Experts: Cambodia Deepens Reliance on China Ahead of Election

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen, right, and China’s ambassador to Cambodia, Wang Wentian, press buttons during a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of an expressway from Phnom Penh to Bavet city, in Phnom Penh, June 7, 2023.

By Sun Narin and Han Noy, VOA Khmer

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA — China-funded development projects in Cambodia are a mixed bag for the country as some see them as an opportunity to improve the country’s poor infrastructure while others raise concerns about Cambodia’s economic dependence on China, according to analysts.

A month before Cambodia’s national elections, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced the latest major infrastructure project financed by Beijing, an expressway connecting Phnom Penh to Bavet on the country’s eastern border with Vietnam.

The 135-kilometer road will cost an estimated $1.37 billion and follows the opening of a $2 billion China-funded expressway connecting Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville, Cambodia’s major ocean port city, last year.

“The expressways will be done before I die,” Hun Sen said in a groundbreaking ceremony for the Phnom Penh-Bavet highway in mid-June.

The timing of the announcement underlines Hun Sen’s reliance on Beijing to deliver economic progress as he nears four decades in power, a relationship that analysts warn is leaving Phnom Penh beholden to Beijing.

Enhancing image

Chhay Lim, a visiting fellow at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, said the China-funded infrastructure projects “not only yield benefits for the general public but also play a crucial role in bolstering the legitimacy of the ruling regime.”

“This form of legitimacy, known as economic performance-based legitimacy, is underscored by the positive socioeconomic impact resulting from the influx of Chinese investments. Notably, as the upcoming elections approach, the newly announced Chinese expressway projects will further enhance a positive image of the Cambodian government,” he told VOA Khmer.

The ruling Cambodian People’s Party is again facing an election without a serious opposition challenger after the government in May barred the Candlelight Party from competing over missing paperwork.

Still, indicators like voter participation and spoiled ballots will be watched closely as an indicator of general unrest. Hun Sen has positioned his eldest son, General Hun Manet, to succeed him, though the timeline remains unclear. 

Hun Sen has made no apologies for welcoming Chinese largesse, which comes without the Western requirements on democracy and human rights. But as Chinese financing has fueled construction in Cambodia over the past decade, fears are growing that Cambodia will take on unmanageable debt, leaving it at Beijing’s mercy.

The expressway projects are not structured as loans, but rather as “build-operate-transfer” (BOT) models in which a Chinese company is paid back through ongoing revenue before ultimately handing over control to Cambodia.

“Relying too heavily on Chinese investors to underwrite public projects in Cambodia means the real patrons are not the Cambodian people, but the investors and their country of origin in particular: China,” said Sophal Ear, an associate professor at the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University.

“Cambodia should not rush to develop more expressways with Chinese investors, because it should shop for the best possible deal instead of allowing these investors to build a road and then operate it for many years, only to subsequently transfer it back to Cambodia after its economic value may be gone,” he added.

Tolls for half century

The Chinese-state owned firm CRBC will collect tolls for 50 years under the BOT agreement after the expressways open, according to Cambodia’s Ministry of Transportation.

The Sihanoukville and Bavet expressways could be part of an even larger network, as Beijing seeks to further expand its global influence through the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign policy that aims to connect China with Africa and Europe via land and maritime networks.

Last month, Hun Sen said the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) is studying the feasibility of expressways to Siem Reap and Poipet City on the Thai border, which would cost around $4 billion.

Chhay Lim, who is also affiliated with Cambodia’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies, said he thought the BOT model was a “smart move” as it “will alleviate the current debt burden, which has reached approximately $10 billion.”

“In the process of project implementation, the government must ensure an effective and efficient policy coordination, transparency and, most importantly, mitigate any potential negative impacts that may affect the local community,” he said.

All the expressways are financed and constructed by China Road and Bridge Corporation (Cambodia), which is headquartered in Beijing and has offices in about 60 countries and territories.

Although CRBC’s earnings aren’t publicly released, its parent entity, the China Communications Construction Group (CCCG), recorded $119.9 billion in group sales in 2021, according to a Nikkei Asia report on December 13, 2022.

CCCG is the world’s third-ranked contractor in terms of overseas revenue, according to Engineering News-Record, a U.S. construction industry publication. It is also one of the biggest players in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Linking economies, watching rival

Xi launched the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013 to link the economies of Asia, Europe and Africa with highways, rail lines and power plants. It has also been a key element in China’s geopolitical rivalry with the United States, boosting Beijing’s economic and diplomatic clout around the world.

In a public event in May, Hun Sen said BRI has benefited Cambodia for 10 years as he lauded Xi’s initiative as a “win-win.”

Joining the expressway groundbreaking ceremony in early June, China’s ambassador to Cambodia, Wang Wentian, said the project was “the symbol of cooperation between China and Cambodia” and “a fruitful achievement of BRI.”

However, the U.S. has warned countries against taking on large projects under China’s BRI infrastructure strategy. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently shared her fears with lawmakers.

“I am very, very concerned about some of the activities that China engages in globally, engaging in countries in ways that leave them trapped in debt and don’t promote economic development,” Yellen said at a hearing in March.

Washington points to Sri Lanka, where Beijing gained control over its main port as debt repayment.

Hun Sen’s government argues that its borrowing remains under control, and that the BOT projects allow it to avoid a “debt trap.” According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Cambodia’s current foreign debt load of $9.47 billion (around 35% of its $27 billion GDP) last year can safely increase to around $12.62 billion in 2023.

Still, a report by the Kiel Institute in Germany in 2019 estimated that Cambodia was the sixth most indebted country as a share of GDP among 50 recipients of Chinese government loans and private debt.

And while both China and Cambodia have rejected suggestions of diplomatic quid pro quo, analysts say Hun Sen has been a reliable supporter of China’s interests on the global stage, amid rising tensions over the South China Sea and Taiwan in the region.

Last month, Cambodia held up ASEAN plans for regional military drills, saying it needed time to review a proposal put forth by Indonesia that would have angered Beijing.

Hun Sen has repeatedly praised China’s “no-strings-attached” diplomacy as relations with the West have deteriorated over his crackdown on dissent and the accompanying legal assault on the political opposition, according to political observers in Cambodia.

For many Cambodians, the expressway is a reason for celebration, and perhaps evidence of the prime minister delivering on his economic agenda. But communities facing eviction are worried about what their future will look like.

Sok Phouen, 49, owns a 700-square-meter patch in Kandal province, on the planned route to Bavet. She is worried she won’t be living there for long.

“[The company] makes a lot of profits. But villagers, as the victims, lose,” said the mother of four.

“Cambodia is close to China. That is why we can have an expressway,” she added. 

Phouen’s neighbor, Pen Ny, 72, is also worried about losing her 1,200-square-meter parcel, with construction on the expressway set to be completed by 2027.

“I am scared of having no place to stay. I am worried because I don’t know where to go,” said the mother of six.

“We can’t deny anything these days. Whatever projects they want to do, they can do,” she added, pleading for fair compensation for her land. “Don’t make people miserable.”

How Cambodia’s 2017 Commune Elections Were a Turning Point for Democracy

FILE – A Buddhist monk votes at a polling station in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, July 29, 2018. With the main opposition silenced, Cambodians were voting in an election Sunday virtually certain to return to office Prime Minister Hun Sen and his party (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Sun Narin/VOA Khmer

PHNOM PENH — Sann Khin’s confidence was swelling ahead of Cambodia’s commune elections on June 4, 2017.

As the opposition’s top candidate in Siem Reap province’s Kouk Thlork Leu commune, the 51-year-old rice farmer had expected about 100 people to turn out for the campaign rallies.

“But it increased up to 200 or 300. We didn’t give them money for gasoline. But they spent it on their own,” he said.

“There was a lot of support,” he added. “We knew that we were going to win.”

Less predictable was how the ruling Cambodian People’s Party would react to those local elections five years ago, and how drastically the country’s political landscape would be transformed in the ensuing years.

As Cambodia now prepares for the next round of commune elections on June 5, VOA Khmer spoke to commune chiefs and political observers about why the 2017 vote was such a watershed event in the country’s experiment with democracy.

Sann Khin’s victory in Kouk Thlork Leu commune was one of nearly 500 wins for the CNRP across the country that day, less than half the CPP, which won more than 1,100 communes, but a tremendous gain from the combined 40 communes controlled by the two leading opposition parties — headed by Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha — before they united.

In Siem Reap province, the CNRP crushed the CPP, winning 50% of the votes to the ruling party’s 41%, and 56 commune chief posts to the ruling party’s 44, according to National Election Committee’s data.

Sann Khin and his victorious colleagues would not remain in their positions long.

FILE – Locals look at a registration list before voting at a polling station in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, July 29, 2018. With the main opposition silenced, Cambodians were voting in an election Sunday virtually certain to return to office Prime Minister Hun Sen and his party who have been in power for more than three decades. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

On November 16, the Supreme Court announced that the CNRP was being dissolved amid accusations that its leaders were plotting to topple Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government. Opposition officials and political observers said the move was engineered to remove the CPP’s only legitimate rival because it feared losing the national election in 2018.

“They are afraid. That is why they dissolved us,” said Khin. “If [the CNRP] still existed, the ruling party would lose the election. People were ready to win. We would have completely won in the 2018 election.”

He heard the news of the CNRP’s dissolution over the radio, then came the calls from party officials. There were no mass protests, as the party’s president, Sam Rainsy, and other opposition leaders had already fled the country, fearing the same fate as Kem Sokha, the deputy president arrested for allegedly conspiring with the United States to wage a color revolution.

First, the ruling party tried to convince Khin to defect to the CPP. When he refused, police and military police removed party placards from in front of his home and then began intimidating his family, forcing them to go to Thailand for three months.

“It was very cruel,” said the father of five.

According to Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch, Hun Sen and his ruling party “decided to destroy Cambodian democracy by fabricating a bogus, politically motivated case to ban the CNRP…and returning to their tried and true methods of intimidation and violence to hold on to power.”

It was a stark shift after an election that many agree may have been the most free and fair in Cambodia’s modern history. Robertson noted there was far less violence and intimidation from the ruling party than usual, an assessment shared by commune chiefs who spoke with VOA Khmer.

And when problems did arise, they were resolved by a bipartisan National Election Committee that formed during power-sharing negotiations that followed the 2013 national election, said Koul Panha, former executive director of the Committee of Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia and now the advisor to that organization.

That meant the election was also more open and transparent than past elections, leading both parties to ultimately accept the results. And it left little doubt that the CNRP was an existential threat to the CPP’s stranglehold on power since peace accords returned relative stability to Cambodia in the early 1990s.

“The voters had confidence in the opposition party since they were merged,” said Koul Panha. “Due to the increasing support for the opposition party, the ruling party amended the election law to target the opposition party.”

FILE – Sam Rainsy, center, president of Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) greets his supporters together with his party’s Vice President Kem Sokha, on Rainsy’s left, on his arrival at Phnom Penh International Airport in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, July 19, 2013.

Those changes, in the works prior to the 2017 elections, allowed the CPP-controlled courts to eliminate political parties or leaders convicted of criminal offenses, along with other changes empowering the courts and ruling party to sideline or silence the opposition.

Sok Eysan, a CPP senator and spokesman, rejected claims that the ruling party intentionally sought to dissolve the opposition party to secure the party’s power, adding that “the opposition party has acted illegally.”

Mann Champa, a 40-year-old woman who joined the opposition party in her teens, was another CNRP commune chief who came to power in Siem Reap province in 2017. She said her campaign and brief time in office went fairly smooth, even in relations with ruling party colleagues on the commune council.

She heard of the party’s dissolution via Facebook, and said she stayed on for a few days to pass on her work. “We know the law,” she told VOA Khmer. “We can’t protest since it is the state’s law. We just finished up work and then stopped.”

“I also felt regret since we were elected by villagers to serve them for a term,” she added.

Mann Champa is among the many opposition officials and members who have joined the new Candlelight Party, an overt allusion to the Sam Rainsy Party symbol made popular through grassroots work and elections during the 1990s and 2000s. The party united with Kem Sokha’s Human Rights Party ahead of the 2013 national election, when the CNRP first emerged as a major challenger to the CPP.

Mann Champa, a mother of two, predicted the party might be dissolved again, but hoped the CNRP would be prepared with lawyers and public protests this time to challenge the move.

“We should not be silent,” she said.

Robertson of Human Rights Watch said, “it’s likely that the 2022 election will be a charade of democracy without the real possibility of the ruling power having their power challenged in any way.”

However, Astrid Norén Nilsson, a scholar of Cambodian politics at Lund University in Sweden, said that all things considered, the Candlelight Party “is in quite a good place” compared to other opposition parties, several of which are led by former CNRP officials.

“There are several credible opposition parties taking part, but they constantly have to navigate the fear of dissolution and operate in a political space that has radically shrunk,” she said.

“So, I would say these elections are much more ambiguous in terms of how competitive they will be.”

Facing No Opposition, Cambodia’s Ruling Party Expects Easy Local Election Wins

By Sun Narin, VOA Khmer

TREUY KOH COMMUNE, KAMPOT PROVINCE — Cambodia’s ruling party is preparing for local elections to be held in May, but few Cambodians appear to be paying much attention to what has become largely a sideshow after the Cambodian People’s Party banned the main opposition two years ago and handed their jobs to loyal officials.

In Treuy Koh commune, Kampot province, five seats are up for grabs. Pov Son, the CPP commune chief for the past 20 years, believes his colleagues will all vote for the ruling party, adding, “They have to vote for CPP since they are the members of CPP.”

ពលរដ្ឋ​ដែល​ត្រូវ​ប៉ះពាល់​ដោយ​ការសាងសង់​ទំនប់​​វារី​អគ្គិសនី​​នៅ​ពោធិ៍សាត់​បារម្ភ​​ថា​មិន​មាន​​សំណង​​

កាលពីពេលថ្មីៗ​នេះ រដ្ឋាភិបាល បាន​ប្រកាស​ជា​ផ្លូវការ​ក្នុងការ​ស្ថាបនា​ទំនប់​វារី​អគ្គិសនី​នៅ​លើ​ស្ទឹង​ក្នុង​ឃុំប្រម៉ោយ ស្រុកវាលវែង ខេត្តពោធិ៍សាត់។ ទំនប់​ដែល​មាន​ទំហំ​ថាមពល​៨០មេហ្គាវ៉ាត់ និង​តម្លៃ​ជាង​២៣០​លាន​ដុល្លារ​អាមេរិក​នេះ នឹង​ត្រូវ​ចាប់ផ្តើម​សាងសង់​នៅ​ចុងឆ្នាំ ២០១៩​នេះ។ អាជ្ញាធរ​បាន​ឲ្យ​ដឹង​ថា​ប្រជា​ពលរដ្ឋ​ជាង ៣៥០ គ្រួសារ​ស្មើ​នឹង​ជាង ១៤០០នាក់ នឹង​រងផល​ប៉ះពាល់។ ក្រៅពី​ដី​ធ្លី​រាប់រយ​ហិកតា និង​ដំណាំ ដែល​រង​ផល​ប៉ះពាល់ ផ្ទះ​ជិត ១០០ខ្នង​ ក៏​ប្រឈមនឹង​ការរុះរើ​ផងដែរ។ពលរដ្ឋ​ដែល​រង​ផលប៉ះពាល់​បាន​លើក​ឡើង​ថា​ពួកគេ​រង់ចាំ​សំណង​សមរម្យ​មួយ​ពី​ក្រុមហ៊ុន និង​រដ្ឋាភិបាល។ លោក​ស៊ុន ណារិន នៃ VOAរាយការណ៍​ពី​ខេត្តពោធិ៍សាត់៕

២០ឆ្នាំ​ក្រោយ​ការ​បញ្ចប់​សង្រ្គាម​នៅ​ស្រុក​អន្លង់វែង

នៅ​ថ្ងៃ​៧​មករា ​ រដ្ឋាភិបាល​កម្ពុជា​បាន​ប្រារព្ធ​ពិធី​អបអរសាទរ​ថ្ងៃ​ជ័យ​ជម្នះ ៧មករា លើកទី​៤០ឆ្នាំ (៧ មករា ១៩៧៩-៧ មករា ២០១៩) នៅ​ពហុកីឡដ្ឋាន​ជាតិ អូឡាំពិក។ ពិធី​នេះ​ត្រូវ​បាន​ចូលរួម​ដោយ​មនុស្ស​រាប់​ពាន់​នាក់​ក្រោម​អធិបតី​ភាព​របស់​លោក​នាយក​រដ្ឋមន្រ្តី​ ហ៊ុន សែន ដែល​បាន​ដាក់​ចេញ​នយោបាយ​ឈ្នះ ឈ្នះ​ បញ្ចប់​ការ​វាយ​ប្រហារ​ជាមួយ​កម្លាំង​ខ្មែរ​ក្រហម។ ក្រោយ​សមាហរណកម្ម​ជាមួយ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​កាល​ពី​ចុង​ឆ្នាំ​១៩៩៨ ​ពួក​ខ្មែរ​ក្រហម​ដែល​នៅ​សេស​សល់​បាន​​បន្ត​រស់​នៅ​ក្នុង​ស្រុក​អន្លង់វែង។ រហូត​មក​ដល់​ពេល​នេះ ​អ្នក​ចំណូល​ថ្មី​ក៏​បាន​មក​រស់​នៅ​តំបន់​អន្លង់វែង​លាយឡំ​ជាមួយ​អតីត​ខ្មែរ​ក្រហម​ផង​ដែរ។​ អន្លង់​វែង​បាន​ក្លាយ​ជាស្រុក​មួយ​ដែល​ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​ប្រកប​រប​រក​ស៊ី​ធម្មតា តែ​តំបន់​មួយ​នេះ​កំពុង​​ក្លាយ​ជា​តំបន់​សក្តានុពល​ប្រវត្តិសាស្រ្ត​មួយ​ផង​ដែរ។ លោក ស៊ុន ណារិន រាយការណ៍​ពី​ស្រុក​អន្លង់វែង ខេត្ត​ឧត្តរមានជ័យ៕

Quality Free Health Care Remains Elusive for Poorest Cambodians

By Sun Narin, VOA Khmer

An Equity Card belonging to Om Samath, a resident of Siem Reap City’s Chreav commune, March 15, 2019. (Sun Narin/VOA Khmer)

Chreav commune, Siem Reap City – When Om Samath arrived at the provincial referral hospital last year to undergo eye surgery, she knew the operation would be performed free of charge.

Two years earlier, her family was identified as one of the poorest in the commune and issued an Equity Card, a perk of the government’s IDPoor program that grants holders access to free treatment at state-run medical facilities.

What the 53-year-old widow didn’t expect was that once the operation was performed, her inability to pay would relegate her to the status of second-class patient for the duration of her two-week recovery. She received a daily food stipend of 5,000 riel, or about $1.25, but no follow-up care.

“They didn’t change the bandage on my eye as it should have been. I noticed that they changed others’,” Samath told VOA in an interview at the small tin-sided house she shares with her daughter, son-in-law and five young grandchildren.

“If I had had money, I would have given it to them so that they would have taken proper care of me,” she added, swinging her 1-year-old granddaughter to sleep in a hammock.

Om Samath, 53, a resident of Siem Reap City’s Chreav commune, looks after her grandchildren while their parents are at work. March 15, 2019. (Sun Narin/VOA Khmer)

Frustrated and confused

The IDPoor program was launched by Ministry of Planning in 2006 with the support of the German and Australian governments, which sought to simplify the process for identifying vulnerable households and targeting free health care and other services. With an initial focus on rural Cambodia, the program expanded to urban areas in 2016.

“Before the project began its work, there was no standardized, universally recognized and nationally applied procedure for recognizing poor households in Cambodia,” according to Germany’s aid agency, GIZ. “This meant that poor households were unable to assert their rights to basic social services, such as free medical treatment.”

The Cambodian government claims the IDPoor program has been a success, with more than 600,000 Equity Cards — also known as poverty cards and cards for the poor — having been distributed to households across the country, benefiting an estimated 2 million people.

But more than a decade after the program was launched, recipients and non-recipients alike remain frustrated and confused about the criteria used to allocate the cards and the benefits bestowed on their holders.

“I thought that I would be given donations of rice and other food,” said Pork Kep, who, like Samath and many other grandmothers in rural Cambodia, takes care of her grandchildren while her adult children seek employment in urban areas — or abroad.

Kep, 46, suffers from headaches, high blood pressure and gastrointestinal issues. But instead of seeking treatment at the commune health center or provincial referral hospital, she self-medicates using pills purchased from a local pharmacy. The pills cost about $3 per week — a significant expense.

Pork Kep, a resident of in Siem Reap City’s Chreav commune, was granted an Equity Card but has never used it for health care. March 15, 2019. (Sun Narin/VOA Khmer)

Her confusion about the Equity Card is exacerbated by the fact that scores of NGOs have, over the years, used the IDPoor database to deliver non-medical services such as food, clean water, agricultural assistance and educational opportunities.

San Chanbunsorn, 37, received an Equity Card in 2013 and, through a program at his daughter’s school, received a 25-kilogram sack of rice and a bottle of cooking oil every three months while his daughter was a student in grades 1 through 6.

“Now, I don’t get any more because my daughter is studying in Grade 7,” he said.

‘They wear gold’

Resentment is ripest among those without Equity Cards.

“I should be given one because I am so poor. Look at my house,” said Pha Chorvoin, 34, gesturing to her a home, a crude shack constructed of wooden planks and palm fronds.

Chorvoin earns $100 per month as a cook at a local restaurant; her husband makes about $6.50 a day as a construction worker. She has two children — a 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter — and is pregnant with a third.

“My children often get sick,” she said, suffering from frequent fevers, coughs and headaches as a consequence of poor sanitation.

Yet despite not having an Equity Card, they receive free medical treatment at the commune health center because the staff there know that her family is poor. When she is ready to deliver her baby, Chorvoin said, “they will give me free delivery,” explaining that the service would normally cost about $15.

Pha Chorvoin’s house is located in Siem Reap City’s Chreav commune. She has not been granted an Equity Card. March 15, 2019. (Sun Narin/VOA Khmer)

While Chorvoin does not understand why she has not received an Equity Card, she is equally uncertain about why some other have — though she has some theories.

“Some people have the card, but they wear gold,” she said. “They are not really poor.”

“I think the distribution [of cards] is not fair yet. People who are close to the authorities get the cards,” she added.

“They only give the card to people they know,” agreed Chorvoin’s sister-in-law, Touch Saray, 35, adding that her family, too, has not received a card despite their dire circumstances.

Allegations of bias

Meas Nee, an independent social and political analyst, says such grievances are commonplace, and reinforced by widespread reports of unjust Equity-Card allocation and a two-tiered health care system.

“I think there is still not equal treatment at health centers,” he said. “People who have money get treatment first and the poor get it later.”

A common complaint, Nee added, is that families most in need of free health care — impoverished, indebted and undernourished — are passed over in favor of those with allegiances to the ruling Cambodia People’s Party (CPP) and ties to local officials.

“Some people are not very poor but they still get the card,” he said. “The government must make sure that there is no political bias in this process.”

This suspicion is rooted in decades of CPP rule; at the national and local level, government services are almost always controlled by party affiliates. In the lead-up to the 2018 election, the CPP undertook a nationwide campaign to register entire households as “CPP families.”

Kong Beub, the deputy chief of Chreav commune, denied allegations of bias in the IDPoor program.

“We give them out without considering different political preferences,” he said. “We announce the names publicly and people can complain.”

According to Beub, a little over 200 families in the commune hold Equity Cards, down from about 300 in 2017.

Keo Ouly, director of the Planning Ministry’s IDPoor department, agreed that the procedure for distributing Equity Cards was fair and transparent. “We have our process,” he said.

 

Poverty and debt

But Kdeub Savath, 33, who helped survey poor families in Chreav commune from 2013 to 2016, said this “process” was flawed, noting that local officials never followed up with families that received Equity Cards during his time as volunteer.

Of the card, he said: “Some people don’t make use of it. Some should get it, but they don’t.” The consequences of the latter, he added, are grave. “Some villagers have land, but they owe the bank. Some get ill, and if their illness gets serious, they can’t go for treatment.”

Indeed, many residents of Chreav commune — just a short drive from the tourist-choked center of Siem Reap City — suffer from severe poverty and paralyzing debt.

Although poverty in Cambodia has fallen sharply in recent years, 4.5 million citizens teeter just above the global poverty line, according to the World Bank. “The loss of just 1,200 riel (about $0.30) per day in income would throw an estimated 3 million Cambodians back into poverty, doubling the poverty rate to 40 percent,” Neak Samsen, a Bank analyst, wrote in 2014.

Boeung Bora, director of the Chreav health center, said that more than 100 families with Equity Cards — half of all card holders in the commune — seek free treatment at his facility each month.

“Mostly children with the flu and respiratory problems, and pregnant women,” Bora said. “We treat only minor problems. If it’s a serious problem, we send them to the provincial referral hospital.”

And when an obviously destitute patient show up without an Equity Card? “We also give them free treatment,” he said.

Villagers In Pursat Risk Losing Everything to Dam Development

By Sun Narin, VOA Khmer

ANLONG KROUCH VILLAGE, PURSAT PROVINCE — For Khieu Him and Bun Kim Eng, orange trees provide hope.

The 120-megawatt hydropower dam was built in Atai in Pursat province’s Osoam commune, which opened in March 2014. (Sun Narin/VOA Khmer)

The ethnic Chorng and Por indigenous minority villagers maintain an orange tree orchard on their land in Pursat province’s Veal Veng district in western Cambodia.

They hope for income from the oranges in the long-run, which can support them for the rest of their lives.

But they have lost hope since plans were drawn up for a hydropower dam that will flood their land.

The couple has grown about 1,000 orange trees for over the past three years and is expecting their first harvest after Khmer New Year, later in April.

“I grow these orange trees to support my living when I can no longer work,” he told VOA Khmer in a recent interview at his home, a few hundred meters from Anlong Krouch river where the dam will be constructed.

“I can’t grow like this anymore even though I have land,” said Him, who now stays at a house with his wife and 15-year-old grandson.

Khieu Him and his wife, Bun Kim Eng, grow orange trees in Pursat province, Cambodia, April 9, 2019. (Sun Narin/VOA Khmer)

The Cambodian government last week announced an 80-megawatt hydropower dam on the Anlong Krouch river, which flows to the town of Pursat. The $230-million-dam will be constructed by SPHP Cambodia, a joint venture between Chinese and South Korean firms, under a build-operate-transfer agreement with the government.

If built, this dam will be the latest controversial large hydropower project in the area after a 120-megawatt dam was built in Atai in Pursat province’s Osoam commune, which opened in March 2014.

Him’s family is among the more than 350 families which will be impacted by the dam, according to Pramouy commune chief, Sek Samath.

The income from oranges can be over $10,000 per harvest, according to Him. He said the government should compensate him for lost future earnings.

Son Pros, a villager in Pursat province’s Pramouy commune, says the upcoming hydropower dam is unfair to the local people in Pursat province, Cambodia, April 9, 2019. (Sun Narin/VOA Khmer)

Several villagers told VOA that their land, houses, and crops have been studied and evaluated by the company, but they have no idea when compensation will be granted and what kind of compensation will be offered.

“I will not agree and not leave the land [if compensation is below $2,000],” said another affected villager, Son Pros, a former soldier who lost his left leg when a landmine exploded.

“I can’t use the money to buy any [land] for living,” said Pros, who owns three hectares of land.

Another villager, Chab Chenda, who lives near the river, said farming and fishing in the village were profitable.

“It will be difficult [if we move]. We live here and it is easy for growing crops and vegetables. We will buy those at the market when moving,” said Chenda, 59.

“Here at the river, it is easy to catch fish for food as well whenever we need to,” he said.

Chab Chenda, a villager in Pursat province, says local fishing and farming will be affected by the 80-megawatt dam, Pursat province, Cambodia, April 9, 2019. (Sun Narin/VOA Khmer).

Victor Jona, a spokesman of the Ministry of Mines and Energy’s department of energy, said the construction of the dam will take four years and begin later this year.

“I think this project helps build the national economy and we will pay suitable and acceptable compensation,” he said.

“Development always has impacts but we try to make it low.”

Late last year, Cambodia opened the country’s largest hydropower dam, producing 400 megawatts, which impacted over 800 families from the indigenous communities. They had protested but then they accepted the compensation offer, including resettlement.

But dozens of families did not accept the compensation and remain near the flood zone.

Mak Bunthoeurn, NGO Forum coordinator, said discussions on compensation related to hydropower dams are always not well conducted.

“There is no comprehensive discussion over the compensation with the affected community,” he said. “Only the company and government are involved.”

A road connects Veal Veng district to Pursat province’s city, Cambodia, April 9, 2019. (Sun Narin/VOA Khmer)

Cambodia hopes to become energy self-sufficient by 2020 and hydropower plays an important role in that plan, says Jona.

Since mid-March, the government oversaw electricity cuts for six hours every day, claiming the country was experiencing power shortages.

Sek Samath, the local commune chief, said villagers had been banned from building houses or planting crops to make way for the dam.

Him and his wife urged the government to speed up the provision of compensation as soon as possible.

“I’m not protesting, but I ask for financial compensation if my place will be submerged,” she said. “I will take the money to buy land, a house, or something else.”

Him said he is satisfied to see his oranges growing, but it makes him sad when he is reminded of the dam.

“But when thinking of the dam, I can’t speak and it is even hard to breathe,” he said.

Cambodia, Laos Agree to Withdraw Troops From Border-Dispute Zone

By Sun Narin, VOA Khmer

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, second from right, talks with his government offers as he arrives from Laos, at the airport in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. Hun Sen, who threatened Friday to use force over a border crisis with neighboring Laos, has announced less than 24 hours later that he has peacefully resolved it. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

PHNOM PENH — Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday came to an agreement with his Laos counterpart Thongloun Sisoulith to withdraw troops from the border region in northern Stung Treng province where tensions have escalated in recent weeks.

As N. Korea Threats Loom Large, Cambodia Joins Asean Seeking Scaling Down of Hostilities

By Sun Narin, VOA Khmer

PHNOM PENH — As U.S. President Donald Trump issued a threat of war against North Korea, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhon this week said that Asean countries had sent a “strong message” to the reclusive state expressing “grave concerns” over its nuclear weapons program.

In Siem Reap, Villagers Hope for Cheaper Electricity

By Sun Narin, VOA Khmer

The electricity grid is seen on a road in Siem Reap, Cambodia, July 10, 2017. (Sun Narin/VOA Khmer)

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA — Like many villagers in Siem Reap, Khun Ma seeks shade in his home to avoid the mid-afternoon heat. The 32-year-old tuk tuk driver cannot afford the high rates charged by private electricity companies in the city.