Good summation, Freight.
It is a thousand year old Khmer royal dance.
The King has always needed the support of the local rapacious Barons to rule - whilst trying to be the unquestioned benevolent God of the people at the same time.

Freightdog wrote: ↑Sat Dec 04, 2021 3:42 am I wonder if this is going to result in much sphincter tightening around the country as folks in certain protected and privileged positions realise that they may not be so protected or privileged?
It may be a good thing; most probably is. Hopefully, it is all towards the benefit of the entire country if it starts making officials reassess their perceptions of their own powers, and the ordinary folk begin to have faith in their system.

Maybe…

I am all for it as long as its not a land grab by the Big Yid so he can nominate it as private and sell to neighboring friends

Not everything should be seen entirely in the light of China.
Dried tofu and the land grabs in the flooded forest (and everywhere) included.

1/ It gives a vague and misleading picture of a situation that is necessary to understand accurately. (chinas moves)
2/ It ignores dynamics that have been happening here for a lot longer than this sudden swing.

just a cautionary note. the concerns in the previous posts are all understandable - but jingoism, when it creeps in, can lead to delusion.
we need precise and accurate analysis. that's my point.

Punish Land Grab Officials, Civil Society Groups Say
Illegal land grabs amounting to 20,000 hectares around the Tonle Sap Lake have been preliminarily detected while the authorities say the actual area could be even bigger.
BY: Lay Sopheavotey and Teng Yalirozy December 3, 2021 1:55 PM

Powerful must face law just as poor do
PHNOM PENH--Officials who grab land in flooded forests in the Tonle Sap Lake region must be punished according to the law and should not be released after pleading guilty, civil groups say.

Otherwise, the government will be criticized for implementing different legal standards for powerful and poor citizens.

Some officials who seized swamp forest land have returned it to the state after Prime Minister HE ordered the crackdown on land grabs around the lake. Officials who pleaded guilty to encroaching on flooded forest land will be pardoned but remain convicted, HE said on Nov. 28.

Soeung Sen Karuna, the senior investigative official for rights group Adhoc, said encroachment on the state's flooded forest was a crime and that confession was only part of the court's consideration to mitigate the guilt. The government and law enforcement agencies should impose penalties in accordance with the law.

"It is not acceptable for some to admit guilt and not be punished for what they have done. There should be penalties and punishments according to the law,” he said.

He added that if the perpetrators are not charged, it reflects on Cambodian society that the powerful can commit crimes and evade conviction.

San Mala, senior advocacy officer at the Cambodian Youth Network (CYN), said it would be extremely unfair for a powerful person who illegally occupies Tonle Sap land to be pardoned by the government and law enforcement.

"If the perpetrators confess to receive an amnesty from the government or law enforcers, it is unfair and the standard of the Cambodian law will show the differences between official and normal citizens," he said.

Am Sam Ath, deputy director for monitoring at rights group Licadho, said authorities must implement strict measures to set an example.

"If the authorities in charge of cracking down on illegal land grabs do not follow the law and only apply it to poor people, there is no transparency and justice in Cambodia,” he said.

San Mala from CYN said the government has always strictly enforced the law on activists involved in protecting the environment and has restricted their rights and freedoms.

"So, if the government does not want to be criticized, the government must enforce the law without exception for all those powerful people who violate it," he said.

The poor take the land for cultivation or to make a living while the powerful invade the land and cause greater harm, the civil society groups said.

Therefore, the scale of the punishment must also be measured according to the impact. They added that in the past, most officials only did their job when ordered to do so.

The civil society groups said action against officials should not just be short-term, allowing them to resume illegal activities when people forget about their cases.

The civil society representatives said they were disappointed when officials did not fulfill their duties, while the citizens always paid taxes to the civil servants.

The civil society groups said land grabs and natural resource crimes are all linked to those in power. The Prime Minister appears to have ordered authorities to intervene because there are officials in provinces near the flooded forest land in the Tonle Sap region involved with the crime.
https://cambodianess.com/article/punish ... groups-say

52 seconds ago - BREAKING NEWS
Royal Cambodian Armed Forces successfully compiles list of people involved with land encroachment and deforestation of Tonle Sap’s swamp forests

The top brass of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces and National Gendarmerie announced that they have investigated and made a list of people involved with the crimes in the Tonle Sap flooded forests.

The Deputy Commander of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces and Commander of the National Gendarmerie, Gen. Sao Sokha, confirmed that the authorities have compiled the names of the encroachers and loggers in three target areas.

After the announcement of the compiled list, Prime Minister HE called for those involved with such crimes to turn themselves in and return the land to the state without protest.

Gen. Sokha said that some people have violated the conservation area of Tonle Sap and called for those involved to come forward and confess as well as return the land to the state. He continued and said that some of those involved with the crimes, escaped as soon as Prime Minister HE ordered the crackdown.

As of the time of this report, eight people in Battambang were arrested and questioned in connection to the crimes. Authorities are still searching for those involved in the crimes. They are also searching for people, whose identities are still not yet known, who were reported to be illegal loggers.

Aside from the investigation and raids in the flooded forests, local authorities are also stepping up their patrol of the area.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50982862/r ... p-forests/

Interesting development. I wonder what prompted it. I've been to all the districts in that map, and there's generally no demarcation as to what is state land and what isn't. They must have pissed the wrong people off because I see stuff like this all the time and nothing happens.

The sudden, very perilous position of the lake is the reason, Bitte. ( that's my bet). This is a crisis.
It may fall over entirely, as Cambodia biggest and only affordable large-scale protein source.
Mainly because of the dams - but preventing further deterioration of the local conditions is important in at least not making the situation even worse. And unlike the dams, this is within HE's power.
Some people might find it hard to believe, but he does actually care about stuff like this.

The amount of illicit large-scale fishing, and illegal land clearing of the flooded forest varies tremendously between the different provinces. Districts too, but to a lessor degree.
Provincial high officials and their various responsible departments have effective near-total control locally.
slow view from the lake

The crackdown on land grabs around the Tonle Sap lake continues in Kampong Chhnang, as the former governor of the province is sent to the ACU to respond to allegations of corruption.
Mr. Chhour Chandoeun, former Governor of Kampong Chhnang Province, Sent to Answer to the ACU

Cambodia News, (Phnom Penh): The Royal Government has finally decided to send the case of Mr. Chhour Chandoeun, former Governor of Kampong Chhnang Province, who is now the Under Secretary of State of the Ministry of Rural Development, to the Anti-corruption Unit (ACU) to investigates and take legal action. Mr. Chhour Chandoeun was involved in encroaching on more than 2,000 hectares of flooded forest land in the Tonle Sap Lake.

This action is presented in the letter of the Office of the Council of Ministers dated 3 December 2021, on the subject of the case report on the results of inspections in the flooded forest area of ​​Tonle Sap Lake in Kampong Chhnang and Kampong Thom provinces, with the aim of suppressing land encroachment. The action against the former Governor of Kampong Chhnang, Mr. Chhour Chandoeun, was also made according to the highest order of Samdech Techo Prime Minister HE on November 30, 2021.


The Royal Government also decided to confiscate 2,100.66 hectares of state land in the flooded forest area as defined in Sub-Decree No. 197, dated August 29, 2011, which has been illegally occupied in Chronok and Dar communes, Kampong Leng district, Kampong Chhnang province.

Please be reminded that on the afternoon of Sunday, November 28, 2021, Samdech Techo Prime Minister HE issued a voice message ordering the provincial governors surrounding the Tonle Sap Lake, including : Kampong Chhnang, Pursat, Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, Siem Reap and Kampong Thom Provinces, as well as the National Cadastral Commission chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Chea Sophara, the National Anti-Corruption Unit, and all relevant institutions, to take immediate action to prevent deforestation and retake ownership of the Tonle Sap Lake area.

Samdech Techo Prime Minister HE also warned all corrupt officials to confess immediately, otherwise officials and those involved in deforestation and land grabbing in the Tonle Sap Lake will be arrested without exception and the land will be confiscated.

Please note that Mr. Chhour Chandoeun was removed from the post of Governor of Kampong Chhnang in June 2021. On June 25, 2021, His Majesty King Norodom Sihamoni issued a Royal Decree appointing Chhour Chandoeun as Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Rural Development.

December 6, 2021
Authorities discover more than 800 hectares of swamp forest land cleared in Battambang

Officials continued to discover more flooded forest land in Battambang were cleared by encroachers and deforestation.

Officers conducted surveying and inspection of three flooded forest areas in Ek Phnom District, Battambang. They reported that an additional nearly 900 hectares of land were recently cleared by criminals.

On December 4, the Deputy Governor of Battambang Province, Soeum Bunrith, led a working group and task force to inspect the target areas. The group also included officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries and Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction.

The areas inspected were at Krapei, in Prey Chas Commune, Ek Phnom District.

The working group reported that the areas were cleared and made into farm lands, with new rice already sowed. They also reported that people in the areas were also preparing to clear more land.

Simultaneously, the Chairman of Thmor Koul District Unity Command also led another group to inspect and identify the encroachers of the flooded forest in Ta Men commune, Chroy Sdao commune, Ta Poung commune, and Boeung Ping commune. They reported that 12 families were currently living in the areas.

Currently, there are 29 total areas in four districts, Maung Russey, Thmor Koul, Ek Phnom and Sangke districts, that are being illegally occupied. The areas collectively measure approximately 12,221 hectares.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50983325/a ... attambang/