War against land grabbing started

In PM’s speech at an environmental conference on March 5, He declared war against land grabbers and threatened to remove an unidentified three-star RCAF general if he does not return state land to the government. Prime minister’s fighting talk came two days after he was authorized by the CPP Central Committee to fire land grabbers within the CPP without first consulting with party.

Most land grabbers are the rich and the power in ruling party. Only the poor have been encroached on their land and were threatened or shot by armed forces because of land dispute. At the present, the villagers dependent on communal grazing land and forests for their livelihood are concerned about its possible conversion to social land concession. According to a social concession sub-degree was adopted in March 2003 that creates a mechanism for the transfer of state private land into the possession of the poor, landless people for their family and residential purpose.

It is good if Hun Sen cracks down on high-ranking officials within CPP who encroach on state and private land because now no one have power to attack them beside Hun Sen. He announced that he regarded land dispute involving villagers as first priority to be solved, and he warned to remove a small number of CPP officials for grabbing state land to set an example.
Presently, land dispute and land grabbing are happening throughout the country after price of land is increasing from day to day. By the way, the widespread land grabbing from villagers poses a serious risk to Cambodia’s stability.

For the opponent party, they viewed campaign against land grabbing as new strategy to lure voters rather than addressing Cambodia’s endemic land grabbing, coming the commune election April 1. Prince Sisowath Thomico said that he does not believe the ruling party has any real will to combat land grabbing.