Hun Xen's cops and soldiers serve the Vietcong rubber company in Mondulkiri

Mondulkiri village’s residents say they’d rather die than run

Friday, 25 May 2012
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

“Why does the government just care about the company, and not about their villagers?”

Mondulkiri province - A combined force of police, soldiers and military police last night set a deadline of 8am this morning for villagers in Mondulkiri province’s tiny Rayum commune to leave their homes or face forcible eviction.

Authorities, who have surrounded the village for a week, say the villagers’ homes sit on land belonging to a Vietnamese rubber company, and that any homes still standing this morning will be demolished. Joint forces burned more than 50 homes on Tuesday and Wednesday, and today’s ultimatum has many villagers fearing for their safety, residents say.

Tha, 27, who declined to give his family name for fear of retribution, said that eviction forces tore down a number of homes yesterday, as authorities searched for three wanted village representatives that they accuse of instigating confrontation.

15 rubber concessions granted by Hun Xen to some of his Viet bosses

Vietnam Rubber Group has 24 projects in Cambodia, Laos

Sunday, Jan 08, 2012
Saigon Giai Phong (Vietcong Commie party)

The Vietnam Rubber Group has currently 24 ongoing projects to grow rubber trees outside of the country, 15 of which are in Cambodia and 9 in Laos.

This was revealed at a year-end summarization meeting on January 7, which also stated the total investment of all 24 projects to be nearly VND20 trillion.

The Vietnam Rubber Group is cultivating over 70,000 hectares and in the past year, the group collected nearly 270,000 tons of rubber latex, achieving an average yield of 1,635 tons per hectare.

The group’s revenue has reached more than VND33.49 trillion. It contributed nearly VND3.6 trillion to the national budget. The average salary of an employee of the group is VND8 million per person per month.

Viet Co. cut down more 5,000 trees in Prey Lang - ក្រុមហ៊ុន​វៀតណាម​កាប់​បំផ្លាញ​ដើម​ឈើទាល​ជាង​៥​ពាន់​ដើម​នៅ​តំបន់​ព្រៃ​ឡង់

16 Dec 2011
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Oss Prey

Kampong Thom villagers indicated that more than 5,000 trees were cut down and destroyed by the Viet CRCK Company inside Prey Lang.

The local authorities and government agencies involved do not have any plan to end all these deforestation operations at all, even if an order was already issued by Hun Xen.

In a phone interview with Taing Sarada, Chhun Vuthy, President of the Natural Resources Preservation organization, showed about the most recent news on deforestation. Cambodian forest is the main resource for Cambodian communities to sustain their daily life, the deforestation causes havoc among these communities.

-------------
2011-12-16
RFA

ក្រុម​អ្នក​ស្រុក​ខេត្ត​កំពង់ធំ​ បាន​ឲ្យ​ដឹង​ថា ដើម​ឈើទាល​ជាង ៥​ពាន់​ដើម កំពុង​រង​ការ​កាប់​បំផ្លាញ​ដោយ​ក្រុមហ៊ុន​វៀតណាម ​ឈ្មោះ ស៊ី អ ស៊ី ខេ (CRCK) នៅ​តំបន់​ព្រៃ​ឡង់។

អាជ្ញាធរ​មូលដ្ឋាន និង​ស្ថាប័ន​ពាក់ព័ន្ធ​នៅ​មិន​ទាន់​មាន​វិធានការ​បង្ក្រាប​ការ​កាប់​បំផ្លាញ​ដើម​ឈើ​ទាល​ទាំង​នោះ​ឡើយ​ទេ បើ​ទោះបី​ជា​មាន​បទ​បញ្ជា​របស់​លោក​នាយក​រដ្ឋ​មន្ត្រី ហ៊ុន សែន ជា​រឿយៗ​យ៉ាង​ណា​ក៏​ដោយ​នោះ។

នៅ​ក្នុង​បទ​សម្ភាសន៍​តាម​ទូរស័ព្ទ​របស់​លោក តាំង សារ៉ាដា ជា​មួយ​លោក ឈុត វុទ្ធី ប្រធាន​អង្គការ​ការ​ពារ​ធនធាន​ធម្មជាតិ ដោយ​លោក​បាន​បង្ហាញ​ពី​ស្ថានភាព​ថ្មី​ៗ​ជុំវិញ​ការ​កាប់​បំផ្លាញ​ព្រៃ​ឈើ​របស់​ប្រជា​សហគមន៍​ដែល​តែង​ទទួល​បាន​អនុផល​សម្រាប់​ចិញ្ចឹម​ជីវិត​ប្រចាំ​ថ្ងៃ​នៅ​ទី​នោះ៖

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Showdown looms in Prey Lang [-The cops are defending the Viet company!]

An armed police officer guards the premises of the CRCK rubber company in the Prey Lang forest, in Kampong Thom province, yesterday. (Photo by: May Titthara)

THURSDAY, 10 NOVEMBER 2011
MAY TITTHARA
The Phnom Penh Post

He said police would not allow villagers to set foot inside CRCK’s grounds because it had a legal concession from the government.

CRCK Rubber Development Co, owned by Nguyen Duy Linh of Vietnam, received its 6,155-hectare rubber concession in Kampong Thom on May 5 last year.

About 300 villagers from provin-ces bordering the endangered Prey Lang forest are planning to protest at the rubber firm CRCK today.

Between them and the company lie 500 police and military police officers. One side has guns.

Sim Sean, a representative of Kampong Thom’s Sandan district who has come to the forest to participate in the villagers’ ongoing patrols against illegal loggers, said that even though many of the villagers had become weak – with some developing fevers and wounds on their legs – they remained undaunted in their trek to CRCK, which they should reach at noon today.

“Even though we have had to struggle a lot, we still come to protest,” he said. “We are not afraid of authorities that threaten us; we just want to protect the natural resources.”

If you can't find justice for us ... we take the law in our hands with our SICKLES!!!

Villagers gather on the road during a protest in Kratie province’s Snuol district yesterday. Photo by: Adhoc

Sickles brought to protest

Thursday, 22 September 2011
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

Armed villagers from Kratie province’s Snoul district protested yesterday against district officials and a Vietnamese company who they believe want to cheat them of their farmland.

The rights to 300 hectares of land around Sre Cha commune’s Meanchey village have been highly disputed since 2008, when a Vietnamese company began claiming legal ownership of 1,000 hecatres of land in the area.

Saren Ket, a community representative, said yesterday that district and land management officials told villagers to come to the rice fields in order to claim their land.

But he believes authorities have no intention to reapportion land to the villagers, but instead intend to give it to CIV Co Ltd Development Agro Industry, a Vietnamese rubber company.

20,000-ha more of Viet rubber plantations in Cambodia ... courtesy of Hun Xen

Group continues planting rubber trees in Cambodia

February, 10 2010
VNS (Hanoi)

PHNOM PENH — The Viet Nam Rubber Group will invest US$55 million in growing another 20,000ha of rubber trees in five Cambodian provinces this year, said its Phnom Penh chief representative Leng Rithy.

The investment is part of the group's target of 100,000ha of rubber trees in Cambodia by 2012.

The group will grow the crop on 8,900ha of land in Kampong Thom, 7,500ha in Kratie, 1,500ha in Ratanakiri, 1,100ha in Stung Treng and 1,000ha in Preah Vihear.

Rithy said the plantations were expected to begin producing by 2017 with a total output of 150,000 tonnes increasing to 250,000 tonnes by 2020.

Cambodian Rubber Association president Mork Kim Hong said the association would boost Cambodia's economy and generate more jobs.

By the end of last year, Cambodia had 123,000ha of rubber trees, 50,000ha of which were yielding 50,000 tonnes of dry latex for export.

Land dispute against the Yuon Tinh Bien company in Kampong Thom

We live like in jail: Kampong Thom villagers

Land concession for Yuon company ... Land eviction for Khmer families: Bravo Hung Xen?!?!

Land Dispute in Kampong Thom Leads to Violence and Arrests

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
18 November 2009

Three villagers have been arrested in Kampong Thom province on Wednesday in a chronic land dispute and some others are being pursued by provincial authority, officials and villagers said.

“We are interrogating the three men for more arrests of those involved before sending the case to court,” Kampong Thom provincial police chief, Phan Sopheng, said.

More than 1,000 families live on the land that is now part of an 8,000-hectare land concession belonging to the Vietnamese Tin Bien company.

As a result of the dispute, some property belonging to the company, including two bulldozers, an excavator, and a generator, were burned when violence erupted Monday. Nine residents were also wounded.

Land disputes are on the rise in Cambodia. In 2008, a human rights group Adhoc documented 306 cases with 150 people arrested.

Court Releases Six Accused in Land Dispute [-Cambodians arrested so their lands can be given to the Yuon company]

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
24 October 2008

Click here to listen to the Khmer audio program

Kampong Thom provincial court on Friday released six people in a land dispute with forestry officials, charging only three with deforestation.

Math Sareth, 44, Thach Sarin, 44, and Po Kin, 24, were released on bail, prosecutor Ty Sovanthal said.

The court charged that the three had destroyed parts of a forest in Son Touk district across 16 square kilometers, but found no evidence to charge three others.

The six were arrested earlier this week by officials of the Ministry of Agriculture’s forestry administration, after they led hundreds of families in the development of Banteay Rongeang, a village for disabled people.

Villagers admitted no wrongdoing in building their village, but say they are being removed from land after a land concession was granted to a Vietnamese company to establish a plantation.

Forestry Authorities Arrest Six Villagers [-The small fish get caught, the big fish get away free

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
23 October 2008

Forestry officials in Kampong Thom province arrested six villagers on Wednesday, accusing them of illegal settlement and deforestation.

The five men and one woman are representatives of a development village for disabled people in Son Touk district.

“Today, we are preparing a report seeking to prove that they have destroyed reserved forest resources,” Kampong Thom Deputy Governor Heng Sam An said. “We noticed they started destroying the forest since 2006.”

However, villagers say they had not settled illegally, and a human rights official called their arrests illegal.

“The arrests did not confirm with legal processes, because they did not have an arrest warrant,” said Ngoung Samoeurn, a provincial coordinator for the rights group Licadho.

Authorities and villagers have had a dispute over the area since earlier this year, following the investment of a Vietnamese company, Chin Bien, in a rubber plantation where the villagers were living, Ngoung Samoeurn said. “The conflict froze during the election period,” he said.

However, Heng Sam An said the villagers had not been arrested for settling in the investment area but had been occupying protected forest.

Around 90 villagers arrived in Kampong Thom town Thursday to protest the arrests.

“We have been living in that area since 2004,” said Neang Sinath, a representative of the villagers. “We were recognized by [Prime Minister] Hun Sen to create the village.”

“If they do not release our villagers, we will not go back home,” she said.

Heng Sam An said the villagers will be removed from their settlement to another site, a plan the villagers reject.

“They cannot live in the new place, because there is malaria and flooding in the area,” Ngoung Samoeurn said. “It is 20 kilometers from the actual village.”