Financing the front lines

Wednesday, 02 March 2011
Sun Narin and Kim Samath
The Phnom Penh Post

“I am not sure that this money can reach soldiers or not. I do not trust people collecting funds. Our society is difficult to trust for this kind of work.”

During our recent clashes with Thailand, just about everyone gave something to support Cambodian soldiers. Sun Narin and Kim Samath find out how it moved from you to the troops

Forty -six-year-old Chheng Sarann, an office official of Vocational Training at the Ministry of Education, has contributed money to support the military at Preah Vihear Temple four times now, at his home and workplace, and said the reason he gave money to the fund raising efforts was he just followed what his colleagues and neighbours did.

“No one forced me to give, but I had to because if I did not, I would have been considered strange and not like the other people who contributed money,” he said. He added that he was not worried about his contribution by explaining that if he did not give his money to the military it would be like committing a sin. As the Buddhist saying goes: “If you do something bad, you will receive something bad, if you do something good, you will receive something good.”

Bayon TV Begins Disbursement of Bridge Donations

Hun Mana, owner of Bayon TV and daughter of Cambodia's dictator

By last Friday evening, Bayon TV had raised more than $1.08 million and CTN had brought in more than $500,000.

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer

Phnom Penh Wednesday, 01 December 2010

“But this money cannot fully compensate the loss to the families.”

Eighty-three families of victims from last week’s bridge stampede received a first round of donations from Bayon TV, collecting more than $5,000 each.

The TV station raised the money from its Cambodian audience following the Nov. 22 bridge disaster, which left 351 people dead and 395 injured.

Tit Thavrith, deputy director of Bayon Radio and TV, said the disbursement was a “first step” to compensate victims of the disaster and would be followed by teams making provincial trips.

Bayon TV said it collected more than $2.5 million in the week following the deadly bridge stampede, one of the worst disasters in recent Cambodian history.

Tit Thavrith said the disbursements should end speculation the TV station would not transparently issue the money.

The money will help the families of victims to reduce expenditures, such as seven-day and hundred-day ceremonies, Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema said during a distribution ceremony at Bayon TV station on Wednesday. “But this money cannot fully compensate the loss to the families.”

Chan Serey, a 45-year-old soldier stationed in Kampong Speu province, who lost his wife and three children in the stampede, said the money was more than he had seen before, but it could not make up for the death of his family.

He would use the money to open a small shop in his house in Kampong Chhnang province, he said.

Phea Chan Nara, 43, whose brother was killed on the bridge, said he would use the money to hold the 100-day funeral ceremony and help his elderly mother.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: The Donation

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Cambodia: collecting donations to help the poor and needy is a No No

Makeshift living conditions in Andoung Thmei village (Photo: SMD)

SMD students conducting a survey on people evicted from Sambok Chap (Photo: SMD)

SMD students collecting donations in Phnom Penh (Photo: SMD)

Students collection donations to help people evicted from Sambok Chap

02 July 2007
By Uk Sav Bory
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

A group of students who went into Phnom Penh markets to collect donations to help poor people evicted from Sambok Chap, were prevented to do so by the market authorities.

Ken Sara, the vice-president of the Students’ Movement for Democracy (SMD), said that about 30 volunteer students coming from various high schools and universities went into Phnom Penh markets on Monday 02 July morning, to collect donations to help several hundreds of poor families evicted from Sambok Chap area who currently lack shelters, lost their jobs, lack foods, lack clean waters, lack electricity, and who need urgent help since they were evicted from Phnom Penh and sent to live in Andoung Thmei and Trapeang Krasaing villages, Dankao district.

Ken Sara said that prior to entering the markets, SMD sent letter asking for authorizations from the market authorities and the Phnom Penh municipal authority, nevertheless, in some markets, they were still prevented to get in. “They said that the entry to each market must receive the authorization from the district office first, then they will allow us to enter,” Ken Sara said of the local market authority prevention.

Freshman students from the Phnom Penh Royal University said that the students divide themselves into four groups, and went into four different Phnom Penh markets: Phsar Thmei, Olympic, O’Russei, and Kab Ko, to ask for donations to help poor needy people evicted from Sambok Chap area. The collection of donations were stopped by the Phsar Thmei an Olympic markets security officers. Nevertheless, some generous donors still hand in their donations.

A female student said: “We cannot get inside the market, but our group was able to collect 640,000 riels (~$160).”

A psychology-major student from the Phnom Penh Royal University said that a group of students went to study the living conditions of the people evicted from Sambok Chap, they noted that these people lack everything, and the government should provide help to them. But, to the contrary, the government ignored these people, left them to live on unsanitary waters, without proper shelters, that were the reasons why the students decided to collect donations from markets to help these needy people.

The same psychology-major student said: “I visited the area myself with 10 other students. We observed that they have a lot of difficulties, they lack everything, no food, no water, no electricity, and even their tents are all torn up, and their shelters are very small.”

A security official from Phsar Thmei said that these students did not have an authorization letter to collect donations in the market.

Dr Pung Chiv Kek, President of Licadho human rights organization, said that the prevention by the market authority is a violation of the students’ rights, as these students want to show their solidarity in helping the poor people of their country.

1,367 families were evicted from Phnom Penh Sambok Chap area, and they were sent to live in Andoung Thmei and Trapeang Krasaing villages in Dangkao district, on 06 June 2006. Besides these families, another 488 families of renters are currently living in makeshift tents and no lands were provided to them. In the Andoung Thmei village, more than 1,000 families are living in mud during this rainy season, and several children and adults died of disease they contracted in this new area.

For further information about SMD or to help SMD, please click here.