A road runs through them

UP AND down a 4km stretch of highway on the northern outskirts of Phnom Penh, about 3,000 of Cambodia’s Cham minority have built a life. Their distinctive Muslim culture thrives in conditions of close-knit community, a stark contrast to the shattering days the country endured through the rule of the Khmer Rouge and the civil war that followed. For a generation the Cham were isolated and, at times, slaughtered. Since those wars ended in 1998, political stability has brought Cambodia many of its usual rewards. The economy has expanded on the back of foreign aid and fledgling industries like garment manufacture and tourism, as well as by timber and other natural resources. … Yet for this cluster of villages strung along the highway, the future is cast under shadow. Property prices are soaring everywhere and their tract has been picked for expropriation. This section of the national Route Five, which links Phnom Penh with the provincial city of Battambang in the north-west, has been earmarked for an upgrade. The highway will be widened by between eight and 25 meters on each side of the road. The surrounding land is to be re-zoned for industrial use. …

http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2013/01/cambodia%E2%80%99s-cham