Prison through the eyes of a child

May Titthara

The Phnom Penh Post 

From behind the bars of their cells in the Kingdom’s biggest prison, mothers can watch their children play in a tiny playground inside the shabby building, which is surrounded by narrow gardens where the women can grow extra food.

“Every day, I see only the prison roof and the trees inside the fence,” says Dong, a five-year-old boy who was born inside Prey Sar Correctional Centre 2.

“I have never known anything outside this prison,” Dong said during an interview last week.

The interview followed a request to the Interior Ministry and, subsequently, to the prison chief.

They agreed, on the condition that no photographs be taken and no tape recording be made.

Dong said he lived with his mother in the prison because they had no relatives.

He and the 10 other children in the prison leave the cells every Monday to Friday morning for classes an NGO has arranged for them inside the prison.
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Kingdom’s three-year land rush

May Titthara

The Phnom Penh Post

 The government has granted more than 7 million hectares of land to private companies through concessions since 2008, with 222 private companies claiming more than 2 million hectares alone in economic land concessions, rights group Adhoc said yesterday.

Ouch Leng, head of Adhoc’s land program, said that data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and government sub-decrees revealed that the government had granted about 2,153,408 hectares in economic land concessions to private companies.

He added that the total figure reached 7,021,771 hectares out of a total 17,651,500 hectares in the Kingdom since 2008, if mining and forest concessions for logging purposes are included.
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Villagers try diplomatic route

May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

About 300 villagers from Kandal province locked in land disputes with private companies delivered petitions to embassies in Phnom Penh yesterday, before protesting in front of the provincial hall and calling for Prime Minister Hun Sen to help them.

Villagers told the Post they wanted an end to land disputes caused by companies that had “seized their land”, adding that they would “rather die” than go home without a result.

They said authorities had ignored their pleas for help while the companies had used the court system to have villagers who complained about the acquisitions arrested.

 

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Maid ban finally complete

By May Titthara & David Boyle
The Phnom Penh Post

The Association of Cambodian Recruitment Agencies announced a temporary ban on the sending of all domestic workers to Malaysia amidst another under-age trainee scandal – this one involving a firm owned by the wife of a senior member of Cambodia’s international police department.

On Monday, the Ministry of Labour gave recruitment firms permission to send already contracted domestic workers with travel documents to Malaysia, contradicting a blanket suspension announced by Prime Minster Hun Sen three days prior.

But ACRA president An Bunhak announced at a press conference yesterday that his association would effectively regulate itself – halting all transfers to Malaysia in the wake of yet another labour firm raid that involved allegations of forced detention and underage recruitment.

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Lakeside families face summonses

By May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

Eight families whose homes were demolished at Boeung Kak lake last month appealed to Prime Minister Hun Sen to intervene in their case yesterday amid the rubble of their former homes and a flurry of summonses they say are intended to silence their dissent.

The families, who on October 4 filed a complaint against real estate developer Shukaku Inc, owned by Cambodian People’s Party Senator Lao Meng Khin, said they have received separate summonses to appear for questioning today and Wednesday in the Shukaku case, while the company has not been asked to appear. 

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Commune chief faces accusations over vote registration

By May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post 

Nearly 200 villagers from Oddar Meanchey province’s Anlong Veng district gathered for a fourth consecutive day of protest yesterday, claiming they had been illegally refused the right to register to vote by their commune chief.

Residents from O’Ampril village protested in front of Anlong Veng commune office, accusing commune chief Hang Sat of refusing to allow them to register to vote for the commune elections scheduled for next year.

“The Anlong Veng commune chief said that he will allow us to register to vote if we swear to vote for the [ruling] Cambodia Peoples Party, otherwise he will not because he is afraid we will vote for the [opposition] Sam Rainsy Party,” said 38-year-old Moeun Heak. “I have a Cambodian identity card and I am a Khmer citizen. Why can I not vote? I am not a foreigner,” Moeun Heak said.

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Protest planned despite warning

By May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post 

Kulan district villagers embroiled in a land dispute in Preah Vihear’s Srayong commune say they will follow through with a planned 200-person protest against rubber firm Siladamich Company today despite being threatened with arrest.

Village representative Lem Lom, 32, said  yesterday that Srayong commune police and the Srayong commune chief have told villagers they will be arrested if they assemble in groups of three or more.

“[The] police chief in Srayong commune said that villagers do not need to know about the law … only respect the law,” he said. “If they see us as three people in one group, they will … detain us in prison by accusing us of drug smuggling or illegal protest.”

Srayong commune police chief Chan Satya said that police only wanted to prevent violence, but if villagers met in groups of three or more people, police would be in attendance.

“We [do not want to] detain them in the prison, we just want them to be safe, so if we see from 3 to 5 people who are not family members, we have to…[ask] what are they talking about,” he said.

Chum Poy, Kulen district governor, said that while he was unaware of the villagers’ complaint, which revolves around a disputed 454-hectare plot, Siladamich Company received a 9,000-hectare economic land concession from the government in 2009.

A representative for Siladamich Company could not be reach for comment yesterday.