Showing posts with label Kandal province. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kandal province. Show all posts

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Opposition member gets bail

Meas Peng
Friday, 14 September 2012
Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

Sam Rainsy Party member and former deputy commune chief in Kandal province, Meas Peng, was released on bail temporarily on Wednesday.

Peng, who was arrested allegedly without a warrant and then escaped from jail last September, was rearrested in June on his original charges of conspiring to use violence against a property owner.

Kandal Provincial Court investigating judge Lim Sokunthat told the Post yesterday that Peng has been released on bail temporarily because police have yet to prove his guilt in conspiring to use violence.

Peng will remain under control of the court during his bail. He is not allowed to leave the country and must appear at the request of the court, Sokunthat said.

Thursday, August 02, 2012

Kandal face-off over land

Villagers involved in a land dispute protest at the Muk Kampoul district hall in Kandal province yesterday. Photograph: Hong Menea/Phnom Penh Post

Wednesday, 01 August 2012
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

More than 200 villagers rallied outside Muk Kampoul district hall in Kandal province yesterday demanding titles to land they said 200 families had occupied since 1979 but that a company had cleared in 2006.

The villagers say the company CT Mart cleared 86 hectares of their land in Sambuor Meas commune’s Peang village to build a dam, preventing them from planting their dry season paddy there ever since.

Chhay Chhun, a representative of the protesters, said the land had been flooded as ruling party Senator Ly Yong Phat began building a nearby satellite city.

“We occupied the land for a long time, but did not make titles, and [then] the company showed its land title. We protested at all places, but there were promises only,” he said.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Opposition Commune Official Arrested in Kandal

Meas Peng
12 June 2012
By Mu Sochua

Clearly a political case, just barely 10 days after the local elections.

Local governance program run by the ministry of interior with support from international donors must look into the real quality of the program which must include how elected commune councilors can function without facing being charged and arrested with no valid evidence.
--------
Opposition Commune Official Arrested in Kandal
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

The land grabbers, why have the authorities not arrested them? Why have they arrested my father, who helps villagers?”
An opposition party commune councilor was arrested near his home in Kandal province Tuesday morning, accused of inciting violence among residents in a local land dispute last year.

Meas Peng was escorted by four armed police into a waiting vehicle and taken to provincial facilities, where he is accused of inciting violence amongst residents embroiled in a land dispute with a local official in Kien Svay district.

Friday, March 02, 2012

Kandal villagers seek resolution to dispute [-Hun Xen, your order to the NALDR is useless! What will you do about that?]

Thursday, 01 March 2012
Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post

More than 200 villagers from Kandal’s Kien Svay district gathered in protest yesterday to urge the National Authority for Land Dispute Resolution to resolve their long-standing dispute with a CPP official.

The protesters assembled in the Samrong Thom commune brandishing photos of the prime minister and his wife, encouraging authorities to find a resolution to the dispute, in which they claim to have lost more than 1,000 hectares of farmland.

Village representative Hem Sopheap said more than 850 families lost their land in 2005, when Lok Hour, a Phnom Penh Municipal Council member and former deputy cabinet director for senate president Chea Sim, took possession of the land, forbidding villagers to continue farming.

Later in 2005, Prime Minister Hun Sen had sent a letter to the NALDR instructing it to find a resolution for the villagers, but nothing had been done, Hem Sopheap said.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

COMFREL Release the Result of Workshop on Voter's Voice in Tuek Vil, Sa-ang, Kandal province

Dear all,

COMFREL is please to release its press release on the result of workshop on voter's voice in remote areas; Teuk Vil commune, Sa-ang district, Kandal province was held on February 06, 2012.

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, decentralization and governance, please feel free to visit our website:

Best regards,

COMFREL


http://www.box.com/s/sryc4kh9yei4rybcj89b

Friday, January 27, 2012

COMFREL Release the Result of Workshop on Voter's Voice in Thma Kor, Lvea Aem, Kandal province

Dear all,

COMFREL is please to release its press release on the result of workshop on voter's voice in remote areas; Thma Kor commune, Lvea Aem district, Kandal province was held on January 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, decentralization and governance, please feel free to visit our website:

Best regards,

COMFREL


http://www.box.com/s/jsnrqvzu322sfp9uqac9

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

តុលាការ​ខេត្ត​កណ្តាល​ចោទ​ប្រកាន់​សមាជិក​គណបក្ស​សម រង្ស៊ី - Kandal tribunal charges SRP activists

ថ្ងៃអង្គារ, 27 ខែធ្នូ 2011
ដោយ គង់ ​សុឋានរិទ្ធ វីអូអេ ខ្មែរ | ភ្នំពេញ
«បទ​ផ្ដល់​មធ្យោបាយ​ឲ្យ​លួច​រត់» (sic!)

Synopsis: The Kandal provincial court charged SRP MP Chan Cheng and two other activists in a case involving a complicated land dispute. The charges take place after Chan Cheng saw his parliamentary immunity suspended at the end of last week. The prosecutor charged Chan Cheng and Chuong Chou-ngy, the SRP defense lawyer, of “providing an escape mean” to Meas Peng. The latter is the SRP councilor of Banteay Dek commune, in Kandal province. He was accused of escape. The entire case started since the beginning of November when Meas Peng was summoned by the Kandal court and sent to temporary detention. Meas Peng was accused of pushing more than 100 families to protest against a land dispute near his commune. However, Chuong Chou-ngy, the defense lawyer of Meas Peng, protested and took his client out of the temporary detention center because he found out that the detention was done without any court order. At that time, both Chan Cheng and Chuong Chou-ngy was accompanying Meas Peng.

សាលាដំបូង​ខេត្ត​កណ្ដាល​បាន​ចោទ​ប្រកាន់​តំណាងរាស្ដ្រ​គណបក្ស​សម​ រង្ស៊ី ​លោក​ ចាន់​ ចេង ​និង​សកម្មជន​នយោបាយ​គណបក្ស​នេះ​ចំនួន​ពីរ​រូប​ផ្សេង​ទៀត ​ក្នុង​រឿង​ក្ដី​មួយ​ទាក់ទង​នឹង​សំណុំ​រឿង​ដីធ្លី​ដ៏​ចម្រូងចម្រាស់។

ការ​ចោទប្រកាន់​នេះ​ត្រូវ​បាន​ធ្វើ​ឡើង​ក្រោយ​បន្ទាប់​ពី​រដ្ឋសភា​បាន​ព្យួរ​អភ័យឯកសិទ្ធិ​លោក​ចាន់ ​ចេង ​កាល​ពី​សប្ដាហ៍​មុន។

ព្រះរាជអាជ្ញា​តុលាការ​ខេត្ត​កណ្ដាល​លោក​អ៊ុក ​គឹមសិទ្ធិ ​មាន​ប្រសាសន៍​នៅ​ថ្ងៃ​អង្គារ​នេះ​ថា ​លោក​បាន​ធ្វើ​ការ​ចោទប្រកាន់​កាល​ពី​ថ្ងៃ​សុក្រ​សប្ដាហ៍​មុន​ លើ​លោក​ចាន់​ ចេង​ និង​មេធាវី​ប្រចាំ​គណបក្ស​សម ​រង្ស៊ី ​លោក ​ជួរ ​ជូងី ​ពី «បទ​ផ្ដល់​មធ្យោបាយ​ឲ្យ​លួច​រត់» ​​ដល់​លោក ​មាស ​ប៉េង។

លោក ​មាស​ ប៉េង​ គឺ​ជា​ជំទប់​ឃុំ​បន្ទាយដែក ​ខេត្ត​កណ្ដាល​ កូតា​គណបក្ស​សម ​រង្ស៊ី ​ដែល​ត្រូវ​ចោទ​ប្រកាន់​ផងដែរ​ពី​បទ​លួច​រត់។ បទចោទ​នេះ​ដែល​ធ្វើ​ឲ្យ​ជំទប់​ឃុំ​របស់​គណបក្ស​ជំទាស់​ទទួល​រង​ការ​ចោទប្រកាន់​ចំនួន​ពីរ​ក្នុង​សំណុំរឿង​ដែល​ជាប់​ទាក់ទង​គ្នា។

Monday, November 28, 2011

Vehicles from Vietnam are accused on destroying National Road No. 21

រថយន្ត​មក​ពី​វៀតណាម​បំផ្លាញ​ផ្លូវ​ជាតិ​លេខ​២១

ដោយ អ៊ុក សាវបូរី
2011-11-27 RFA

Synopsis: Villagers from Roka Khpous commune claimed that the Sa’ang district road, which was heavily damaged during this year’s flood season, is facing more danger due to heavily loaded vehicles transporting building materials from Vietnam. On 27 Nov, the villagers indicated that National Road No. 21, which is located not too far from Hun Xen’s fortress in Kandal province, is facing severe damage from traffic of vehicles transporting construction materials. The villagers are concerned that the road will fall into the river near Wat Chhoung Leab pagoda, because it is heavily tilted toward the river. The villagers are concerned that should the road fall into the river, everybody will die, including the villagers themselves.

ពល​រដ្ឋ​ឃុំ​រកា​ខ្ពស់​អះអាង​ថា ផ្លូវ​ក្នុង​ស្រុក​ស្អាង ដែល​ទ្រុឌទ្រោម​ដោយ​សារ​ទឹក​ជំនន់​ឆ្នាំ​នេះ​ទៅ​ហើយ ក៏​កំពុង​រងគ្រោះ​បន្ថែម​ទៀត​ដោយសារ​រថយន្ត​​ផ្ទុក​ទម្ងន់​សម្ភារៈ​សំណង់​មក​ពី​ប្រទេស​វៀតណាម។

ពល​រដ្ឋ​នៅ​ភូមិ​កោះគ ឃុំ​រកា​ខ្ពស់ ស្រុក​ស្អាង ខេត្ត​កណ្ដាល ឲ្យ​ដឹង​នៅ​ថ្ងៃ​ទី​២៧ វិច្ឆិកា​ថា ផ្លូវ​ជាតិ​លេខ​២១ ដែល​នៅ​មិន​ឆ្ងាយ​ពី​ផ្ទះ​នាយក​រដ្ឋ​មន្ត្រី ហ៊ុន សែន ក្នុង​ខេត្ត​កណ្ដាល កំពុង​រង​ការ​ខូច​ខាត​យ៉ាង​ខ្លាំង ដោយ​រថយន្ត​ដឹក​ជញ្ជូន​បាន​ដឹក​សម្ភារៈ​សំណង់​ចេញ​ពី​កំពង់​ដរ ភូមិ​កោះគ ឆ្លង​កាត់។

ពល​រដ្ឋ​បន្ថែម​ថា អ្វី​ដែល​គ្រោះ​ថ្នាក់​ខ្លាំង​នោះ គឺ​ខ្លាច​ផ្លូវ​បាក់​ធ្លាក់​ចូល​ទឹក​ទន្លេ ព្រោះ​ផ្លូវ​ក្បែរ​វត្ត​ឈូង​លាប ផ្អៀង​ស្រុត​កាន់​តែ​ខ្លាំង​ទៅ​ក្នុង​ទន្លេ ៖ "ពី​កែង​ឈូង​លាប មក​មុខ​វត្ត​ហ្នឹង គឺ​ឃើញ​ហើយ ឡើង​ខូង​ដី​មួយ​ចំហៀង ខូង​ថ្នល់។ ប្រជា​ជន​ខ្លាច​តែ​បាក់​ថ្នល់​ចូល​ទន្លេ​ទាំង​អស់​តែ​ម្ដង ងាប់​ទាំង​អស់​គ្នា ងាប់​តែ​ម្ដង ងាប់​អ្នក​ស្រុក​ហ្នឹង​ហ្មង។ ឡាន​ហ្នឹង​ធំ​ៗ​ណាស់ គេ​ដឹក​គ្រឿងសំណង់ ដឹក​ឥដ្ឋ​ការ៉ូ​ពី​វៀតណាម​មក​ដាក់​កប៉ាល់​មក ហើយ​គេ​អត់​ចូល​ផែ​នៅ​ភ្នំពេញ​ទេ គេ​មក​ចូល​ផែ​នៅ​ភូមិ​កោះគ ឃុំ​រកា​ខ្ពស់ ស្រុក​ស្អាង​នេះ​មុខ​វត្ត​ឈូង​លាប"។

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Villagers try diplomatic route

Villagers from Kandal province travelled to Phnom Penh yesterday to deliver petitions to foreign embassies concerning land disputes with private companies. Photo by: Heng Chivoan
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

About 300 villagers from Kandal province locked in land disputes with private companies delivered petitions to embassies in Phnom Penh yesterday, before protesting in front of the provincial hall and calling for Prime Minister Hun Sen to help them.

Villagers told the Post they wanted an end to land disputes caused by companies that had “seized their land”, adding that they would “rather die” than go home without a result.

They said authorities had ignored their pleas for help while the companies had used the court system to have villagers who complained about the acquisitions arrested.

The protesters, from Ponhea Leu, Kien Svay, Kandal Stung and Takmao districts, also called for the provincial governor to intervene.

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Villagers seek NGO help in land disputes

Tuesday, 01 November 2011
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

About 300 villagers from four districts in Kandal province embroiled in land disputes yesterday requested that rights workers file a complaint against several private companies they claim had used the courts to threaten residents.

Residents from seven villages in Ponhea Leu, Kien Svay, Kandal Stung and Takhmao districts accompanied 84 village representatives to request that staffers from rights group Adhoc intervene with firms including SKD Factory and Heng Apiwat Development.

“We wonder why we filed a complaint to the court and did not get any action, and why we got arrest warrants,” 50-year-old villager Kouy Chan Thorn, from Ponhea Leu district, said.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

COMFREL Release the Result of Workshop on Voter's Voice in Phsar Daek, Ponhea Lueu, Kandal province

Dear all,

COMFREL is please to release its press release on the result of workshop on voter's voice in remote areas; Phsar Dek commune, Ponhea Lueu district, Kandal province was held on October 18, 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 : 

Best regards,

COMFREL


http://www.box.net/shared/fypzsvhna0lakoau3xep

Monday, September 19, 2011

SRP activist charged over protest


Monday, 19 September 2011 15:01
Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

A Sam Rainsy Party activist was charged yesterday with initiating the destruction of private property after he led a protest of Kandal villagers in Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park last month.

The protest was sparked by a land dispute between 114 families from Kandal’s Kien Svay district and Kratie provincial council member Prak Savuth which has been ongoing since 2010.

After arriving at Kandal police station on Friday for questioning about the August protest, Korki Thom commune deputy chief Moek Chea was arrested and detained, his lawyer Choung Choungy said.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Villagers rally against arrest

Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Kim Yuthana
The Phnom Penh Post

Nearly 100 villagers from 114 families in Kandal province protested in front of the provincial court yesterday to request the release of a villager arrested in connection with a land dispute with a former deputy provincial governor.

Khorn Kea, 30, a representative of villagers from Samrong Thom commune’s Prek Treng village in Kien Svay district, said yesterday that Nhil Sami was arrested in Phnom Penh on May 19 and charged with destroying private property.

He added that protestors had asked the court to stop issuing summons and arrest warrants for villagers embroiled in a dispute with former deputy provincial governor Prak Savuth.

Villagers are living in fear every day after the arrest of Nhil Sami and heard that other villagers will be arrested in relation to the land dispute,” Khorn Kea said.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

$10,000 offer to tear down a pagoda from the "Thmil" Heng Kamtech Wat Co.

Villagers snub $10,000 offer for pagoda

Friday, 27 August 2010
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post


KANDAL province villagers involved in a land dispute with a prominent development company say they cannot accept an offer of US$10,000 in exchange for tearing down a cherished pagoda.

In an article published yesterday in the Nokor Wat Daily newspaper, the head of the Heng Development Company is quoted as offering the villagers $10,000 in compensation for destroying the pagoda. Company director Sieng Chanheng owns Nokor Wat Daily.

“All people who know they have done wrong have to move from that land,” Sieng Chanheng was quoted as saying in the newspaper. “The company will provide $10,000 after they have torn down the pagoda.”

Sieng Chanheng could not be reached for comment yesterday.

But villagers and members of the local pagoda committee say the offer is unacceptable.

Kong San, a member of the Tuol Tamork pagoda committee, said villagers would never agree to tear down the pagoda. They want to keep the temple for devout Buddhists, Kong San said.

“Even if they offer us a million dollars, we will not agree,” he said.

The dispute involves 2,676 families in seven communes of Kandal Stung district who say they have lived and farmed on more than 1,000 hectares of the land since 1986. Company representatives, on the other hand, say they bought the land in 1996 for commercial rice cultivation. The villagers say they have been given until August 30 – Monday – to clear off the land.

“We are ready if the company comes to tear down the pagoda,” said Chea Hy, a representative of the villagers.

Rights advocates say the villagers have been treated unfairly in this case.

Men Makara, a coordinator with local rights group Adhoc, said the company needs to find a resolution for all the villagers and not just the pagoda.

“Villagers need the company to find a resolution for them in all communes that are affected, not only the pagoda,” Men Makara said. “It is an injustice for them when the company talks only about the pagoda.”

Friday, July 23, 2010

Kandal wells high in arsenic

A woman pumps water yesterday from an arsenic-tainted well in Phoum Thom village, in Kandal province’s Kien Svay district. (Photo by: Will Baxter)

Thursday, 22 July 2010
Will Baxter and Sun Narin
The Phnom Penh Post

We only use the wells for washing clothes or bathing, but some people still use [it] for cooking.
Kandal province - KHUN Yeun, 55, has a well in her backyard, but she stopped using it after UNICEF sanitation experts concluded in 2009 that it contained extremely high levels of arsenic and carbon.

“I haven’t used the well for about a year because I was afraid of getting some disease,” said the resident of Phoum Thom village, located in Kandal province’s Kien Svay district. “We use tap water instead.”

She is not alone in her village. Chhiev Kimlorn, the village chief, said that 10 of the community’s 26 wells had been tested. According to a document she was given by UNICEF, seven of them were found to contain elevated arsenic levels.

Three were found to contain arsenic levels as high as 500 parts per billion – more than 50 times the limit considered safe by the World Health Organisation, and more than 10 times the limit considered safe by the Ministry of Rural Development.

“Most people here drink tap water,” Chhiev Kimlorn said. “We only use the wells for washing clothes or bathing, but some people still use the water for cooking.”

Both she and Khun Yeun said that although they knew the wells were dangerous, they had never been told that arsenic is a known carcinogen.

“No one has come to the village to educate people about the wells, so I had never heard that drinking well water could lead to cancer,” Chhiev Kimlorn said.

The Ministry of Rural Development said this week that up to 150,000 people living along the Mekong and Bassac rivers are consuming water from wells laced with arsenic. Mao Saray, director of the Department of Rural Water Supply at the ministry, said there were 1,607 high-risk villages in seven provinces in Cambodia.

The government’s total exposure estimate is down considerably from one included in an April 2009 independent study, which said up to 2 million people could be at risk.

Andrew Shantz, laboratory and research director for Resource Development International Cambodia, which produced the study along with Dartmouth College in the United States, said that although the April 2009 study had overestimated the problem nationwide, its estimate for Kandal was likely accurate.

“The original 100,000 estimation for Kandal is quite close, as a very high proportion of the people drinking arsenic-contaminated water are in Kandal,” he said.

Scott Fendorf, a groundwater expert at Stanford University in the US, said that “a large portion of the aquifer residing within the Mekong-Bassac floodplain is contaminated with high levels of dissolved arsenic”, and that tube wells were “providing toxic levels of arsenic”.

He said chronic arsenic poisoning causes skin discoloration as well as a hardening of the outer layer of the skin. Prolonged exposure, he said, “leads to skin cancer and various internal cancers”.

Shantz said yesterday that RDIC staff are going “door-to-door” testing wells and educating villagers such as Khun Yeun about the health risks associated with arsenic.

He noted that he would “not recommend” using arsenic-contaminated water for cooking. “But, if they are only using the contaminated water for cooking and not actually drinking it, the exposure levels should be much lower,” he said.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Vietnam, Cambodia provinces to boost cooperation [in turning a blind-eye to the Viet encroachments?]

07/20/2010
VOV News (Hanoi)

Officials from the Mekong Delta province of An Giang and the Cambodian provinces of Ta Keo and Kandal met in Chau Doc town on July 19 to review the results of co-operation in the first half of 2010 and discuss ways to strengthen ties in the second half of the year.

Both sides noted with pleasure the positive results achieved in a wide range of fields, including border security, the economy, commerce, agriculture, culture, tourism, health care, transport, border demarcation and marker planting, and in the search and repatriation of the remains of volunteer Vietnamese soldiers who laid down their lives in Cambodia.

Concerned agencies from the three provinces have regularly maintained the exchange of information, conducted joint patrols to protect the shared border, and worked to prevent and combat crime.

The officials discussed measures to further boost cooperation in the remaining months of 2010, focusing on maintaining social order and security along the common border, completing the construction of the remaining border markers and fostering economic development at border gates.

An Giang and Ta Keo provinces agreed to ask the two governments for the application of “one-door” procedures for goods, people and vehicles at the Tinh Bien-Phnom Den international border gate. They also agreed to open the Vinh Gia-Ta O auxiliary border gate and will consider the possibility of opening the Vinh Nguon auxiliary border gate to strengthen border economic development and facilitate two-way trade.