The Company’s Armed Persons Harassed the Residents of the Boeng Kak Lake Strongly

Posted on 5 October 2008
The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 580

“The smell of Num Ansam [cooked sticky rice with sweet or salty fillings in banana leaves] made for the Khmer traditional festival of the Pchum Ben days, has not gone yet, but the residents at the Boeng Kak Lake started to worry again, as the forces of the company, that received the right to develop the Boeng Kak Lake, began to cause disturbance by driving a boat to destroy the water convolvulus [trakuon in Khmer ត្រកូន, widely known in southeast Asia also as water spinach, swamp cabbage, water morning-glory, kangkung (Indonesian, Malay), kangkong (Tagalog), eng chai (Hokkien), tangkong (Cebuano), kang kung (Sinhalese), pak boong (in Thai ผักบุ้ง) (Thai), rau muống (Vietnamese), kongxincai (Chinese: 空心菜; pinyin: kōngxīncài - literally 'hollow heart vegetable'), home sum choy (Hakka), and ong choy or tung choi (Cantonese for 蕹菜, ngônkcôi; pinyin: wéngcài)] planted by the citizens for sale. They used a gun to threaten to shoot anyone who dares to stop their activities.

“A resident told reporters in the morning of 3 October 2008 that in the evening of 2 October 2008, a boat was driven around the Boeng Kak Lake. Moreover, they drove it to destroy the water convolvulus patches [planted on the water of the Boeng Kak Lake] by the people, planted for sale. This resident added that when they got out from their houses and shouted, ‘Why are you driving a boat to destroy our water morning-glory plants like this?’ the persons who drove that boat pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot.

A picture of the Boeng Kak Vegetable Plantations can be seen by clicking here.

“Many residents said that the persons who drove that boat might be armed persons of the company that is dredging sand to fill the Boeng Kak Lake, because previously, there was nobody driving a boat to destroy the residents’ water morning-glories like that, and the boat was found moored near the company’s site disposing the dredged sand. Such activity is considered by the residents to be harassment aiming to force the residents to leave the Boeng Kak region, since the residents protested against being forced by the authorities to leave the area in exchange to a little money, which they regard as an unacceptable solution.

“Because the solutions suggested by the Phnom Penh authorities and by the company are improper and unacceptable, many residents started to protest and to lodge complaints to the court by asking for an injunction to stop dredging sand temporarily and to wait to find solutions. However, the complaint of the residents meant nothing to the Phnom Penh court of first instance, and finally, the court rejected the complaint of the residents and allowed the company to continue dredging sand. Even during the Pchum Ben days, the company continued dredging sand, making the sewage water to rise and almost flood the residents’ housing; therefore, they could not go to celebrate the Pchum Ben days at far places, because they worried that their housing would be flooded.

“So far, the activity of driving a boat to destroy the residents’ water convolvulus plantations is a sign showing that they began harassing the people to make them leave the area, and they assumed that if the residents do not agree to accept the small solutions offered, other activities might happen towards the residents, because the people in Phnom Penh know the iron fist of our municipal governor who never helped the people in the past, but he is good at ordering armed persons to carry out destructions; they always hear the words, ‘Take it or not - and if not, get nothing.’ Like the eviction of people at the Monivong site, at Sambok Chab, and the Dey Krahom communities, because of the struggle for profit, some residents were arrested, and now, they are still in detention because of different accusations.

“As for the residents at the Boeng Kak Lake, many in the general public said that their fate might not be much different from that of the residents at the Dey Krahom or the Monivong communities. The company and the Phnom Penh authorities have never shown to the people the contract for leasing the Boeng Kak Lake. On the contrary, they tried to hide it from the people and tried to calm the situation, so that it should not become too bad before the fourth term parliamentary elections.

Note 1:

Some sections from the Mirror of 21.2.2007, according to Koh Santepheap, Vol.40, #5971, 20 February 2007:

Hun Sen’s 11-Point Recommendations for the Environment: Over-Exploitation of Natural Resources Caused by Business Activities Will Result in the Loss of Natural Opportunities

“Phnom Penh: Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen presented some key points and recommendations relating to possible challenges in the future for natural resources and some environmental activities, during a conference on the environment looking back at the year 2006. The meeting also set some goals for 2007. His recommendations are as follows:

2. “Conservation and protection of protected natural resources: Samdech Prime Minister emphasized that offenders must be held fully responsible. Actions have already been taken against those who committed offenses in Vireakchey Park and in Koh Kong Province.

3. “Strengthening the management of protected national resources and related communities: To successfully and effectively achieve these goals, local people should participate in the implementation of related programs. Samdech Prime Minister recommended that the Ministry of Environment should work with officials at all levels to create community statutes for their management and to ensure equity in receiving benefits from protected natural resources.

7. “Assess Sources of Impacts: Samdech Hun Sen encouraged the Ministry of Environment to transparently assess impacts of any investment projects.

10. “Duties of local authorities: It is hard to believe that local authorities do not know about offenses committed in their communities. Some authorities do not cooperate well with the Ministry of Environment but have to improve.”

“What was seen was that, as soon as the elections were over and the results were released, the company started dredging sand to fill the Boeng Kak region immediately, without caring to find solutions, making many residents protest in front of the Phnom Penh Municipality. The Phnom Penh authorities appeared to solve the problems instead of the company, and still urge the residents to take US$8,000 or a small flat in a Phnom Penh suburb in exchange for leaving the Boeng Kak area, in order to let the company develop it.

“Some information sources said that some residents agreed with the solutions suggested by the Phnom Penh authorities, because they have no hope that the protests according to the law will help, and they know many similar experiences [of other evicted residents in some communities mentioned above]. Another point is that the residents, who had agreed with the solutions offered, lived in small housing on stilts over the surface of the water, for them the money given is appropriate. As for residents who own big houses or land, they do not agree with such solutions, and they ask the Phnom Penh authorities for solutions according to the market price of US$2,000 per square meter.

“Probably because of that protest, armed persons from the company began harassing the citizens, so that they give up and agree to accept the improper solutions.”

Samleng Yuvachun Khmer, Vol.15, #3418, 4.10.2008
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Saturday, 4 October 2008