More Than 80 Percent See Country Going in Right Direction: Survey

“There is no country in the world whose leaders do no wrong.”

Construction workers work on a new building in Phnom Penh. Cambodia is embracing a thriving real estate market, where land and housing prices in the capital city skyrocket with no sign of letting up, file photo.

A survey by the US-based International Republican Institute found 81 percent of people who think Cambodia is heading in the right direction.

The survey questioned 2,000 people in face-to-face responses in November and December last year. Critics say the responses were positive because the public is not fully informed of the country’s situation. The numbers were a bump up from the 76 percent of surveyed Cambodians who said the same thing last year.

Respondents cited more construction projects, including roads, bridges, schools, pagodas and irrigation projects as reasons for their positive views. Other factors were the greater availability of technology and products and continued peace.

Government supporters say the survey accurately reflects the attitude of the general population.
“There is no country in the world whose leaders do no wrong,” said Cheam Yiep, a lawmaker for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party. “But we have now reformed all kinds of government sectors.”

However, Yim Sovann, a spokesman for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, said the survey did not reflect the true attitudes of Cambodians, as respondents may have been answering with their own safety in mind. He cited surveys from Iraq and North Korea with similar results.

“In terms of pressure on freedoms of the press and expression, I think people can’t reveal the right answer,” he said.

Ou Virak, head of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said the survey results do not necessarily mean the people are fully supportive of the current government, only that they think the country is moving in the right direction.
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Cambodian Land Deals Raise Human Rights Concerns

Cambodian protesters from Boueng Kak lake march with a banner displaying the thumbprints of fellow land owners who have been evicted from their homes, as they demand compensation, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, May 4, 2012.

 

A United Nations-appointed rights watchdog is calling on Cambodia to bridge the widening gap between the rich and the poor. Surya Subedi, the U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in Cambodia, says the government must do more to ensure that marginalized groups are not suffering from its practice of granting land concessions to developers.

Unfair practices

During a visit to Cambodia that focused on how land grants are issued to private developers, Subedi looked into allegations of rights groups who say the practice is unfair to tens of thousands of people displaced from their homes with little or no compensation.

“So there seems to be a lack of transparency, due process and the communities affected have not been offered any alternatives," Subedi explained. "They have been told that so and so company will come and start bulldozing the land with a view to clearing the way for agribusiness activities or some other activities on the land. But these people who have been farming that land for generations--what are they going to do, what is their livelihoods going to be?”

 Activists say the problem is exemplified in the plight of a Phnom Penh community called Borei Keila.

In 2004, the government designated the area as a social land concession to a local company. The deal was contingent on the developer building on-site housing for more than 1,700 families living in the area at the time. But the company reneged on the deal, and by the start of 2012, rights groups say almost one-quarter of the families were homeless.

Subedi visited the community this week. He says he was shocked by what he saw. “Indeed quite appalling conditions they have been living in. Some of them seem to have been living on top of a dump site," he said. "Basically a rubbish heap. I visited them, it was just the condition--unacceptable. I thought it was not only a human rights matter, but also a humanitarian matter.”

Economic and land concessions

Subedi says economic and other land concessions can be a positive tool for growth in what is still one of the least developed countries in the region. But he says the government must ensure there is a public debate on how such policies are enacted.

“My concern is more to do with the procedure, rather than the need -- whether the country should grant economic land concessions or not. If it is a well thought-out policy, if the legal framework is a sound one, then the country can benefit from economic land concessions. When I say the country, even the rural poor, the indigenous communities will benefit. People can benefit. We can create a win-win situation.”

This week, the government announced it would temporarily stop issuing new land concessions, though it has done little to publicly explain how the process will be improved. Subedi sees the moratorium as a positive step; the government must now show that it is serious about reforms, he says. "But it remains to be seen whether the law will be implemented appropriately. In Cambodia there are quite good laws in a number of areas, but the implementation has been a problem," he added. "I hope this particular regulation will be implemented thoroughly and properly."

Subedi says he will meet with government officials to express his concerns. His trip concludes on Friday. Read more!