Until the Last Tree is cut …
By Socheata
Woman: I came here with many other people and we want to go to the top of the mountain…
Man: It is not opened for public access today. It usually opens on big National Holiday only.
Woman: But we are from far away and we want to see it. There are about 200 people on the 20 trucks which we came to do Kathen in the nearby pagoda. Anyone I can talk to to ask for permission?
Man: Maybe you can ask the Chinese man there. He works for the company too.
Woman: OK I will talk to him. Thanks…
This was the conversation I witnessed while I was waiting for the transferred truck to pick us up at the foot of Bokor Mountain. I was pondering is this fair for a citizen of one’s own nation not to be able to access to its National Park? And need to ask for access permission from a Chinese person?
Bokor Mountain, also known as Bokor National Park and earlier, Bokor Hill Station, was built by the French in 1920 during its colonization in Cambodia. It was situated on top of Bokor Mountain In 1993, the government of Cambodia announced it as a National Park. It is very famous for its beauty of nature, cool and fresh air, and spectacular view once you reach the top of the mountain. Closed to the top of Bokor Mountain, King’s father Norodom Sihanouk built one small holiday palace for his holiday during his reign. This palace is abandoned now and there remained only the construction.
The French built a church on top of the mountain. There are old pieces of different buildings on top of the mountain including the casino, hotel, and other constructions which in today remains as abandoned skeleton buildings. These are places where tour operators would bring the tourists to see for one day trip tour to Bokor Mountain. It is also the places I recently visited.
Back in 2008, the Government of Cambodia represented by Prime Minister Hun Sen singed and handed over Bokor Mountain to Sokimex Petroleum Company owned by Sok Kong to develop. Promised by the company, health center, school, hotels, casino, and other recreation facilities will be built and along with this one-billion US dollar investment project, jobs will be created for Cambodian people. The skeleton of the Sokha construction project has sort of started here and there but not much progress has been made on site. I believe that the next time I visit Bokor, it will be Bokor Resort and this site will be installed with some sort of modern constructions to host rich tourists from inside and outside Cambodia.
Co-incidentally fell on the ex-king Sihanouk 88th birthday, on the one day trip to Bokor Mountain I witnessed a sad reality. It was such a cool day when we started the trip and we arrived on the foot of the mountain at about 10 am. While waiting for the transferred truck drove by the environment ranger ONLY to pick us and bring us to the top of the mountain. This is an informal arrangement but all the tour operators in town will be able to tell you in details of the price and services provide but you will hardly find any written information on this sort of hidden operation. Tourists, particularly foreigners, are warned that during this day trip, they have to inevitably walk across the forest at some point as they are not allowed to see the construction site which is still on-going. The fact is that they are not allowed to witness how the company destroys the richness of the national resources, how the bomb is put to break the rock at some part of the mountain to make the paved road, how trees were cut to clear for road construction. And it is indeed very risky to travel across this construction site as you may get killed anytime if the pieces of the big rocks fall down. There are no proper safety measures to protect it from falling down. Passer-by faces this kind of risk let alone the workers who spend many months or years working there. Never mind, they are just poor workers anyway!!!
A tour guide told me that there used to be an international NGOs working for wild life conservation on Bokor Mountain for a decade but the NGOs stopped and moved out after the government leased this mountain for the Sokimex Company. Wide animals have been losing and trees have been cut since the beginning of the construction. Of course the efforts that this particluar NGOs has put into conserving the mountain dissolve when the company started its project.
According to this tour guide, there used to be a Spanish tourist who captured photos of the construction site on his way to the top of the mountain on the same kind of truck and he later published an article (with photos evidence) criticizing how Cambodia allowed the destruction of its natural resources and mountain for the sake of development. Since then on, tour operators are not allowed to bring their visitors especially foreigners across the site and they therefore have to walk about 1 hour 30 minutes across about 6-7Km to avoid the site. Not only tourists but ordinary Cambodians hitch hikes for a ride when going or returning from collect the none-timber forest products from the mountain also have to walk. I presume that the area for walking must be kept changing as the construction move from an area to the next. There were few villagers who live at the foot of the mountain who regularly come up to collect some fruits to sell. Sitting in the car and still feel freezing cold, I could not imagine how poor people who walk up and down mountain every day cope with that? It must have become part of their daily life to bear with such hardship that they do not feel strange and desperate like me. Young girls and women risk their lives and personal security for the livelihood of the family should they face with any incident such as sexual assault, rape or violence. It is hard to imagine how they could seek support.
Having the privilege as a Cambodian-citizen-tourist, I was told that I was one of the first two Khmer tourists ever to go on their tour since their operation. Therefore, I could sit in the truck with the ranger and is able to witness the destruction of such resources. Before we reached the site, a very fresh smell of trees that were just cut down flew passed my nose. On my way, it was still raining after nearly 3 hours rainfall and we were blocked by a huge truck with its equipment to gather the pieces of cut wood from the true on the wall of the mountain and transport it somewhere. Our car (I was picked up by the car for they were afraid we suffered too much from the freezing cold) stopped for about 30 minutes (without uttering even a word) to wait for a truck to collect all the wood before moving on.
On the one hand, I feel lucky that I was able to visit Bokor National Park before everything is completely gone like a fresh wind blow on top of this mountain. On another hand, I feel very sad that soon many Cambodian people will not see resources that our earth and ancestors have left for us. I feel that our generation is a very greedy one as we grab many things for ourselves and our own needs ONLY and leave very little, if not next to nothing, for the next generations. We are not trying to preserve what we have and always live on but take away what is remaining.
Surely, the company will have done a very great job of cutting down the trees and destroying the mountain to make a nice beautiful and smooth paved road leading to the spectacularly beautiful view on top of this mountain and every person, Cambodian or none-Cambodia have to pay to get such privilege access to see this view. 90 years ago, the colonizer, The French, discovered this spectacular spot and turn it into their relax site. In the next 99 leasing period, what will remain for Cambodia? We are very successful in privatizing not only our healthcare and education system, electricity, road, but now natural view also. Thanks to the neo-liberal policies, now the money rules over every aspect of our daily lives and soon we will have pay for the air we are breathing, polluted or fresh ones? When that time comes, you may breathe if you have money to pay…
When the last tree is cut, we will realize that it is too late…
Woman: I came here with many other people and we want to go to the top of the mountain…
Man: It is not opened for public access today. It usually opens on big National Holiday only.
Woman: But we are from far away and we want to see it. There are about 200 people on the 20 trucks which we came to do Kathen in the nearby pagoda. Anyone I can talk to to ask for permission?
Man: Maybe you can ask the Chinese man there. He works for the company too.
Woman: OK I will talk to him. Thanks…
This was the conversation I witnessed while I was waiting for the transferred truck to pick us up at the foot of Bokor Mountain. I was pondering is this fair for a citizen of one’s own nation not to be able to access to its National Park? And need to ask for access permission from a Chinese person?
Bokor Mountain, also known as Bokor National Park and earlier, Bokor Hill Station, was built by the French in 1920 during its colonization in Cambodia. It was situated on top of Bokor Mountain In 1993, the government of Cambodia announced it as a National Park. It is very famous for its beauty of nature, cool and fresh air, and spectacular view once you reach the top of the mountain. Closed to the top of Bokor Mountain, King’s father Norodom Sihanouk built one small holiday palace for his holiday during his reign. This palace is abandoned now and there remained only the construction.
The French built a church on top of the mountain. There are old pieces of different buildings on top of the mountain including the casino, hotel, and other constructions which in today remains as abandoned skeleton buildings. These are places where tour operators would bring the tourists to see for one day trip tour to Bokor Mountain. It is also the places I recently visited.
Back in 2008, the Government of Cambodia represented by Prime Minister Hun Sen singed and handed over Bokor Mountain to Sokimex Petroleum Company owned by Sok Kong to develop. Promised by the company, health center, school, hotels, casino, and other recreation facilities will be built and along with this one-billion US dollar investment project, jobs will be created for Cambodian people. The skeleton of the Sokha construction project has sort of started here and there but not much progress has been made on site. I believe that the next time I visit Bokor, it will be Bokor Resort and this site will be installed with some sort of modern constructions to host rich tourists from inside and outside Cambodia.
Co-incidentally fell on the ex-king Sihanouk 88th birthday, on the one day trip to Bokor Mountain I witnessed a sad reality. It was such a cool day when we started the trip and we arrived on the foot of the mountain at about 10 am. While waiting for the transferred truck drove by the environment ranger ONLY to pick us and bring us to the top of the mountain. This is an informal arrangement but all the tour operators in town will be able to tell you in details of the price and services provide but you will hardly find any written information on this sort of hidden operation. Tourists, particularly foreigners, are warned that during this day trip, they have to inevitably walk across the forest at some point as they are not allowed to see the construction site which is still on-going. The fact is that they are not allowed to witness how the company destroys the richness of the national resources, how the bomb is put to break the rock at some part of the mountain to make the paved road, how trees were cut to clear for road construction. And it is indeed very risky to travel across this construction site as you may get killed anytime if the pieces of the big rocks fall down. There are no proper safety measures to protect it from falling down. Passer-by faces this kind of risk let alone the workers who spend many months or years working there. Never mind, they are just poor workers anyway!!!
A tour guide told me that there used to be an international NGOs working for wild life conservation on Bokor Mountain for a decade but the NGOs stopped and moved out after the government leased this mountain for the Sokimex Company. Wide animals have been losing and trees have been cut since the beginning of the construction. Of course the efforts that this particluar NGOs has put into conserving the mountain dissolve when the company started its project.
According to this tour guide, there used to be a Spanish tourist who captured photos of the construction site on his way to the top of the mountain on the same kind of truck and he later published an article (with photos evidence) criticizing how Cambodia allowed the destruction of its natural resources and mountain for the sake of development. Since then on, tour operators are not allowed to bring their visitors especially foreigners across the site and they therefore have to walk about 1 hour 30 minutes across about 6-7Km to avoid the site. Not only tourists but ordinary Cambodians hitch hikes for a ride when going or returning from collect the none-timber forest products from the mountain also have to walk. I presume that the area for walking must be kept changing as the construction move from an area to the next. There were few villagers who live at the foot of the mountain who regularly come up to collect some fruits to sell. Sitting in the car and still feel freezing cold, I could not imagine how poor people who walk up and down mountain every day cope with that? It must have become part of their daily life to bear with such hardship that they do not feel strange and desperate like me. Young girls and women risk their lives and personal security for the livelihood of the family should they face with any incident such as sexual assault, rape or violence. It is hard to imagine how they could seek support.
Having the privilege as a Cambodian-citizen-tourist, I was told that I was one of the first two Khmer tourists ever to go on their tour since their operation. Therefore, I could sit in the truck with the ranger and is able to witness the destruction of such resources. Before we reached the site, a very fresh smell of trees that were just cut down flew passed my nose. On my way, it was still raining after nearly 3 hours rainfall and we were blocked by a huge truck with its equipment to gather the pieces of cut wood from the true on the wall of the mountain and transport it somewhere. Our car (I was picked up by the car for they were afraid we suffered too much from the freezing cold) stopped for about 30 minutes (without uttering even a word) to wait for a truck to collect all the wood before moving on.
On the one hand, I feel lucky that I was able to visit Bokor National Park before everything is completely gone like a fresh wind blow on top of this mountain. On another hand, I feel very sad that soon many Cambodian people will not see resources that our earth and ancestors have left for us. I feel that our generation is a very greedy one as we grab many things for ourselves and our own needs ONLY and leave very little, if not next to nothing, for the next generations. We are not trying to preserve what we have and always live on but take away what is remaining.
Surely, the company will have done a very great job of cutting down the trees and destroying the mountain to make a nice beautiful and smooth paved road leading to the spectacularly beautiful view on top of this mountain and every person, Cambodian or none-Cambodia have to pay to get such privilege access to see this view. 90 years ago, the colonizer, The French, discovered this spectacular spot and turn it into their relax site. In the next 99 leasing period, what will remain for Cambodia? We are very successful in privatizing not only our healthcare and education system, electricity, road, but now natural view also. Thanks to the neo-liberal policies, now the money rules over every aspect of our daily lives and soon we will have pay for the air we are breathing, polluted or fresh ones? When that time comes, you may breathe if you have money to pay…
When the last tree is cut, we will realize that it is too late…
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