Land dispute intensifies in Siem Reap

17 Jan 2009
By Pen Bona
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from Khmer by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the article in French

About one hundred farmers from Chikreng commune, Chikreng district, Siem Reap province, burnt tires in front of the provincial court on Friday 16 January, in order to demonstrate their anger.

The farmers were camping in front of the court for the last three days, to demand for the release of a journalist and two villagers who were arrested on 26 December stemming from a land dispute case opposing two groups of farmers.

The dispute started in 2004 and it involves more than 400 hectares of land straddling two communes: Chikreng and Anlung Samnor. Each commune claims the ownership of the land.
In a letter sent to Heng Samrin, the president of the National Assembly, on 16 January, Sou Phirin, Siem Reap provincial governor, sided with the Anlung Samnor commune villagers, saying that the land belonged to the latter. Chikreng commune villagers then exploded into a demonstration. Sou Phirin added in his letter: “Violence took place last December between the two opposing groups, and it led to the arrest of three people.” However, according to the angry Chikreng villagers, this decision by the governor was not fair and it was motivated by private interests. In fact, according to the Chikreng villagers, the land would belong to a high-ranking official in the region, this explained the reason for Sou Phirin’s decision.

On Friday, in spite of the incidents, no violence took place. However, the demonstrators threatened to continue their action until the three arrested men are freed. This situation worries human rights observers. It should be noted that more often nowadays, during land conflict cases, angry villagers tend to gather up in front of the court. This tendency reflects among many villagers their loss of confidence in the judicial system. Chan Saveth, an investigator for the Adhoc human rights group, indicated on Saturday 17 January that, if the number of land disputes seems to be stable, “the nature of the dispute has worsened. In 2008, we noted more than 300 land dispute cases, the majority of which involved army soldiers. We also noted that more often, arrests were made in land dispute cases,” he deplored.

The US preaches "democratic and just government" in Cambodia ... but goes on to support Hun Sen's authoritarian regime: Go figure that out!

Chargè d’affaires Piper Campbell delivers remarks at an Asia Foundation sponsored event.

Chargè d’affaires Piper Campbell addresses the future of Cambodian/U.S. relations with the Asia Foundation

Le Royal hotel
January 12, 2009
Source: US Embassy in Phnom Penh

On the 12th of January at an Asia Foundation sponsored event entitled “America’s Role in Asia” the Chargè d’affaires spoke to a packed house at the Le Royal hotel in Phnom Penh on the many ways the U.S. is engaged with the Royal Government of Cambodia. In her remarks she noted that while we are welcoming a new President, Secretary of State and U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia,
both the level of our engagement and the general direction of our efforts are not likely to change. She hypothesized that this was mainly due to the enormity of the issues that Cambodia faces such as poverty, weak rule of law and poor health – all of which require stable, long term solutions. She also listed the long term goals that the U.S. has which are “to see a country which is domestically stable and able to secure its borders; where government is democratic and just; where the government joins coordinated donors investing in the Cambodian people to improve health and education standards; and where a healthy economy raises more people out of poverty and provides an opportunity for business”. The Chargè concluded by concurring with the Foundation’s hope that the new US administration accords Asia the attention that its intrinsic importance to the US demands.

[Vietnamese] Seeking strange foods for lunar New Year’s Eve

17/01/2009

VietNamNet Bridge – Many people prefer strange foods like worms, scorpions and snakes to popular food for the lunar New Year’s Eve like dog meat. They believe these “exotic” foods will help them avoid bad luck in the new year.

Lying in Dich Vong alley, Cau Giay district, Hanoi is Phuc Van Lai Restaurant, a familiar destination for those addicted to insects. The restaurant is more crowded at the year’s end.
A waitress at Phuc Van Lai, Nguyen Khanh Linh, said: “At the beginning, our restaurant provided normal food like pork, chicken, seafood but in recent years, we have had new cuisines processed from scorpions, crickets, and grasshoppers.”

Cuisines processed from insects at Phuc Van Lai are mainly fried or roasted with salt. The restaurant buys frozen insects from traders in Ha Tay.

The restaurant is very crowded at the year’s end so the restaurant has to buy insects at a higher price from the Nghia Tan wholesale market. According to Linh, the restaurant’s customers are mainly youngsters.

Located on Kim Ma road, in front of the Thu Le Zoo, Bao Lam Restaurant is always full. Many students chose the restaurant as the site of lunar New Year’s Eve parties before they return home.

The most famous cuisine at Bao Lam is sau chit, a species of worm, steamed with a special spice of the Thai ethnic group in the northwestern region. Some youngsters even like eating live chit worm.“Our class comes to this restaurant on special eves like Christmas, the Western New Year and particularly the lunar New Year’s Eve. It is quite difficult to eat chit worm but it is really nutritious,” said Le Trung Hoi, a student from the Stage and Movie University.

Bao Lam buys chit worms from ethnic minority people in northwestern provinces. This species of worm lives in ivory bamboo sections. Each section contains only one chit worm. Bao Lam charges VND40,000 per plate of 20-30 ivory bamboo joints.

The people in the southern province of Tay Ninh and some provinces near the border with Cambodia like cuisines made from crickets and spiders very much. They say these cuisines originated from Cambodia. At first, men tried these cuisines because it is said that these things can help them strengthen their “manly” power. After that, youngster tried and liked them as well.

Those who have higher incomes often go to Le Mat village, Long Bien district, Hanoi to taste cuisines made from snake. Le Mat is a famous snake-breeding village in Hanoi.

In Le Mat, dozens of restaurants lying along the village roads sell snake-made food. Popular names include Quoc Trieu, Van Duc, Xuan Chu, Trong Khach and Huong Que.

Nguyen Van Trong, 70, the owner of the Trong Khack Restaurant, said that more customers come to his restaurants at the year’s end, including foreigners.

The restaurant processes several tens of kilos of snakes per day. Trong’s daughter-in-law, Pham Thi Van, said that snake can be processed into ten major cuisines: soup, frying, grilling, grilled pie, fried snake skin, spring roll, etc. The restaurant also offers sticky glutinous rice with snake fat, snake with ginger soup.

Each customer can pay VND100,000-150,000 to taste cuisines made of coluber. Copperhead is more expensive, around VND700,000 per kilo. Customers will see restaurant staff catch live copperheads and turn them into cuisines in front of their very eyes!

“Some customers eat live copperhead heart,” Van said.

Many people choose snake for their lunar New Year’s Eve party because snake is a fatty food good for the winter.