Rock and a hard place
Sarorn Phi, 39, cautiously stops his moto 20 metres away from the large, signless boom gate blocking his path in Sesan district. He shuffles toward the security guard’s hut at the entrance to a sprawling Chinese rubber plantation and negotiates with the guard to enter the concession. For Phi, and the 18 other families that live in Sre Chhouk village, Kbal Romeas commune, bargaining with security personnel has become part and parcel of life in a village literally marooned by two land concessions. “We used to be able to come and go, but two years ago, they made a Chinese concession on this side,” Phi says, sitting under a gnarled tree near his lean-to hut. “And a Vietnamese concession on that side. We cannot go anywhere without permission.”….
