By Sav Yuth
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
On Tuesday 15 January, 23 families living next to Wat Reach Bo pagoda, located in Sala Kamroeuk commune, Siem Reap district, Siem Reap province, have again resisted from tearing down their homes and move out of their lands, for as long as the provincial authority want to turn their lands to the pagoda without providing them a proper compensation.
The resisting villagers said that they will not leave their place, and they would rather die on the spot when the authorities will bring in machineries to clear their lands and, as long as, the authority is only willing to give them a meager compensation. “If I leave here, I will be sleeping along the roadsides, therefore I am staying to protect my place, if they don’t give me a proper compensation, I will not leave. No compensation, then I’m not leaving, I’d rather die,” a villager said.
The villagers’ demonstration took place after the committee for the resolution of pagoda land dispute – set up by provincial authority – started to survey the lands and each house, on Tuesday morning.
However, Som Sambath, director of the Wat Reach Bo pagoda land dispute research group, said that his group came to survey the land size that affect the pagoda only. Regarding the resolution policy, he does not know anything about it.
Som Sambath said: “Whatever policy there is, I don’t know about it, this concerns H.E. the provincial governor.”
The land dispute between the villagers and monks in Wat Reach Bo pagoda intensified in 2006, when the authority arrested one of the villagers.
Tep Bun Chhay, the Siem Reap district governor, wrote a letter to the provincial governor on 02 July 2007, he recognized that the lands belonged to the pagoda prior to 1979, however, the villagers settled there since 1979, and they even have land ownership papers as well. The monks laid claim to these lands in 1995 only.
On 31 March 2006, Tep Vong, the Buddhist supreme patriarch, issued an announcement opposing the settlement by the villagers who refused to leave the lands or who demanded compensations.
Suos Narin, an investigator for the Adhoc human rights group, is concerned that violence may erupt when the authority will start to evict the villagers.
Suos Narin said: “The civil society wants the same solution provided by the Phnom Penh municipality: it evicts people out, but it builds houses in exchange for them.”
On 08 November 2007, CPP MP Sieng Nam attempted to find a resolution by compensating $3,000 to each family and providing a 4-meter-by 20-meter plot of land to families agreeing to move out.
At that time, 27 families agreed, and 23 others rejected because they believe that $3,000 cannot buy back a plot of land in the city for them to live on, due to the skyrocketing price of land.
The resisting villagers said that they will not leave their place, and they would rather die on the spot when the authorities will bring in machineries to clear their lands and, as long as, the authority is only willing to give them a meager compensation. “If I leave here, I will be sleeping along the roadsides, therefore I am staying to protect my place, if they don’t give me a proper compensation, I will not leave. No compensation, then I’m not leaving, I’d rather die,” a villager said.
The villagers’ demonstration took place after the committee for the resolution of pagoda land dispute – set up by provincial authority – started to survey the lands and each house, on Tuesday morning.
However, Som Sambath, director of the Wat Reach Bo pagoda land dispute research group, said that his group came to survey the land size that affect the pagoda only. Regarding the resolution policy, he does not know anything about it.
Som Sambath said: “Whatever policy there is, I don’t know about it, this concerns H.E. the provincial governor.”
The land dispute between the villagers and monks in Wat Reach Bo pagoda intensified in 2006, when the authority arrested one of the villagers.
Tep Bun Chhay, the Siem Reap district governor, wrote a letter to the provincial governor on 02 July 2007, he recognized that the lands belonged to the pagoda prior to 1979, however, the villagers settled there since 1979, and they even have land ownership papers as well. The monks laid claim to these lands in 1995 only.
On 31 March 2006, Tep Vong, the Buddhist supreme patriarch, issued an announcement opposing the settlement by the villagers who refused to leave the lands or who demanded compensations.
Suos Narin, an investigator for the Adhoc human rights group, is concerned that violence may erupt when the authority will start to evict the villagers.
Suos Narin said: “The civil society wants the same solution provided by the Phnom Penh municipality: it evicts people out, but it builds houses in exchange for them.”
On 08 November 2007, CPP MP Sieng Nam attempted to find a resolution by compensating $3,000 to each family and providing a 4-meter-by 20-meter plot of land to families agreeing to move out.
At that time, 27 families agreed, and 23 others rejected because they believe that $3,000 cannot buy back a plot of land in the city for them to live on, due to the skyrocketing price of land.
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