Asean Summit: Fishing Community Near Sokha Hotel Pushed Out

Off the banks of Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva peninsula, in the shadow of the famous Sokha Hotel, the ubiquitous fishing boats and sand dredgers have been replaced by military vessels, and local fisherpeople have been asked to temporarily clear the area with no compensation until the Asean Summit is over.

“They stay in the Sokha Hotel, and they look out the window and see boats. It’s messy, chaotic — it doesn’t look good,” said Sa Viyas, a 35-year-old woman who was asked by authorities to leave the tip of the peninsula over the weekend. She lives on a boat with her family and another family, with 10 children between them. Like many of these boat-dwelling people, they are Cham people, a predominantly Muslim minority group with their own language and history distinct from Khmer, and who have often been targeted for relocations. Many of them were born on boats, and have traditionally handed down their semi-nomadic lifestyle for generations.

Rous Pokharry, another fisherman, said that his old home by a new market nearby was taken from him over a year ago, but he was told he could live on his boat near Sokha Hotel. Yesterday, he was told he had to leave for at least a week. He said he was told he could move his boat to a spot only about a kilometre away, but said that location was too treacherous and his boat could sink.

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