Residents of Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak lake area are holding a news conference today to respond to a recent Bayon TV program asserting that most local people support Shukaku Inc’s controversial plans for the area.
The 12-minute spot, broadcast in late February, began with scenes of wooden houses jutting out into the water and trash-strewn paths, accompanied by a voiceover from Bayon producer Lach Chantha. English subtitles announce: “In the near future, we will see brand new and modern business centers appear in this…place.”
The film contended that 70 percent of the lake’s population supports the Shukaku project, and that development on the lake would create jobs, improve living standards and reduce poverty.
Lach Chantha, who is no relation to the Reuters correspondent of the same name, interviewed Shukaku representative Lav Van in the video, but did not mention compensation plans for residents that will be evicted or reports that filling in the lake will cause increased flooding in other parts of Phnom Penh.
“[Residents] have the chance to go from living in a house near the lake’s banks, with bad surroundings and many concerns, to a house with real and legal property,” Lav Van said, without going into specifics.
Shukaku, owned by CPP Senator Lao Meng Khin and his wife Chheung Sopheap, the owner of local conglomerate Pheapimex, have said nothing publicly since being granted a 99-year lease to the lake and its surroundings by Phnom Penh City Hall in February 2007.
Duong Bophary, a representative for the lake’s residents, said by telephone Wednesday that the broadcast by Bayon TV, which is owned by Prime Minister Hun Sen, and with his daughter, Hun Mana, serving as the station’s director-general, was biased.
“It said that 70 percent of people have agreed to the plan. In reality, it is not that much; it is only about 21 percent,” she said, adding that the producer had purposefully neglected to film the nicer areas of the lakeside, including the restaurant areas, which are popular with foreign budget tourists.
“In general, they just filmed the places with broken-down homes and the trashy and dirty areas.”
Residents also want to know more about Shukaku Inc’s compensation plan, Duong Bophary said.
Contacted Wednesday, Lach Chantha said he made the film because he wanted to show the positive sides of the controversial development. He admitted his film was not balanced, but said that residents should look further into the future.
“It is a little unbalanced, but it is positive, not negative, because I saw for myself that people there live on piles of smelly garbage,” he said, adding that, despite residents’ concerns, “the company will not quit, anyway.”
Lach Chantha said that he had gleaned the 70-percent approval rate from his own research, and that he didn’t address specific plans for the site or flooding concerns because of time constraints. He added that Shukaku did not pay him to make the program.
Neup Ly, a community empowerment officer at the Housing Rights Task Force, said that about 30 Boeng Kak residents were expected to participate in the news conference at the Community Legal Education Center.
