SRP officials storm out of city workshop

Animated CPP Mann Chhoeun (R) (Photo: John Vink/Magnum)

Thursday, 01 April 2010
Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

DOZENS of Sam Rainsy Party district councillors stormed out of a workshop at City Hall on Wednesday in response to what they perceived as attacks on their party’s leadership, then staged a press conference at which they called for Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Mann Chhoeun to be removed from his post.

The workshop, which was convened to cover the effective use of city data books, descended into partisan rancour after Mann Chhoeun accused “opposition lawmakers” of groundlessly blaming municipal officials for the eviction of poor residents of Phnom Penh to the capital’s outskirts.

SRP district councillors at the event said afterwards it was clear that Mann Chhoeun had been referring to their party, and also that the deputy governor said he had wanted to knock out their teeth.

“I have always heard Mr Mann Chhoeun attack the opposition party. He did not say the specific party name, but he was focusing on the SRP,” Thach Khunsarin, a Meanchey district councillor, said at the press conference staged at party headquarters following the walkout.

“We would like to request that the government remove Mr Mann Chhoeun from his post as Phnom Penh deputy governor.”

SRP lawmaker Ho Vann also said he believed Mann Chhoeun’s behaviour was evidence that he is unfit for his role.

“What we heard from Mann Chhoeun today was impolite. He is not suitable to be a leader. Beating us until our teeth fall out – is he suitable to be deputy governor? He is not a politician, and this is not a time to propagandise,” he said.

Reached Wednesday afternoon, Mann Chhoeun denied the allegations levelled against him by the SRP district councillors.

“I just called on them to learn on behalf of the authorities. Some of them did not want to work but attacked instead. Then they walked out. This shows that they do not have good manners, that they are impolite people,” Mann Chhoeun said.

Mann Chhoeun: Another CPP official in denial on land-grabbing

An animated Mann Chhoeun (R) speaking (Photo: John Vink/Magnum)

Deputy governor faults land-grabbing report as biased, un-Cambodian

Monday, 08 June 2009
Written by Georgia Wilkins and Mom Kunthear
The Phnom Penh Post

Licadho says government can't continue to hide evictions beneath the banner of development.

PHNOM Penh Deputy Governor Mann Chhoeun has criticised a recent land rights report by the advocacy group Licadho, calling it biased and un-Cambodian.

"I think that NGO is not Khmer, and I want to tell them that no one loves Khmer [more] than Khmer," he told the Post.

"You come from outside, so you don't understand Khmer people, and when we didn't have food to eat, you were not with us. So you should look at our achievements and what we have done," he said.

In the report "Land Grabbing and Poverty in Cambodia: The Myth of Development", released Saturday, Licadho accuses the government of using development as a way of legitimising forced evictions.

The evictions, the group said, were really just an "orgy of land-grabbing by powerful individuals".

"Evictions and land-grabbing are not helping to develop Cambodia - they are simply causing more poverty and hardship," Licadho President Kek Galabru said in a press statement.

"A few rich and powerful individuals and companies benefit by becoming richer and stronger, while the health and welfare of countless Cambodians becomes weaker and weaker," she added.

Policy of denial

Land evictees have become the latest target in a government campaign to either deny evictions or to absolve those responsible, with Foreign Minister Hor Namhong reportedly telling an audience in Lowell, Massachusetts, in April that evictees were "professional squatters".

But, Licadho warned that the government was ignoring criticisms "at its peril".

"The Cambodian authorities seem chronically unable - or unwilling - to respect their own laws.... Such willful disregard of the problems facing the country does no favours to the Cambodian people and, in the long run, will do no favours to the Cambodian authorities."

Nevertheless, Mann Chhoeun on Sunday reasserted his commitment to development in response to the report.

"Our country is more developed, and investors and other people come to see and admire our city very much," he said. "If we were bad, we would not see our city develop like today."

"Professional squatters": a myth inside the thick skull of the likes of CPP Hor 5 Hong and Mann Chhoeun

A family sleeps in a makeshift shelter in Group 78, where residents face a pending eviction order from City Hall. (Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON)

‘Professional squatters' a myth: housing advocates

Thursday, 21 May 2009
Written by CHRISTOPHER SHAY and NETH PHEAKTRA
The Phnom Penh Post

Rights groups say accusations obscuring legitimate legal claims.

HOUSING rights advocates have dismissed recent comments made by national and municipal government officials that evictees at the centre of land disputes are often "professional squatters" who move from slum to slum and use NGOs to demand compensation from developers.

Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Mann Chhoeun told the Post earlier this week that many squatters are not legitimate residents of the neighbourhoods they claim to live in.

"There are some professional squatters in Phnom Penh, and these squatters get compensation ... and then return to grab other land in order to seek other compensation," he said Tuesday.

Last month, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told an audience in Lowell, Massachusetts, that "the squatters always demand money. When they get the money, they go build another hut to live in, then demand money again. They are professional squatters", according to media reports.

But local rights groups say the officials' comments deflect attention from the bigger issue: ensuring fair compensation for those with legal claims.

Thun Saray, president of the Cambodian rights group Adhoc, said that the government's "professional squatters" are usually victims of inadequate relocation packages that give them little choice but to move on to places slated for development.

"When the government sends them to the outskirts, they cannot find a job," Thun Saray said. "They come back [to Phnom Penh] and try to find a place to live downtown, and then the government calls them ‘professional squatters'."

Other rights groups acknowledge that there are a few people who try to take advantage of eviction payouts, but that residents and NGOs refuse to help them.

Dan Nicholson, the coordinator of the Centre on Housing Rights Evictions' (COHRE) Asia and Pacific program, said that contrary to Mann Chhoeun's comments, communities do not depend on NGOs.

"In all of the communities we have worked with, the driving force in the defence of people's rights has been the community itself," he said.

Rachana Bunn at the Housing Rights Task Force said there might be a few opportunists, but that Mann Chhoeun and Hor Namhong's comments are meant to distract attention away from the real victims.

"To state it like this is really inappropriate," she said. "The majority of people are real victims.... And in some cases, people who have a right to compensation don't receive compensation."

Residents of the Rik Reay community facing eviction say there were a small number of eviction speculators, but they were unsuccessful.

Kong Sophea, a Rik Reay resident, said, "There were a few people who bought land and built a house in the location, thinking they would get compensation," adding that these people were "influential", but that they were unable to receive any money.

The Cambodian government is not alone in its criticisms of communities facing evictions. Hor Namhong and Mann Chhoeun's comments are similar to ones made by governments across Southeast Asia, according to Nicholson.

"Across the Asian region, it's not unusual for the government to vilify communities as professional squatters."

No one was able to mention a specific case where a "professional squatter" received compensation.

Riverbank [Group 78] Residents Fear Impending Eviction

By Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
27 February 2009

Sitting in front of his wooden house in Group 78 on the Tonle Bassac riverbank, Lem Sombo looks for new faces, in case a human rights official or a journalist comes to ask about the potential eviction of his community.

The 54-year-old coconut vendor said he ignores his business these days, as he is focusing on how to protect his community from a very likely eviction in a dispute with a local company.

“We don’t feel like we want to earn our living at present, as we fear that our houses can be smashed down at any time,” said the father of four children. “I myself stopped my business to find ways to make sure we would be appropriately compensated for our property.”

The Group 78 community, located near the National Assembly and the Naga World Casino, houses 146 families on 1,170 square metres. The residents have been a subject of eviction by the authorities since 2006.

The municipality has claimed that these people are living illegally on a private plot of land belonging to Sour Srun Enterprise, Co., Ltd.

Mann Chheoun, deputy governor of Phnom Penh, addressed the community on his visit there last week, saying the municipality had no role to move people out of their homes, but was acting as an intermediary.

“The company owns the land and wants to file complaints against the people for illegally living on its property, but the municipality asks it not to do so,” he said. “We asked the company to take on a win-win solution.”

Each family is given by the municipality a 5-meter-by-12-meter plot of land, together with $1,000 as a compensation, for their leaving their homes.

However, Khuy Chhom, the brother of Sour Srun’s president, Sour Pheng, who is in charge of dealing with the issue, told VOA recently that the company has had nothing to do with the Group 78 community, and already granted the disputed land to the municipality in 2007.

An appraisal letter issued by the municipality to the Sour Srun company, dated Nov. 30, 2007, and signed by Phnom Penh Municipality Governor Kep Chuktema, says the company granted the municipality 13,341 square meters of land to build two lanes of road in the developed riverbank area, one of which runs across the Group 78 community.

Kep Chutkema has just said it may not be the time to think about the eviction yet.

“Probably, the city has to solve the problem, but I have not thought of the problem,” he said.

So far, approximately 60 families have voluntarily agreed to accept the offer for fear of getting nothing if they refuse. Among them, more than 10 families resettled on a plot of land provided in Trapeng Angchhagn village, Trapeng Krosaing commune, Dongkor district, more than 20 kilometers away from the city center.

The new location has no sewage system. Inadequate water and electricity supply is also a problem for the resettlers, although a new primary school, a health center and a makeshift market can be seen in the area.

Dey Krohom: Residents must present united front in the face of upcoming eviction

Phnom Penh (Cambodia).13/01/2009: Mann Chhoeun, vice-Governor of Phnom Penh, at a roundtable organised by the Club of Cambodian Journalists on Dey Krohom. On the left handside, one of the sons of Srey Sothea, who owns the 7NG company (Photo: John Vink/ Magnum)

13-01-2009
By Ros Dina
Ka-set in English
Click here to read the article in French
Click here to read the article in Khmer

Late July 2003, an urbanisation plan established by the municipality of Phnom Penh provided that the residents of the Bassac settlement, in the heart of Phnom Penh, be grouped on part of the area known as “Dey Krohom” (“Red Lands”) and enjoy the possibility of getting ownership rights. But three years later, the villagers of the Red Lands were informed by a municipal circular that they were going to be evicted. A long struggle started between them, the local authorities and the 7NG company, who was granted the land to build a residential tower and a shopping mall. On 30th December, the dozens of families still opposed to leaving under the current conditions were expected to be forced out. But the threat has not been acted upon yet. The land dispute has drawn out for years but now seems to be closer to the end.

Since 2006, when they found out they had to give way for the 7NG company, the villagers of Dey Krohom have kept repeating they would sell their land for its real market value, not for the slashed price offered to them. They have also recalled the government's commitment to allow them the on-site development of their community. Their words have hardly changed but in this protracted conflict, 1,374 out of the initial count of 1,465 families have already left, that is 93% of them. They have accepted monetary compensations or relocation in the village of Damnak Trah Yeung, in the Dangkor district, over twenty kilometers West of Phnom Penh.

The Club of Cambodian Journalists invited Mann Chhoeun, the deputy governor of Cambodia's capital, to express his views on the situation on Tuesday 13th January. He disclosed the latest offer made by 7NG, that is 20,000 USD – plus food supplies and indemnity for the move – for each of the uncompromising families in exchange for their departure – an increase of 5,000 USD from the previous offer – under the essential requirement that all of the families accept this solution. Srey Chanthou, the director of the company, affirms that the offer was communicated to the residents on the evening of the previous day and is valid until Wednesday 14th January. A rumour says that on Thursday, the day following the expiry of the offer, the eviction of the residents will be actually ordered. Officially, it is expected to take place “in the very near future”.

An exercise in public relations
Mann Chhoeun performed a real exercise in public relations, complete with visuals to illustrate his words. A slide show presented the new environment of the resettled families in the village of Damnak Trah Yeung, where they enjoy running water, electricity, new bicycles they were able to buy on credit, several buses that provide shuttle service to the Demkor market (behind the Chenla theatre) nine times a day, a market, shops... and a nearby factory. The picture painted is one of residents happy in their frail 4m x 12m houses, all on the ground floor...

The deputy governor sent a message to the 91 remaining families, although community representatives claim there are 150 left, and warned that the company will not include in the negotiations the opportunists who have joined the group in the hope of also receiving compensation.

The official then depicted Dey Krohom as a “difficult” area, inhabited by drug addicts and hub of all kinds of traffic. An observer claimed in a low voice 7NG representatives were seen selling “glue” to villagers. As for the famous artists living in this small community – the chapey players Kong Nay and Ta Phe –, Mann Chhoeun alleged the company had solved their problem by offering them to be relocated in the Phnom Penh neighbourhood of Boeung Tampoun.

“We have not acted since the ultimatum of 30th December. The municipality – as the mediator between the company and the residents – has shown treasures of patience and demonstrated its willingness to handle the situation for the best,” Mann Chhoeun argued.

The accusations against 7NG
In the audience, David Pred, director of the NGO Bridges Across Borders Cambodia, contested the initial number of families in the community as shown in the presentation and asked why there was no mention of the corruption that reportedly marred the allocation of the housing lots in the resettlement village. The word “corruption” got lost in the translation into Khmer and Mann Chhoeun replied that if the activist questioned the inflated figure, it meant he was siding with the 7NG company.

David Pred then accused some former community representatives of pursuing their own personal interest, without any consideration for the villagers. The deputy governor pointed out that the residents had accepted their candidacy and had not prevented them from intervening in their name. When the representative of Bridges Across Borders then evoked how intimidation and violence had been used against the residents to sway them, Mann Chhoeun held in his hand a letter from 7NG in which the company instructs their lawyer to withdraw their complaint against one of the Dey Krohom residents, the owner of a coffee shop, who they accused of acts of violence. The deputy governor painted the residents as uncontrollable and rebellious people who did not hesitate to throw bags of urine and feces to 7NG representatives.

Bunn Rachana, from the organisation Housing Rights Task Force, then referred to the land law and asked why the villagers were not allowed to be resettled on site. Her question was answered by Chhim Phalvorin, director of the Institute of demography and specialist of the Cambodian Constitution, and second guest of the Club of Cambodian Journalists. He first observed that “sometimes, people ask for too much money for compensation, as if they were encouraged by others to do so.” He then recalled that Dey Krohom residents had written in 2003 to Prime Minister Hun Sen to ask to be allowed to remain there, which “proves that the residents were aware they had settled there in complete illegality.” The specialist insisted that an occupation is declared legal as long as it is based on a legal ownership title. “If this were the case, the residents could then be entitled to claim for financial compensation based on actual land market value.”

Pursuing his explanations, Mann Chhoeun stressed that the hypothesis of an on-site resettlement had been envisaged in a first time, under which half the land would be for the company and the other half for the residents. “However, the only way to provide a roof for everyone was to build a nine-floor building. But the residents said they did not want to live above the ground floor and further demanded an elevator. Who will pay for the electricity for the elevator? As the 7NG company had land available in the village of Damnak Trah Yeung, they offered to resettle the residents there.”

Undecided residents
On Tuesday afternoon, the residents met at the headquarters of the NGO Community Legal Education Center (CLEC) to discuss a new common strategy as things seemed to gather speed. The NGO representatives present advised them to negotiate a postponement of the eviction ultimatum set by the authorities, by communicating such request to the municipality of Phnom Penh and to 7NG. Their lawyer, Attorney Chiv Sambath, explained this would give them more time to agree on the amount of money they want to receive in exchange for their departure. He suggested they should advocate for the resumption of three-party negotiations as 7NG has made it clear that from now on, it will be the same price for everybody.

“It is starting to be very complicated because nobody has the same opinion. Only a couple of families have told me they would accept 7NG's latest offer of 20,000 USD. Those who own large houses still consider the offer not to be enough. I have probed the residents and their requests are between 30,000 and 60,000 USD. Also, some change their mind along the way, depending on what their neighbours are asking for... It is hard to agree on a consensus,” Chan Vichet, the representative of the families still opposed to leaving, explained by the end of the day.

Discussions between the residents were to continue throughout the evening. They are now in a race against time and more than ever, they must present a united front against the municipality and the 7NG company.