states that “Land economic concessions that have already received official permission from the government before the issue date must remain in force in accordance with legal principle and procedure.”

PM defends economic land concession signings

Prime Minister Hun Sen speaks in Phnom Penh earlier this month. Photograph: Pha Lina/Phnom Penh Post

Wednesday, 27 June 2012
Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

Prime Minister Hun Sen has fiercely defended his right to grant economic land concessions after issuing a moratorium on the leases in May, pointing to a loophole in the ban which exempts ELCs that already had in principle approval.

Hun Sen attacked the Post and the Cambodia Daily in a speech yesterday for failing to understand the legalities of his May 7 moratorium when reporting that ELCs had been granted despite the order – an apparent contradiction.

“I respect the media, but those media [outlets] lack professional journalism, they lack all aspects of information or have an intention to destroy,” he said, adding the newspapers should issue corrections for their articles or they would have a problem with him.

Hun Sen Denies Breaching Ban on Land Concessions [-Liar! Liar! Liar!]

Khek Chan Raksmey of Boeung Kak holds a protest sign as she participates in a rally to ask King Norodom Sihamoni to help release of villagers including her mother in front of Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Monday, June 11, 2012. The villagers were arrested when they tried to rebuild their homes on the land where their old houses were demolished by the developers, and were sentenced to two years and half in prison by Phnom Penh Municipality Court late last month. Phnom Penh's Boueng Kak is a lake area the government awarded to a Chinese company for commercial development, including a hotel, office buildings and luxury housing. A banner reads: "Please help villagers of Boeung Kak." (Photo: AP)

Tuesday, 26 June 2012
Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

“He cannot grant [land] in reserve areas.”

Prime Minister Hun Sen has denied media reports he violated his own ban on economic land concessions, saying he only signed contracts that had been agreed upon prior to his decision.

Local media have reported in recent days Hun Sen’s signature on multiple land concessions, which are at the heart of a growing problem of rural landlessness and unrest.

According to documents obtained by VOA Khmer, Hun Sen has signed concessions on more than 65,000 hectares of land since declaring a ban on May 7. The concessions include land in protected wildlife parks.

Cambodia approves land concessions, despite ban [-Hun Xen lies again]

Hun Xen: I swear to break my own decision. (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

June 26, 2012
Reuters

Cambodia's government has ignored a suspension on new land concessions to private companies, announcements in an official publication showed, despite ordering a freeze after growing discontent over forced evictions and illegal logging.

Prime Minister Hun Sen signed off on 12 sub-decrees on June 7 and 12 granting a total of 44,052 hectares (108,855 acres) and privatizing 35,461 hectares set aside for wildlife sanctuaries and a national park to various companies for agro-businesses.

The details were announced in three editions this month of the Royal Gazette, which publishes all official decrees.

The issue is highly contentious in Cambodia, where tens of thousands of people have been evicted from land to make way for foreign and domestic firms, prompting widespread protests, violent clashes and in some cases, jail terms for those who refused to move.

Hun Sen signed an order in May to suspend all new concessions but reacted angrily on Tuesday to newspaper reports about the leases, which he said were agreed prior to the ban.

"I have not signed anything granting new land," Hun Sen said in a speech to volunteers working on land disputes. "The land, which was already granted in principle, must be proceeded based on legal and existing procedures."

Four more Economic Land Concessions signed off by Hun Xen: All in protected areas [-Hun Xen promises one thing and do the opposite]

Liar-in-chief: Hun Xen

Hun Sen grants four ELCs

June 25, 2012
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post (Cambodia)

Leases allot 35,000 hectares in protected areas

PRIME Minister Hun Sen has signed off on four more economic land concessions (ELCs), all in protected areas, despite placing a moratorium on granting such leases on May 7.

Since the May 7 sub-decree, the premier has now signed off on seven concessions totalling 56,586 hectares to develop agro-industry, though his cabinet has argued that three granted on May 18 did not flout the ban because they were ELCs already in the final stages of approval.

The latest Royal Gazette reveals more than 35,000 hectares were granted in ELCs to four companies on June 7.

When asked why the leases had been granted in apparent contradiction of the moratorium, Council of Minister's spokesman Phay Siphan said he was not aware of the concessions and believed there were no arrangements for new ELCs.

"We're afraid that they just changed the owner from the old document [ELC]," he said.

Khun Sea Import Export was granted 8,200 hectares of land in Oddar Meanchey province's Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary, and A2A Town (Cambodia) Co Ltd received a 9,668-hectare ELC in the Kirirom National Park that stretches across Kampong Speu and Preah Sihanouk provinces.

In Mondulkiri's Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary, the Lim Royal Joint Company received 9,068 hectares, while the Roath Sokhorn Company was granted 9,000 hectares in Ratanakkiri province's Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary Lim Leang Se, deputy director of the prime minister's cabinet, restated the terms of the moratorium and denied more ELCs had been granted without further elaborating.

ជឿទៅ! ភូតទាំងស្រុង! - Hun Xen's lies

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Stupid is as stupid say on world stage: Hun Sen press conference at ASEAN summit on 04 April 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrrmXHWC4vI

Vietnam truly helped liberate Cambodia: Hun Xen, a Vietnamese lackey and a master spinner

The lackey (R) embracing his master (L)

13 August 2009
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Noting the heroism of the Viet troops in 1979 that came to Cambodia to help liberate the Cambodian people from the genocidal Pol Pot regime, Hun Xen declared on Wednesday that Vietnam truly helped Cambodia, and the presence of Vietnam is not a new story. Hun Xen made this declaration during the distribution of diplomas to law students, he said that the presence of the Viet troops in 1979 was to save people’s lives, then the Viets returned back home and the proof to that is that Cambodian land still remains Cambodian. Hun Xen added that Vietnam’s entry into Cambodia is nothing new because during 1970-75, both the North and the South Vietnamese entered into Cambodia: the Thieu-Ky group and the US entered Cambodia, as well as the Vietcong and North Vietnamese troops also entered Cambodia, and he said that all this was because the US started the coup d’état in Cambodia. Regarding 07 January 1979, a date that some Cambodian politicians consider as the date of the Vietnamese aggression into Cambodia, Hun Xen said: “Some oppose 07 January, but let me ask them, if there were no 07 January, would there be today? We must tell the truth, you have to swear to your death, or to have lightning strike you. There’s no need to keep the Pol Pot regime for 30 years, we leave them another 2 years and all the Cambodian people would have died, if not from the killings, it would be from hunger. However, some are ungrateful and they say the 07 January was the day of Vietnamese aggression, but if we tell the truth, if Vietnam did not help Cambodia, who would?”
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KI-Media note: It took the international community’s effort more than one decade-long to dislodge the occupying Vietnamese out of Cambodia. Even with their declared departure, the Vietnamese left behind a large contingent of troops disguised as civilians in Cambodia.