Wednesday, 30 May 2012
By Chhay Channyda
Phnom Penh Post
Villagers from
Kampong Chhnang’s Lorpeang Village, pictured last year, have recently
been granted permission to farm land that has been disputed since 2007
with the KDC company. Photograph: Derek Stout/Phnom Penh Post
Forty Kampong Chhnang villagers embroiled in a long-running land dispute
with KDC International, a company owned by the wife of a senior CPP
official, farmed contested land without interference on Monday,
prompting some to wonder if they were being coaxed to vote for the
ruling party in the coming commune elections.
Villagers were
confused as to why no one barred them from the land, which is claimed by
KDC and its owner Chea Kheng, wife of CPP-affiliated Industry, Mines
and Energy Minister Suy Sem.
However, village representative Reach Seima suspects the new accommodation is simply because “it’s time to vote”.
“When
we entered, the guard told us to bring more villagers to [farm] on this
land,” he said. “We wondered is that a trick of the company? [The CPP]
are good to us because they don’t want to lose votes.”
The land
has been in dispute since 2007, when KDC International bulldozed 145
hectares of farmland in Lorpeang village in Kampong Chhnang’s Ta Ches
commune without compensating local residents.
In early May, the
provincial court ruled against a villager who demanded 30 acres of land
from KDC, despite the company failing to provide proof of ownership.
According
to Reach Seima, CPP commune chief Suos Siphay told Lorpeang villagers
that he could resolve their dispute if re-elected. Villagers, he said,
were unconvinced.
“We will vote according to our will to change the old commune chief, and replace him,” Reach Siema said.
Suos
Siphay said he did not know the background of the Lorpeang land dispute
because he was elected after it began, and denied promising villagers
he could solve their land issues.
”I campaigned in that village
to tell them I’d take care of all people’s problems,” he said. “But in
this land dispute, I dared not to promise them because it’s in the
court’s hands. If it wasn’t at court, I would intervene.”
Sam Chankea, a provincial coordinator for the rights group Adhoc, said that KDC’s motivations were political.
“In the election period, the company is not serious or it would affect votes for its political party [CPP],” he said.
KDC representatives could not be reached for comment.
To contact the reporter on this story: Chhay Channyda at channyda.chhay@phnompenhpost.com
1 comment:
Wow! Stop this land grabbing from poor khmers people,without land how can these people survive? without land how can these people raise their families? When did the Cpp corrupted pigs owned the land? what documents that they have to proof that they own that land?
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