A day after Prime Minister Hun Sen praised a high-ranking official for returning land to poor residents in a land dispute, villagers said the official’s yet unfulfilled promise is inadequate and accused her of trying to strong-arm them into accepting the offer despite their objections.
Speaking at a forum on land issues Monday, Hun Sen warned powerful officials to give back land they have grabbed from poor Cambodians and named You Ay, secretary of state for the Ministry of Women’s and Veterans’ Affairs, as an example of an official who has done just that.
“There was one chumteav (her excellency) who has already given back hundreds of hectares of land to farmers. Thank you, … Chumteav You Ay, thank you very much,” Hun Sen said in the speech at the Cambodia Development Council.
In August, You Ay, who hung up repeatedly on reporters’ calls Tuesday, promised to cede
100 hectares of land to hundreds of poor families in a bid to resolve a 5-year-old dispute in Kompong Speu province’s Phnom Sruoch district.
So far, villagers have refused her offer, saying the land does not come close to meeting their needs.
In the dispute, villagers claim she forced them to sell land below market value and bulldozed the land of those who would not sell. You Ay has claimed that village ringleaders sold her the land but then refused to move and invited others to settle on some of the 1,000 hectares she claimed as her own.
According to her offer, You Ay has pledged to give plots of 25 by 50 meters—just large enough for a house—to 573 families, said Nuth Rumduol, a Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian for Kompong Speu, who has been negotiating with You Ay since August.
“The 25 by 50 meters is too small, very very small,” he said Tuesday.
Villagers also have complained that they would need to abandon their current homes, clear the new plots and build new homes, which they cannot afford to do, Nuth Rumduol said.
“The people want You Ay to pay to move and to rebuild and clear the land,” he said. “She said no, she cannot do that.”
Provincial and district officials, however, said Tuesday that You Ay has acted well within her rights.
“I’ve never heard that Her Excellency You Ay threatened villagers to get them to move. The land actually belongs to her,” said Pich Chantha, deputy district governor.
And Kompong Speu provincial Deputy police Chief Chea Vuth said his officers have never threatened villagers.
“I have never evicted or moved even one family who is involved in the land dispute with You Ay,” Chea Vuth said Tuesday.
Villagers have held two protests over the disputed land. In one protest, more than 100 villagers gathered in Kompong Speu town.
That demonstration turned violent when authorities reportedly kicked and beat them with electric batons, sending a deaf boy and a physically disabled man to the hospital.
Dozens of villagers then traveled to Phnom Penh and staged a peaceful protest in front of the National Assembly, at which point Nuth Rumduol offered to help them negotiate, and You Ay promised land and the release of villager Seng Sarath who was arrested.
Despite the complicated and violent history of the dispute, villagers said Tuesday they were somewhat optimistic about reaching a fair settlement after Hun Sen’s speech, in which he promised to resign if he could not resolve land issues.
“I am 70 percent hopeful right now, but I will be 100 percent hopeful whenever I see the arrival of a working group appointed by Samdech Hun Sen to our village with an official announcement,” said a 28-year-old villager, who asked not to be named.
Nuth Rumduol was more pessimistic, noting that Hun Sen has promised to deal with land issues before, but has so far not followed through.
“He always says that but he doesn’t do it,” he said.
