Tbong Phnom villagers in Kompong Cham province face hunger

12 September 2007
By Sophorn
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Tbong Phnom is a village located about 90-kilometer from the city of Kompong Cham, even though about 20 large wooden homes are lining up the village road, behind these houses are numerous small huts covered with miserable looking leaves belonging to the large majority of the villagers.

Villagers and the village authority indicated that a larger number of Tbong Phnom villagers have been poor for the past 10 years because they lost their farmlands.

Chen Sary a woman who lives in Tbong Phnom village showed us an empty rice basket, she said that in her house, there is no rice to eat, her husband is bedridden, sick, and she has no money to pay for his healthcare. Among her 7 children, some are working for other people, and some others try to catch fish in ponds to sell and get some money to buy rice to eat.

Chen Sary said that in the 80s, she owned some farmland for planting rice, but because of illnesses and poverty, she was forced to sell everything. “Some times, we have no rice to eat. We would eat rice porridge (rice soup) with salted beans that I buy sometime for my children to eat,” she said.

Thy, a man from Tbong Phnom village, Taing Kraing commune, told us in his small hut covered with leaves and a plastic sheet, that he used to own some farmland for planting rice, but after having 4 children, his life became much worst, and he sold all the lands about 10-year ago.

Thy added that, currently, he is working as a laborer almost anywhere to get some money to feed his family. “I am very poor, we have nothing to eat so we sold our farmlands because of our needs. We sold a little bit at a time, until there was nothing left.”

Yin, an old widow, showed us a pot with some rice porridge in there, while saying that she had to eat rice porridge with soy sauce today because one of her son is bedridden sick, and her other 2 sons went far away to work as construction laborers, they did not send money to her on time to buy rice to eat. She said that since her husband died, all her farmlands were all sold away. “Please help me, my 2-3 children they don’t have anything, I have no farmlands, I was given some, but my children were in needs, I was forced to sell them to buy food to eat.”

Several other villagers are telling the same story over and over again that they don’t have any farmlands, and the authority never helped them. Most of the women villagers are forced to go work as laborers harvesting rice from place to place in order to earn some money to buy food.

Yoeun, the Tbong Phnom village chief, said that his village counts 236 families, and he recognized that a number of his constituents have no farmlands because they were forced to sell the lands distributed to them (to buy food), and those who have lands still, they can only plant the rice crop once a year only. He added that about 50% of the villagers are very poor for the past 10 years, however, he does not have the ability to help his constituents.

Koy Norn, the Taing Kraing commune chief, said that there are 2,047 families living in the commune, but the extent of farmlands is only 1,010-hectare. He said that he knows about the poverty of his constituents, because they owed money and being unable to pay it back, they were forced to sell their farmlands. He said that he has no means to help his constituents to improve their lot.

Sam Rainsy, the MP from Kompong Cham province, criticized the government inability which forced the villagers to face this dire situation. He said that he will report the villagers’ situation to the government to resolve this issue. “I ask all the brothers and sisters who are victims, to vote and replace the unable leaders who cannot lead the country.”

Hun Neng, the governor of the province of Kompong Cham, said last 27 August, that the ministry of land management conducted a seminar in Kratie province to review those who actually lack lands, and the authorities at all levels will guide the people in the near future.

Hun Neng added that the province of Kompong Cham will provide land to needy people in Memot district. “I have a plan also to provide lands to people for farming, but our plan in Kompong Cham province will be applied to the Choam Kravien commune, Memot district, first. Furthermore, we cannot speed up this process the way we want it.”

In order to help fight the hunger faced by the villagers, Sa Vath, an official from the Peace Building Alliance foundation, said that his foundation will lend money to the villagers interest-free so they can buy poultries and animals to raise, however, he said that the villagers should at least save 100 riels ($0.03) or more a day each to help their communities also.

Sa Vath said: “Before they can borrow money, they must receive education from us. If they are truly poor, if they have no lands, sometimes, what they have is too little, in this case, they can contact our provincial alliance. The most important for us in helping them, is to look at what they need. Therefore, we have our technicians who can evaluate about what these villagers can do based on the geography of the locations. When they contact us, we can ask them if they like their place, what they did in the past, the cause of their poverty, what did they do? Sometimes, we can make them change their professions.”

Sa Vath added that all these poor villagers can contact his foundation located directly in Kompong Cham province. His foundation will provide help to reduce poverty and he will visit by himself the situation of these villagers.

Monk immolated himself in Kompong Siem

The mother of Monk Heng Bun Chhom is seen praying in front of her son's body. Inset: a recent photo of Monk Heng Bun Chhom (Photo: Chan Thet, Koh Santepheap)

05 September 2007
By Or Phearith
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

The body of a monk was discovered in a temple in Koh Samrong commune, Kompong Siem district, Kompong cham province, in the morning of 05 September 2007.

Sen Sok, the Koh Samrong commune chief, who went to the incident location since early morning with a group of police officers, indicated the name of the monk is Heng Bun Chhom, he was 24-year-old. His burnt body was discovered in the pagoda temple. He was found sitting in a meditation position, inside the temple with all the doors closed. No one know the cause of the death, but based on a police investigation and based on the clarifications provided by 4 other monks in the pagoda, Sen Sok believes that this is a suicide case.

Sen Sok said: “He reaches a point where he self-immolated, based on what we observe at the incident location. There was a Tripitaka book, a cigarette lighter, and a pillow. He was burnt, but he didn’t twitch because he was found in a (meditation) sitting position on the mat, in the same place, and his body was all shrunk. We can’t find any (gasoline) container, it could be that it was completely burnt. Based on observation, this does not look like a murder.”

According to clarifications from witnesses, and the claim made by the commune chief, before the incident took place, on 04 September, at noon time, Monk Heng Bun Chhom went inside the temple, holding a tape player containing a preaching cassette by Buth Savong (a Buddhist preacher in Cambodia). A few hours later, he came back out of the temple.

Based on an eyewitness, at 8:00 PM, the monk went back inside the temple through a window because he forgot to bring the temple key with him. The next morning, his burnt body was discovered while still in a meditation sitting position in the middle of the temple.

After investigating the incident location, the police officers and the commune chief went to look inside the monk’s room. There, they found a 2-page letter in which the monk talked about his self-immolation in dedication to Buddhism. He called on Buddhist followers to rejoice about the sacrifice of his body in the pagoda, he said that his action expresses his happiness and faith on Buddhism.

The abbot of the Samrith Pichey pagoda, indicated over the phone that Monk Heng Bun Chhom was a very gentle monk, and since the start of the monk retreat season, he only talked about death and about dharma. The abbot thinks that Monk Heng Bun Chhom could have become mentally affected after his dharma learning.

The abbot said: “He used to talk about dharma, and he used to preach to other younger monks. He talked long ago about this (self-immolation), ever since the beginning of the monk retreat season. I believe, like the other Buddhist followers, that he (Monk Heng Bun Chhom) studied about the Tripitaka, therefore I believe that he came up with a mental problem.”

Even with all the claims above, Nuon Samin, the provincial police commissioner, indicated that he will provide the reason after the police completes its investigation into this case.

Monk Heng Bun Chhom was born on 01 September 1984 in Prek village, Mien commune, Prey Chho district, Kompong Cham province.

Illegal logging: Is the Thief of the Nation related to the Chief of the Nation?

Kleptocratic élite: Hun Neng (L) and his younger brother Hun Sen (R)

In Woods of Hun Sen's Brother, Illegal Logging Continues Unmitigated

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
15 August 2007

A report from a former government forest monitoring group earlier this year has failed to dent the trade of illegal timber, residents of Kampong Cham province say.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, residents said they have stood helplessly and watched as truck after truck laden with high-value trees—illegally cut and harvested—pass them by on National Highway 6A, on their way from the provincial forests to destinations unknown.

The governor who controls Kampong Cham, Hun Neng, brother of the prime minister, could not be reached for comment.

Witnesses say trucks with large timbers loaded onto them, with high-quality trees resting underneath, are covered with blue tarps and sent out of the forest.

The forest monitor Global Witness earlier this year issued a report linking the trade to Prime Minister Hun Sen, his relatives and friends, and a Cambodian "kleptocratic elite."

In the wake of the report, Hun Neng said if he ever saw a Global Witness investigator, he would break his head open, a threat the group quickly denounced.

Ratanakiri villagers evacuated because of flooding

Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

A report indicated that about 2,000 families of villagers have been evacuated out because their homes were flooded from the strong rainfalls caused by the tropical storm which passed through during last weekend. Muong Poy, the governor of Ratanakiri province, told The Cambodia Daily that about 2,000 families from Lumphat and Kaun Mom districts were evacuated to higher grounds on Sunday and Monday, after the flooding of their homes. The Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology broadcasted an information on Monday telling villagers living along rivers to pay attention because the river cresting will take place in the next 2 to 3 days. Mao Hak, director of the hydrology and river works department, said that rainfalls in the last few days caused a significant rise of water level in the provinces of Kratie and Stung Treng, and the flood water is flowing downward, causing a rise of water level in the Mekong River in the province of Kompong Cham, as well as in other provinces bordering the river.

Swelling Mekong Could Mean Floods, Experts Warn

Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
06 August 2007

The Mekong River is swelling with water that could turn into a deluge, weather experts warn.

Data picked up at collection sites along the river indicates high water is threatening to burst the banks in several provinces, meteorologists said.

Especially at risk are Kratie, Stung Treng and Kampong Cham provinces, they said.

Kham Phoeun, governor of Kratie province, said he was prepared to help people in case of flooding.

Japanese company to invest in Cambodia for bio-diesel

July 20, 2007

A Japanese company will invest 800 million U.S. dollars in Cambodia to plant castor bean and refine castor oil into bio-diesel, company source said here on Friday.

The Biwako Bio-Laboratory Co., Ltd. from Japan will plant castor bean on 48,000 hectares of land in Kompong Speu and Kompong Cham provinces and then establish a factory to refine castor oil into bio-diesel which is expected to replace gasoline, said Mitsuo Hayashi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company.

"Now we are waiting for the result of the oil sample test in the laboratory in Japan. We want to know what kind of seeds will be planted to provide high turnouts," he said.

Some 48,000 hectares of castor plants will yield 100,000 tons of castor oil annually and 40,000 tons of bio-diesel after refinery, he said.

The company needs 500,000 hectares of land for the project in 20 years and the Cambodian government is now helping to find land, he added.

Mitsuo is among the 30 representatives of the Japanese delegation currently on visit to Cambodia. Kozo Yamamoto, Deputy Minister of Economy of Japan, leads the team to find investment opportunities here.

Japan is the largest donor country for Cambodia but has little investment in the kingdom.

Source: Xinhua

VN shells out 7 billion VND to buold road from Kg Cham to VN

01/07/2007
Binh Phuoc grants aid to Cambodian neighbour

The southwestern border province of Binh Phuoc has decided to grant 7 billion VND (425,000 USD) in aid to Cambodia’s Kompong Cham province, in order to upgrade a 31 km-long stretch of road that connects the neighbours.

The road, which will include a 48 m-long steel bridge, is expected to be completed by the end of this year and aims to boost trade and cultural exchanges between the two provinces.

Source: VNA

Kampong Cham Health Officials Fight Fake Drugs

Seng Ratana, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
24/05/2007

Addressing a growing crisis in Cambodia's health sector, officials from Kampong Cham province have been struggling to educate doctors and pharmacists on spotting fake medicine, which are at best ineffective and at worst lethal.

Kampong Cham Health Clinic Deputy Chief Chheang Sena, who is in charge of fighting against the use of fake medicines, said he has educated more than 1,000 officials and laymen in 11 sessions.

"The first step is to implement the law governing medicines, [then] to educate the people so they know about the law...including the governance of fake medicine, expired medicine [and] poor-quality medicine, so that they understand," he said.

Hun Sen's predicted workers' revolution in the making: More evictions in Chamcar Leu

Villagers in Chamcar Leu face eviction

14 May 2007
By Or Phearith
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

“The entire village cannot go out to earn a living because they have to stay home, they are afraid that people (from the rubber plantation company) would come and bulldoze their homes. We are prepared to demonstrate or to do something to prevent them from doing anything they want.” These are the concerns expressed by villagers living on Chamcar Andoung commune, Chamcar Leu district, Kompong Cham province, after they received a letter ordering their evictions out of their homes so that their lands can be used to build a school.

Villagers in No. 2 Village, Chamcar Andoung commune, said that the director of the Chamcar Andoung rubber plantation company issued a letter to all the villagers who are not working for the plantation and who live on a plot of land facing the No. 2 village elementary school to vacate the location.

The villagers claimed that they were all former workers at the plantation since 1980, and they lost their jobs in 1995 when the plantation company decided to uproot the old rubber trees and plant new ones. The villagers say that they do not oppose the development (for the school) but that they need a solution for their cases.

A villager said: “We do not oppose the construction of a school, but they must have a solution for us, either in terms of monetary compensation, or land exchange. But they don’t want to do any land exchange for us, they only want us to get out, please help us find justice.”

Other villagers demand that land ownership titles be given to them for the land they occupied from 1980 until now, which is more than 20 years already. “We protest so that housing is provided for us to live. The order issued by Samdech [Hun Sen] states that whoever work (for the plantation), they must be provided with 5 years of housing, all of this has expired … They want us to get out, if we don’t, they will bulldoze (our houses).”

The villagers have gathered 458 thumbprints for a protest petition to be sent to Hun Sen for intervention.

However, Lim Sun Leang, the director of the Chamcar Andoung rubber plantation company, said over the phone on 14 May, that he will take this land to build a school which will include elementary school and all the way to a high school. This school is needed for the education of the villagers’ children and for the workers’ children, and these children will have access to a nearby school. He also said that according to the law, people who are not working for the plantation cannot live in the workers villages.”

An anonymous NGO official whom the villagers handed their letter and ask for his help to intervene in this case, said that for lands located within the plantation zone, the plantation company has full right to take any plot it wants by claiming that it needs them for development, and in doing so it can avoid all problems. Furthermore, the NGO official said that based on Por Try, the former director of the plantation company, the workers have already paid off the purchase price to the plantation company for the lands they occupied.

Crocodile alert in Cambodia

April 25 2007
DPA

Phnom Penh - Cambodian villagers along the Mekong river were on crocodile alert after reports of sightings of a number of large reptiles near a populated area, an official said on Wednesday.

Deputy chief of the fisheries department in Kampong Cham province, about 125km from the capital, Phoung Dyna, said villagers had reported seeing three crocodiles over 1-metre long and up to half a dozen smaller specimens in the river in recent days.

"The crocodiles have not harmed any people there so far," he said. "But it is not normal for them to be seen in the river."

Wildlife officials familiar with the north-eastern province said the animals had probably escaped from one of the many crocodile farms situated in the area.

Local panic was fuelled by a New Year prediction by the Royal Palace astrologer broadcast in local media of a rash of crocodile attacks in the new Year of Pig - a forecast initially shrugged off by most Cambodians.

Extreme poverty in Kien Chrey commune, Kompong Cham province

18 April 2007
By Uk Sav Bory
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Prek Yuon (Yuon Creek) is a village located in Kien Chrey commune, Kompong Cham province. The village is next to a number of small creeks with water flowing in from the Mekong River.

To reach this village, we must cross an old and decrepit wooden bridge by foot or by motorcycles, cars can no longer cross this bridge. Beyond the bridge, travelers must continue on by foot or by motorcycles. A dirt road marked by numerous potholes takes us to a village located about 200 to 300 meters beyond the bridge.

Houses in Prek Yuon village are mainly made from bamboo with a thatched roof. The thatched roofs are usually made of Treang leaves or Toddy palm leaves, some of them are covered by corrugated iron, and only a small number of the houses are covered with clay tiles. Most of the houses are built on stilt.

A man sitting underneath his house, wearing only a kroma (cotton scarf or bath towel) around his waist, is repairing one pillar of his house with a tree trunk, his name is Thea, he has three children. He said that Prek Yuon villagers do not own large plots of lands for rice farming, they live near the water so they can catch fishes or small freshwater clams (“leas” in Khmer) to feed themselves. Unfortunately, the pond and creeks have all been sold out.

Currently, Thea, his wife and children have a hard time catching fishes or clams to sell, and they can no longer make ends meet because someone bought all the rights to the creeks and prevented the villagers from accessing them. Nets used to catch fishes in the creeks have been confiscated. Recently, one day after the commune election, a guard looking after the creek, who also happens to be a local police officer, shot and killed a villager in broad daylight. The killer then fled after the shooting.

Thea asks that the newly elected commune council to help resolve the fishing problems encountered in this area. He said that without resolution, a dispute will explode between the villagers and the person who bought all the fishing rights to the creek: “I used to drag the creek bottom for clams, now they don’t allow me to do it, they told me not to touch the creek, it belongs to them…”

At a house nearby, a baby can be heard wailing loudly. A steep seven-step bamboo ladder leads to the inside of the house on stilt. For those who are not used to this type of that ladder, they have to sit down the steps and climb it up one step at a time. Inside the house, a pale-looking skinny woman wearing old clothes with several patches, is sitting on a decrepit-looking bamboo floor. She is holding a newborn baby in her hands. The baby is stark naked, with no cloth nor clothes to cover. Her name is Sean Savoan, she is 20-year-old.

She said that she does not produce much milk to feed the infant child because she does not have enough to eat. She added that the rice produced from her dry-season rice field was enough to feed her for three months only, she no longer has any rice left. She still owes money for the fee to pay the person who pumped water into her rice field, and she also did not pay the cost of fertilizer she bought yet. Mice have eaten and destroyed most of her rice plants also. Her husband is trying to catch fishes along the ponds and creeks, sometimes he can catch some, while at other times, he comes home empty-handed. The owner of the fishing rights would curse him, threatens to shoot him, and confiscates all his fishing gears. As for herself, before giving birth, she searched for clams to sell and buy some rice. “It is miserable, we work but we can barely get enough to eat … the dry-season rice [farming] needs water which is hard to come by, sometimes, we get rice to eat, sometimes, the rice plants lack water and they are barren. It’s very difficult.”

A woman villager by the name of Mort Huorn told us that those who cling on to the Prek Yuon village are those who inherited some lands from their parents. The village lacks fire woods for cooking, has no water, no electricity, lands are small, rice is always short. When the villagers turn to catching clams to sell, the owner of the fishing rights shoot them, and threaten them. She wants the newly elected commune council to resolve this issue.

Mort Huorn said: “The living condition in this village is very difficult. Those who owned the fishing rights in the creeks are giving a hard time to the villagers, we can’t even catch small clams. They set a schedule, on certain days, they would allow us in, then we can catch clams. People don’t have rice, all they can do is catch clams, but they don’t allow us to catch them, they shoot us, villagers here are very miserable.

Er Khin, the Prek Yuon village chief, said that his village has 209 families. All of them are farming on 40-hectare of farmlands only. The village is flooded each year, therefore, the dry-season rice crop can be planted only once a year.

Er Khin added that the villagers each own a very small plot of farmland. They have to supplement their incomes by catching fishes and clams, but now that the government sold all the creeks and ponds, the villagers are facing a lot of hardships to earn their income. Currently, with the increasing number of factories, the youths in the village are leaving their homes to work at those factories. Most of them send back money to their parents to build houses.

He added that roads do not last long because of the seasonal flooding. Sometimes, the water will reach up to 2-meter high. A large number of children are no longer attending school because they lack the means to travel to school during flooding season. There is no clean water here, nor is there any hygienic toilet. Electricity is also lacking. “Here, the majority are very poor, only 60% of the houses are better off with roof covered with tiles. 10% of the homes only are in decent shape.”

11-year-old Peng Sea told us that he is in fifth grade at the Kien Chrey elementary school. He attends school fulltime only during the dry season, during rainy season, he does not have a boat to travel to school so he stopped going. He is not the only one who skips school during rainy season, several of his friends are doing the same also. Some of his friends stop attending school altogether.

Muok Chhayvath, the CPP commune official, said that Kien Chrey commune consists of 6 villages. Two of the villages: Prek Yuon and In Nel, do not have access roads to reach these villages. In these 2 villages, poverty is severe, the World Food Program (WFP) distributed some rice to the 50 poorest families out of the 300 families living there.

He said that for several successive years, dry-season rice farming face water shortage, furthermore the farmlands the villagers own are too small, all these conditions combined to cause the villagers to have food shortage, they need to catch fishes and clams [to survive]. In the commune, only two students have completed high school.

Muok Chhayvath said: “For those who are poor, they are extremely poor, they never have enough to eat. During each dry season, they have to catch clams to survive. For those who are poor, they must get up [early] in the morning, pack their lunches, gather all their children who are able to work, along with both husband and wife, they must take their boat out to catch clams to sell and buy their daily rice. Those who have some funds, they are doing some small-scale business … However, in comparison to other villages, these two villages (Prek Yuon and In Nel) have the most difficulties.”

Muok Chhayvath said that when he will occupy his new position as commune chief, he will demand for a resolution on the fishing rights issue: a portion must be allocated to the villagers. He will contact the government and other organizations to provide human resources and increase to number of jobs for the villagers of Kien Chrey commune, in order to improve their living conditions.

Suon Vanleng, the SRP representative of Kien Chrey commune, said that the SRP only won 2 commune councilor positions. SRP commune councilors will cooperate with other councilors from other party to demand back the access rights to the ponds and creeks which the government allotted to the villagers but which were sold out by powerful commune officials. SRP councilors will demand for a resolution so that local villagers can practice some fishing, as promised before the election.

Suon Vanleng said: “SRP will actively participate to provide inputs to the commune chief. For those fishing areas given by the government to the villagers [in the past], they must be returned back to the villagers as it used to be.”

In fact, Kien Chrey is located only 4 kilometers from Kompong Cham city. The commune does not have a health center but it has an elementary school. During the recent commune election, two parties won here: the CPP won 3 seats, and the SRP won 2 seats, according to preliminary election results.

NRP Member Threatened With Bow and Arrow, Officials Claim

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
16/04/2007

Norodom Ranariddh Party officials said Monday a ruling party activist threatened one of their supporters Friday with a bow and arrow.

The alleged victim has twice been the victim of attacks meant to kill him because he is an active NRP supporter in the provinces, officials said.

Phy Bun Tha, 55, an NRP representative in Krauch Chhmar, Kampong Cham province, was threatened by Meoun Theng, an activist for the Cambodian People's Party, according to Than Kim Hor, an NRP official in Phnom Penh.

It was unclear Monday if Phy Bun Tha was hit by an arrow.

"It is customary to use feelings instead of law" to solve disputes, Than Kim Hor said. "After a while, it becomes a bad habit, and the country does not respect the law. The majority of the people are like that, and they do not solve any problems."

He called on authorities to investigate.

Police Chief Kong Sovanvuth could not be reached for comment.

Cambodia confirms new bird flu outbreak

April 14, 2007
Agence France-Presse

PHNOM PENH - Cambodia on Saturday confirmed a new outbreak of bird flu among poultry a little more than a week after a 13-year-old girl died of the deadly H5N1 virus.

The government said the fresh outbreak was discovered earlier this week in chickens and ducks raised in a family's backyard farm in Kampong Cham province, 124 kilometres (77 miles) east of the capital Phnom Penh.

"We have a new outbreak of bird flu," Agriculture, Forest and Fisheries Minister Chan Sarun told AFP.

The discovery came after the Cambodian girl died of bird flu last Thursday, becoming the kingdom's seventh fatality from the H5N1 virus. Her death prompted the government to launch a week-long bird flu awareness blitz.

Following the latest outbreak, authorities killed some 100 chickens and ducks at the backyard farm in the eastern province, said the minister.

Cambodia has been praised by the United Nations for its rapid action against bird flu, which has helped spare it from the human and poultry deaths suffered by its neighbours.

But health officials also warn that the virus could go undetected in the countless mall family farms where most of Cambodia's poultry are raised.

Cambodia has also tightened border controls to prevent poultry from being smuggled from Thailand and Vietnam, which have reported 17 and 42 bird flu deaths respectively.

The World Health Organisation says the deadly H5N1 strain has infected more than 290 people and killed 171 of them, mostly in Southeast Asia, since 2003.

SRP: Threats and intimidations still persist

13 April 2007
By Keo Pech Metta
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

SRP officials in Kompong Cham province said that threats and intimidations perpetrated against SRP still persist, even though the 2nd mandate commune election already ended.

Saravoan, a SRP official from Kompong Cham province, said that on 12 April, a SRP activist in Pro-ngel village, Cholea commune, Batheay district, Kompong Cham province, was summoned by the police for questioning on a past dispute which has been resolved by both parties already.

Chim Ouk, the SRP activist who was summoned by the Batheay district police, said that the summon is a threat against him because the dispute in which he was involved with on 02 April 2007, both parties – the accuser who is a CPP party member, and himself, the accused – have accepted the arrangement made by the village chief. Chim Ouk said that he already apologized to the CPP member and he also paid him a compensation amount of 50,000 riels ($12.50) as well.

Chim Ouk added that the dispute stems from the fact that the CPP accuser initiated the incident by cursing and threatening his life and that of his family, during the election campaign: “Chin Chhay [the CPP member] sneered at me, and he said that I am taking the wrong path, he also added that ‘you be careful, otherwise your entire family will die’.”

Regarding this affair, Chin Chhay, the CPP accuser in Pro-ngel village, said that he did not threaten Chin Ouk, and he is not bringing up this case again: “The affair already ended, the original issue is a political one. It should not be discussed, this is only a private business, we fought each other, that’s tough.”

Neang Savath, Adhoc official in Kompong Cham province, said that he is also following this affair. He said that the dispute is indeed of political nature, however, both sides agree to the arrangement made and they will no longer pursue their complaints.

Mu Sochua, SRP Secretary-General, said that the fact that [the authority] bring forth a case in which a CPP member is the accuser, constitutes a threat and intimidation against the SRP activist.

Khieu Kanharith, the government spokesman, said that according to his observation, this is a not a political threat or intimidation, but that it was a dispute between individuals who were drinking and then they fought each other.

Cambodian girl dies of bird flu

PHNOM PENH, April 6 (Xinhua) -- A 13-year-old Cambodian girl has died of bird flu in Kampong Cham province, ministry source told Xinhua on Friday.

This is the seventh victim of the epidemic in the country, said Sok Touch, Secretary of State of Cambodian Ministry of Health.

The girl died at noon on April 5 and her blood samples were tested positive for the disease, according to a joint statement issued by the ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO).

It is not known yet wether the girl contracted the disease from animals or human beings.

Culture of impunity: the KR robbed their husbands' lives, they robbed their dignity, and now the village chief takes a cut from their compensation

Friday, February 16, 2007

For the widows of Taing Srey, money doesn’t compensate for the loss nor for the pain

By Chheang Bopha
Cambodge Soir
Translated from French by Luc Sâr

Haruhisa Handa, the rich Japanese businessman and an advisor to the Cambodia University, visited the province of Kompong Cham at the beginning of February, to distribute, for the third time, money in Taing Srey village, Batheay district: $100,000 out of his $3.3 million Funds for compensation and for the memory of the victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide. One thousand families received, during the ceremony organized for the occasions, envelopes containing $100 each, and on which a message was written stating: “Please, forgive the Khmer Rouge. Forgiveness is your salvation.”

The families were selected according to three criteria: (1) the head of the family became a widow because of the Khmer rouge, (2) the family lost one of its members because of the Khmer Rouge, and (3) the family is poor. The village chief helped the foundation determine which families are eligible, and researchers from the Cambodia University visited the village to interview the candidate families. Even though the ceremony was conducted with great fanfare, at the end those who were selected did not actually received the full amount of $100 distributed to them. They had to give the envelope to the village chief who proceeded to split the money according to the agreement they set before hand. Those who are opposed to the money sharing, receive nothing, the widows reported. At the end, they had to hand over to the village chief a gift amounting to between 25,000 to 100,000 riels ($6 to $25). Cambodge Soir interviewed three widows in the village regarding these donations.

Yorn received 100,000 riels ($25 out of $100)

Yorn lives very poorly in her hut. She would like to get the full amount of the $100 gift to start a business, but the 100,00 riels ($25) she received will only allow her to pay off her debt. But, this money will never compensate the loss of her husband, nor for the four of her 9 children, nor the suffering she still lived with. “My husband was weak, he could not work, they buried him alive,” she said while sobbing. “If he were to die of a disease, I would not be angry, but he was cruelly killed. I cannot forget.” Yorn assures that if the killers were to stand in front of her and ask for her forgiveness, she would forgive them. But that would not erase all her sufferings. A devout Buddhist, she prefers eating small skinny fishes and keeping the little money she has to contribute for a ceremony at the pagoda, in the hope that in her next life, she will not suffer the same thing she is enduring now. “Million of riels will not bring back my husband!” she pleaded. “There is no comparison. If he were to be alive, my family would not have the difficulties we are facing now.”

Thuon did not receive anything

Under the Khmer rouge, she spent three years in jail following the arrest of her husband. When she arrived at the prison, she saw him from afar, he was visibly undergoing two or three days of torture. Believing that he was going to die, she said that her immediate reflex was to stay alive to take care of her children. When the Khmer Rouge questioned her, she “told the truth,” she confirmed that her husband was a former military police officer. Since then she lives with unbearable guilt as she is convinced that she brought her husband to his death. She was relatively spared because she cleaned clothes for the Khmer Rouge in prison. She assures that she still could not believe how during that period, human being lost all their dignities. To her, the real killers are dead, but those who gave the orders are still alive. “The higher ups should bear the blames, not the local level people,” she said. Her sister whose husband was injured by his own Khmer Rouge nephew revolted when she heard her. “If those responsible at the local level have not been so cruel, there would not be this many death! For me, I am ready to deposit my legal complaint. These are Khmer who kill Khmer,” she retorted. Thuon, while keeping a low profile, brought up the reconciliation idea. “If the government forces us to do it [the reconciliation], I will do what it asks, but in the bottom of my heart, it’s too heavy.”

Tha did not receive any donation

The day her husband was taken, she was not there. It was the neighbors who reported her husband’s arrest, he was taken under the pretext that this professor had violently prevented a child from climbing on the motorcycle belonging to a Khmer rouge. They took him for “beating Angkar’s child.” He never came back. At the time, she dreamt of revenge. Today, she just wants to forget all these sufferings. “Nothing will bring back my husband,” she said. She will not participate in the Khmer Rouge trial, she just wants to cross out all of her past and dedicate herself to a Buddhist interpretation of the events: “We must have done bad things to these people in a past life. We must put an end to it. I don’t want any more pain.” Tha goes to the pagoda to pray, “to purify her karma, as well as others’ karmas.” A spark comes back to her when she sees her children laughing when they watch a film from that [Khmer Rouge] period, and as they do not believe a single word about the story of Khmer people working hard in rice fields, beaten up, starving. “The Khmer Rouge wanted to kill us because they did not want to feed us, even though the granaries were filled. That’s my story, that’s the truth,” she insisted. And then she proceeded to tell the story of what happened to her husband, and to insist on the story that she doesn’t want her children to never forget, even though herself, she is trying hard to erase it form her memory.

If she did not receive a donation from the Japanese millionaire, most likely, it is because of her larger house which reflects a standard of living more comfortable that that of others. Her son-in-law received 25,000 riels ($6.25). “Money does not compensate the suffering, but when we are poor, it’s not too bad, it helps to buy food or to organize a small [religious] ceremony.”