VZCZCXRO3744
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #0551/01 1030841
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 130841Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8321
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 2450

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PHNOM PENH 000551 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL KDEM ENV CB
SUBJECT:  MONDULKIRI PROVINCE: TRADITION, ELECTIONS AND THE CHINESE 
 
¶1.  (U)  Summary.  During the Embassy's recent election monitoring 
program, Emboffs visited Cambodia's remote Mondulkiri Province on 
the Vietnamese border.  Mondulkiri is a rapidly-changing region that 
encapsulates most of the major issues affecting Cambodia and its 
minority population -- property rights and tenancy, environmental 
degradation, deforestation, illegal logging, land seizures and 
Chinese economic expansion.  Despite a strong sense of alienation 
among minority Phnong and other tribal groups, Mondulkiri remains a 
stronghold of the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP).  End 
Summary. 
 
The Road to Mondulkiri 
---------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U)  Mondulkiri Province borders Vietnam and is approximately 
400 kilometers to the northeast of Phnom Penh.  With an estimated 
45,000 inhabitants, it is Cambodia's least populated province but is 
also the largest in terms of geographic area (over 14,000 square 
kilometers).  Historically, the majority of the inhabitants have 
been ethnic Phnong and other indigenous tribes.  However, over the 
past few years, ethnic Khmer and some Cham have been moving in to 
settle "unclaimed" land.  Upon entering Mondulkiri Province, the 
main paved road ends and Khmer-style houses begin giving way to the 
circular thatched huts of the Phnong as the road becomes narrower 
and rougher and begins to wind up and down the foothills.  The road 
traffic dwindles to occasional trucks groaning under the weight of 
fresh-cut timber. 
 
¶3.  (U) The road eventually passes through an unmanned checkpoint 
entrance to the Sey Ma Bio-Diversity Protection Area with prominent 
forest cover.  However, when the road reaches a plateau, the 
immediate areas are occupied by improvised Khmer-style houses and 
lean-tos with no sign of water, sewage or electricity -- evidence of 
the Khmer newcomers.  There is pervasive clear-cutting and 
slash-and-burn farming accompanied by smoldering tree stumps in the 
distance.  Sprinkled among the stumps in the gray, sandy soil are 
little patches of cassava and vegetable crops.  As the road leaves 
the plateau and climbs up the foothills, the squatter settlements 
give way to thicker forest cover interspersed with patches of 
clear-cutting and reforestation projects. 
 
Sen Monorom and the "Wild East" 
------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (U)  The provincial capital, Sen Monorom, has a population of 
7,000 and is an unlikely international crossroads -- a couple of 
paved roads, a spate of guesthouses, a traffic circle, a market 
street, a ramshackle provincial theater, and four or five 
restaurants.  Despite the lack of amenities, the town has a 
surprising cultural mix.  There are a handful of Western NGO workers 
and missionaries, the town's two-star hotel has Chinese financial 
backing, Phnong tribespeople from the surrounding villages regularly 
bring their livestock, produce and crafts to market, and Vietnamese 
officials and businessmen make regular visits from the nearby 
border.  During Emboffs' brief visit, we met American missionaries, 
an Israeli innkeeper, German tourists and a French restaurant owner. 
 There has been a significant increase in tourism over the last few 
years, with many new guesthouses geared to the growing foreign 
backpacker tourist trade.  There are now enough foreign tourists and 
NGOs to support a combination pizzeria/falafel shop. 
 
¶5.  (U)  Despite the growth in tourism, Sen Monorom's reputation as 
a shady border town remains valid.  According to our embassy warden, 
it is not unusual to see Vietnamese soldiers driving around town. 
During our election monitoring visit, Emboffs' saw a Vietnamese 
military officer and a group of well-dressed officials exit a local 
business and drive off in an expensive, late model SUV with 
Vietnamese plates.  Despite their official appearance and 
distinctive dress, they drew no attention or notice from the crowded 
street. 
 
¶6.  (U)  Sen Monorom's small size and obscurity heightens the 
disparities of wealth and influence.  The local CPP headquarters, 
European NGOs and guesthouses catering to foreigners occupy new, 
freshly-painted buildings with the basic amenities.  By contrast, 
the local primary school a few blocks away is old and decrepit, with 
no plumbing or electricity.  The classrooms have only crude 
blackboards and maps and the classroom benches and tables are 
covered with graffiti, there are no books.  The French NGO Action 
contre Le Faim (Action against Hunger) set up operations due to 
recent crop failures in the Phnong villages that have led to 
increasing levels of malnutrition throughout Mondulkiri.  Some 
Phnong reportedly have sold their land for as little as 10 bags of 
rice and have little means to support their families. 
 
Visit to the Phnong Village of Pu Tru 
------------------------------------- 
 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000551  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶7.  (U)  The election monitoring trip centered on Pu Tru, where 
Emboffs were assisted by our local warden, a fluent speaker of both 
Khmer and Phnong.  Almost all the Phnong live in round, unventilated 
thatched huts with neither plumbing nor electricity.  The huts 
require constant upkeep to remain habitable and usually must be 
rebuilt after 7 years.  The ceilings inside the huts are coated with 
a black resinous soot from a constant fire that is tended in the 
middle of the hard-packed dirt floor.  The Phnong sit on suspended 
wooden flooring planks that extend along the length of a hut.  Dogs, 
pigs and chickens rest underneath the planking and wander in and out 
of the huts.  Large cylindrical porcelain vats line the back of the 
huts, usually containing homemade rice wine.  Many of these vats 
have rather intricate bas-relief and are said to be hundreds of 
years old.  For a typical Phnong family, these black vats are among 
their most prized possessions. 
 
¶8.  (U)  Yet in the midst of this traditional lifestyle, modern life 
intrudes.  Some huts have a motorcycle parked next to them and there 
are occasional DVC players, radios and television sets.  Khmer-style 
houses are now fashionable and are the preferred housing for the 
village chieftain and favored tribal elders.  In the middle of the 
village, a Japanese NGO has installed state-of-the-art solar energy 
panels and the Red Cross has provided the Phnong a sophisticated 
water filtration system to ensure a reliable source of potable 
water.  Despite the availability of electricity and treated water, 
the villagers of Pu Tru still prefer to wash their clothes and bathe 
in a nearby creek. 
 
¶9.  (U)  After talking to a Phnong family in their hut, we then 
toured the village fields and grazing areas.  The seemingly random 
patches of subsistence crops belie a rather sophisticated, 
environmentally-sensitive agricultural system.  The Phnong rotate a 
variety of crops through a series of fields, often leaving fields 
fallow for years before replanting.  The Phnong also deliberately 
plant a variety of different crops in small patches to take 
advantage of the shade and/or disease resistance one plant can 
provide for another. 
 
Election Issues?  What's An Election Issue? 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU)  The villagers we spoke with were reluctant to voice 
partisan political views on the upcoming commune elections. 
Nevertheless, the adult villagers had a strong desire to vote and 
were hoping they could secure rides from friends or from a village 
elder to the polls.  There seemed to be an unspoken disconnect 
between the communal elections and the real concerns of their 
village -- the ongoing encroachment of their lands by the Khmer and, 
most recently, their new Chinese neighbors. 
 
¶11. (SBU)  Although the Phnong exist on meager resources, these 
concerns pale in significance to the growing threat of land 
confiscation, encroachment on their grazing areas and the 
accompanying external pressures on their indigenous way of life. 
Although not well articulated, the Phnong feel pressed on all sides. 
 Vietnam imposes constraints on their ability to travel to their 
neighboring Montagnard cousins in Vietnam; Cambodia sends its 
dispossessed lowland farmers to squat on their land and set up 
tourist concessions on Phnong areas without their permission. 
 
¶12.  (SBU)  Most despised now, however, are the Chinese who have 
encroached on Phnong lands, but also have imposed severe grazing 
restrictions, something the Khmer have never attempted.  The Phnong 
claim that their new Chinese neighbors have threatened to shoot any 
cattle that stray onto Chinese-occupied land.  Moreover, the Phnong 
say the Chinese have also threatened to detain any Phnong suspected 
of property crimes, meting out punishments outside of the Cambodian 
criminal justice system.  The Chinese routinely accuse the Phnong of 
burning their new pine plantations.  The Phnong counter that, 
although they traditionally burn off grasslands every year to create 
new pastures, they do not target the Chinese pine stands.  Rather, 
they maintain that the Khmer who work for the Chinese are angry at 
getting paid only 5,000 riel (USD 1.25) per day and burn the 
plantations themselves.  Khmer locals reportedly are angry at the 
Chinese for taking land that they had planned on occupying and may 
have set fires in retaliation.  One Phnong commune official has 
reportedly seen Khmer policemen and soldiers setting fire to the 
plantations. 
 
Elections:  Co-Opted Tribal Elders Key to CPP Success 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶13.  (U)  Election day turnout on April 1 was modest in the 
precincts surveyed, with most of the voting completed before lunch. 
Voter queues were orderly except in the Phnong villages, where the 
villagers often clustered outside the polling stations, usually the 
village schoolhouse.  No violent incidents or confrontations were 
reported.  The election officials seemed reasonably well-versed in 
following the correct procedures at the polling stations.  On two 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000551  003 OF 003 
 
 
separate occasions, Emboffs witnessed election officials turn away 
unregistered or late-registered voters.  The COMFREL monitors as 
well as the political party agents were all cordial to each other. 
There were no disputed ballots and the vote tallying proceeded in an 
orderly fashion with only minor procedural delays.  By early 
evening, the monitored precinct reported lopsided victories for the 
CPP, which garnered more than 80% of the votes.  The opposition Sam 
Rainsy Party (SRP) trailed with 16% of the vote followed by 
FUNCINPEC with a remaining 4%.  Local observers speculated that the 
CPP's success was greatly assisted by the rather low turnout and the 
CPP-affiliated Phnong tribal elders, who encouraged the Phnong to 
vote as a bloc. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶14. (SBU)  Mondulkiri remains firmly in the hands of the CPP, 
despite the many problems faced by its indigenous Phnong community. 
The CPP's strategy of co-opting tribal elders and through them, 
delivering the majority of Phnong voters to the CPP has paid off - 
this tradition pre-dates UNTAC times and is also applied in 
Ratanakiri.  Given the low population density and expansive area of 
Mondulkiri, the SRP and other political parties do not find the 
expenditure of time, personnel, and resources to be cost-effective 
in trying to mobilize an opposition vote.  However, as Mondulkiri 
becomes less isolated, the quickening pace of outside encroachment 
on the traditional Phnong way of life could present the CPP with new 
challenges in maintaining control over Phnong voters. 
 
MUSSOMELI