Fear accompanies summons over land disputes

Kuch Veng speaks to a police officer outside the Ansar Chambak commune office in Pursat province’s Krakor district last year. Photograph: May Titthara/Phnom Penh Post

Choeng Sopheap (aka Yeay Phu, in red skirt), walking next to Kep Chuktema, is the owner of Pheapimex  (Photo:Koh Santepheap)

Wednesday, 20 June 2012
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

Less than a week after Prime Minister Hun Sen called for land to be returned to villagers embroiled in land disputes, a Pursat province villager has been summonsed by the court in a scenario many see as all too common in these disputes.

Kuch Veng, a representative of villagers in Krokor district was charged with incitment in late May for leading other villagers in a bid to stop Pheap Imex company from clearing their farm land, but only found out that he had been charged on Monday.

“I am afraid because I did not do anything wrong – I and other villagers just prevented the company from clearing rice fields and crops, because what the company did was wrong and they [authorities] accused me,” he said.

Pursat Pheapimex protest

Hundreds of villagers from Pursat province’s Kbal Trach commune protested outside Pheapimex Group’s Krakor district office yesterday. (Photo Supplied by CLEC)

Wednesday, 04 April 2012
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

About 300 people from six villages in Pursat province’s Kbal Trach commune protested yesterday outside Pheapimex Group’s Krakor district office, the latest confrontation in a land dispute that stretches back 13 years.

Villager representative Duok Sary said they had come to demand that the company explain why it had taken their land and destroyed their property.

“The company did not explain to us, but the commune chief said the company had signed a lease with him that showed the use of our land was only temporary. But the company tore up the document and he [the commune chief] had no evidence against the company,” Duok Sary said.

Pheapimex under fire again

Villagers protest outside a makeshift office owned by the Pheapimex company in Pursat province’s Krakor district yesterday. (Photo Supplied)

Tuesday, 17 January 2012
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

A land dispute in Pursat would not be resolved until authorities and the private company involved, Pheapimex Group, held a meeting with villagers to explain how much land would be developed in Krakor district’s Tnort Chum commune, an Adhoc spokesman said yesterday.

As police investigate the apparent murder of 42-year-old cassava plantation supervisor Chang Fi Yiek, who was shot dead in broad daylight on Friday, more than 200 residents called for their rice fields not to be cleared in a protest yesterday in front of the offices of Pheapimex, which is owned by Choeng Sopheap, wife of Cambodian People’s Party senator Lao Meng Khina.

Provincial Adhoc co-ordinator Phuong Sothea said villagers had a right to know how much of their land would be developed.

“If they cannot do this, villagers will not stop protesting,” he said.

In January, 2000, the government signed an agreement with Pheapimex that granted it 315,028 hectares in Kampong Chhnang and Pursat as an economic land concession to grow cassia.

Seed of a land revolution?

Pheapimex is owned by Choeung Sopheap (L) and Lao Meng Khin (R), her husband

Plantation supervisor shot in broad daylight

Monday, 16 January 2012
Tep Nimol
The Phnom Penh Post

A 42-year-old Chinese man was shot to death in broad daylight on Friday in Pursat province’s Krakor district while driving to work, authorities said yesterday.

Deputy district police chief in Krakor Moal Sok said witnesses saw Chang Fi Yiek, the supervisor of a cassava plantation owned by Pheapimix Company, riding his motorcycle to the site that he oversaw in Kbal Trach commune’s Kralanh village. He was later found dead in the forest. Forensics placed his time of death at about 10am that morning.

“The victim was fired at four times using an AK rifle. The victim died instantly at the scene,” said Moal Sok, adding that the motorcycle was left lying near the body while the man’s wallet and money had been taken.

The motive for the killing had not been determined, said Moal Sok. Authorities are investigating the possibility that it was motivated by revenge, as 25 families were involved in a land dispute with Pheapimix Company last month. The company also caught villagers’ cattle which had strayed into the plantation, and asked for five million riel in exchange for the release of each cow.

COMFREL Release the Result of Workshop on Voter's Voice in Reang Tel, Kandeang, Pursat province

Dear all,

COMFREL is please to release its press release on the result of workshop on voter's voice in remote areas; Reang Tel commune, Kandeang district, Pursat province was held on October 20, 2011.

Please see the attached document for details.

FYI : If you need releases or articles related to workshop on voter's voices, elections reforms, democracy/political reforms, decentralisation and governance, please feel free to visit our website :

www.comfrel.org

Best regards,

COMFREL


http://www.box.net/shared/ggfvn1vpybud3qsl0737

CITA Press Release on another fainting incident involving over 100 high school students in Pursat province

http://www.box.net/shared/yx5j6587v3xd5k17tije


http://www.box.net/shared/x8n79zhpm0ek7pint76n

COMFREL Release the Result of Workshop on Voter's Voice in Remote Areas; O Soam, Veal Veng, Pursat province

Dear all,

COMFREL is please to release its press release on the result of workshop on voter's voice in remote areas; O Soam commune, Veal Veng district, Pursat province was held on August 16, 2011.

Please see the attached document for details.

FYI : If you need releases or articles related to workshop on voter's voices, elections reforms, democracy/political reforms, decentralisation and governance, please feel free to visit our website : 

www.comfrel.org

Best regards,

COMFREL

Fish product in Pursat province decreases

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thm87nK_YB0&feature=player_embedded

Children education in Kampong Luong, Krakor district, Pursat province

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nowq7fhi--0&feature=channel_video_title

Teachers joining CITA's meeting threatened by local authority in Pusat province

Click on the statement in Khmer to zoom in

Senior Cambodian prosecutor arrested by new anti-graft body

Nov 30, 2010
DPA

Phnom Penh - Officials from Cambodia's fledgling Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) have arrested a senior provincial prosecutor on unspecified charges, national media reported Tuesday.

It marks the first known arrest of a public official by the ACU, which was launched earlier this year to tackle pervasive corruption in public life.

The Cambodia Daily newspaper said Top Chan Sereyvuth, the senior prosecutor in Pursat province, was arrested early Monday.

ACU head Om Yentieng, who led the operation, refused to disclose the grounds on which the prosecutor was being held.

Top Chan Sereyvuth was last year named in media reports as being involved in a long-running land dispute case that was mysteriously moved to his court in Pursat from another province where he had previously worked as a judge.

The head of an organization that was contesting the land told media at the time that Top Chan Sereyvuth was to receive 2 hectares of land once the case was resolved.

Global graft monitor Transparency International ranks Cambodia among the world's most corrupt nations.

It took the government 15 years to promulgate an anti-corruption law, whose eventual passage followed years of pleading from donors who annually give hundreds of millions of dollars.

One recent survey found that Cambodians regard the judiciary as the most corrupt institution in the country.

Rocket launcher explosion kills four Cambodians

August 31, 2010
Xinhua

At least four Cambodians were killed and three others injured in a rocket launcher explosion in Cambodia's northwestern province of Pursat, police said Monday.

Ros Bunnan, deputy police commissioner of Pursat province, said the incident happened at 4 pm on Sunday in Roveang Village, Phnom Kravanh District, some 230 kilometers northwest of Phnom Penh.

He said a man in the village was using the recently found head of a leftover B-40 rocket launcher pretending it as a microphone to sing, then it fell down to the ground and exploded.

He said four men standing and sitting nearby were killed and other three women were injured.

Many explosive remnants of war are left in the country, especially the northwestern parts of Cambodia after several decades of civil war.

In a report released Monday by Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority it said from January to July 2010, there were 184 mine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties.

The report also showed that since 1979, there has been 63,704 casualties related to mine and ERW.

Illegal Viet immigrants allowed to freely open floating community houses in Cambodia ... Will Khmer Krom be allowed to do the same in Kampuchea Krom?

Expatriates in Cambodia open two floating community houses

07/02/2009
VOV News (Hanoi)

The Association of Overseas Vietnamese in Cambodia has inaugurated two floating community houses as gifts from the Ho Chi Minh City Association in Support of Poor Patients.

These houses were built for Vietnamese fishermen in two communes in Kal Dieng district, Pursat province, to hold meetings, cultural activities, wedding parties or memorial ceremonies.

The house for Vietnamese fishermen in Koh Keo commune is worth US$10,000, covering over 60 sq. m. while the other for those in Koh K’Ek commune was built at a cost of US$8,000.

This is the second time Kal Dieng district has received floating houses from their homeland. The two previous houses are used as Vietnamese language classrooms, one of which was a gift from the late Prime Minister, Vo Van Kiet.

Nguyen Thi Lien, Deputy President of the Kien Giang provincial Association in Support of Poor Patients, promised to raise more funds back home to help upgrade the two old floating houses.

Cambodians receive much needed medical, dental, vision assistance [from US Marines]

Children from the school next to the temple and the children of the patients waiting in line play with each other on the temple grounds. They were very curious and keen to interact with the Marines and sailors of 3rd Medical Battalion, Combat Logistics Regiment 35, 3rd Marine Logistics Group. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Stefanie C. Pupkiewicz).
Petty Officer 3rd Class Pinch Santos, a hospital corpsman with 3rd Medical Battalion, Combat Logistics Regiment 35, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, takes blood pressure reading of a Buddhist monk during the Cambodia Interoperability Program 2009. Thousands of people came from all over the province to receive medical care from the combined U.S. and Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Stefanie C. Pupkiewicz).
A young patient is held by his mother while a U.S. Navy hospital corpsman with 3rd Medical Battalion, checks his pulse. Thousands of children were seen during the 10-day Cambodia Interoperability Program 2009 medical and dental civil action program. Many of them were suffering from infections and typical childhood ailments. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Stefanie C. Pupkiewicz).
United States Agency for International Development sponsored local nongovernmental organizations to set up informational displays on temple grounds providing health information to waiting patients. An avian flu display station passed out hats to raise awareness on the issue. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Stefanie C. Pupkiewicz).
Dentists and dental technicians with 3rd Medical Battalion, removed hundreds of teeth during the program. Dental saw an average of 100-150 patients everyday for dental surgery. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Stefanie C. Pupkiewicz).

Glimpse of Hope

Lance Cpl. Stefanie C. Pupkiewicz
http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil

WAT BAKAN, PURSAT PROVINCE, Cambodia (June 5, 2009) -- The provincial roads in Pursat, Cambodia, are unlit and relatively deserted at 1 a.m. On the morning of May 19, a woman on a motorbike clutching her sick infant in one arm rumbled down a two-lane highway.

She still has another hour's distance to cover before she reaches Wat Bakan, the district Buddhist temple, to receive treatment from the U.S. and Royal Cambodian Armed Forces at a combined medical and dental civil action project.

Her name is Chera and she arrives early knowing she will have to wait six more hours before the vans transporting the U.S. service members arrive and patient care begins for the day.

Despite her long journey and hardship, she could do nothing but smile and thank the service members for eventually helping her and her child.

Chera's story is just one of the 12,333 patient stories told to sailors from 3rd Medical Battalion, Combat Logistics Regiment 35, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, along with Royal Cambodian Armed Forces doctors and medics providing medical, dental and vision care during Cambodia Interoperability Program 2009.

The operation began May 11 with a goal to see 1,000 patients a day during the 10-day mission. By the eighth day, the medical and dental civil action project reached the 10,000 patient mark.

Prior to the start of CIP '09, medical and dental civil action program planners coordinated with local nongovernmental organizations associated with the United States Agency for International Development to provide health education on everything from safe sex to preventing the spread of avian flu.

When the project wrapped up May 20, Brig. Gen. William Faulkner, the commanding general of 3rd MLG, arrived on site for the closing ceremony and to express his pride in his Marines and sailors for their hard work.

"The operation has been a complete success and has strengthened the relationship between the United States and the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces," Faulkner said.

Throughout the program, the interoperability between both countries' service members was apparent in all areas of the operation, from the U.S. Navy hospital corpsmen working alongside RCAF medics, to the U.S. Navy doctors working general triage side by side with the RCAF doctors.

"The U.S. Navy optometrists worked especially close to the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces ophthalmologist," said U.S. Navy Lt. Robert Senko, an optometrist with 3rd Med. Bn. "The U.S. optometrists triaged the patients and provided them with eye exams and glasses while the Royal Cambodian ophthalmologist removed cataracts and pterygiums obstructing the patients' vision."

The mission was fulfilling for all involved because the fruits of their labor were immediately apparent, according to Petty Officer 3rd Class Christopher Barrett, a hospital corpsman with 3rd Med. Bn.

"I know we are taking out teeth, but I can see their happiness because they are out of pain. Pain that they have been in for a long time," said U.S. Navy Lt. Thomas Stinchfield, a dentist with 3rd Med. Bn.

In addition to pulling out infected teeth, the dental section of the project provided oral hygiene instruction to the Cambodians so they could take proper care of their remaining teeth.

Many of the people who received care had never seen a doctor, according to U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Bunthoeun Ham, the translator for 3rd Med. Bn.

"Most of the Cambodians treat their conditions and symptoms with medicinal plants that they grow," Ham said.

The medical and dental care offered by the service members was limited, but patients were referred to local free medical services.

"One of the things we have been doing is introducing a lot of the patients to some of the services available to them. These include malaria care, pregnancy care, and tuberculosis care that is available to them free of charge," said U.S. Navy Lt. Ryan Brown, a medical officer with 3rd Med. Bn. "Many of the Cambodians were unaware of the existence of these programs."

"We treat what we can here, and really, it's just a lot of smiling faces," said Brown.

Meanwhile, personnel from 3rd Med. Bn. are scheduled to deploy to Bangladesh this summer for another medical and dental civil action project.

Additionally, the government of Cambodia is expecting the return of U.S. Marines and sailors when combat engineers from Marine Wing Support Squadron 172 arrive for an engineering civil action project with the RCAF.

[US] Sailors, Cambodians work together, provide medical aid in Pursat

Cambodian Medical personnel with 3rd Medical Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force, stand with members of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces and nongovernmental organizations during the opening ceremony of the Cambodian Interoperability Program May 11 at a Buddhist temple in Pursat Province, Cambodia. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Stefanie C. Pupkiewicz).

By Lance Cpl. Stefanie C. Pupkiewicz
http://www.okinawa.usmc.mil

PURSAT PROVINCE, Cambodia (May 22, 2009) -- U.S. Navy medical personnel from 3rd Medical Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force, here, participated in Cambodian Interoperability Program 2009, a medical and dental capabilities exercise which started May 11.

The program, which began in 2007 as a combined medical exercise between U.S. and Cambodian forces, is designed to increase the interaction and ability of both forces in responding to a humanitarian crisis. For this year's exercise, an estimated 10,000 people received medical and dental assistance.

An opening ceremony was held May 11 at Wat Bakan, a Buddhist temple, here. Hundreds of people assembled outside the temple where medical and dental services were administered by 3rd Med. Bn. sailors, the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces and local nongovernmental organizations.

"This combined medical exercise is designed to keep the sailors combat ready and to coordinate with the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces to treat the people of Pursat Province," said Maj. John Cherry, the Cambodian foreign affairs officer for the III MEF.

The Cambodian Interoperability Program is in its third year now and the coordination with the local nongovernmental organizations and the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces continues to get better, according to Cherry.

"That improvement increases the efficiency in which patients are treated," he said.

According to Navy Lt. j.g. Randy Gire, a logistics officer and officer in charge of the Cambodia Interoperability Program for 3rd Med. Bn., out of the thousands of people seen, 20 percent of the patients treated will have a lifelong change in their quality of life.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Bunthoeun Ham, the Khmer translator for 3rd Med. Bn., spoke to a woman who had received glasses for the first time in her life during last year's program. She was so thankful to finally be able to see her kids run around and play, she said. Her vision was so poor before that she could not see where they were.

Many who came for treatment normally make their own medicine from tree bark or wild plants, Ham added.

They do not have the opportunity to see doctors when they get ill which can cause their ailments to become more complicated, Ham said. This Medical Civil Action Program may be a patients' first opportunity to receive real medicine and treatment.

While U.S. Forces and Royal Cambodian Armed Forces along with the nongovernmental organizations in Cambodia remain focused on the upcoming exercise, the true beneficiaries of the Cambodia Interoperability Program are the people of Pursat Province who, along with their gratitude, will forever be influenced.

Why can Hanoi build community houses for Vietnamese in Cambodia at will when Khmer Krom in VN are still oppressed by Hanoi?

Overseas Vietnamese in Cambodia presented gifts

02/16/2009
VOVNews/VNA

A delegation of the Vietnamese embassy in Cambodia, headed by Envoy Ngo Thi Hoa, presented US$10,000 to help build a community house for overseas Vietnamese in Koh Keo and Koh Ka Ek hamlets, Pursat province, on February 14.

The delegation also handed over 100 packs of gifts, including notebooks, rulers and pens to students of poor families in these localities.

Huynh Ly, President of the Vietnamese Community Association, Pursat province’s chapter, expressed his gratitude to the Party, the State and the embassy for their care for the Vietnamese community in Cambodia in general and in Pursat province, in particular.

Over the last two years, Vietnamese enterprises in Cambodia, the army-run Viettel Telecom Company and the Ho Chi Minh City Association for Protection of Poor People, among other individuals and organisations, have raised money to build four community houses for disadvantaged overseas Vietnamese in Cambodia.

Domestic violence turned fatal: Beat your wife ... at your own risk

The dead husband (Photo: Rithysen, Koh Santepheap)

Domestic violence: Wife angered by her husband’s beating and attempt to kill her squeezed and bit his penis until he died

Sunday, January 04, 2009
Koh Santepheap newspaper
Translation from Khmer by Socheata

Pursat province: A domestic violence took place causing a woman to grab and pulled her husband’s penis to bite and squeezed it without mercy. The husband pitifully died the next day from the pain inflicted. The strange incident took place in Kampong Leu village, Kbal Trach commune, Krakor district, Pursat province on 30 December 2008. Vuth Voeun was the 38-year-old victim, and Sy Voeun, his 38-year-old wife live in the village above.

According to information provided by the Kbal Trach police station, this domestic violence started with 15-liter of rice alcohol bought by the wife to sell at home. However, the husband invited over several of his friends and they drank all the wine while the wife was harvesting rice in the field. The police officer indicated the family house also sells wine and some spices for their survival.

On the day of the incident, the wife bought 15-liter of rice wine to sell to the villagers before they travel to their harvesting work or when they return home from a day of harvesting. On the same day, Voeun, the wife, went to harvest rice the entire day also. In the evening, when she returned home, she saw her husband and several of his friends drinking all the wine she bought for sale, she got mad and a dispute ensued with her husband. The police officers indicated that when his wife gave him a fit, the husband got angry and he rushed to pull her hair to beat her and intended to break her neck. At that moment, the wife started grabbing on to his penis, squeezed and bit it without mercy until the husband was so hurt and fell down, but he did not dare tell any neighbors about this incident and he did not go the hospital either. In the morning, the husband was found dead with his hand pitifully groping over his groin. The wife was arrested by the police and brought in to the station for questioning.

The latest report indicated that on 16 December, the couple above also had a dispute and the wife already bit her husband penis once already, but the incident was not fatal to him. However, on the second round of the fight, the biting and squeezing were more severe than the first time, and this led to his death.

Dispute spreading along border [-Border dispute now spreads to Pursat province]

Thursday, 18 September 2008
Written by Thet Sambath
The Phnom Penh Post

Thai soldiers are demanding Cambodia cede land in Pursat province

HIGH-LEVEL negotiations are over and the political mudslinging has shifted up a gear, with Prime Minister Hun Sen labelling Thai soldiers "thieves" for their encroachment on the Kingdom's territory. On the ground, the military standoff between Cambodia and Thailand is spreading, and fast.

Having flared up over the Unesco-listed Preah Vihear temple, the dispute raced through Oddar Meanchey's Ta Moan Thom, Ta Moan Touch and Ta Krabey temples, and has now reached O'Plok Damrey in Veal Veng district, Pursat province, military officials say.

"Thai soldiers came to see our soldiers and told them to remove the fence along the border and withdraw our troops back inside Cambodia," said Ek Sam On, deputy commander of Military Region 5, which covers Pursat, Pailin, Battambang and Banteay Meanchey provinces.

"Our soldiers are simply stationed along our border to protect it, we are not sure why the Thais have demanded that we withdraw from the area and remove the [10-year-old] border fence. It is an unreasonable request," Ek Sam On added.

Oun Yong, Veal Veng district's governor, said Tuesday that unless the Cambodian government ordered a troop withdrawal, soldiers would remain in their positions.

An RCAF commander from Military Region 5, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that more troops were being sent to the area as reinforcements for those already on this "new front line". Military commanders are travelling to the area to check on the situation, he said.

More meetings between Thai and Cambodian military border commanders will start today, according to Ho Bunthy, deputy commander of Border Military Unit 402.

He added he had little hope of negotiations bringing any solution, saying, "I do not believe the Thai military commanders because ... they have never kept their promises."

Thai embassy officials refused to comment.

SRP election campaign in Pursat province

On July 12-13, 2008, the SRP held its election campaign in Pursat province

Wrath of nature against the obscene display of opulence?

Guests are seen panicking during the storm, most of them fled the party scene (Photo: Thmor Keo, Koh Santepheap newspaper)

Several hundreds of guests at a housewarming party ran away after storm blew off the roof of the party booth

Monday, July 02, 2007
Koh Santepheap newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

Pursat Province: About 500 guests, including elderly men and women, young men and young women, ran for their life after a storm blew off the roof of the party booth which later fell on the guests. The incident took place at around 11:40 AM on 30 June 2007, during the new housewarming party organized by a government official located in Moan Cher village, Prey Nhi commune, Sampov Meas district, Pursat province, north of National Road No. 5, and next to the “Borey Thmei” restaurant.

According to guests who were present at the party, the owner of the new house is the deputy cabinet chief of the Pursat provincial office. On the day of the incident, the homeowner invited 500 guests, and each of the guests was fancily dressed, some (of the female guests) proudly showed off their partially covered chests, their bare backs, their uncovered thighs. It was observed that the guests filled in almost all the tables at the party, and when they were savoring their delicious foods, drinking their wines, and listening to music, the sky suddenly became darker and darker. Later on, a violent rainstorm fell, and a strong wind was blowing from the southeast. Now and then, the wind partially lifted off the improperly tied roof of the booth set up for the party. Guests, who were already drunk by then, did not pay much attention to this fact, but those who didn’t drink, were very scared each time the roof started to be lifted up by the wind. Soon later, the wind blew off the roof, and it immediately fell on the guests who were running away from the scene as if they escaping from a bomb explosion in Iraq. Some of the guests who were able to run away, got caught in the nets installed around the house to prevent poor children from coming in and pick up the empty cans and bottles. Some of these guests had their shoes broken, some lost one side of their shoes, and some others had the seats of their pants torn wide open when they tried to jump the fence.

According to the guests, when the incident took place, at some tables, only one or two dishes were just served, while at some other tables, the last soup was being served, and then some were just starting to clean their utensils and didn’t even have a chance to taste a bite of the foods yet (Note: In Cambodia, each table is served as soon as the guests filled in, foods are not served at all tables at the same time). The guests then took off, and they did not even pay the gift money to the homeowners, because a large majority of them had to go back home and eat their own food instead.

Following the incident, it was learned that two guests (one male and one female) were injured when the metallic roof fell on them and they had a gash on their heads. The sign of the nearby Borey Thmei restaurant was also sheared off by the blown roof. A guest at the party who lives by the Pursat market said while laughing that his wife, knowing he was attending a party, did not cook any food at home, and she only cooked some rice to eat with the leftover pork stew from the day before. His wife and his 3 children then finished all the leftover food, so that when he reached home after the storm, all that he found was some rice left, and he was forced to eat it with nothing else but soy sauce.

This is such a rare phenomenon, but it is also the fault of the booth builder who was negligent and did not tie the roof down to assure its safety.