Lake Flooding Forces 'Volunteer' Exodus
Rising water from ongoing lake fill at Boeung Kak has convinced hundreds of residents to take a government buyout or move. (28 October 
One day last week, Pen Bun Noeun watched as her wooden houseon Boeung Kak lake in Phnom Penhwas dismantled by workers she had hired for its removal. With the lake’s developer Shukaku, Inc., pumping fill intothe lake, its polluted water was rising and her situation had become untenable,she said. She was opting to move outside of the city, to a development inDangkao district called Borei Santepheap 2. “It’s far, but what can I do?” she said, as her neighborssloshed through the muck or sat on chairs and tables to avoid the rising water.“I cannot stay here because it is flooded. Too much flooding and a bad smell.There was no flooding before the dredging. It is now flooded all over.” Plagued with mosquitoes, putrid mud and rising waters,hundreds of residents of the lake say they are voluntarily moving,taking a buyout or move offers from the city. But critics say developers arefilling the lake, forcing the water to rise, and that the moves are not voluntary at all. Many residents in recent interviews told VOA Khmer theywould now prefer to take a controversial buy-out, despite protests in the pastthat the market value of their homes was much higher than the $8,000 offered bythe city. Others said the offer to relocate to an apartment on the outskirts ofthe capital, though far from services, was better than living in the quagmiretheir neighborhood has become. The “volunteer” exodus starkly differs from displacements under past city projects. In 2006, thegovernment faced sharp criticism for its ejection of impoverished residents ofneighborhoods on the Tonle Bassac, where police forced people from the area atgunpoint in the early morning as bulldozers leveled their homes. Pen Bun Noeun’s uncle, who declined to be named, said thesituation “only looks better” for people at Boeung Kak than those who were forced from developments like the communities of SambokChap, or Sparrow’s Nest, and nearby Kak Ampov, or Sugarcane Leavings, on theTonle Bassac. The authorities “didn’t force us to leave clumsily, didn’tsurround us with fencing,” he said. “It looks better than there. They didn’tforce us, but [we move] voluntarily. They haven’t mistreated us yet.” The uncle had already been forced to remove his house as theflood waters rose, he said, calling this a “strategy” of the developers and thecity. “If we don’t go now, we will go later,” he said. “To go nowis better. If we go last, we could be sent 20 or 30 kilometers from where weare to be moved to now. It would be damning.” “They didn’t force us,” he said with sarcasm, “but we mustgo.” The 133-hectare, $79 million development was undertaken byShikaku under a 99-year lease with the city. Plans include the construction ofbusinesses and homes, centers for trade, culture and tourism, and increasedsecurity. Residents have been loath to go, however, and staged a protest in Septemberwhen Shikaku began filling in the lake. The halt was only temporary, however, and shortly after Shukaku resumed filling the lake. Ny Chakrya, chief of the monitoring section for the rightsgroup Adhoc, said the displacement was similar to those along the Tonle Bassac,except residents here were being forced out by floodwater and not gunpoint. “It is not a principle of volunteering,” he said. “Volunteerremoval means a negotiation in which neither side was put under pressure of anykind. Once one side acted to put another side aside; with no choice, it becomesa non-voluntary agreement. If it was to be a voluntary agreement from the people,[authorities] should not have created an impact on the daily living conditionsof the people.” Resident Neth Sophana and her family said they were beingforced to leave under a “volunteer principle” espoused by Phnom Penh authorities and Shukaku. “It is right to sayeither: we volunteered or were forced, because the company dredged to flood us,”she said. “We must leave. How can we stay? Speaking frankly they’re driving usaway.” Mann Chhoeun, deputy governor of Phnom Penh, maintains that the more than 500families who have now agreed to leave the area did so willingly and havethumb-printed documents attesting to that. “It moving ahead now,” he said. “It looks good, and theyhave printed their thumbs on proper volunteer documents. They were not forced.” Those who opted for an apartment at Borei Santepheap 2 wouldfind a school and market at the new location, he said, and the governmentcontinued to negotiate with families still living around the lake. “We will solve it step by step and avoid violence withpeople,” he said. “We will have a good result before long.” Despite floodwater creeping into her house, forcing her tobuild small wooden walkways through the living room, resident Houth Srin saidshe would wait for a better offer. Borei Santepheap 2 was too far fromservices, she said, and the itchy feet caused by the dirty water was a smallprice to pay to hold out. Meanwhile, she said, people who owned smaller houses werebeing separated from those with large houses by the city’s buyout plans. Thosewith small houses could take the money, but those with larger houses, likehers, would wait. That meant a unity of voice against the displacement wasdivided, she said. “Owners of small houses didn’t go to protest,” she said. “Onlyresidents in big houses.” Others, like Reoun Sovannara, were ready to leave. “We volunteered to go because we have no way to live here,”he said. “It’s flooded. They’ve dredged to flood us, so why should we stay?”