Floating homes told to make way for ferry

Thu, 11 June 2015 ppp

Sen David

Families living in floating houses in Lvea Em district, Kandal province yesterday afternoon. Dozens of families have been ordered to move or risk their homes being destroyed. Hong Menea

Pheng added that the “illegal” residents were polluting the water, creating an eyesore at the popular port.

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School of Vice: This is just a tip of the iceberg as far as the phenomenon of floating settlement is concerned; be it "legal" or "illegal". Downstream in Vietnam intense competition for habitable land space and livelihood means that floating-on-water settlement is usually tolerated by authorities and is a widespread albeit desperate alternative available to impoverished families and communities. Take a boat trip down the Mekong or Basac river and see the relative stark contrast between the two countries once you will have crossed the border; a contrast, it must be added that has been becoming less and less stark owing to the special privilege enjoyed by Vietnamese settlements all over the Kingdom, and in and around the great lake of Tonle Sap, in particular, [in so far as floating settlement is an environmental and political issue] where the richest fish catch and harvest help to ease the said competition for land space back in Vietnam and the correlated stress of intense economic struggle for Vietnamese citizens. That is one reason why every visiting Vietnamese leader had never failed to "plead" with the Phnom Penh regime for special allowance and "protection" given to these otherwise entirely illegal alien settlements.

Whether one's sentiment over this sensitive issue is governed by rationality or by compassion or a combination of both, it would take a stupendous leap of faith and pretend to ignore or dismiss the one-sided and unjust nature in the existing arrangement which has effectively resulted in one party having to accept choices forced down its throat by the other. That this is being the case is mirrored in the on-going border encroachments in the East and the inability or disinclination of Vietnamese authorities to even tolerate the crops already planted on their ancestral lands by Cambodian farmers, and in response, not once has Phnom Penh pleaded with Vietnam for "protection" of its own citizens. To the contrary, these Cambodian farmers have only experienced intimidation and prison terms for resisting Vietnam's incessant violations of their lands and country.  

Let us all swear as living witnesses of history that first and foremost we think and act in accord with our own conscience ... if we have one?   

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Dozens of families living in floating houses in Kandal province’s Lvea Em district have been ordered to move elsewhere by June 22, or risk their homes being destroyed.

Around 50 families live on the water surrounding Akrie Khsat port, where ferries go back and forth from Phnom Penh’s Koh Pich, or Diamond Island.

But authorities, who yesterday pinned eviction notices onto their homes, say they will no longer tolerate the families living there “illegally”.

If the families do not vacate by June 22, they will be moved by force, according to Lvea Em District Governor Bun Pheng.

“In the case that the residents do not follow the announcement, multiple forces of police and military will be dispatched on June 25, and the authorities will not be responsible for any damage of their property on that day,” he said.

Sok Hour, a 64-year-old resident, said authorities yesterday cited “public order” as a justification for the eviction, and asked the families to move out of the sight of tourists.

“They told us, since Akrie Khsat is in font of Koh Pich city, there are many tourists who cross on this ferry,” he said.

Another resident, 50-year-old Phy Van, said her floating home had been stationed in the area for more than 20 years without any problem. She urged authorities to give residents more time to move.

“If we do not move, they will destroy our homes without being responsible for the damage [but] we need at least three or four months to move to find another place and sell some property inside the house,” she said.

However, Pheng, the district governor, dismissed claims that the families had lived next to the port for decades.

“They have lived in their homes for more than 20 years but far away from here. They have moved nearer and nearer the ferry port by floating.”

Pheng added that the “illegal” residents were polluting the water, creating an eyesore at the popular port.