Reporting by Meng Kroypunlok, Sarum Sreynat and Danielle Keeton-Olsen
Residents living along Phnom Penh’s Boeng Tamok lake say the authorities tell them their homes are dangerous and unclean for building stilted homes over the lake that are partly anchored to the road.
What leaves them more on edge, they say, is the threat of eviction looming over their heads.
Boeng Tamok, a 40-minute drive north from central Phnom Penh, is one of the last remaining lakes in Cambodia’s capital – a city built on the swampy intersection of two major rivers. But it has been rapidly redistributed by the Cambodian government to government agencies, private individuals and powerful businesses since 2018.
Officials banned residents from cultivating fish farms, the main source of their income, so they maintain some small fishing nets and also search for snails, freshwater clams and vegetables to sell. The government granted away their fishing territories to several tycoons, but the areas under residents’ houses have not yet been redistributed. While they try to continue living on the lake, construction workers dump sand and rocks into the water, building new land and forging roads.
Though rumors circulate in the commune, there’s been no indication when residents will finally be evicted. Sea Davy, 42, who has persistently documented the community’s interactions with authorities, says that rumors of their eviction kicked up last year during the National Assembly elections, just before former Prime Minister Hun Sen installed his son as successor. Now that Hun Manet assumed the title of premier and the year has changed, the rumors are resuming.
Davy said their concern is not only the uncertainty: she feels suppressed by a slew of letters and court requests targeting residents in the lakeside community of 113 families.
Davy told us this month she had been called for questioning in December for a confrontation with authorities in May. Auntie Ampuon, another woman, who leads a home where more than 50 people sleep each night, has received several letters from the court, with one accusing her of hitting authorities.
Davy and two other residents were called in for questioning on December 14, where authorities accused the residents of using violence against them. “I deny all the authorities’ charges, because I never did that,” she said. “If I had hit the authorities, I would have been in jail earlier.”
The court in the end decided not to detain them, but Davy said she was frustrated with how often she was brought into court: for building a bridge to access the lake, and for their protest actions.
The outspoken activist Brak Sophea went into hiding out of concerns about the court letters, though she continues posting to her Facebook page. Ampoun said she’s struggled to cover the costs of going to court
“It’s an injustice, they want to crack down on the community and shut down our voices, but for me I will continue to protest, even if I’m arrested,” Davy said.
If this community were able to keep their land, they would likely have powerful neighbors. When the government announces who receives land in Cambodia, they announce the name but little else about a person. Some identities are hard to confirm. I was not able to find potential matches for some of the names, including Thai Ouy: the only information easily found about this person is that they are among the plaintiffs suing the long-standing residents. The co-owner of Ouy’s land and a co-plaintiff – Tang Kim – may be a Phnom Penh business owner, who holds two businesses registered with the Commerce Ministry in the agriculture and real estate sectors.
Another land recipient, Tan Vanna, may be a director of an accounting firm with powerful connections. A “Tan Vanna” is listed as the director and an accountant with CJV Deqin International Accounting. The firm says it serves the Chinese Embassy among other clients, and one of the firm’s partners is named as a member of former Prime Minister Hun Sen’s legal team.
Then to the south, Choeung Theanseng received close to 100 hectares of the lake. Theanseng appears to be the son of infamous tycoon and Pheapimex director Choeung Sopheap, and he owns a toll operating company and has been associated with the paramilitary group Brigade 70.
The morning after meeting with Davy, she texted a dozen photos and stills from a live TikTok video showing a conflict over a fruit and vegetable vendor’s stand.
She later explains that one of the vendors, Kong Toeur, a 60-year-old woman who has a sizable grocery stand selling fresh vegetables grown by the community as well as imports and meat, was attempting to rebuild and reinforce the open-air stall. Guards had come in the past to scold her for making renovations, saying she needs government approval and pushing part of her stall into the lakebed. But according to Davy, some residents were returning from the lake, and a distraught crowd gathered on the road.
When we returned on Tuesday, the vendor rebuilt her stall, decked with Cambodian flags on both sides. They still carry out business as usual, struggling to sustain business and court procedures through deals with loan sharks, with no clue yet when they will be forced out.
