After nearly six years of resisting displacement from government land grabs, the generational families around Boeung Tamok lake have reached their breaking point.
In February, a heated protest over excavation for a canal project in their backyards led to criminal charges against the Samraong Tboung community, a village in the Prek Pnov district on the banks of the Boeung Tamok. Since then, the villagers have petitioned Phnom Penh City Hall for fair market-value compensation and the dismissal of their charges.
For more than a month, their pleas for fair compensation and dropped charges have been ignored, prompting the remaining households in the village –and around Boeung Tamok – to grudgingly accept a limited settlement from the government. This comes after 109 households in the village had already conceded to the same “exchange policy” scheme, according to residents that spoke with CamboJA News.
As the villagers abandoned their fight for fair-market compensation, many have expressed how they felt coerced into accepting an unjust settlement to avoid further persecution.
Once the last holdouts in this protracted land dispute, the Samraong Tboung community’s acceptance of the government’s offer may set a precedent for similar disputes across the country, where claimants feel pressured to accept a low-ball compensation package and relinquish their land to be used for commercial and development projects.
Backed into a corner
Sea Davy, a resident of Samraong Tboung who has been protesting eviction since 2020, told CamboJA News that her family and 12 others submitted compensation proposals to Prek Pnov authorities on July 24. She said her proposal – and those of the other families – were never reviewed.
On July 10, Prek Pnov authorities set a deadline for the demolition of their houses to take place by July 26. However, the scheduled demolition has since fallen through, and the houses remain intact. CamboJA News was unable to determine if a new deadline has been set.
Originally, Davy petitioned authorities to allocate two comparable lots of land and houses near Boeung Tamok for her family’s relocation and pay them a sum of USD $70,000.
The forty-two-year old claimed she has a title receipt for the land which she has lived on for more than 20 years.
“I didn’t steal public land as they claim,” she asserted. “If the government wants that land for the purpose of development, they should provide compensation based on the market price.”
Seang Muy Lai, program manager at Phnom-Penh based Sahmakum Teang Tnaut, an NGO that supports impoverished urban communities, backed Davy and others’ claim to equitable compensation.
“Prek Pnov authorities cannot resolve the land dispute through the exchange policy. It is not enough,” he said.
“Some of the families’ land is private, so they should get compensated based on the market price for land in that area, even if (some) have no land titles.”
Despite their petitions, the only settlement option that was offered to Davy and other households in the village is the exchange policy.
“It is impossible [to compensate them] with the price they have set,” said Prek Pnov district governor Thim Sam An when speaking on the remedy homeowners – such as Davy – have sought.
“Our settlement offer is only the exchange policy, if they demand over this we can’t make a deal,” he said.
Under the exchange policy developed by Phnom Penh’s municipal government, authorities have allocated land a few kilometers away from the district to build modest houses for the displaced residents and pay them USD $10,000 or slightly more, depending on the size of their property.
But the flat-rate compensation package falls far short of the market price of the residents’ properties, leaving many feeling they are not receiving a fair deal.
Additionally, some of the families that took the offer have yet to relocate since the alternative housing is still under construction; nor have they received the USD $10,000 sum, according to Davy, who has been designated to speak on behalf of the community since she is one of the few villagers with a cell phone.
Though reluctantly, Davy recently accepted the government’s offer. Because of the size of her household, she received a rare concession under the exchange policy, which includes two plots of land, two houses, and USD $30,000. However, she has yet to receive these compensations.
As of August 21, all of the households on disputed territory in the Samraong Tboung village have accepted the government’s settlement, according to Davy.
“We have no choice but to leave and accept the government’s settlement because authorities will charge us which prevents us from working,” Davy lamented, noting that the litigation process from her criminal charges keeps her away during working hours.
Convicted but not sentenced
Until recently, Davy faced two criminal charges related to the land dispute.
Her first run in with the law came in November of 2023 when the Phnom Penh municipal court charged her with assaulting public officers during a protest on May 5, 2023.
Davy’s more recent charge, alleging similar offenses, came on February 24 2024, when Davy and scores of other villagers banded together in an attempt to stop public excavators from digging near their homes to build a canal. She has since been convicted of all charges but without penalty.
The court also summoned nine other villagers who participated in the February protest to appear in court for arraignment between July 24 and August 6 on charges including “intentional acts of violence” and “crimes against public officials”.
Soeun Sreysoth, a resident of Samraong Tboung who was among the nine protesters charged, said the authorities used legal intimidation to pressure people into leaving their homes and accepting the exchange policy.
Tem Ouk, and her husband Sea Sambath, are two other residents who were charged with obstruction after participating in the scuffle with the excavators.
Ouk claims that district staffers from Prek Pnov intimidated her by claiming that her children did not have proper identity cards. This occurred after her criminal summons and filling her compensation claims, she said.
On August 16, the court announced its verdict for the remaining villagers who faced prosecution. Similar to Davy’s court proceedings, Sreysoth said the court found her and the other defendants guilty but no one was fined or sentenced to prison.
“I think the court suspended our sentences because we accepted the compensation. If not, maybe we are in jail right now,” she said.
Sam An refuted the villagers’ claims that authorities used intimidation tactics.
A history of disputes and private interests
Despite heightened tensions, land grabs near – or in – Boeung Tamok are not a new occurrence.
Once a source of fish, natural flood defenses, and wastewater treatment, Boeung Tamok and other lakes near Cambodia’s capital, such as Boeung Tompoun, have gradually transformed into commercial and development sites controlled by powerful tycoons and government agencies.
According to data published by Sahmakum Teang Tnaut, more than 74% of the lake has been reclaimed in the last six years following a 2016 sub-decree allowing the government to rent or sell land in and around the lake.
While the sub-decree has been used to label land at Boeung Tamok as eminent domain, the area on which the Samraong Tboung community lives is not officially recognized as such.
The ambiguous land claims in the decree and pending eviction of the community prompted the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) and 38 other NGOs and communities to issue a statement in January petitioning authorities to “stop harassment and intimidation” of the Samraong Tboung community and grant them legal land tenure.
Additionally, the villagers have sought intervention in the land dispute from senior institutions since 2019. They have appealed to the Cabinet of the Prime Minister, the Senate, and even the Royal Palace.
Most of the Samraong Tboung residents who spoke with CamboJA News expressed concern that, instead of being used for public projects that could benefit them and other local communities, their land might be appropriated for private interests.
“I think the land will be reserved for the rich and powerful people because the area is not listed on the map for state development projects,” said Sreysoth.
As the community prepares for the inevitability of giving up their property to make way for these new projects, their remaining hope lies in appealing their criminal records and receiving the entirety of their settlements.
Sam An could not confirm the dates for relocation or the completion of the new houses promised by the exchange policy. However, the district authority did state that most who accepted the exchange policy have received their USD $10,000 compensation.
