Mrs. Sim Sophea, provincial Adhoc coordinator said that those local villagers protested because they did not want the company to fulfil the land into shallow area, where they normally go fishing. This would seriously affect their standard of living. Anyway the residents uttered that the geographic location of the village does not provide them with enough land for agricultural activity apart from fishing.
Keo Chea Property Development Company is located beside the massive 1,000-hectare Kampot Special Economic Zone, which has seen the filling of several hundreds of hectares of sea since August 2008 to turn the coast into an international port with hotels and residential villas.
A 50-year-old local resident Mrs. Chan Dara with four children said that her family solely depended on fishing. She added that the development project has impacted on two villages – Kep Thmei and Toteng Tngai; whereas Veng Hua Company is believed to affect on Roluas village. However the three villages are in Beong Touk commune altogether.
Reported by local human right groups there, the companies, both approved by the government’s Council for the Development of Cambodia, will affect the livelihoods of about 600 families and damage a unique 24,000 hectares sea-grass ecosystem situated off the coast.
Mr. Chan Dara added that on October 28 some fifty villagers gathered together on the street, where trucks transported land almost everyday to fill the shallow coast; however, about forty joint forces, police, military police and soldier as well as local authority came to break off their protest. The group was holding weapons and having a little clash with the villagers.
Another villager, named Ching, 45, said she had been pushed by those armed policemen when she tried to prevent the truck from reaching the sea.
Whereas Mrs. Thea, 40, said in the area they had no farmland. To lose this coast is to lose their air for breathing. They held numerous protests with local, district and provincial authorities, as well as at the National Assembly. However, all those national institutions ignored to resolve the issue.
Mrs. Sim Sophea also revealed that it was not the first time for those villagers to protest against the company. It had happened since July 26-27, 2009- since the company started filling up the coast.
Once again on October 29, 72 families out of those in Kep Thmei village continually came to protest in front of Hun Sen’s home in Takmao city, Kandal province to seek his intervention.
At that time, a man working at the premier cabinet came to meet them and asserted that he would take the matter into consideration, but said that it was time of celebrating Water Festival ceremony, therefore waiting until the end of the ceremony. However when those local people were trying to connect him, but it was not possible for he said that he was busy with participating in the Independence Day. Even though, Keo Chea Property Development Company did not stop its work.
It has been seen that the government, both provincial and national government, were not trying to help the villagers. This act really contradicted the Cambodian Constitutional Law. Article 35, paragraph 2 says, “… Any people’s request shall be taken into action and thoroughly resolved.” Article 52, line 5 of the law writes that, “… The state primarily pays attention to livelihood and well-being of Cambodian people.”
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