No Rain Means Drought for the Un-Irrigated [in Kompong Chhnang province]

Suon Kanika, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
22 August 2007

While some villages in the northeast of the country are suffering from floods and a swelling Mekong River, villagers in Kampong Chhnang's Tek Huot commune are worried drought conditions could lead to a food shortage later this year.

Many villages lack irrigation in Cambodia, and, like those in Tek Huot, are dependant on the rain for crops. Their rice seedlings are in a critical stage of development and could die if no rain falls by next week, villagers said.

"I am very scared," said a middle-aged man named Sok Try, who has nine children. "I only have a bit of dry season rice. I gathered it and dried it this morning, and it is almost gone…. I am so afraid there will be no rain, and I have so many children, and they will die of starvation."

Tek Huot commune chief Chim Thol said 15 percent of the town was facing critical food shortages. Another 65 percent might have some staples now, but would face shortages in two to three months.

K Chhnang authority attempts to muzzle Cambodian Muslims from discussing land disputes in a public forum

CCHR public forum in Kompong Trolach district, Kompong Chhnang province (Photo: Sok Serei, RFA)

CCHR public forum in K Chhnang was threatened with shut down

24 July 2007
By Sok Serei
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

A public forum organized for the first time by the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) to allow Cambodian Muslims living in Kompong Trolach district, Kompong Chhnang province, to express freely their opinions, on Tuesday, was threatened and forced to shut down when a group of Cambodian Muslims raised the issue of land disputes and they accused the authority of not resolving this problem. A representative of the authority accused that such issue is out of the topics with which CCHR requested the authority to organize this forum for.

Taing Saroeun, the deputy governor of the Kompong Trolach district, who participated in the forum, told RFA that he received a call from the district governor, and the Kompong Chhnang provincial governor telling him that if the opinions expressed are outside of the topics requested, the authority has the right to order the shutdown or cancel the forum immediately.

He said: “In their talk, they were not telling the truth on a large number of issues. I requested to CCHR that whatever they do, they have to say it clearly…”

In response to this threat, Ou Virak, CCHR President, said: “The population is being oppressed by the authority. Even CCHR is facing this problem like them, we are being oppressed, and we face a number of problems for the organization (of public forums) in Kompong Chhnang province.”

Ou Virak added that he will organize such forums in Muslim mosques in the future in order to avoid such discriminations in the future.

Chhim Savuth, the facilitator for the forum, sent a request to the local authority in Kompong Chhnang province to organize this forum, he was threatened and ordered to shut it down. Nevertheless, the forum was pursued until the end, at noon time on Tuesday.

This is the very first time that a public forum organized by CCHR behind a Muslim mosque in O’Roung village, Chhouk Sar commune, Kompong Trolach district, Kompong Chhnang province, was threatened in this manner. The forum was attended by about 50 Cambodian Muslims, young and old, men and women. The small forum was organized to inform people about land problems.

The main issue brought up during the forum discussion was focused on a land dispute on 24-hectare property involving about 23 families. The group of Cambodian Muslims who participated in the forum said that such forum is very useful to them.

Run Loh, a Cambodian Muslim from Chhouk Sar commune, said: “Since my great grandparents and grandparents time, Cambodian Muslims never have any rights, we have some rights but they are not full rights.”

Ou Virak publicly recognized that because of discriminations, CCHR has decided to organize forums allowing Cambodian Muslims to have the rights to express their opinions.

Kampong Chhnang Families Angered at Suspected Land Grab

Suon Kanika, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
25/06/2007

Several angry farmers were beaten by police Saturday in the wake of protests for more than 100 families in Kampong Chhnang province who are in a land dispute with three former village chiefs.

Sam Vin, a villager representing 188 families in Kampong Tralach town, told VOA Khmer hundreds of villagers were being duped by local authorities and former village chiefs in a tale that is becoming increasingly common across the country.

The families faced losing nearly 100 hectares of land that has yielded crops since 1979. The land was sold to merchants or factory owners, and the families who once farmed it feel cheated.

Village chiefs have come to survey the land, angering farmers. Those surveys led to suspicions, which led to demonstrations, which led to the five people injured by police, Sam Vin said.

Ad Hoc investigation official Sam Kier said he had requested a speedy solution from national authorities.

Sam Rainsy Meeting with Muslim Cambodians in Kampong Chhnang province

On June 08, 2007, Sam Rainsy met with 700 of Khmer Muslims at Chraok Romeat village, Chhuk Sar commune, Kampong Tralach district, Kampong Chhnang province, where the largest number of land-grabbing victims live.

Training seminar for SRP elected commune councilors in Kampong Chhnang

87 new SRP Commune Councilors from Kampong Chhnang province, participated in a Training Seminar on May 16, 2007.

Mashiko potters reviving Cambodian craft

04/13/2007
BY YOSUKE AKAI,
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN (Japan)

MASHIKO, Tochigi Prefecture--Two craftsmen of famed Mashikoyaki pottery will visit Cambodia this year to help revive the country's centuries-old pottery culture that was destroyed by Pol Pot's regime.

They will work with local potters in Kampong Chhnang province for about 10 days to offer firing, design and other techniques.

Several Cambodians will also be invited to Mashiko around summer to undergo training.

Thanks to its clay, the Cambodian province was a noted pottery production center--until the Khmer Rouge's bloody reign in the 1970s, when pottery making was banned and all documents were burned.

Pottery making in the area has since been limited to farmers producing simple daily ware during the agriculture off-season.

"Highly refined pottery that does not exist in present-day Cambodia has been unearthed from 12th- to 13th-century ruins of the Angkor (Khmer) era," said Masataka Onishi, who helped start the project.

Onishi serves as senior deputy director at the Japan Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR) in Singapore.

The Cambodian government asked for Japan's help in reviving the province's pottery industry through CLAIR, set up by Japanese local governments for international exchange.

Its Singapore office is in charge of programs in Southeast Asia.

The Tochigi prefectural government responded to the call by dispatching a pottery specialist for research in fiscal 2005.

Junichi Tsukamoto, a senior researcher at the prefecture's Ceramic Technology Support Center in Mashiko, has visited Kampong Chhnang three times to analyze local clay and the techniques of the potters.

He also taught glazing and other skills to Cambodian potters, most of them women.

For example, he showed them how to produce ash glaze from wood ash, which adds strength and a glossy shine to a product.

The technique is very common in the production of Mashikoyaki, a folk-style pottery featuring simple, sturdy forms. Mashiko ware comes in black to whitish gray and persimmon red, among other varieties.

But Tsukamoto noticed one flaw in Cambodia.

"The clay is good and they have skills, but they do not try to invent their own designs or embellishment," he said.

So during his latest visit in February, he suggested to his eight selected students that they visit antique shops and other locations.

"Come out with designs that make good use of local culture," he told them.

The Cambodian potters are now creating sample designs after arabesque patterns and other reliefs from the Angkor Wat temple, a World Heritage site, according to Tsukamoto.

He has high hopes for the Cambodians' visit to Japan this year: "I hope they will feel the atmosphere of this pottery town of Mashiko."

After the potter exchange this fiscal year, the prefecture is considering construction of a kiln in Cambodia, he said.

Kompong Chhnang provincial governor to complain about Sam Rainsy for violating the law

22 March 2007
By Ros Sokhit
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

A high ranking CPP official from Kompong Chhnang province is planning to bring his complaint against Sam Rainsy, the president of the Sam Rainsy Party – the second largest political party in Cambodia, to the Provincial Election Committee (PEC). The official accused Sam Rainsy of violating the election campaign law for the 2nd mandate commune election.

Touch Marim, the Kompong Chhnang provincial governor and the president of the CPP provincial chapter, told RFA today that he had already prepared his complaint letter against Sam Rainsy for the latter’s violation of the election campaign law. Touch Marim accuses Sam Rainsy of insulting the government and the government officials in the entire province, when Sam Rainsy’s came to Kompong Chhnang on 20 March to campaign.

Touch Marim is severely attacking Sam Rainsy in front of 500 CPP supporters who have gathered at the Kompong Chhnang provincial stadium. He said that the goal of his complaint against Sam Rainsy was to force him to properly follow the election campaign law.

Touch Marim said: “We want him (Sam Rainsy) to follow the law, and not to make this kind of mistake. If he did it incorrectly, it will be anarchy in the election, there will be no justice.”

In response to the governor’s complaint, Sam Rainsy said that he does not pay attention to this at all because the issues he raised are all true, and he raised those issues to defend the interest of all the people. Sam Rainsy said that only corrupt officials are not happy with these issues.

Sam Rainsy said: “I, Sam Rainsy, has nothing to worry about. I am a Member of Parliament. I must defend the interest of the people. Therefore, whatever I talked about, I only talk about the truth, I talk to defend the interest of the people.”

Mrs. Nuon Channy, Kompong Chhnang PEC president, said that she has not yet received the complaint from the governor, but she said that when she will receive it, she will resolve it according to the PEC law based mainly on reconciliation.