Amid Landgrabbing, Attack On Lawmaker Unsurprising

Letter sent by Dr. Lao Mong Hay
to The Cambodia Daily

Attacking a person is indeed a crime, and the attacker must be punished for it, subject of course to the state of his mental health.

However, Ros Sovann's attack on lawmaker Chin Kim Sreng, brutal as it was, should not be treated as a crime like any other. It should be taken very seriously as a loud call for justice for himself and for other victims of the injustices of land grabbing, which the system of justice of the country is either unable, unwilling or not allowed to correct and prevent.

One can only imagine how strongly such injustices might have affected a young man like Ros. In Cambodia there are many people, including youths like Ros, who are victims of land grabbing. These acts have been going on for years and have forced, at times brutally, many families out of their homes and lands without fair compensation. Many of those victims may have the same hatred for the country's rulers and may be as revengeful as him.

The time is overdue for the government to put a halt to land grabbing and for the institutions of the rule of law, especially the courts, to correct the injustices that land grabbing has created. This must be done before the situation creates more people like Ros with hatred for their rulers in their hearts.

In this incident, Ros Sovann has beaten one person in vengeance. What could other people with similar hatred do next?

Lao Mong Hay
Hong Kong

Cambodia: Call for justice for victims of land grabbing

Ros Sovann (Photo: Rasmei Kampuchea)

16/1/2008
Posted on Mynews India

On 13 January 2008 at around 11:30 pm a lawmaker named Chin Kim Sreng, 70, from the ruling party, was brutally beaten on the head in front of his house in Boeung Kang Kang commune, Chamcar Mon district, Phnom Penh. Chin was knocked unconscious in the attack which caused open wounds to his head. He was rushed to the hospital for treatment.

Chin’s attacker was a man named Ros Sovann, 28, a security guard from a private security firm who is living with his mother in Russey Sros village, Niroth commune, Meanchey district, Phnom Penh. That night he was on duty to guard a French-owned restaurant located in the rented part of Chin’s house.

He beat Chin with a steel pipe when Chin returned home and was about to open the front gate of his own house. Ros then got into Chin’s luxury car and rammed it into the house gate. Chin’s wife who was in the house cried out for help, and Ros was immediately apprehended and handed over to the police.

In his statement to the police, Ros said his attack on Chin was his revenge against the powerful officials who had grabbed his land in Russey Sros village and deprived him of the only means that would have allowed his mother to pay for his wedding. He said he had had no personal grudges against Chin.

However, since the loss of his land he harbored strong resentment for all powerful officials, so much so that, on becoming a security guard, he had requested his firm to assign him to guard their houses so that he could have opportunities to take revenge on them.

Ros’s mother named Noeu Yeap, 54, said that she used to have a 15m by 200m plot of land, but this land was now reduced to 15m by 40m. The rest had been grabbed from her when she had lent it to the village chief named Khlauk Dul for building the village office. Later on, this village chief sold her land without her knowledge. She filed a lawsuit in court against this sale in 1994, but so far no justice has been offered to her.

Noeu said that because of this unsettled land grabbing case, she had had no means to pay for the wedding of her son as he had requested. Ros had been badly affected by this event and her inability to pay for his wedding. It is reported that there are many land disputes in the area where the mother and son are living.

While in police custody, Ros made several suicide attempts, and the police have said experts may be needed to examine his mental health. Attacking a person is indeed a crime, and the attacker must be punished for it, subject of course to the state of his mental health.

However, Ros’s attack on lawmaker Chin Kim Sreng, brutal as it was, should not be treated as a crime like many others. It should be taken very seriously as it was a cry for justice for himself and for other victims of the injustices of land grabbing which the system of justice of the country is either unable, unwilling, or not allowed to correct and prevent. One can only imagine how strongly such injustices can have affected a young man like Ros, then a teenager.

In Cambodia there are many people, including youths like Ros who are victims of land grabbing, when this act has been going on for years and has forced and continues to force, at times brutally, many families out of their homes and lands without fair compensation. Many of those victims may have the same hatred for the country’s rulers and be as revengeful as him.

The Asian Human Rights Commission said that the time is now long overdue for the government to put a halt to land grabbing and for the institutions of the rule of law, especially the courts, to correct the injustices that land grabbing has created.

This must be done before the situation creates more people like Ros with hatred for their rulers in their hearts. In this incident Ros has beaten one person in vengeance. One can only guess what will happen in future if the government fails to stop the eviction and needless poverty of their people due to land grabbing.