Landing in trouble
on Phnom Penh Pal (Cambodia), 05/Jul/2012 14:22, 34 days ago
In late 2003, the Government organised a competition to select the best development plan for Boeng Kak Lake in the Borei Keila area of Phnom Penh. The winning idea, which was ignored, envisioned public parks, a museum, shops and new houses. Instead, a 99 year lease was given to a company owned by a Senator of the ruling party who had a vision of high-rise luxury apartments and lots of cash.They started filling in the lake with tonnes of sand and evicted thousands of families from the area. Ever since arriving, we have read about the continuous protests of families against their eviction and lack of alternative housing. Many are left with nothing because they do not have land titles, which is hardly surprising given 30 years of civil war and violence. Plus, most tarpaulin shacks don't come with land titles.During one protest in May, thirteen women were arrested and two days later were tried and sentenced for trying to occupy state land illegally. Larger protestors ensued and appeals were launched.In a bit of a surprise, the appeal court, whilst upholding the conviction of the thirteen women, reduced their sentence from two and a half years to time served. But even good news in this story is superseded by bad - a pregnant woman miscarried after being hit by police during a protest.You can see how the whole story unfolded here, which also shows a pic of what the lake looks like now - swamped with sand and without much development happening.Land is the biggest issue in Cambodia. Rights and laws do not matter as much as money, power and force. The poor literally are the dispossessed as they get moved from their homes, farms and forests at gunpoint. A mixture of local, provincial and national government is giving away 99 year leases on millions of hectares, and it's not the affected communities or public purse that are seeing the cash from these sales.Yesterday saw a campaign launched because of land taken by a sugar company owned by a ruling party Senator (see a pattern emerging?). Thesugar ends up in Tate and Lyle bagsbeing sold in Europe. Some things are not so sweet here.Gordon