១២ មករា ២០១៥ / 12 January 2015 - Defense of minorities' rights
យើង ត្រូវ ការពារសិទ្ធិ របស់ ជនជាតិ ភាគតិច នៅប្រទេស កម្ពុជា។ ខាងក្រោមនេះ ជាយោបល់ របស់ខ្ញុំ ដែលបាន ចុះផ្សាយ ក្នុងកាសែត ខេមបូឌា ដេលី ថ្ងៃ៨ មករា ២០១៥។ សូម មើលវីដេអូ ដែលខ្ញុំ បានបង្ហោះ ថ្ងៃនេះ ស្តីពី ទុក្ខសោក របស់ ជនជាតិគួយ នៅខេត្ត ព្រះវិហារ។
WE MUST DEFEND THE RIGHTS OF ETHNIC MINORITIES IN CAMBODIA
My Opinion as published in The Cambodia Daily, 8 January 2015
THE NEED TO BALANCE DEVELOPMENT WITH CULTURAL PRESERVATION
There have been reports about social unrest related to land grabbing in
Preah Vihear province, where the population includes an indigenous
minority known as the Kuoy.
The Kuoy have been legitimately
protesting against private companies, which have been recently granted
land concessions by the central government and which are confiscating
and clearing their ancestral farmland and resin trees to make room for
industrial plantations.
On December 12, I met with a group of
Kuoy villagers representing their community in Preah Vihear, in the very
district (Tbeng Meanchey) where they are fighting to defend the land
and forest they have been living on for generations. Their land mainly
consists of rice fields that form the basis of traditional subsistence
agriculture.
In order to properly, fairly and humanly resolve
land disputes involving indigenous minorities such as the Kuoy in the
North, but also hill tribe minorities or Montagnards in the Northeast,
the government must seriously take into account a number of determining
factors.
- Those indigenous people don’t share the same notion of
private ownership as the rest of the population. They belong and are
attached to communities where land is collectively owned and farmed
according to their ancestral tradition. Therefore, it is unrealistic and
unfair to expect them, in cases of land dispute with outsiders or
newcomers, to produce individual land titles.
- Cambodia's
indigenous minorities legitimately want to retain their traditional form
of living, owning and farming. Nobody should force them to give up
their traditions and values under the pretense of “civilization” or
“development.” Kuoy representatives clearly told me that they consider
land private ownership as pertaining to the individualism and greed that
run against their traditions and values, and threaten to destroy their
community and identity.
- They are proud independent farmers
within their community who staunchly reject proposals from private
companies to turn them into externally paid and subordinated workers
after grabbing their land.
If the government continues to ignore
the above human and social considerations, its heavy-handed
“development” policy towards some of Cambodia’s oldest ethnic minorities
is tantamount to a cultural genocide. With the continuous destruction
of their traditions, values and livelihoods, the identity and very
existence of the Kuoy and the Montagnards is at stake.
Sam Rainsy
CNRP President
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