Sam Rainsy vows to confiscate lands from Tycoon if he wins in election

Written by Meas Sokchea

Friday, 30 May 2008 Courtesy of Phnom Penh Post

Belligerent pre-election banter is only to be expected, but opposition leader Sam Rainsy has raised the game by declaring he will redistribute the ill-gotten gains of corrupt pro-government tycoons if his party wins July's national elections. Cambodian People's Party-affiliated Okhna, tycoons and businessmen beware: on May 12 Rainsy announced that he "will give back to the nation, give back to the victims of land grabbing, return to the state millions of hectares of land that have been illegally sold off." Rainsy alleges that by maintaining close ties with the ruling CPP - in particular with Prime Minister Hun Sen - powerful individuals have been able to acquire state land illegally through secretive land swaps or grab land from poor farmers. "Any new government led by me, Sam Rainsy, will confiscate land, forests, mountains, beaches and islands which have been sold to foreign companies by the CPP," Rainsy said. "We will take them back for the nation and the people. We do not recognize the contracts issued by Hun Sen's government as they have signed away our lands to evil companies." This policy of land redistribution is "unsustainable" and will "bring problems for the Cambodian people," Information Minister and CPP spokesman Khieu Kanharith said on May 20.