Local authorities ordered Kraol indigenous residents in Kratie to apologize on camera for burning down an Environment Ministry building, according to the local deputy commune chief.
Phi Ti, Srae Chis deputy commune chief, said community members were filmed by district authorities on Wednesday, first apologizing to the ministry and then to Prime Minister Hun Manet for their actions.
“They [district authorities] told people to do that. If they refuse to apologize, the conflict will still continue. They ordered people to speak, and they took a video and sent it to the Environment Ministry,” he said. “In the video, the Kraol indigenous people were told to say, ‘My name is… I would like to apologize to the Environment Ministry. I am acknowledging my mistakes.’”
Earlier this month, more than 300 villagers participated in burning down a ministry station in Srae Chis commune to protest government expansion of the Sor Sor Sdom Sat Tao protected area. Environment Ministry officers have previously banned Kraol residents from farming in the protected area.
At a meeting on August 16, authorities requested that the indigenous people apologize. Only one Kraol resident that was invited chose to attend the meeting with local authorities and ministry officials. Other residents said they were afraid to talk to the ministry and were concerned they would be arrested.
O’Krieng Senchey District Governor Chhea Phally told CamboJA that he and Commune Chief Pich Touch facilitated this Wednesday’s meeting, where 300 to 400 residents thumb-printed a letter acknowledging their mistakes. Phally said he spent about a week beforehand informing residents about the meeting, and sent the letter and video to the Provincial Environment Department after it was held.
Phally did not immediately respond to a follow up message from CamboJA asking whether he had ordered community members to apologize.
Commune Chief Pich Touch confirmed that community members did thumbprint the letter, but declined to give more detailed information, saying he could not talk because he was in the forest.
Kratie Provincial Environment Department Director Chhay Duong Savuth said his department received the letter Thursday morning. When called by a CamboJA reporter, he said he was unable to talk and referred further questions to the commune chief.
One Kraol community member, who asked to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, told CamboJA that Touch called him and invited him to thumbprint a document at the commune hall to acknowledge his mistakes.
He said authorities at the meeting told the group “don’t be offended,” to apologize to the officers and that authorities would facilitate with the environmental officers following the thumbprinting.
“In the apology letter, we want to clarify that we do not have any conflict with the leader [Hun Manet]…If we talk about laws, we are wrong. We know our mistakes, which are being angry with environment officers [and] destroying state property,” he said. “[I] hope they [the ministry] will treat people well,” when their representatives come back to the area.
When a CamboJA reporter asked him if the Kraol residents apologized willingly or were forced to do so, he refused to answer.
CamboJA spoke to one other villager who confirmed that her family was also invited to the meeting. Another villager told CamboJA that, although he was invited to the August 16 meeting and chose not to attend, he was not notified about this Wednesday’s meeting.
“The Environment Ministry station will be rebuilt, but [the ministry] will bring the good officers to treat people well,” Phally said.
Savuth told CamboJA he did not know when the station would be rebuilt and it depended on the ministry.
Ti, who is Kraol, said he does not think that the Kraol community members want the ministry to rebuild the station, and he added that Kraol community members have kept quiet since hearing that the ministry planned to rebuild it.
Yon Eam, the Kratie provincial coordinator for the NGO Adhoc, said that after the Kraol indigenous people rejected the invitation from the ministry, Savuth called villagers about thumbprinting a letter to apologize and acknowledge their mistakes. While he said the villagers did thumbprint the document, community members still take issue with the station being rebuilt by the ministry.
“Citizens agreed to thumbprint [the letter] to end the conflict and in order to avoid arrest. But what they did not agree on is that they would not let the Environment Ministry rebuild the station,” he said.
