Just if it's of interest, a story about forced relocation and (lack of) urban planning in Phnom Penh from The National, the English language paper of the UAE:
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll ... 89998/1008
In your opinion, is it accurate?
Phnom Penh article in UAE newspaper
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What exactly is the definition of a squatter anyway in Cambodia? After the Vietnamese intervention in 1979, pretty much anyone, whether government officials or peasants moved back into previously vacated neighborhoods and became in essence "squatters", as very few bore any real title to the properties being re-occupied. This led to a sort of free-for-all, where the most desirable places were nabbed by big guys.andyinasia wrote:Pretty much, except that many of the people are/were not squatters.
Meanwhile, although there were attempts to block the influx of post-Pol Pot refugees back into the city, they couldn't stem the flow, and the city became in essence a huge squatter camp. This was something very obvious ten years back, but it has all changed by now.
Pretty much all the slums in the city have either been burned down, forcibly evicted, or offered meagre compensation to comply with relocations which they have no choice in.
So while I've seen the city look like it's cleaning up, and all the nasty poor peoples' shacks have disappeared, all the little poky places I liked doing barbeque beef, jugs, quail or whatever have also gone. It's Singapore or bust, like it or not. There's no space anymore for peasants in the fat city.
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internal refugees were allocated accomodation by central government in the post-kr period---not quite the same as squatting, since the owners were dead or absent. the practice of turfing out the poor in order to build income-generating properties was not invented in cambodia either, tho i must say that burning them out is rather radical.
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Read: Guys with most weapons.hanky wrote:This led to a sort of free-for-all, where the most desirable places were nabbed by big guys.
This happened even moreso in Sihanoukville, but it didnt stop even "bigger guys" from coming along later to nab the land that had previously been nabbed.
Who will nab next?
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Some owners returned to find that their properties had been allocated to others. If the places had been made state properties I could understand it, but most vast swathes of the city just passed into eventual private ownership. State land and National Parks are sold off all the time now, or leased for 100s of years.internal refugees were allocated accomodation by central government in the post-kr period---not quite the same as squatting, since the owners were dead or absent.
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one afternoon when i worked for the cd i was interviewing a returnee architect in the kitchen whilst some women outside squabbbled rather shrilly over the exact location of the line between their properties. they would have been allocated, i suppose-i quite agree and forgot to mention fact that that people returned to find their flats occupied--there is a story in the internatonal express this week about an english chap who went away on hols and just after departure recalled he forgot his keys--returned to to find a bulgrian couple and their baby (ie likely gypsies) had moved in...!
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one afternoon when i worked for the cd i was interviewing a returnee architect in the kitchen whilst some women outside squabbbled rather shrilly over the exact location of the line between their properties. they would have been allocated, i suppose-i quite agree and forgot to mention fact that that people returned to find their flats occupied--there is a story in the internatonal express this week about an english chap who went away on hols and just after departure recalled he forgot his keys--returned to to find a bulgrian couple and their baby (ie likely gypsies) had moved in...!
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I used to have more sympathy for the poor evicted but khmers of all income groups like to claim others land.
When we were building the fence down the bassac the woman next door insisted that a line of nice palm trees were in her property.
She seemed to think that the tape lied,even though we measured from both sides.
When we were building the fence down the bassac the woman next door insisted that a line of nice palm trees were in her property.
She seemed to think that the tape lied,even though we measured from both sides.
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