Chinese engineers prepare to go out in to the field in the Areng Valley. They are researching the feasibility of the Cheay Areng hydroelectric dam that would flood the entire valley. PHOTO BY Luke Duggleby/International Rivers.
PM jibes: I'll deploy rockets in Areng
Prime Minister Hun Sen has jibed that he could deploy military hardware should anyone try and create an “autonomous zone” in the Areng Valley, where activists are bitterly fighting a proposed dam.
In a speech on Tuesday, the premier also took aim at Areng Valley activist Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, who was deported yesterday, condemning him for organising road blocks to stop companies from entering the area.
“If you want to make an autonomous zone [in Areng], please come, and we will put BM21 [multiple rocket launcher vehicles] in that area, but I don’t accuse them seriously like that,” Hun Sen said, before attacking Areng activists for obstructing company officials.
However, the premier also publicly confirmed for the first time that no decision on whether to dam the valley would be made until after the next election and even went as far as to say that such a project would be a “disaster” environmentally, squandering billions of potential tourism revenue.
“[In] my own opinion, I want to keep it for the younger generation, and it’s the same as the Chi Phat area, and [we] estimate it could earn $20 billion but instead of getting about $20 billion, we will lose around 20,000 hectares of forested of land.
“If we lost 20,000 hectares of forest, it would be a disaster and that area is the elephant crossing spot. If we do decide to develop, our sea over there will not be blue anymore, it turns to red sea, because when they're digging the land, it will float into the sea.”
San Mala, a co-founder of the grassroots conservation NGO Mother Nature, who was arrested along with Gonzalez-Davidson yesterday but later released, said Hun Sen's remarks were a direct threat to his organisation.
“When he said he will do anything if anyone tries to create autonomous zone, this is a heavy comment from him directly to our team, who have always tried to stop the Chinese company or any expert that wants to study [there],” Mala said.
If the government was serious about halting the Areng Valley dam, he added, they would stop surveying the area and start promoting it through the Ministry of Tourism.
Opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party chief whip Son Chhay, himself a longtime opponent of plans to dam the Areng Valley, questioned the sincerity of the prime minister's seemingly newfound love of nature.
“Because the population of this country starts to become involved in helping Alex [Gonzalez-Davidson] to protect this river, he has no choice but to say he loves the river,” Chhay said, adding that the premier had done nothing to halt mass illegal logging in the same area.
Gonzalez-Davidson was deported yesterday after refusing to leave the country despite overstaying his visa, which the government had refused to renew.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY DAVID BOYLE
Correction: A quote from Prime Minister Hun Sen in this article regarding the deployment of BM21 multiple rocket launcher vehicles has been extend to reflect that the premier's tone was not entirely serious. The headline for the article has also been adjusted to reflect this.
3 comments:
A Cambodia mad man I would say. Jackel
Who ever in charge of advising and preparing speeches for Hun Sen should be fired. As leader of an Independent state should never given speech in that kind of languages. BM-21 MLRS 122mm rockets should be station at Siam, Vietnam & Laos border areas, especially Siam border.
As military commander Hun Sen should never revealed that his forces had received many new systems to any enemy to hear. If any shooting start it will be fired by Hun Sen loyalists troops. Khmer weak,poor , landless, powerless barely have an axe to chop down fire wood. Lol
In most Southeast Asia and that including so called democracy Thailand ruled by the barrel of a guns. Who ever holding rifles controlled everything SAD. ASEAN will never even 1/2 democracy of EU phatetic.
I was happy to read Hun Sen desires to preserve the area if it is his choice.
Maybe Hun Sen understands the value of Conservation for the future. Seems his remarks and actions prevented a situation from becoming worse.Everyone is back to work now.Things are very calm in the Areng Valley.I just returned from there to the USA March 12th, 2015..A beautiful place.
Post a Comment