Trapeang Thlok villagers in Banteay Meanchey province are working as day laborers to clear land for others. They can't afford to clear their own land because they need to earn a living. With the lack of farming land, famine is chronic in vilages near the famous Banteay Chhma temple, built by Jeyvarman VII during the height of the Khmer empire. Under the current regime, the offsprings of the temple builders barely survive a wretched life. (Photo Ouk Sav Bory, RFA)30 April 2006
By Ouk Sav Bory
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by KI-Media
Villagers from Trapeang Thlok, Banteay Chhma commune, Thma Puok district, Banteay Meanchey province are currently completely out of food.
Villagers are now working as laborers clearing land. Their daily earning is sufficient for them to feed themselves on a daily basis only. Children and youngsters are no longer attending schools due to their needs.
Trapeang Thlok village is located about half a kilometer from Banteay Chhma temple. The village is rich in precious wood, but the villagers’ huts, covered with thatch roof, all have their door closed. Some young children are playing in the village but no adults are to be found.
When we asked the children, one of them who did not talk clearly yet, pointed and told us that the adults went to the woods. To reach these adults, the children showed us a path crossing the woods for about 200 meters. There we found a large group of people clearing the land in the middle of the forest.
Sorn Phat, the Trapeang Thlok village chief, said that 100% of the villagers are out of food, and that the villagers consist of those repatriated [from refugee camps in Thailand] in 1995. There are currently 75 such families in the village.
The size of the land belonging to the village is about 500 hectares, those who have money hire others to clear the land to plant crops. About 20 hectares of land had been cleared. Those who don’t have money, leave their land untouched and they earn a living working as laborers clearing land for others. That is the only way for them to buy rice to eat, otherwise they would have starved to death.
Later on, the village received a royal decree preventing them from clearing the forest to plant crops, they were required to preserve the area as protected zone of the Banteay Chhma temple. That is why the villagers always ran out of food from then on.
Almost all children and youngsters are not attending school because they have to help their parents earn a living due to the lack of food.
Sorn Phat said: “the difficulty in daily life in my village is poverty, we live by working as laborers. Our personal plot, we cannot clear it because we are too poor, we have to work for others. Each day, we earn about 70 baths (approx. $2). Some days, we cannot find work, to earn a living, sometimes, we have to go look for fire woods. There are no fire woods nearby here anymore, we have to go far but we don’t have the strength to pull the woods back. Some who cannot find fire woods, they have to work as laborer. In my village there is a lot of food shortage. Some are sick, some are borrowing money from organizations [NGOs], some went to work in Thailand.”
Sorn Phat said that the government does not take responsibility in exchanging the villagers land so they can go live somewhere outside the protected zone which was prescribed by the royal decree. That is why the villagers are running out of food, they never have enough food. Some had to borrow money to cross the border [into Thailand] to work, when they return home, some earn some money, some ended up in Thai jails accused of one thing or another. For these, they have to sell their land [to bribe] to get out of Thai jails. Others had to sell their land to pay back the money they borrowed. Some are so miserable, they don’t eat on certain days.
Til Vanna is 17-year-old, he borrowed money to go to work in Thailand. When he returned home, he had to sell his land, he is currently a laborer clearing land for others with his siblings.
Til Vanna said: “Before going to Thailand, I had to borrow money. To borrow 1,000, some Chinese merchants ask 100 in interest per month (10% monthly interest), some ask for 200 in interest per month (20% monthly interest). When we go to Thailand, sometimes, we are lucky, we can earn some money and send it back to pay the debt on time. However, if we cannot earn money, and sometimes we do get conned by others, we ended up being miserably poor. When the Thai cops arrest us, we rot in jail for 3 months before being released to go back home. They [the authorities] give us trouble along the border, in Poipet, they also give us trouble. If we are healthy, it’s OK, but when we are sick, by the time we get home, we have nothing left. We end up borrowing money one more time, by then we owe big time. Then there is nothing left of our lands, all we can do is selling the land to pay back the debt.”
Ni Na, a 16-year-old young women who is illiterate, said that her earning is only enough to survive one day. She said: “I am working every day to eat. In our village, everybody is poor, they are all poor, they do not plant crop because they have no funds to hire people to clear the land [for planting].”
Buth Saven, a 17-year-old man from a poor family, said: “We are only two of us, brothers, working to help our parents. If the two of us go to work, we earn 100 bath ($2.70), my younger brother help pay for the rice and some vegetables.”
Soeun Roeun, a young 16-year-old woman who was born in Kampong Thom, said: “If I go to school, nobody helps Father and Mother with the work. They are old, my family is poor, I cannot go to school.”
Vat Han, the Banteay Chhma commune councilor, said that in Banteay Chhma commune, there are 14 villages. Cultivated land extends about 22,272 hectares. There are 6 villages which permanently run out of food. The other 8 villages have some to eat, but some families still lack food sometimes.
Villages which are completely out of food are: Trapeang Thlok, Dang Rek, Prasat Tbeng, and the other 3 villagers lack between 70 to 80% of food.
Vat Han said: “In the Trapeang Thlok, Prasat Tbeng, Dang Rek villages, almost 100% run out of food because they don’t have land to cultivate. In 1995, each family was allotted a plot of 5 hectares. Based on our observation, the size of their plot should produce enough to provide for the needs of each family. However, the area fell under the royal ordinance [from removing forest trees for cultivation], therefore the villagers cannot cultivate on all their land.”
The commune councilor said that the lack of food is not the result of lazy villagers, it stems from land problem which was declared located in a protected zone in 1998. The villagers established and form villages in 1994-95 after being repatriated back, then they even received a plot of land.
Higher authority level came to help resolve the problem, but they ask the commune to help transport the villagers to another location. However, the commune has no means to help, only the government can resolve this issue.
Vat Han added: “The local authority is the Banteay Chhma commume, but they don’t have the mean to resolve this issue so that the families can have enough food to eat. We are requesting the government to help resolve this issue in terms of lands and foods for the families in need, so that they have enough to eat in the future.”
Kimsour Phirith, the Bantey Meanchey province member of parliament, said that he knew the problem. He said that he also knows there are a lot of public lands left, but the soldiers are grabbing these lands to make their personal property.
Therefore, the commune, district, and provincial levels have no mean to resolve this issue, it has to be solved at the national level with the cooperation of the local authority for it to be effective. He is waiting for the villagers to send the report to his MP office so he can intervene [with the government] so that the people have land to cultivate, based on various solutions [available].
Villagers are now working as laborers clearing land. Their daily earning is sufficient for them to feed themselves on a daily basis only. Children and youngsters are no longer attending schools due to their needs.
Trapeang Thlok village is located about half a kilometer from Banteay Chhma temple. The village is rich in precious wood, but the villagers’ huts, covered with thatch roof, all have their door closed. Some young children are playing in the village but no adults are to be found.
When we asked the children, one of them who did not talk clearly yet, pointed and told us that the adults went to the woods. To reach these adults, the children showed us a path crossing the woods for about 200 meters. There we found a large group of people clearing the land in the middle of the forest.
Sorn Phat, the Trapeang Thlok village chief, said that 100% of the villagers are out of food, and that the villagers consist of those repatriated [from refugee camps in Thailand] in 1995. There are currently 75 such families in the village.
The size of the land belonging to the village is about 500 hectares, those who have money hire others to clear the land to plant crops. About 20 hectares of land had been cleared. Those who don’t have money, leave their land untouched and they earn a living working as laborers clearing land for others. That is the only way for them to buy rice to eat, otherwise they would have starved to death.
Later on, the village received a royal decree preventing them from clearing the forest to plant crops, they were required to preserve the area as protected zone of the Banteay Chhma temple. That is why the villagers always ran out of food from then on.
Almost all children and youngsters are not attending school because they have to help their parents earn a living due to the lack of food.
Sorn Phat said: “the difficulty in daily life in my village is poverty, we live by working as laborers. Our personal plot, we cannot clear it because we are too poor, we have to work for others. Each day, we earn about 70 baths (approx. $2). Some days, we cannot find work, to earn a living, sometimes, we have to go look for fire woods. There are no fire woods nearby here anymore, we have to go far but we don’t have the strength to pull the woods back. Some who cannot find fire woods, they have to work as laborer. In my village there is a lot of food shortage. Some are sick, some are borrowing money from organizations [NGOs], some went to work in Thailand.”
Sorn Phat said that the government does not take responsibility in exchanging the villagers land so they can go live somewhere outside the protected zone which was prescribed by the royal decree. That is why the villagers are running out of food, they never have enough food. Some had to borrow money to cross the border [into Thailand] to work, when they return home, some earn some money, some ended up in Thai jails accused of one thing or another. For these, they have to sell their land [to bribe] to get out of Thai jails. Others had to sell their land to pay back the money they borrowed. Some are so miserable, they don’t eat on certain days.
Til Vanna is 17-year-old, he borrowed money to go to work in Thailand. When he returned home, he had to sell his land, he is currently a laborer clearing land for others with his siblings.
Til Vanna said: “Before going to Thailand, I had to borrow money. To borrow 1,000, some Chinese merchants ask 100 in interest per month (10% monthly interest), some ask for 200 in interest per month (20% monthly interest). When we go to Thailand, sometimes, we are lucky, we can earn some money and send it back to pay the debt on time. However, if we cannot earn money, and sometimes we do get conned by others, we ended up being miserably poor. When the Thai cops arrest us, we rot in jail for 3 months before being released to go back home. They [the authorities] give us trouble along the border, in Poipet, they also give us trouble. If we are healthy, it’s OK, but when we are sick, by the time we get home, we have nothing left. We end up borrowing money one more time, by then we owe big time. Then there is nothing left of our lands, all we can do is selling the land to pay back the debt.”
Ni Na, a 16-year-old young women who is illiterate, said that her earning is only enough to survive one day. She said: “I am working every day to eat. In our village, everybody is poor, they are all poor, they do not plant crop because they have no funds to hire people to clear the land [for planting].”
Buth Saven, a 17-year-old man from a poor family, said: “We are only two of us, brothers, working to help our parents. If the two of us go to work, we earn 100 bath ($2.70), my younger brother help pay for the rice and some vegetables.”
Soeun Roeun, a young 16-year-old woman who was born in Kampong Thom, said: “If I go to school, nobody helps Father and Mother with the work. They are old, my family is poor, I cannot go to school.”
Vat Han, the Banteay Chhma commune councilor, said that in Banteay Chhma commune, there are 14 villages. Cultivated land extends about 22,272 hectares. There are 6 villages which permanently run out of food. The other 8 villages have some to eat, but some families still lack food sometimes.
Villages which are completely out of food are: Trapeang Thlok, Dang Rek, Prasat Tbeng, and the other 3 villagers lack between 70 to 80% of food.
Vat Han said: “In the Trapeang Thlok, Prasat Tbeng, Dang Rek villages, almost 100% run out of food because they don’t have land to cultivate. In 1995, each family was allotted a plot of 5 hectares. Based on our observation, the size of their plot should produce enough to provide for the needs of each family. However, the area fell under the royal ordinance [from removing forest trees for cultivation], therefore the villagers cannot cultivate on all their land.”
The commune councilor said that the lack of food is not the result of lazy villagers, it stems from land problem which was declared located in a protected zone in 1998. The villagers established and form villages in 1994-95 after being repatriated back, then they even received a plot of land.
Higher authority level came to help resolve the problem, but they ask the commune to help transport the villagers to another location. However, the commune has no means to help, only the government can resolve this issue.
Vat Han added: “The local authority is the Banteay Chhma commume, but they don’t have the mean to resolve this issue so that the families can have enough food to eat. We are requesting the government to help resolve this issue in terms of lands and foods for the families in need, so that they have enough to eat in the future.”
Kimsour Phirith, the Bantey Meanchey province member of parliament, said that he knew the problem. He said that he also knows there are a lot of public lands left, but the soldiers are grabbing these lands to make their personal property.
Therefore, the commune, district, and provincial levels have no mean to resolve this issue, it has to be solved at the national level with the cooperation of the local authority for it to be effective. He is waiting for the villagers to send the report to his MP office so he can intervene [with the government] so that the people have land to cultivate, based on various solutions [available].
1 comment:
Please check spelling on village name,wasn't Trapork Khleang instead?Was it ah worng Nhek Bun Chhay birthplace? Huh
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