i

╩ΐ◘┤І▄◦Π₣š║

ករសក េនះ មនេគលបណងែសវងយលព ថ នភពេសដឋកចចកនងសងគម

ជនជតចមេនកមពជ េ យេរជើសេរ ើសយកករណសក េនសហគមនចង

េឃន ស េខតតេសៀម ប។ ពកយថ« ថ នភពេសដឋកចចកនងសងគម» ខញចងសេ េលើ

ករែរបរបលេឡើងចះពករតជវភពេសដឋកចច នងសងគមរបសបគគលឬរគ រ

ចមនមយៗេនកនងសហគមនចងេឃន ស។ លទធផលៃនកររ វរជវបនបងហ ញ

ថ ករែរបរបលរបសរគ រនមយៗេនចងេឃន ស ទងករធល កចលកនងភព

រករក នងកររេ ះខលនផតពភពរករករបសពកេគ រតវបនកណតេ យឱកស

នងធនធនេសដឋកចចនងករឈនដលបេចចកវទយទេនើប ែដលរគ រនមយៗ

ចទទលបន ។ ទនទមនងេនះ ទនកទនងកនងសងគម កនងបរបទ សនឥ ល ម

នងជតពនធចម កមនឥទធពលកណតេ យមនករែរបរបលផងែដរ។ េលើសព

េនះេទេទៀត លទធផលៃនកររ វរជវកបងហ ញែដរថ បែរបរលជវភពរបស

រគ រនមយៗ រតវ រសយេលើចននសមជកសកមមកនងរគ ររបសពកេគ។

កនងនយេនះ េគ ចនយយបនថរបសនេបើរគ រមយមនសមជកេពញ

កមល ង ចេធវើករបន េនះជវភពរគ រនងមនករែរបរបលេឆព ះេទរកភព

របេសើរ។

កនងដេណើ រកររ វរជវេនះ វធ រសតរ វរជវសខនចននពររតវបន

េរបើរបស។ «ករពភក រកមេគលេ » រតវបនេធវើេឡើងេ យមនជនជតចម

ចននរបមយរកមចលរមកនងេនះបរកមេធវើេនចងេឃន ស ែដលជភមបែណត តទក

។ កនងកឡងេពលេនះ សនរចនន ១២ រតវបនេចទសរពពកគត េដើមបេ យ

ពកគតពភក អពមលេហត ឬ ក ត ែដលកណតករតែរបរបលជវភពរបស

សហគមន។ ករពភក រកមទងេនះ កអនញញ តេ យេយើងេរជើសេរ ើសរគ រ

ចនន១០ស ប កសរេធវើជ«របវតតរគ រ» ឬ «របវតតជវភព» ែដលជ វធ

រសតទពររបសករសក រ វរជវេនះ។ វធ រសតទពរេនះ មនេគលេ

ែសវងយលពបែរបរលនងករតជវភពសងគមរបសពកេគ។ េយើងចងដងថ ចប

ii

ងពេពលរគ រនមយៗចបកេកើតេឡើងេតើរគ រនមយៗមនករតជវភព

េកើនេឡើងឬកថយចះ។

លទធផលបនបងហ ញថ ជនមសលមចម េនចងេឃន ស ចរតវបនែបងែចកជបរកម មករតជវភព គ រកមអនកធរធរ រកមអនកមធយមនង រកមអនករករក។ រកមអនកធរធរទទលបនផលរបេយជនពករេន ទរតនងពេសសពវសយេទសចរណែដលេទើបកេកើតថមេនកនងសហគមន។ ជនជតចមែដលេធវើករកនងវសយេទសចរណ ចរករបកចណលបនជមធយមរបែហល ៥០ េទ ១០០ ដ ល រ េមរកកនងមយៃថង។ ចែណក រកមអនកមធយម គជអនកេន ទ។រកមេនះជធមម មនករពកពនធយងសកមមកនងករេន ទ េ យមនមេធយបយនងសមភ រផទ លខលន ។ ទហរបកចណលរបចៃថងរបសពកេគរតវ រសយ មរដវេន ទ ែតជមធយម ពកេគរកបនរបែហល ១០ េទ ៤៩ ដ ល រ។ រកមអនករករកគជរកមែដលមនមេធយបយផលតកមមតចបផតដចជកនងវសយេន ទ។ ពកេគមនែតក ងកយ េដើមបជមេធយបយរករបកកៃរ ដចជកមមករេន ទ ឬកមមករលែសង។

ករទទលបនធនធន គជក ត មយេទៀតស បកណត ថ នភពេសដឋកចចកនងសងគមរបសជនជតចម។ េ យមនទ ងសថតេនកនងបងទេនល ប ជនជតចម កដចជមន ចទទលបននវធនធនសងគមសខនៗេទ ដចជករកនកបដធល ថ បនអបរ មណឌ លសខភព ឬសមបែតេដើមទនរកសកពបករកែដរស បពកេគ។ លទធផលសក បនបងហ ញថ ករកនកបដធល គជអវែដលជនជតចមមសលមសលងេឃើញថជ ក ត គនលះស បកណត ថ នភពេសដឋកចចកនងសងគមរបសពកេគ។ េហតដេចនះេហើយបនជជនជតចមកនែតេរចើនេឡើង កពង ខតខែសវងរកដធលេនេរកសហគមន។

ដចែដលេ ក មតយែសន បនកណតនយមនយ ភពរករក ថជកងវះករទទលបនធនធន រកមជនជតចមរករក កពងរសេនកនងភពរករក េ យ រពកេគមនមនលទធភពទទលបននវធនធនសមភ រកដចជ េស កមមនងឱកសកនងសងគម។ ចែណក រកមអនកមន មនរទពយសមបតតេរចើនគរសមនងមនលទធភពទទលបនធនធននងឱកសខងេលើ រមទងឱកសងកេទរកភពរបេសើរែផនកជវភពរសេនផង៕

iii

ABSTRACT

This study aims at exploring the social mobility of Muslim Cham in

Cambodia by taking Chong Kneas as a case study. By “social mobility,” I refer to the

movement of individuals or the whole family between different levels of economic

status and social standing. The findings show that household mobility into and out

of poverty of the Muslim Cham at Chong Kneas is determined by economic

opportunity and resources and access to technology, but also by social relationships

based on religion and ethnic group. They also show that mobility based on

livelihoods diversification depends on the availability of non-dependent labour in the

household group.

In Chong Kneas, Muslim Chams can be divided into three different groups

measured by wealth: poor, middle and wealthy. The wealthy benefit from their

involvements in fishing and the tourism sector. Individual Cham working in the

tourist industry can as a family earn US$ 50 to US$ 100 a day. The middle group

simply are those whose jobs are fishermen. They normally get involved in fishery

and have their own means of catching fish. Their daily incomes are various in

accordance with fishing season, but the average is US$ 10 to US$ 49. The poor are

those Cham who do possess minimal means of production, say in fishing. They use

their labor to earn money such as fishing laborers or porters.

Access to resources is another influentual factor. Situated in the lake, some

social resources including land ownership, educational institutions, healthcare center

or even financial aid, are far from their reach. Land ownership is what the Muslim

Cham perceived as their main means of social mobility. That is why more and more

Muslim Cham are still trying to get a piece of land outside the community.

As Amartya Sen defined poverty as lacking of access to resources, the poor

in Chong Kneas live in poverty defined by lack of access to material resources and

social opportunity and services while the higher group conversely have relative

wealth and greater access to resources and opportunity, including opportunity for

mobility.

iv

CERTIFICATE OF AUTHORSHIP/ORIGINALITY

I certify that the work in this thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree

nor has it been submitted as part of requirements for a degree except as fully

acknowledged within the text.

I also certify that the thesis has been written by me. Any help that I have received in

my research work and the preparation of the thesis itself has been acknowledged. In

addition, I certify that all information sources and literature used are indicated in the

thesis.

Signification of Candidate

---------------------------------

Date

---------------------------------

v

CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT

I, Tha Leang Ang, the undersigned, the author of this dissertation, understand

that the Royal University of Phnom Penh will make this thesis available for use

within the University and allow access to users in other approved Universities and

libraries.

All users consulting this thesis will have sign the following statement:

“In consulting this dissertation, I agree not to copy or closely paraphrase it in

whole or in part without the written consent of the author; and to make proper written

acknowledgement for any assistance which I have obtained from it.”

Beyond this, I do not wish to place any restriction on access to this thesis.

Signification of Candidate

---------------------------------

Date

---------------------------------

vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This thesis was done with support by many people whom I would like to give

my deep thanks as following:

Firstly, I would like to thank the Royal University of Phnom Penh and the

New Humanity- Cambodia, for providing me great opportunity to sit in the Master

program. After finishing it, I have learned a lot of facts and opinion, theories and

practices. Professor Mel Sophanna and Rene Ayala Morera, program coordinators

who made this program run smoothly. I deeply thank the committee for their

comments and suggestions.

My deepest thanks also give to Professor John Pilgrim, my thesis supervisor

who had guided the process of the thesis as well as provided many suggestions. Then

I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to the Muslim Cham in Chong Kneas who

let me interview them. Without their contribution, this thesis would not be

completed.

Finally yet importantly, I wish to thank all of professors in the History

Department, RUPP, who always pushed me for further education. My parents, Mr.

Nou Sitha and Mrs. Try Kimlang as well as Mr. Edward A. Blunt and his wife,

Karen, are also deserved my gratitude for their constant encouragement.

1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. iii 

CERTIFICATE OF AUTHORSHIP/ORIGINALITY ............................................................. iv 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ....................................................................................................... vi 

LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................... 3 

LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................. 4 

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................... 5 

CHAPTER I ............................................................................................................................. 6 

Muslim Cham in Cambodia ................................................................................................... 6 

1-  Introduction .................................................................................................................. 6 

1.2  Community Profile- Chong Kneas ........................................................................... 8 

1.2 Problem Statement ....................................................................................................... 10 

1.3 Aim and Objectives ...................................................................................................... 12 

1.4 Research Questions ...................................................................................................... 12 

1.5 Rationale of the Research ............................................................................................. 12 

1.6 Methodologies .............................................................................................................. 13 

1.6.1 Site Selection and Target Group ........................................................................... 13 

1.6.2 Methods of Collecting Data .................................................................................. 14 

1.6.3 Limitation .............................................................................................................. 15 

CHAPTER II ......................................................................................................................... 16 

Theoretical Background of Social Mobility ........................................................................ 16 

And Social Stratification ...................................................................................................... 16 

2.1 Social Mobility ............................................................................................................. 16 

2.1.1 Intra-generational mobility and Inter-generational mobility ................................. 16 

2.1.1 Determination of Social mobility .......................................................................... 16 

2.2 Hypothesis of the research ........................................................................................... 18 

CHAPTER III ....................................................................................................................... 20 

Social Stratification and Access to Resources ..................................................................... 20 

2

in Chong Kneas ..................................................................................................................... 20 

3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 20 

3.1.1 The Wealthy Groups ............................................................................................. 20 

A-  The Case of Yeb’s Family .................................................................................. 21 

B-  The Case of Ly Sales’s Family .......................................................................... 25 

3.1.2 The Middle Group ................................................................................................. 28 

C-  The Case of Sa El’s Family ................................................................................ 28 

D-  The Case of Ly Sattas’s Family ......................................................................... 31 

3.1.3 The Poor Group ..................................................................................................... 35 

E-  The Case of Les Saros’s Family ............................................................................. 35 

F-  The Case of Ramly’s Family .................................................................................. 41 

G-  The Case of Sa Rosat ......................................................................................... 46 

H-  The Case of Soh Hajin ....................................................................................... 46 

I-  The Case of Roun Saros and the Case of Mat Man ............................................... 47 

CHAPTER IV ........................................................................................................................ 48 

Discussion and Conclusion ................................................................................................... 48 

Wealth Stratification .......................................................................................................... 48 

Muslim Cham and their Faith ............................................................................................ 49 

A Piece of Land- As Influential Factor for Mobility ......................................................... 50 

AREA OF FURTHUR STUDY: ........................................................................................ 52 

ANNEXES .............................................................................................................................. 53 

Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 65 

3

LIST OF TABLES

1) Table A: Family Profile of Yeb 21

2) Table B: Family Profile of Ly Sales 26

3) Table C: Family Profile of Sa El 29

4) Table D: Family Profile of Ly Sattas 32

5) Table E: Family Profile of Les Saros 34

6) Table F: Family Profile of Ramly 42

4

LIST OF FIGURES

1) Differences in Perceived Income Levels across three ethnicities 10

2) Chong Kneas commune Map in South of Siem Reap Town 53

3) Chong Kneas Map in dry season and Flooded Season 54

4) Chong Kneas Aerial Photo taken from the Tonle Sap Lake

and from Phnom Krom 55

5) Floating Mosque surrounded by floating houses 56

6) New road to the Tonle Sap Lake passed through Chong Kneas 57

7) One Key Informant Sewing Souvenir Shirts and

Her Three of her Tourist Boats, tied near Her House 58 8) A fixed house being built and new plots of land

recently distributed to villagers in Chong Kneas 59

5

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

1. ADB Asian Development Bank

2. DoP Department of Planning, (in Siem Reap, Cambodia)

6

CHAPTER I

Muslim Cham in Cambodia

1- Introduction

Cham people’s presence in Cambodia is not recent. They moved from their

former Champa Kingdom into Cambodia from the early fifteen century after the fall

of Vijaya in 1471 in the face of Vietnamese conquest(Collin, 1996). Over two

hundred years later in 1692, another movement of Cham people migrated into

Cambodia because of Vietnam Nam Tien (moving to the south) oppression and was

followed by the third and fourth movements in 1795-96 and in 1830-1835 (Ibid.,).

Many of them then settled in the eastern provinces of Cambodia such as Kampong

Cham, probably named after the Cham, and Kratie. Nowadays, one can see them all

over the country including Kampong Chhnang, Battambang, Kampot, Kandal and

Siem Reap. In the last province, there are several Muslim Cham communities

including Chong Kneas and Steung Thmey.

“Cham” itself is a simple, but complicated term which has been confused by

the outsiders. Not only the foreigners who are not able to distinguish them, but also

most of Khmers. The latter, who are in the mainstream of the society, ironically may

know only that Cham people are the descendents of former Kingdom of Champa,

where is now in Central Vietnam.

So who are the Cham? Quoted in Collins' study, a Saigon-based secondary

school teacher who conducted an investigation on Cham in Indochina in 1929-1930,

divided Cham people into three groups- Kobuol, the Trimeu and the third was

unnamed. (However, Blengsli only divided them into two groups: the traditionalist or

“pure Cham” and the orthodox which includes those who get influence from Malay,

Saudi Arab and Kuwait. (Nin, 2006)) Collins’s division was somewhat based on the

source where religious practice got influenced. The practice of the first group, the

Kobuol had connection with Arab, using Arabic in their mosques, where the second

one, the trimeu, has strong relationship with Malaysia. The third group who practiced

7

very traditional belief and lived in Kampong Tralach of Cambodia was not named

(Collins, 2007). However, Collins used a cultural approach to indentify the groups.

They are the Jahed, the Cham and the Chvea. The Chvea was a negative term named

by the other Cham on the basis that they do not speak Cham, but Khmer language.

Interestingly, the Jahed (or Kom Jumat) were called so because they pray only once

a week. The last group who called themselves “Cham” was referred to the trimeu

group. They spoke both Khmer and Cham and used either Arabic or Malay language

for religious texts (Collins, 2007). They were also considered as the modernist. In the

whole study, we will use the term “Muslim Cham” for this last group, taking those

who live in Chong Khneas as the basis of our analysis.

In his conclusion, Collins stated that Cham community was seen to have tried

to change their status, and were locally and internationally regarded being great need

of development. Yet, “the Chams remain poor and ignorant.” (Collins, 2007:62b)

This also means that there are, of course, some barriers to their developments or

social mobility because, according to economist’s viewpoint, people tend to move to

a more beneficial job.

Collin’s informant seemed to blame the political practice of the government.

The informant viewed that the pro-Vietnam government did not allow the Cham to

establish school particularly aimed at teaching about Champa history. (Collins,

2007:62a) The teaching more or less would remind the unity of Chams in their

motherland Champa where is now central vietnam. The school would upset Vietnam.

We can infer that he was also stressing on the educational barrier which prevented

them from development.

However, Collin is not the only scholar who studied about Cham in both

Cambodia and Vietnam. There are a number of other scholars such as Dang Nghiem

Van et al, Nakamura, Michael Vickery, Blengsli, Graceffo and Emiko Stock. In

1993, Dang and his colleages did a study about types and location of Muslim Cham

houses in different places in Vietnam while in 1999 and 2003 Nakamura studied

about Cham migration to Cambodia. Also, Michael Vickery revised the Cham

studies whereas Blengsli aimed at studying Cham culture and self awareness in

contemporary Cambodia. Last, but not least, a young French female scholar, Emiko

Stock did a study about Cham magic diagram. (Uy, 2006)

8

Yet, the findings of their studies are not always the same. For example,

Blengsli estimated that there are approximately 500,000 to 700,000 Cham or Khmer

Islam, consisting of 5% of the whole population (13.4 million) in Cambodia while

other sources estimated the population at 423,780. (Nin, 2006) More or less, they are

the decendants of the Cham who migrated into Cambodia which Collins believed

that they moved to the country in “four waves”. (Collins, 1996) Nakamura believed

that this was partially attributed to Vietnam state policy toward ethnic minorities or

political conflicts.

The migrants came to live in different parts of Cambodia, but it is most

apparant that they live near/in the rivers where they could practice traditional

fishing, their well-known occupation. Besides, they are blacksmith, jewery makers

and boat makers (Nin, 2006:7).

1.2 Community Profile- Chong Kneas

Chong Kneas, about 10 to 15 kilometers to the South of Siem Reap, is one of

many places where Muslim Cham live. It is a fishing community located in the

uttermost North of the Tonle Sap Lake. The numbers of population were 1,193

households consisting of 6,415 people in 2007 (ADB, 2007). This had increased

from some 1,084 households consisting of 5,857 people in 2006 (DoP, 2006). They

live in floating houses which need to be moved in accordance with the fall and rise of

the lake, creating difficulting living conditions and difficult access to health and

school facilities

It is notably remarkable here that there is a significant increase of the

population is owing to recent development in the area. According to Push and Pull

theory of migration, people would move to a place where they perceive as a better

place (Bontemps, Arna, and Jack Conroy, 1997). In other words, they would go

where they can find better jobs and in this case. Despite the difficulties of living on

the lake, Chong Kneas is one of the most attractive destination that pulls migrants

9

who suffered from low production in their hometown, mainly in Cambodia from low

agricultural production.

A previous study conducted by the ADB in 2004 found wide livelihood

diversifications in the area. There are a variety of occupations available to the

villagers such as fisherman, tourist boat operators, motor taxi, souvenir sellers, etc.

totally over 50 types of occupations (ADB, 2007). Chong Kneas’s geographical

location, which is just about 15 kilometers to the south of Siem Reap, a major tourist

destination in Cambodia, makes possible a short trip for tourists to the community.

For instance, tourists may want to take short trips on the lake from Chong Kneas to

visit the flooded forest, the wetlands, the floating villages and the wildlife sanctuary

around the lake. As an illustration, in 2002 56,480 tourists visited Chong Kneas.

(Transport, 2004, p. 10)

Similarly, its location as a harbor can make more job opportunities for

stakeholders. From the harbor of Chong Kneas, fish which is either caught or raised

in the lake is exported to Phnom Penh and other destinations. Both local people and

foreign passengers can travel by waterway. Therefore, people from other parts of

Cambodia would, of course, look for a better opportunity and get involved in port

work, tourism and fish industry there for their livelihood’s improvement.

Chong Kneas is an ethnically heterogeneous community. Out of 1,193

households, 818 are Khmer, 345 are Vietnamese and 30 are Cham (ADB, 2007, p.

2), a decline of nearly 20% from the 36 Cham households in 2004 (ADB 2004).

Generally, most households live on house boats or in makeshift houses made of

natural materials gathered from the nearby forest. At the same time, some families

live in substantial fixed houses along the high road from Phnom Kroam to the shore

of the lake. A report published by the Ministry of Public Work and Transport,

assisted by the ADB in 2004 could well describe the situation in Chong Kneas:

“Most members of the community are poor and live in unhealthy surroundings

with limited access to education, health and other social facilities. However the

community also has some quite wealthy fish merchants and commercial

fishermen.” (Transport, 2004, p. 4)

10

This extract suggests that while a few families are quite wealthy, the rest is

not. However, it did not tell about any specific status of one particular ethnic group,

especially the Muslim Cham. According to a report published by ADB in 2004, in

the perception of the minority Cham, the 15% poorest of their communities earn

only 200 Riel to 1,000 Riel per household per day which is ten times less than

income which the Vietnamese perceive as the income level of their poorest

members, 1,000 Riel - 2,000 Riel. The trend is similar for other three categories: the

poor (40%), the medium (25%) and the richest (15%) (See Figure 1).

Figure 1: Differences in Perceived Income Levels across three ethnicities

in Chong Kneas, 2004

No Ethnicities Perceived Income per day per household

Poorest (15%) Poor (40%) Medium (25%) Richest (15%)

1 Vietnamese 1,000 - 2,000 2,000 - 5,000 20,000 - 50,000 100,000 - 500,000

2 Khmer 200 - 1,000 1,000 - 5,000 10,000 - 100,000 100,000 - 500,000

3 Cham 200 - 1,000 1,000 - 5,000 10,000 - 100,000 100,000 - 500,000

Source: ADB, 2004

1.2 Problem Statement

In Chong Kneas, there are socio-economic differences among the three ethnic

groups, and even in the same group, for example, Muslim Cham, which is the unit of

study in this research. Why do some Muslim Chams move ahead while many others

are still behind? In other words, are there any forms of social or economic situation

or access to resources in the community, which determine mobility?

The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) in 2002 prioritized poverty

reduction strategies as seen in the so-called “National Poverty Reduction Strategies-

NPRS”. In that year, as stated in the NPRS, 36 percents of Cambodian population

11

lived under the national poverty line, which is about US$0.46- 0.63 a day, depending

on differing costs of living in urban and rural areas(RGC, 2002). The reasons for

such poverty, they justified, was because of rapid growth of population, lacking of

opportunity, low capabilities, insecurity, exclusion, and vulnerability (Ibid. iii).

High population growth may result in poverty. In such an agrarian society

like Cambodia in general and Chong Kneas in particular, the population is heavily

depending on natural resources. Imagine that the resources in the community can

support only a few thousands of people. However, what would happen if the

population were relatively increasing by natural growth or in-migration? It can make

them harder to make a living with the resources that are being consumed in a certain

amount and to some extent could no longer regenerate. Consequently, the whole

population would face the risk of poverty, but the ability to move out of poverty or

risk of becoming poor would differ from group to group. The people in Chong Kneas

are more or less encountering the same problems. How can they escape from that?

In the early time, people responded differently to the increasing population

density. They could move to a new farming or grazing land:

People responded to the increasing population density—and a resulting overuse of

farming and grazing lands—in several ways. Some people moved to settle entirely new

regions. Others devised ways of producing food in larger quantities and more quickly.

The simplest way was to expand onto new fields for planting and new pastures to

support growing herds of livestock. Many populations also developed systems of

irrigation and fertilization that allowed them to reuse cropland and to produce greater

amounts of food on existing fields (Potts, 2008).

Some of the Cham villagers in Chong Kneas did the same things- they moved

out of the community, though some non-Cham newcomers arrived. However, a lot of

them cannot move anywhere. Due to absolute poverty approach, those who live in

absolute poverty trap cannot have any ways to move out (Y, 2007).

12

1.3 Aim and Objectives

This study aims at investigating the social mobility among Muslim Cham in

Chong Khneas, Siem Reap province, Cambodia.

Specific objectives are:

- To explore the relationship between Muslim belief and its folpoors’

economic and livelihoods choices, and thus the influence of Islam on

economic choice as one of the most influential factors for one’s social

mobility; and secondly

- To explore the linkage between social mobility and physical mobility and

the location of one’s residence in determining economic opportunity and

status. In theory, people who live in a place where they can access to

resources would be able to move upward more than those who live in a

less accessible place.

1.4 Research Questions

To realize the objectives of the study, several research questions are set up as

following:

- What influences on the Cham social mobility?

- How does social mobility among the Cham happen?

- What are the consequences of such mobility?

1.5 Rationale of the Research

This research, whose objective is to study about social mobility of Muslim

Cham, is expected to add more knowledge and information to the academic body that

focus on the Muslim Cham in Cambodia.

13

Apart from few studies such as that of William Collins’ study, whose focus is

quite broad with the Cham in the whole country, and several other scholars, the study

of Muslim Cham seems to be rare, especially the study of social mobility. It is hoped

that it will broaden the understanding of forms of the social mobility as well as the

status of this ethnic group in Cambodia.

1.6 Methodologies

A number of methods were employed in this study. While desk research is

used to collect literature and relevant information in various libraries, field research

is for collecting information from the site, which is Chong Kneas. During the field

research, a number of methods were employed such as household surveys, focus

group and life history. Ethnography was used to present the information. (See more

details in section 1.6.3).

1.6.1 Site Selection and Target Group

Chong Kneas has been chosen for this study for several reasons. Firstly, It is

a floating village in Siem Reap where there are recently economic prosperity and a

Muslim Cham community of 36 households living in one floating village. Though,

there is a trend of out-migration in the community, which is suitable to investigate

linkage between social mobility and physical mobility. Of course, there are a lot

more Muslim Cham communities in the country such as Kampong Cham, Kampong

Chhnang, Kandal, Battambang, Kampot province.

Secondly, Chong Kneas is a fishing community located along the uttermost

Northeastern bank of the Tonle Sap (See the maps in the Appendix Section at back).

This commune is mobile seasonally in accordance with the level of the lake. For

example, in the dry season, it is located just right the edge of the river while it is

moved forward to Phnom Kraom in the flood season. Besides some fixed houses,

which stay in one place, all other floating houses, hospitals and schools are mobile.

According to my observation, this area has been very busy in economy since its

14

residents were very working all the time. The physical and shifting conditions of the

community make it hard for them to send children to school or hard to get health care

or other form of resources. Such site allows the research to investigate the linkage

between livelihoods, physical and social mobility and education and resources

access.

Two other sites were selected just after working in Chong Kneas for two

months. Owing to my observation and interviews, a number of Muslim Cham in the

community moved to new places such as Steung Thmey, my second site, and Chroy

Metrey.

Steung Thmey is located in the outskirt of Siem Reap provincial town, which

is not quite far from Chong Kneas. There is a relatively increase of Muslim Cham

immigrants to Steung Thmey counting for about 20 households nowadays. The

causes of this movement are various and covered in the next discussion.

Chroy Metrey is opposite; it is located in Kandal province, which is very far

from Chong Kneas. Mostly it is the birthplace of the Cham migrants. The last two

sites were studied in in specific respects in which they were important to some

extent, for example, to investigate social mobility and physical mobility.

1.6.2 Methods of Collecting Data

The study here is not trying to represent the whole Muslim Cham community

in Cambodia owing to limitation of time and financial resources. Yet I employed

three main techniques for collecting necessary data. First, “focus groups” was used

with six groups of Chams. Three focus groups for the Chams in Chong Khneas,

where they are living on the floating houses. During the focus groups, 12 questions

are mainly asked to let them discuss what are the catalysts or constraints to their

(social) mobility.

Secondly, a “family history” or “life history” technique was also used to trace

the story of 10 Cham families. In other words, this was to see how the social mobility

15

exists as well as its process. In addition, among the questions to be examined were to

see if they are upward or downward in their social mobility, as households and as

individuals comparing from the beginning they started earning a living.

A household questionnaire (attached in draft at Appendix 3) was used to

conduct semi-structured interviews with each household. The purpose of the

questionnaire is not to collect quantitative data, but rather to get systematic and

comparable data for each of the 10 households, and to provide a database on which

to conduct open-ended case study and case history discussion, e.g. systematic data on

marriages, mobility and residences of father and mother, sons and daughters, and

data on education and on physical mobility related to employment of all individuals.

1.6.3 Limitation

Experience in the field was far from my expectation. I used to think that I

would easily get informants to interview. Yet, most of them were busy nearly all

days: they went fishing, selling, driving tourists to visit the villages, all of which

were kinds of barriers to get information.

In addition, I found it hard to respond to my informants’ expectations. Many

of them expected some money after giving interviews. However, the situation

changed after I was successful in building rapport with them.

16

CHAPTER II

Theoretical Background of Social Mobility

And Social Stratification

2.1 Social Mobility

Social mobility is the movement of individuals and groups between different

group position as a result of changes in occupation, wealth or income. (Anthony

Giddens, Mitchell Duneier, & Richard P. Appelbaum, 2003:240) There are two ways

of looking at the mobility: Intra-generational mobility and Inter-generational

mobility.

2.1.1 Intra­generational mobility and Inter­generational mobility 

Intra-generational mobility is study of how far up or down in the socio-

economic scale at an individual moves within the course of his or her working life

while the inter-generational mobility means upward or downward between

generations of a family. (Anthony Giddens, et al, 2003:240). But according to

Professor John W. Pilgrim, intra-generational mobility could also describe the

upward or downward mobility of a household or family, or of a community.

 

2.1.1 Determination of Social mobility 

What factors drive social mobility? Some argured that societies allow for

more mobolity as they become more technologically advanced. In other words,

people will be able to move up when the society where he or she is living advances

in technology. This seems at first not to be applicable in the case of Cambodian

groups that remain weak in technology, such as the Cham. My study shows,

17

however, that their adaptation to trade opportunities such as ice trading and the

tourist industry and the use of motorised tourist boats has led to livelihood

diversification within initially poor fishing households, wealth and social mobility.

Yet another argument of “exchange mobility” states that it “results from an exchange

in position on the socio-economic scale that talented people move up the economic

hierarchy while the less talented move down.” (Anthony Giddens, et al, 2003:240).

This theory could be used to explore the reason of mobility in Cambodia.

Also, there is another debate from those who believe in “structural mobility”.

It demonstrates that “mobility results from changes in the numbers and kinds of jobs

available in a society.” (Anthony Giddens, et al, 2003:240). It suggests that the more

occupations, the more opportunity for mobility. I examine this question below in

looking at the range of livelihoods in the Chong Kneas Cham community by

comparison with the Chong Kneas community as a whole.

In 1959 Sugmour Lipset and Reinhard Bendix conducted a investigation on

“social mobility in industrial societies”. They focused on mobility of men from blue-

collar to white-collar work. There was no evidence to support that one stonger

industrial country like US was more open to social mobility than other European

countries. Their findings did not prove the “industrial hypothesis”, but support the

“structural mobility” pointing out that “all of the countries experienced expansion of

white-collar work.” This was later added by Piritim Sorokin , who found in his study

of “social mobility” in 1972 that the chance for swift rise in the United States was

not as much as its folklore suggested. (Anthony Giddens, et al, 2003:236).

In addition, David L. Featherman and Robert M. Hauser claimed that there

were differences in mobility between racial and ethnic groups. Of course, different

groups of people have different opportunity for changes. It is true for the case of

ethnic goups in Cambodia. But what are the factors for such changes?

All of these studies are those of intergenerational mobility comparing the

status of one generation to the next generation to see what has been changing in the

society. The other kind of studying about the social mobility is the intragenerationl

mobility. It states that “earnings, status, and satisfiction increase most dramatically

when workers are in their twenties, with more subtle increase later on.” (Anthony

18

Giddens, et al, 2003:236) It indicates that after reaching the age of twenty, most

people have more chance to move up and it would continue when they gain more

experience when they get older. It is likely that this theory does imply that the social

mobility has very weak, if not at all, correlation with rural households including

ethnic groups, in which most decisions about mobility are taken by household heads.

One question to examine among the Cham at Chong Kneas is the extent to which

education in the younger generation has permitted greater mobility, and to what

extent this mobility is constrained by differential access to education, and especially

secondary education. Another is the extent to which cultural expectations among the

Cham limit or determine economic mobility and choice of livelihoods.

So what are the opportunities for mobility? Peter Blau and Otis Dudley

Duncun in 1967 suggested that hard working and persistence would fasten the speed

of mobility. The people who work hard and able to persist the difficulties will have

priority to raise their status or income. Besides, they claimed that social background

should be taken into account to the discussion. A child from a wealthy family seems

to have more educational attainment which more or less a catalyst for the mobility.

The family would affect the way he or she studies and then the kinds of work he or

she does in the future. In contrast, Pierre Bourdieu in his study of “transmission of

cultural capital” argued that working group parents lack the economic and cultural

capital to make a difference. The parents must be busy to work in the fields or in the

factories to buy foods for the family. (Anthony Giddens, et al, 2003:237).

To conclude this section, my definition of social mobility is the movement of

individuals or the whole family between diffent levels of the social and economic

stratification.

2.2 Hypothesis of the research

In this study, I have made the hypothesis that social mobility of Muslim

Cham in Chong Kneas is determined by social stratification, access to resources and

19

the Muslim faith. I have assumed further that social mobility is the movement of

individuals or the whole family between diffent levels of the social stratification.

20

CHAPTER III

Social Stratification and Access to Resources

in Chong Kneas

3.1 Introduction Findings in the fields show that there are three levels of wealth stratification

in Chong Kneas, the higher (high income households) , middle income and the poor

or poor households.

Group ranked by wealth is not seen in other aspects of status. The higher

group is mainly characterized by the wealth which is a benefit of their involvements

in tourism sector. They could earn US$ 50 to US$ 100 a day from the ownership and

management of tourist boats .

The middle group simply are those whose jobs are fishermen. They normally

get involved in fishery and have their own motorised boats and fishing gear. Their

daily incomes are various in accordance with fishing season, but the average is US$

10 to US$ 49. Lastly, the poor group are those Cham who do not possess any means

of production, means of fishing. They use their own labor to earn money such as

fishing laborers or porters.

Each group will be examined in details as following:

3.1.1 The Wealthy Groups

The wealthier Cham can access to or holds “means of production,” such as

fishing gears or tourist boats.

To make a better understanding of this modern wealthier group and of their

social mobility, a case story from a family of Pou Yeb can be brought into

discussion as below.

21

A- The Case of Yeb’s Family

Pou Yeb is a Muslim Cham who lives in Chong Kneas with his family on a

floating house. He moves the house quite often each year in accordance with level of

water of the lake.

Table A: Family Profile of Yeb

N Name Age Relation to Head of HH Sex Marital

Status Spoken

Languages Occupation Place

1 Yeb 45 Head of HH M Cham/ Khmer Boat driver Chong

Kneas

2 Saros 42 wife F Cham/ Khmer Seller Chong

Kneas

3 Yeb Kamri 24 Son M Cham/ Khmer Boat driver Chong

Kneas

4 Yeb Loh 22 Son M Cham/ Khmer Boat driver Chong

Kneas

5 Yeb Sary 19 Daughter F Cham/ Khmer Ice seller Chong

Kneas

6 Yeb Mavy 17 Daughter F Cham/ Khmer Ice seller Chong

Kneas

7 Yeb Arifine 4 Son M Cham/ Khmer N/A Chong

Kneas

8 Yeb Arona 4 Daughter F Cham/ Khmer N/A Chong

Kneas

His main income now is from his involvement in tourism. While he is a

tourist-boat driver, his wife, Saros, is a seller. She said that:

“I am sewing to make cloth for Japanese tourists who came to the village recently.

The Japanese tourists will buy the cloth for US$ 15. They like this kind of souvenirs.

However, it takes me 10 to 15 days to complete a shirt. I do not think other villagers

would like to do this job since it is not so easy and of course take so much time. I

also make hats, which gives me $5.”

“Besides I am a seller. I mainly sell ice and gasoline. These two items are much

consumed because ice can be used for keeping fish fresh while gasoline for running

the machines. As you may know, now every house has at least a machine boat for

fishing, and transporting goods. In addition, I sell several other products for every

day foods such as sugar, salt, seasoning; and powder and shampoo.” (Personal

interview with Ming Saros, 35, July 26, 2008)

22

When asked what her husband does, she continued that:

“While I am at home doing this stuff, my husband whose name is Yeb is out

in the lake. The second son of ours is also there. They are tourist-boat drivers. As

you can see here, we have five boats for transporting tourists. They have joined a

tour-operating association. In this association, there are 30 boats; each takes turn to

drive tourists to visit the lake. For example, when the first group of tourist arrives,

boat number one will accompany the group first, then boat number two will go after,

and so on and on. There are also several other associations in the commune.”

“Today they took a smaller one since there are not so many tourists. For each turn,

they get about US$ 10 and sometimes US$ 15 if the tourists need to go far into the

Tonlesap Lake or to Kampong Preah, another floating village located at the other

side of the lake in Battambang. However, there are also some lucky days, when

many tourists come, they can get two turns for each boat. In total, they may get ten

turns a day.” (Personal interview with Ming Saros, 35, July 26, 2008)

From these extracts, we could see that Pou Yeb’s family is quite wealthy

among the Muslim Cham villagers in Chong Kneas for they have been involved in

tourism sector. They have six adult workers in the family and they have got five

boats for transporting tourists every day. On average, they can earn about US$ 50 to

US$ 100 a day.

They started their marriage since 1987 in this village. “Now we have 6

children, 3 boys and 3 girls. They actually were born in Chroy Metrey, in Kandal

province”. After Pol Pol regime, Saros, the wife, lived in Kampong Preah,

Battambang, in another Cham community, with her uncle. She occasionally visited

Chong Kneas where she met him. At that time, he sold his labor to support his

mother. As a matter of fact, his father has another wife and left heavy burden on the

son, they said. Then his mother went to Saros’s uncle and asked her to marry Yeb.

As their tradition of dowry, they paid 500 Riel.

As a new couple, they decided to fish for a living. They went fishing in

collaboration with their relatives. This form of social capital existed then from which

they could take benefit for starting new life. In such collaboration, they used their

labor while they had boat and fishing gears. Therefore, they got only one third of the

23

fish caught. They then went forward by doing various jobs such as ice-sellers and

grocery.

Saros was not hesitant and was happy to describe her past jobs as quite

successful. She continued that:

“We then started to sell ice in 1995. We were so happy to get bonuses. For every

hundred cubes of ice, we got one cube free. One cube was about 1 meter long or

over a hundred kilograms. For the last six year, the amount of ice sold soared. We

could sell about a hundred per day. It was because there was very few ice sellers.”

(Personal interview with Ming Saros, 35, July 26, 2008)

Of course, they made quite a lot of profits from that. She continued, in each

cube of ice, they could save about 7,000 Riels. For the last six years, they could even

make much more profits because they could sell about eighty to a hundred cubes of

ice.

The ice producer was also a key catalyst for this success. She then kept on by

saying that they were constantly provided support such as baskets for keeping ice

freeze and later ice-breaking machine. She commented, “He was so kind to us though

he was not a Muslim Cham like us.”

Consequently, they finally could build a floating house own their own and

gain more capital for investing on other forms of business. Yet, after building the

house, their business was not so good for several reasons. As a matter of facts, their

neighbors, both Khmer and Vietnamese, started to sell ice too after they saw Saros’s

family’s success. Secondly, ice consumption was falling down as a result of decline

in the amount of fish caught.

She described that slowdown as a good break for the family. “My husband

and children used much energy for selling the ice. Every day, they carried ice here

and there which made them so exhausted,” she said. It was when the amount of ice

sold fell down that the family were relaxing and got a new idea.

Seeing a new trend of development, they got themselves involved in tourism.

They first bought a Tuk Tuk, a popular vehicle run by a motorcycle attached with a

cart. The eldest son took the new job. As a Tuk Tuk driver, he made new friends. In

24

spite of Muslim faith prohibition, he started to drink beer or wine. “Worse than that,

he started to use drug,” she added. Yeb, the father, did not want his son to stay away

from him and get addicted with such drug. So he told his eldest son to drive tourist-

boats with him and his second son.

When the eldest son got addicted with drug, he got a lot of problem for

himself and the family. He cut his hand or went away from home for several days

making the whole family was so worried. Saros told, “We were so worried that he

may have drunk wine or used drug, which made him dare to do anything. In this

case, we were upset that he may have fought or got killed.”

Saros first wanted to send her son to Banteay Meanchey, where there was a

place for treating such drug users. However, she did not do so because she was afraid

that the son would be beaten up or could not stand with any forms of hard treatment.

She then got an idea. She put pills in glass of water without letting him know. Until

recently that he started to behave well. He agreed to go preaching with the elders in

other Muslim Cham communities in Cambodia.

What Saros was trying to tell us is that when the family changed to another

form of business. For example, they became Tuk Tuk drivers which directly touched

with the outside world, there was inevitably a problem even though it gave them

quite high income. This problem could later be solved with the attachment to her

religion, Muslim. Her son, who was much addicted to drug, was changed when he

joined Muslim praying group.

Reasons for Various Occupations of Yeb’s Family

Fishing is believed to be traditional occupation for Muslim Cham. This

makes us question that “why did Yeb’s family moved out of that?” They must have

some logical reasons.

When asked, why did you not stick with fishing? Yeb quickly replied that,

“No! Actually, we used to fish for quite long. However, it did not make much profit

25

for us. So we quitted it.” He continued that his father, who was a cattle trader, used to

suggest him not to fish for the whole life for the sake of better life.

“My father told me that you should not keep fishing for your whole life,” said

Yeb. The reasons he later gave are that fish population would fall down and that

going fishing was dangerous to some extent. He explained, “When I went out fishing

in the lake far away from home, I did not feel well at all. I was always worried about

my family that they could be hit by storm and drown.” As a matter of facts, floating

houses in the village were sometimes hit by storms. Different parts of the houses

were broken down; property was lost while some children or old women were

drowned. He concluded by confirming, “Fishing is only our short-term job before we

move to a better one.”

Technology and a change in the economic character of Chong Kneas, have

played important roles in determining the mobility of Yeb’s family. After switching

his job to selling ice and driving tourist boats, his livelihood got better and could

build a safer house for the family. Their religious faith did not affect their move into

these new opportunities. They have been aided by the number of active workers in

the household.

B- The Case of Ly Sales’s Family

Another case story is worth examining for its diversification of livelihoods

and its family size. Among thirteen members of the family, some drive tourist boats

while the rest are butchers and cloth sellers. It is the case of Ly Sales’s extended

family.

The family started when Kob Rosmas was 16 years old. She and Ly Sales got

married in Chroy Metrey and got two children, who later died in Pol Pot regime. In

this period, the family was exvacuted to Battambang. Soon after its fall, Rosmas’s

family moved to Chong Kneas. They had been told that there were a lot of fish there

so that they could make a living on it.

26

At first, they did not have many fishing tools. They got only one boat and one

fishing net. They caught quite a lot of fish, which was then dried and made to fish

paste. They continued the occupation for quite a long time since they could get much

income for which they used to buy more fishing boats, nets and built a floating

house.

Table B: Family Profile of Ly Sales

N Name Age

Relation to Head of HH Sex Marital

Status Spoken

Languages Occupation Place

1 Kub Roymas 51 Wife F Cham/ Khmer Housewife Chong

Kneas

2 Ly Sales 56 Head of HH M Cham/ Khmer Boat driver Chong

Kneas 3 Les Meth 5 Son M - - Died in DK - 4 Les Ry 3 Daughter F - - Died in DK -

5 Les Pli 28 Son M Cham/ Khmer Butcher Chong

Kneas

6 Su Lork 22 Daughter in law F Cham/

Khmer Butcher Chong Kneas

7 Les Navy 25 Son M Cham/ Khmer Boat driver Chong

Kneas

8 Him Noyani 23 Daughter in law F Cham/

Khmer Housewife Chong Kneas

9 Les Fariny 22 Daughter F Cham/ Khmer Clothes seller Chong

Kneas

10 Les Su Kriyas 21 Daughter F Cham/ Khmer Clothes seller Chong

Kneas

11 Les Fasy 19 Son M Cham/ Khmer Boat driver Chong

Kneas

12 Les Romly 16 Son M Cham/ Khmer Boat driver Chong

Kneas

13 Les Arifin 11 Son M Cham/ Khmer Student Chong

Kneas

Later, they changed to new occupation/jobs. In the last three years, the

parents bought one boat to transport the tourists for sightseeing around the lake. Not

long after that, they bought three more boats, making the total boats of the family

now four. Les Pli, the fifth child, and his wife became butchers while two other

daughters became cloth sellers.

However, Les Navy, the seventh child, and his wife broke record of the

family. They went to Malaysia in 2004, three months after their marriage. The reason

was that there was very few jobs available in Chong Kneas at that time. But the most

27

important reason was they had a network in Malaysia. His brother-in-law moved to

Malaysia for quite a long time that led to his finally getting Malaysian citizenship.

Staying there was both good and bitter experience for them. At once, the

brother-in-law lent them US$ 100, which was used to buy two bicycles and some

staff. They actually were starting a new business there.

“In Malaysia, we sold fruits, mineral water and milk. Our targets were the

construction workers and visitors to public places. For the first two months, we made

quite a lot of money. For housing, we had to monthly spend about 500 Ringgits

[Malaysian currency, 1 Ringgit was about 1,000 Riels] and about 150 Ringgits for

babysitting.”

“Unfortunately, when our visas were expired we met a lot of difficulties. Malaysian

police caught us very often. Sometimes that happened twice a day resulted in loss of

their income for the fine. As a matter of facts, they could earn about 1,000 to 1,500

Ringgits and saved about 400 Ringgits after totaling all spending.” (Personal

interview with Les Navy, boat driver, July 30, 2008)

With their network in Malaysia, they moved there for better opportunities.

However, faced with a lot of difficulties as a illegal migrant, they could not stand

with. So they returned to Cambodia in 2007 and saved some 1,000 Ringgits.

What was intersting about Kob Rosmas is that her information that Chong

Kneas, there were few men . Consequently, no local men came to ask her daughters

for marriage.

In their case also technology change has played an important part in their

mobility. Secondly social capital, in the form of their connection with people in

Malaysia, and their own enterprise there, and some financial capital gained there,

have played a part in their becoming tourist boat owners and managers. Thirdly the

presence of a large family labour force has been important in being able to operate

tourist boats.

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3.1.2 The Middle Group

Chong Kneas is a mainly a fishing community. For most of the villagers,

fishing is the main income for the families. Sa El’s family has been fishing for many

years in the lake. The family can be groupified into the middle group, which simply

are those whose jobs are fishermen. They normally get involved in fishery and have

substantial means of caching fish, including motorised boats and larger gear, and

may employ others as fishermen and crew. Their daily incomes are various in

accordance with fishing season, but the average is US$ 10 to US$ 49.

C- The Case of Sa El’s Family

Sa El, 48, is the head of quite a big family which consists of 8 members. The

oldest child is 24 while the youngest is 12 years old. The main income for the family

comes from fishing. There are five active members who help the family to fish which

make it a quite well household in the community.

Sitting in his floating house and smoking his cigarettes in a relaxing way, Sa

Él was asked if he did not go fishing. He quickly answered with a smile that, “No! I

don’t. Because today I do not feel well. My children have gone fishing.” While most

of villagers in his age are away for fishing, he is staying at home. But it is alright for

him since he has other people- his children do the work for him. This introduction

shows that, in his family, there is enough work force, needed to fish. Consequently,

the family is quite wealthy.

None of the family members work outside the community or sell labor to

others. At least five of his children can help him fish. They were not much concerned

about going to school, they mostly did not study higher than primary school.

Furthermore, the numbers of laborers of the family increased when two of the

children recently got married, making the total numbers of labor 7 people. But that

was not enough for his large-scale fishing during dry season. He then had to rent two

more laborers. The fish caught were sold by his wife, Seu Srey, 46, at local market.

29

This helps increase his family income because selling fish at the market is more

expensive than wholeselling at the shore of the lake.

Table C: Family Profile of Sa El

N Names Age Relation to Head of HH Sex Marital

Status Spoken

Languages Occupation Place

1 Sa El 48 Head of HH M Cham/ Khmer

Fishing Chong Kneas

2 Ser Srey 46 Wife F Cham/ Khmer

Fishing Chong Kneas

3 El Aisas 24 Daughter F Cham/ Khmer

Fishing Chong Kneas

4 SunTrolib 27 Son in Law M Cham/ Khmer

Fishing Chong Kneas

5 El Matsat 22 Daughter F Cham/ Khmer

Fishing Chong Kneas

6 Ses Saros 21 Son in Law M Cham/ Khmer

Fishing Chong Kneas

7 El Mosa 20 Son M Cham/ Khmer

Fishing Chong Kneas

8 El Mansot 18 Son M Cham/ Khmer

Fishing Chong Kneas

9 El Miasmas 14 Daughter F Cham/ Khmer

Fishing Chong Kneas

10 El Troheat 12 Son M Cham/ Khmer

Fishing Chong Kneas

As a result, the total income of the family is about US$ 15 a day. He said that

the income generated was spent for various items ranging from daily foods to fishing

tools.

“This year since my children are growing and able to go fishing on their own, I had

to buy one more set of fishing tools for them. I basically spent about US$ 105 for

fishing nets and US$ 165 for a fishing boat. There are more items on which I had to

spend.” (Personal interview with Sa El, fisherman, 48, July 27, 2008.)

Current economic status of Sa El family seems to be good, so what was it like

when he first moved in Chong Kneas?

Sa El arrived at Chong Kneas as early as 1979, just after the fall of Khmer

Rouge Regime. To start new livelihood, he alone caught fish for barter with rice

since he had no ricefield. In 1982, he married to a Cham woman in Chong Kneas

whose name is Seu Srey. The new couple went to the nearby forest to cut firewoods

30

which were later sold for their livelihood. It was not so likely to succeed. Very little

of the firewood were bought. They then shifted to another job. Sa El went to the

same forest, but this time he tried to search for baby birds and brought them to the

market. Once again, he encountered difficulties- he had to stay in the forest

regardless of any animals and he could not found as many bird babies as he wanted.

One year later, he stopped doing the job.

Later he and his wife sold their labor to fishermen in the village. Each of

them got a wage of 25 Riels a day. Their responsibilities were to set fishing nets.

“Twenty five Riel at that time was quite a high income. The Muslim Cham who

employed us was so kind to us. He also gave us some fish for our daily foods.

Consequently, we only spent some of our wages to buy rice while the rest was saved.

About a year later we could buy fishing net to do fishing on our own.”

“Then our livelihood was a bit better, but it was not long. My wife who just gave

birth to our first baby was not quite well. Her health was a day better and worse in

the next day. I could not fully work on the fishing, instead spent much time taking

care of her and the baby. We were in great difficulties again then. We did not catch

much fish and then did not have money to cure her. I finally borrowed some money

from the Cham who I used to work for the treatment of my wife.”

“When she was fully recovered, we did not know what could we do to return the

money. We then got an idea of borrowing more money to buy Ourn- a quite large

fishing net with the ability to catch more fish). With this, I could make better

income. However, I had to give wages for workers who helped us fishing, leaving

only small amount of money for his family. Therefore, I could hardly return the

money to the Cham fellow who sympathized my family. He did not force us to pay

back immediately since he liked us. We helped him catch huge amount of fish when

he hired our labor. In addition, he did not charge us the interest rate. Cham did not

take the interest according to the Qur’an”

“Just after I could return the money and had some savings for building a floating

house, the fish population declined. In effect, I could not catch as much fish as I

could before. In contrast, the price of gasoline constantly rises. I finally decided to

change ways of fishing.”

31

“When my children grew and was able to go fishing, I stopped using the Ourn,

which cost more, especially on gasoline and workers’ wages. Now my adult children

and I went fishing on small boats using normal-sized nets. It cost less, but gave us

quite good money. Each could earn about US$ 5 every day we go fishing.” (Personal

interview with Sa El, fisherman, 48, July 27, 2008.)

Sa El livelihood seemed not to be good since he got married. He and his wife

built a small hut near the bank and then when he fished on his own the family lived

in his fishing boat. The family at that time was having hard time: the number of

active member was less than that of dependence members. “It was not very easy for

us at that time because we had to go fishing and our children were still small, they

could not help us,” said Sa El.

Their livelihood got better, however, when the children grew up. They could

go fishing on their own and help make more incomes for the family. From the story

it can also be inferred that social capital in the form of a Muslim network played

important roles for the family’s mobility. Imagine that if the Cham who lent the

family money to start large-scale fishing, Ourn, charged interest, how much would

Sa El’s family have to pay back? He concluded that if compared to the past, his

livelihood was a bit better.

D- The Case of Ly Sattas’s Family

A neighbor of Sa El’s is Ly Sattass, a thirty-five fishing woman in Chong

Kneas. In her family of seven people, there are five active members, whose jobs are

fishers and boats guard.

While her husband, Mat Sen, 45, works as a guard for taking care of ships at

Chong Kneas harbor, she and her three children go fishing. The rest goes to school.

With her parents, Ly Sattas moved from Battambang to Chong Kneas in the

early 1980 after understanding about the availability of resources in Chong Kneas.

They were told that there were a lot of fish in Chong Kneas where they could fish for

making a living.

32

Table D: Family Profile of Ly Sattas

N Names Age Relation to Head of HH Sex Marital

Status Spoken

Languages Occupation Place

1 Ly Sattas 35 Head of HH F Cham/ Khmer Fishing Chong

Kneas

2 Mat Sen 45 Husband M Cham/ Khmer Ship keeper Chong

Kneas

3 Mat Rona 19 Daughter F Cham/ Khmer fishing Chong

Kneas

4 Mat Haro 17 Son M Cham/ Khmer Fishing Chong

Kneas

5 Mat Les 13 Son M Cham/ Khmer Fishing Chong

Kneas

6 Mat Ravy 12 Daughter F Cham/ Khmer Student Chong

Kneas

7 Mat Rosolin 6 Daughter F Cham/ Khmer Student Chong

Kneas

About ten years later, she got married to Mat Sen there. As a matter of fact,

both of them were born in Chroy Metrey, Kandal province, and were evacuated to

Battambang between 1975 to 1979. They then started fishing using several nets with

a small boat on which her family stayed. Unfortunately, it did not make much

income for the family.

“Sometimes the nets were stolen or hit by storms. Since we did not make much

money, we did not buy new nets, but repaired it by ourselves. What was harder for

us was that the damage was huge. I meant sometimes we could not catch many fish

since the nets were still being fixed.” (Personal interview with Ly Sattas, 35, July 27,

2008.)

In spite of that, Ly Sattas could build a floating house in 1999. Much of financial

resources came from fishing they did in the last four or five years. They at that time

also used Ourn, and follow similar procedure as Sa El’s family.

“Once we used to do large-scale fishing. We used Ourn and had one big boat along

with two small boats. We hired labors for helping us. We got quite a lot of money

from that but we had to spend for many purposes. First we bought gasoline, paid the

workers, and sometimes we were asked, to some extent, forced to give some tips to

the fishery office.” (Personal interview with Ly Sattas, 35, July 27, 2008.)

Other sources of the finance for building their house came from her mother and

relatives for building the house.

33

“I actually had not enough money at that time. My mother and relatives gave and

lent me some extra money. We then tried to find a way to repay the money and to

feed our children.” (Personal interview with Ly Sattas, 35, July 27, 2008.)

Her roles and the children’s changed when Mat Sen had changed the job. She

continued that:

“My husband first helped to fish, but later he got a new work as a guard at the

harbor. So I am alone do the fishing with the children.”

“We did not catch as much fish as our neighbors. First, it was because we did not

have “large-scale” fishing gears, and most importantly, we had only fewer people.

As you can see, I have only two sons and one daughter who can help the work of the

family. The sons could go fishing together on one boat while the daughter and I

helped manage home. When the nets were broken for whatever reasons, my daughter

and I had to fix them. We have only one fishing boat” (Personal interview with Ly

Sattas, 35, July 27, 2008.)

Ly Sattas kept repeating complaining about her difficulties in the present day

situation at the one hand and about the existing roles of the family on the other hand.

“The new work of my husband is not giving us satisfactory income. He got only

US$ 50 a month in spite of the fact that he has to look after the boats for nearly

twenty-four hours. He only comes home for lunch and dinner. Meanwhile, we have

to get extra incomes by fishing, which was not a good deal. First, we did not catch a

lot fish, maybe their population declined. Secondly, we had to take much care for

our gear by protecting it from stealing and from storm. As an example, for the sake

of the nets, we last night had to wake up midnight to go fetch them from the lake

because the wind blew very hard and a storm was about come. As a result,

everyone’s nets were partially damaged and fewer fish was caught. Now I am so

sleepy since tonight I had not enough sleep.” (Personal interview with Ly Sattas, 35,

July 27, 2008.)

Paused for a while, she later continued that if she could, she would not

choose to live or earn a living on the lake. She prefers to run business on the land

even that business may give her half the income she was making on the lake

nowadays.

34

“I would choose 10,000 Riels of running business on the land over 20,000 Riels of

fishing in the lake. In addition, the floating house needs a lot of attention. Different

from the fixed house on the land, it is easily and quickly got cracked. This means we

have to repair in a certain period. For me I have to do the reparation every two years.

It takes me about 2,000,000 Riels for buying bamboos or timber for the boat below

and zinc for the roof.” (Personal interview with Ly Sattas, 35, July 27, 2008.)

Ly Sattas concluded that she wished she had a fixed house on the land so that

she could run other business if she had financial capital and that her children could

easily go to school. Her only wish for the children is that they will be able to know

some basic knowledge and then run a small business on land in the village. In fact,

she was also distributed a piece of land just before the election in 2008. She showed

her intention to build a house as soon as she has enough money.

Regarding to the Muslim outside the community, she said that sometimes,

“not very often,” the Malaysian Muslim came in Chong Kneas and provided the

villagers several materials like shirts, trousers, Saron, and some money. She used to

get 90,000 Riels totally.

The two extracts above thus show that the most fundamental strength of the

middle group is family size. They usually have three to six non-dependent members

who can help the family to fish. While Sa El’s family, the first case, have about six

non-dependence members, the second case of Ly Sattas’s household has only three,

which by and large resulted in smaller income for her family.

These reflect the work by Derrick J. Stenning, Household Viability among the

Pastoral Fulani, 1958. The work is about “family development,” which is referred to

cyclical changes in the size and composition of viable domestic groupings based

upon the family (Goody, 1971: 92). The changes were brought about by the birth,

marriage, and death of family members. When one household gave births (to) or

married children, its size changed.

“They involved not merely changes in family constitution, but affect, and are

affected by, the relation between the family and its means of subsistence, which, as a

domestic unit, it manages, exploits and consumes in close co-residence, continuous

35

co-operation, and commensality,” stated the author. What he means is that such a

domestic unit is viable when the labor it can provide is suitable for the exploitation of

its means of subsistence, while the latter is adequate for the support of the members

of the domestic unit.

3.1.3 The Poor Group

Marx wrote in his book, the Communist Manifesto (1848), that the poor

groupes were the workers. They were employed by either the upper or the middle

groupes. Marx called them peasants or serfs. These were words which illustrated

that they were themselves powerless, coming under the complete control of their

employers. Marx called factory workers, and other poor group workers living in

cities the proletariat. In other words, they use their own labor for making a living.

Similarly, the poor group in Chong Kneas, Siem Reap has no means of

production besides using their labor. They have no means of production or no fishing

gears other than than of paddle driven canoes.

The poor group are those Cham who do not possess any substantial means of

production, other than that of subsistence fishing. They use their labor to gather

natural non-timber forest products from the Flooded Forest, gather shrimps, or earn

money such as fishing laborers or porters. From the field work, one case story, Les

Saros, 55, is worth examining clearly as following:

E- The Case of Les Saros’s Family

Les Saros is a fifty-five year old widow since 2004. In her small house along

the road coming from Siem Reap town to the shore of the lake, she alone raises four

children by collecting natural resources available in the community. The livelihood

of the whole, however, much depends on harbor activities.

36

Table E: Family Profile of Ly Saros

N Names Age Relation to Head of HH Sex Marital

Status Spoken

Languages Occupation Place

1 Les Saros 55 Head of HH F Cham/ Khmer Sick Chong

Kneas

2 Sim Sen 56 Husband M Cham/ Khmer Devoiced Kg.

Cham

3 Sen Rosat 24 Son M Cham/ Khmer Porter Chong

Kneas

4 Lim Sothea 24 Daughter in Law F Cham/

Khmer Housewife Chong Kneas

5 Sen Yan 23 Son M Cham/ Khmer Camera man Chong

Kneas

6 Sen ry 21 Son M Cham/ Khmer Porter Chong

Kneas

7 Sen Samry 18 Daughter F Cham/ Khmer Waitress Chong

Kneas

Early life in Chong Kneas

Firstly, she told that she was so poor. She had high blood pressure and could

not do any jobs for the last 3 years. That is why the livelihood of the family is getting

worse and worse, she explained. She added that this is also because she had no

network or ties. The network or ties, she referred to the aid from foreign Muslim. She

did not hesitate to say that:

“In early 2007 I was told by our community leader that there was a Muslim in

America [she wrongly chose the word, actually he was a Malaysian according to the

leader’s interview], who intended to help the poorest Cham in the village whose

house was by and large broken.”

“Days by days and months by months, she waited for such moment when she hoped

to have a safer house. Until these days, I am still living in our house which hardly

protects us from the sun light or rain drop,” added she.

“I do not know why, but I suspect that it is because I have no bond or ties. If there

was Foreign Muslims who wanted to help poor people in our community, he or she

obviously would go to the head of the villager first. Can you imagine that the leader

would choose me for such good opportunity? I believe that he would pick his

relatives or closed friends. I have not strong ties in the village and I will not get any

helps, as a result. I am not trying to say that our leader did such unfair things. Let’s

fate decide” (Personal interview with Los Saros, 55, widow, July 28, 2008)

37

From the extract above, it is likely that Los Saros was not quite happy with the

process of distributing aids to the community. It also indicates that she has not good

relation with the leadership, which she thought resulted in her poverty.

In response, her children started working as best as they could to support the

family since she had high blood pressure. Two of her sons, Sen Rosat, 24, and Sen

Ri, 21 works at Chong Kneas harbor as porters. Each of them earns about 4,000 Riels

a day. In the meantime, the other brother and sister can earn 2,000 Riels more than

them by working as cameraman in tourist photo shop and as a waitress in a local

café. He shoots picture for tourists whose pictures are later stuck to the souvenir

bowls they have bought. Nonetheless, Sen Rosat has his family to feed. He has a

Khmer wife with two children, who was baptized to be Muslim. She concluded

though the income for her family is not much, it is not enough for the family.

Her life is insecure. She is not only worried about the family but also about

her husband, Sim Sen who has another wife in Kampong Cham.

“One day in 2004, Sim Sen told me that he would visit Kampong Cham for ten days.

He did not tell me his purpose of going there. Two months later, I learned that he

had another wife there.” (Personal interview with Los Saros, 55, widow, July 28,

2008)

It seems that her new burden as widow head of household took place since then.

Though she said she did not want to meet him again, she still thinks of him to some

extent when she met difficulties in raising the children alone.

Yet she cared so much for the children that she would not let them be fishing

workers. It is not because she was too proud to work for other fishermen, but because

she was afraid that they would be in danger of storm. Of course, her family possesses

no fishing gears. “They are not good at swimming and will surely be nervous when

big waves hit the boats,” she explained. She prefers them to work on land rather than

on water.

It is necessary to trace the history of this family in order to get a better

understanding of situation of the poor group.

38

As a matter of facts, she was born in 1953 in a butcher family in Phnom

Penh. After the fall of Pol Pol, she decided to settle in Chong Kneas in 1980 after

learning that all her brothers, sisters and parents were killed in Pursat where they

were newly made to work hard and brutally killed. As newcomers to Chong Kneas,

she worked in kind for local fishers by fixing fishing nets. She got some fish for her

service. Lacking of food and proper treatment, one of her daughter died not soon

after she came to Chong Kneas.

“My daughter died because we had not enough food. Also at that time, there were

not any hospitals or healthcare centers yet. I could remember that clearly. One day

after I returned from fixing fishing net near the lake, I found that she was shaking. I

thought she had normal fewer. I did not know what to do other than to give her some

water which I had boiled with traditional medical herb. It did not get better, in

opposite, her body got bigger and bigger. At last, she passed away. I cried a lot.”

(Personal interview with Los Saros, 55, widow, July 28, 2008)

Yet there had to be other reasons, which should be taken into account. She

actually said that when she first arrived to Chong Kneas, the villagers were not so

happy with her presence. Her family was suspected to be Khmer Rouge’s spies. It is

noticeable that in Chong Kneas in particular and Siem Reap in general, peace and

stability were not fully achieved. There was tension between Phnom Penh forces and

Pol Pot forces. The village was sometimes raided by Khmer Rouge soldiers, which

resulted in damages to houses, fortress and lives. The authority had to be careful with

newcomers to the village to prevent such damages.

Her family lived in fears caused either by Khmer Rouge raids or by the local

authority. In such situation, it is obvious that she was excluded and did not benefit

from social protection. Conversely, the family was spied on - the authority secretly

kept eyes on them to see if her family spied on them or not. Soon after, Sim Sen, her

husband, was enlisted to K5, a project aimed at building strategic walls against

Khmer Rouge attack. Many thousands were dead for many reasons such as hunger,

landmine and malaria (Evans, 2003). Meanwhile, not so many villagers were friendly

to her family.

Consequently, she had no social capitals. To be able fish own her own, she at

least should have a net, which cost about three tamleung in gold. She could neither

39

afford to buy a fishing net and boat nor to borrow from the neighbors. She ended up

in repairing old nets, instead.

One challenge away, another still remains

Gradually, the allegation that her family spied on the community disappeared

when her husband became a Senachun, a title for military personnel who help protect

the village from Khmer Rouge raids in the 1980s. If not succeeded in doing so, they

could at least signal the danger. Yet the family had to challenge another difficulty.

They had to get on well with other Muslim Cham community in Chong Kneas.

A clear illustration of such was when she gave birth to her second baby. She

sadly said that at that moment there were few villagers came to help her deliver the

baby. There were no sufficient materials, she said, she had to cut her husband’s

uniform to make cloth for the baby. She questioned about Muslim brotherhoods.

“Where was the value of Muslim brotherhood?” wondered she. “Was it about

helping each other when one was in need? But when I was in need, I got nothing,”

she added.

Of course, she understood the difficulties the Cham was then encountering.

She continued:

“I knew that at that time all villagers were facing difficulties. And I understood that

they were busy taking care of their own families” (Personal interview with Los

Saros, 55, widow, July 28, 2008)

She concluded that Muslim brotherhoods were then about helping brothers of their

own. In other words, they helped only their relatives. She thought that she was a

stranger that the Muslim community did not care or help her family regardless of her

Muslim faith.

“Though I am (Muslim) Cham, I must insist, they then regarded me a nomadic

(Muslim) Cham because they did not know for sure where I was from. They did not

know any of my relatives in the community to prove my Cham identity.” (Personal

interview with Los Saros, 55, widow, July 28, 2008)

Some of her relatives survived and returned to Phnom Penh. Only she who moved to

Chong Kneas where her identity was suspected for there was no one to prove her

40

identity. The allegation that she was a Khmer Rouge spy made her hard to earn a

living and hard to socialize with the Cham community. So what did she do to gain

trust and get into the group?

Loh Saros then got an idea to get on well with the Cham community and to

prove her Cham identity. She joined every Muslim ceremony, did fasting when

appropriate. Her husband and sons tried to go to mosque as regular as possible.

Moreover, they tried to be helpful in community by volunteering to do some services

such as constructing Madrasas, their traditional school or mosque. However, these

strategies were not so successful.

“It is recently that they started to trust me. They came to invite us to join the

Ramadan and other social events regularly. Before, they would celebrate the events

only among themselves and rarely invited us.” (Personal interview with Los Saros,

55, widow, July 28, 2008)

These days her family has to challenge other form of obstacles, however. That is

development project.

With new development of social infrastructures such as road and port, her

livelihood has changed. As stated above, her children started to work since their

father left the family for his new wife in Kampong Cham. Two of them work as

porters at the Chong Kneas harbor as their father did some years ago.

To her their wages were not much, even not enough for supporting the

family. Still they decided to work at the harbor. Every day they helped travelers who

arrived at the port by carrying their luggage and loads of goods from the boats or

ships which stopped close to the shore.

“Before tourists, travelers, traders or businessmen needed workers to carry their

suitcases and goods. My sons had works to do and every day got some money, at

least one to two dollars. Lately, Sou Jing Company established a so-called modern

harbor. I heard they said it was for the sake of community development.”

“Now both tourists and traders no longer need worker to carry their goods. Firstly, it

is because they can drag their own suitcases by themselves on the smooth bridge.

Secondly, the Sou Jing Company provides other services, which were formerly done

by porters such as my sons. They use machine to upload the goods to the trucks or to

41

carry them from the trucks to the boats. From then on, there have not been so much

work for the porter. Sometimes the two of my sons have no work. I do not know

what else they can do if they did not have knowledge or any skills.” (Personal

interview with Los Saros, 55, widow, July 28, 2008)

In spite of that, other two children of hers got new jobs. One works as a cameraman

while the other works as a waitress in a café. These two jobs are more or less results

of such development.

Finally, being asked to compare her livelihood now to the past, she quickly

replied that she would describe it a downward mobility. Pointing to her house where

there were holes and broken pillars, she explained that she was so poor that she could

not fix the house. She said she sometimes had no rice to cook for my children who

went to work. Some other times even if she had rice, she cannot afford to buy food.

In this case, she depended on green grass shopper, water lily nearby the house. She

concluded that her family would collapse if the members cannot find better jobs

while goods are more and more expensive.

There are several case stories which are more or less similar to Loh Saros’s

who have no “means of production- mainly no fishing gears,” use their own labor as

a livelihood strategy and much depend on natural resources available in the

community.

F- The Case of Ramly’s Family

Quite similar to Loh Saros, Ramly who is a forty-seven-year-old Cham has

no fishing gears. Every day he rows his boat to collect firewood while his daughters

work as sellers in a local souvenir shop. His floating house is in need of repairing.

He has six children with his Khmer wife. The eldest son died in 2004 because

of stomach cancer leaving him alone to go to forest to cut firewood, which later is

sold for his livelihood. Other children of his are girls, which he could not go with

him for some reasons. Two work as souvenir sellers at a local tourist photo shop

42

while the other two are students. He stopped fishing few years ago because fewer

fish were caught.

Table F: Family Profile of Ramly

N Names Age Relation to Head of HH Sex Marital

Status Spoken

Languages Occupation Place

1 Ramly 47 Head of HH M Cham/ Khmer

Firewood collector

Chong Kneas

2 Tuy Asimas 42 Wife F Cham/ Khmer House wife Chong

Kneas

3 Ly Sakirub 17 Son M Cham/ Khmer Died Chong

Kneas

4 Ly Fariny 18 Daughter F Cham/ Khmer

Souvenir seller

Chong Kneas

5 Ly Rors Ney 16 Daughter F Cham/ Khmer

Souvenir seller

Chong Kneas

6 Ly Rossitas 13 Daughter F Cham/ Khmer Student Chong

Kneas

7 Ly Rosfias 11 Daughter F Cham/ Khmer Student Chong

Kneas

8 Raksa 3

Months

Son M N/A N/A Chong Kneas

With his uncle, he moved to Chong Kneas in 1979 because his parents died in

Khmer Rouge regime. During the regime, he was evacuated from Phnom Penh to

Battambang province. He then sold his labor by helping to fish.

In 1981, he married to a Khmer woman, Srey. The new couple has no certain

jobs. Sometimes they were hired to fish and sometimes were not. Even though they

got little wages, but at least they could buy rice and be given some fish for food. This

made them harder.

When no one hired their labor, they had to find other ways. One of the ways

was to cut firewood.

“I would do any things to feed my family. I went to cut firewood and brought them

home. Then my wife would sell them at the market along the roads. I some other time was

hired to fish. I did not mind doing all kind of work, easy or hard.” (Personal interview with

Ramly, 47, July 29, 2008)

43

The livelihood was not so successful that until 2004 they could build a

floating house. They had not enough money and decided to borrow money from

ACLEDA Bank in Siem Reap town. He said that:

“Since we had more children, we had to build a safer settlement. We all could not

stay in one small boat any longer. A proper house was indeed needed then. We are

all working hard for our every day meals and returning the money to the Angkar

[ACLEDA Bank] Now two of my daughters work as souvenir seller at a local photo

shop to deal with the debt and our daily lives.” (Personal interview with Ramly, 47,

July 29, 2008)

What he was trying to say was that he was in very difficult situation now. Most of

the family members are dependents : he has no adult children to help him fishing or

going to collect firewood. His adult daughters could not go with him for such work.

Therefore, they had to do other kind of jobs- in this case souvenir seller.

His floating house cost him much. In addition to the interest money we have

to return to the bank, he has to fix it several times.

“Actually now my house is urgently needed reparation. As you can observe now its

floor is almost in the water. Now I do not know where I can get money to fix this.” (Personal

interview with Ramly, 47, July 29, 2008)

Srey, his Khmer wife, interrupted and suggested a solution. She said

“We wish to have a piece of land and may relocate the house there so that we do not

have to often fix it like this. We actually were distributed a piece of land recently,

but cannot do so. On the one hand, we have no money for the cost of relocation and

on the other hand, our old house does not suit with the size of the land given. The

land size is seven by ten meters whereas our house is eight by eleven meters. This

means we have to spend more extra money for adjusting the house and buying

pillars for supporting the house. All of these are challenges for us.”

“We dare not to borrow any more money for the bank. Last time, we borrowed sums

of money and could hardly return it since the interest month by month was

increasing. Or if we go to the bank now, we will not have any property to deposit,

neither a fishing gear nor a big boats.” (Personal interview with Srey, housewife,

July 29, 2008)

44

The wife preferred relocating the house to fixing it. While the first preference is

perceived to be easier, the latter requires repeated reparation, once every two years,

probably. Nonetheless, they cannot do so for they can not get enough money either

from their existing job or borrowing from the bank for some obvious reasons. They

have not any assets to be deposit, a precondition for the loan .

Next, the place of their resident should be investigated for deepening

understanding of above situation. This family places their floating house at the edge

of Cham community. On the one side, there was a Khmer community whereas the

other side faces to a mosque to the Cham community. This prompted us to question

why that was so. Is it that because such location permits the family good

environment to keep contacts with both Khmer and Cham in the commune.

“Yes, I can easily go to the mosque and stay in touch with the Cham community

while my wife can keep contacts with the Khmer. She actually was converted to be

Muslim in seven years after our wedding day. She sometimes joins Muslim

ceremony, but not very often” (Personal interview with Ramly, 47, July 29, 2008)

This may imply that the wife was not acculturating with the Cham

community, which resulted in lesser ties with the community. The fact that they went

to borrow it from the bank, not their Cham neighbors, when they needed money is an

example of such phenomenon. To, some extent, they lack of access to social capital

in the Cham community.

Yet, when asked how their neighbors viewed on their inter-ethnic marriage,

they quickly replied that:

“It is ok; they did not comment any things on us. It was our right to marry someone

we love. Anyway, we make good neighbors with both communities and participated

in both Cham and Khmer ritual ceremonies. As illustrations, we made good

neighbors with a Khmer family, we always keep our floating house near each other.

Moreover, the Malaysian Muslims did not mind our inter-ethnic marriage and gave

us money three times as other Muslim Chams in our village. First, we got 10,000

Riels, then 20,000 Riels and last got 100,000 Riels. However, my livelihood is not

any better.” (Personal interview with Ramly, 47, July 29, 2008)

45

Ramly’s family seems to be concerned much on a fixed house. A possible

reason of many is that they understood that their livelihood might not afford the cost

of repairing their current floating house. They repeatedly affirmed that their jobs as a

firewood collector and souvenir sellers. Moreover, in an environment where

available the heavy jobs, energy-consuming work are, the livelihood of any

households that have many non-dependence members, especially many adult sons,

are seen to be better.

In Ramly’s case, his daughters could not go fishing or cutting firewood with

him, they found other type of job in tourism sector, which gives them salary of some

fifteen to twenty US dollars. He kept on repeating that he was too sorry that his son

died of cancer. One reason, of course, was because he loved him very much and

second reason was that he did not live and help him fishing or collecting firewood, I

believe. He concluded, “I am now physically quite old and can not complete much

work. I am so worried about the livelihood of the family.”

In summary, this group of Muslim Cham in Chong Kneas has a vulnerable

livelihood. Firstly, they lacks of non-dependent members who can help the family

earn extra money. Secondly, it is because they do not possess of means of

production, they lack of fishing gears. In turn, what they mostly depend on for their

livelihood is natural resources available in the community such as green grass

shopper, water lily, and firewood, etc. They are also easily negatively affected by

some social and economic changes in the commune such as development of roads

and harbors. Consequently, they mostly stay in the same level of social stratification.

In other words, they remain poor. Worse than that, some of them are in debt.

There are also some Muslim Cham who moved out of the community for

several reasons. Sa Rosat’s and Soh Hajin’s families are a good example of such

movement.

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G- The Case of Sa Rosat

In 2008, Sa Rosat, 64, moved his family to Steung Thmey. Because he

believed it would give the family better opportunity, safer settlement, and most

importantly, it was a Muslim community.

“Those who moved from Chong Kneas are now doing very well. Their livelihood is

about five to ten times better than the time they lived in the lake.”

“My family has greatly changed. Each of us has different jobs such as sellers in

Siem Reap market, motor taxi drivers, marketing, and cooks.” (Personal interview

with Sa Rosat, 64, August 2, 2008)

He then seemed to emphasize on the new opportunity in the new community near

Siem Reap. He concluded that social capitals in the new resident seemed to decline.

He said that, in Chong Kneas, before he knew almost every things happening to the

members in Chong Kneas whereas in Steung Thmey he has no ideas about what his

new neighbors doing.

H- The Case of Soh Hajin

Soh Hajin, 52, moved to Steung Thmey in 2001. He said that he could not

stay in Chong Kneas any more because he was not able to fix his floating house.

“I could not move my floating house. It was quite old and I did not think I could fix

it. It was very costly and I could not stand keeping repairing it quite often like that. I

had to find a better place on land.”

“Looking back when I was in Chong Kneas, my life was so miserable. In addition to

the difficulties that I had to fix my floating house once every two years, the storm

sometimes hit the house, which made it hard for me to fix the old house again. I got

bored of such work. It consumed time for making a living as well as money for

buying our own food. I then thought to myself that I had to find a better place”

47

“I considered Steung Thmey as my new resident because it was Muslim where I could share the same faith and easily practice our believes such as going to mosque.” (Personal interview with Soh Hajin, 52, August 2, 2008).

I- The Case of Roun Saros and the Case of Mat Man

Chroy Metrey, an old Muslim community in Kandal province such as Roun

Saros, 48, and Mat Man, 52. Also, some Cham decided to work or do business in

Malay, a huge Muslim community, too.

“My family decided to come to Chroy Metrey since it is my birthplace and Muslim community. Here my family and I can get on well with the Cham villagers. On top of that, we can safely send our children to school while we go fishing in the Mekong River. Here we are not so worried about them as we were at Chong Kneas. Also we can easily sell the fish we catch at the local market.” (Personal interview with Roun Saros, 48, August 6, 2008).

Quite similar to Roun Saros’s family, Mat Man and his family came to Chroy

Metrey, his birthplace, for better opportunity.

“The first reason that made me come here is because it is my hometown, where I own a piece of land. In the old place, Chong Kneas, I could only build a floating house, which need much efforts and money to maintain it. Once I built the house here, it will be there for long time, which I do not have to spend much money on reparation very often. I can save money for other spending such as sending my children to school. Besides, I save more time to go fishing in the river” (Personal interview with Mat Man, 52, August 6, 2008).

To sum up, those Cham who moved out of Chong Kneas targeted other

Muslim communities for their new residents. As a matter of facts, they, by any

means, possess a piece of land outside Chong Kneas and then just move out there for

better livelihood.

48

CHAPTER IV

Discussion and Conclusion

This research explores social mobility of Muslim Cham in Cambodia, taking

Chong Kneas as a case study. It aims at illustrating whether or not their social

mobility is determined by their religion. At the same time, their social stratification

and access to resources are taken into account for the discussion.

Wealth Stratification

By wealth stratification, I mean different levels of economic status each one

household achieved. Findings show that there are three main groups.

The Wealthy group: It is likely that technology has played important roles in

determining the mobility of Muslim households in this category. For example, Yeb’s

family as discussed above in Chapter II, after switching their jobs from fishing to

selling ice and driving tourist boats, their livelihood got better and could build a safer

house for the family. This must also be dealing with the introduction to technology.

By this, I mean the technology of machine for making ice and running boats. They

have upward mobility for the last five to ten years. In other words, they can only

move out of poverty quickly after the introduction of tourism and technology to the

area.

The Middle group: the most fundamental strength of the middle group is

family size. They usually have three to six non-dependence members who can help

the family to fish. Derrick J. Stenning in his work whose title is, Household Viability

among the Pastoral Fulani, 1958 discussed “family development,” which is referred

to cyclical changes in the size and composition of viable domestic groupings based

upon the family (Goody, 1971: 92). The changes were brought about by the birth,

marriage, and death of family members. When one household gave births (to) or

married children, its size changed. “They involved not merely changes in family

49

constitution, but affect, and are affected by, the relation between the family and its

means of subsistence, which, as a domestic unit, it manages, exploits and consumes

in close co-residence, continuous co-operation, and commensality,” stated the author.

What he wants to mean is that such a domestic unit is viable when the labor it

can provide is suitable for the exploitation of its means of subsistence, while the

latter is adequate for the support of the members of the domestic unit. As far as they

were observed, they are the group which have the most stable livelihood since they

are involved in the fishing which is available in the community. Therefore, they have

had the greatest security and have moved to acquire land and houses within a

terrestrial Cham group.

The Poor group: those who are in this group, have no means of production

besides using their labor. They have no means of production or no fishing gears other

than than of paddle driven canoes. They who do not possess any substantial means of

production, other than that of subsistence fishing. They use their labor to gather

natural non-timber forest products from the Flooded Forest, gather shrimps, or earn

money such as fishing laborers or porters. For such reasons, they seem to move into

poverty.

Muslim Cham and their Faith

Muslim Chams of the three groupes follow strictly with their faith in Muslim.

They helped each other because they are “proven” Cham.

Those who are believed to be Muslim Cham were helped by their fellow

Cham in the forms of:

- Do collaboration work: When they are in need, they would help each

other make a living. As illustration, after they moved to live in Chong

Kneas, they help each fishing and shared the fish caught.

50

- Lend means of production: A number of Cham who could started a new

marriage or settlement in Chong Kneas, were lent fishing gears such as

boats or nets for fishing.

- Lend without interest rate for starting a new business: Also, the Cham

could benefit from their common faith as Muslim when they borrowed

money from each other without paying interest rates.

- Finally, be chosen to get some aid from the Muslim world: In the form

of Muslim brotherhood, the Cham in Chong Kneas could sometimes get

aid from the Malaysians or Arabians.

The Cham in Chong Kneas for some reasons moved away. All the

destination are mostly Muslim villages.

For example, those who moved out of the villages, for whatever reasons-

decline of natural resources or limit of access to the resources, decided to

go to a Muslim Cham community, such as Steung Thmey in the outskirt

of Siem Reap and Chroy Metrey in Kandal Province.

Steung Thmey, quite a big Muslim community in the outskirt of Siem Reap

town. To have a better understanding, we will examine two households’ case history

who moved to another Cham community in Steung Thmey.

A Piece of Land- As Influential Factor for Mobility

However, access to natural resources, particularly land ownership is another

factor determined Muslim Cham’s social mobility in Chong Kneas. Group discussion

findings show that:

Land is what they consider the most important influential factor on their

social mobility. In other words, owning a piece of land is a milestone for their

progress. If they possess a piece of land, they might build a house, which is not

needed to fix as often as the floating house. The latter needed to be taken care of in a

51

certain time. Once every two years, the villagers have to replace the boats below

which support the house. If there was storm very often, they also had to repair the

roof. The income of each household is not used only for buying new fishing gears or

foods, but also for repairing such destruction. They said the reparation cost them a lot

of money.

If land possession is an influential factor for the social mobility of Muslim

Cham in Chong Kneas, how is the land possession like out there? In Chong Kneas,

All Muslim Cham in the higher group owns a piece of land and a fix house. Though

some of them still live in floating house, they managed to build a fix house soon

since they have money to do so.

However, a number of Muslim Cham of the middle group and poor group

also possess pieces of land. But why did they not become as successful as the higher

group? Through observations in the field, it is found that some of them got the land

long before- as long as they arrived at Chong Kneas. Their ownership was

legitimized in the last five years. The other Muslim Cham, however, were recently

distributed a piece of land. They got a piece of land of seven by ten meters.

There must be some reasons for the fact that they got a piece of land, which

they believe to be a key factor for the mobility, but they still remain in the middle or

poor group. As stated above, the provincial governor offered them the land just

before the election in 2008.

Firstly, this was only a part of political campaign. “They distributed the land

for the villagers in the hope that they could get support in the election,” a forty-five

Cham commented (Personal interview with Kob Min, a fisherman, 45, July 28,

2008). Many other Muslim Chams also shared this comments. They gave reasons for

their claim that, “Before the election, they seemed to care so much for us- they came

and helped us to register our land ownership. But after the election, they rarely came

and when we went to them for the same purpose, they made us hard to register the

land by asking us some money or asking us to do this and do that which made us

difficult,” a sixty-five Cham said. (Group discussion interview with Him Sles,

fisherman, 47, July 28, 2008).

52

Secondly, most of them have not built a fix house yet. They do not have

enough money to build one. They added, “Besides, the land plot which was

distributed is located in an area in the water during flood season while in the dry

season it is occupied by forest and there is no road going there.” (Group discussion

interview with Him Sles, fisherman, 47, July 28, 2008).

Thirdly, they were afraid that some problem would disturb the livelihood in

the new area. Most of their floating houses are about eight by twelve meters. They at

the first hand thought of moving their house in their new plot of land. Unfortunately,

it does not fit with size of their land. If they still intended to do so, they have to chop

some parts of their house, which is not a good idea for them. They complaint that the

size of the land distributed is so small.

In summary, the three wealth rankings as the higher, the middle and the poor

have their own characteristics. The data discussed above demonstrated their mobility

in the form of movement out of poverty. While the higher group had a dramatic

change and became very wealthy, the poor was very insecure and easily affected by

the changes in the society. The middle group was very stable with their livelihood by

fishing.

The findings show that social mobility of the Muslim Cham is determined by

economic opportunity and resources and access to technology, but also by social

relationships based on religion and ethnic group. They also show that mobility based

on livelihoods diversification depends on the availability of non-dependent labour in

the household group.

AREA OF FURTHUR STUDY:

This study focused on social mobility of only Muslim Cham in Chong Kneas,

where two other ethnic groups, Khmer and Vietnamese also reside. Further study

should be extent to a comparative approach. In other words, it is also interesting to

explore the social mobility of other two ethnic groups to see if which group has

better or worse mobility in the same ecological context.

53

ANNEXES

Appendixes A: Maps and Pictures of Chong Kneas

Figure 2: Chong Kneas commune Map in South of Siem Reap Town

54

Figure 3: Chong Kneas Map in dry season (above) and Flooded Season (below)

55

Figure 4 Chong Kneas Aerial Photo taken from the Tonle Sap Lake (above) and from Phnom Krom (Below)

56

Figure 5: Floating Mosque (above) surrounded by floating houses of Muslim Cham in Chong Kneas.

57

Figure 6: New road to the Tonle Sap Lake passed through Chong Kneas (above) and at its end, fishers and fish merchants are busy taking their work (Below).

58

Figure 7: One Key Informant Sewing Souvenir Shirts (above) and Her Three of her Tourist Boats, tied near Her House (below), Chong Kneas, Siem Reap.

59

Figure 8: A fixed house being built along the road (above) and new plots of land recently distributed to villagers in Chong Kneas (below).

60

Appendix B: Question-Guidelines for Life History and Focus Groups

The question schedule consists of a number of questions as a guide for

collecting information during the case studies or “life history”:

Previous livelihood conditions:

1. When/where did you start your own marriage life?

2. What did you do for your living at that time? (Or when you arrived here?)

3. What was your source of income then?

4. What did you use to earn a living?

Current livelihood conditions:

5. What has your job been over the time?

6. What improvements do you seek in your life?

7. What improvements do you seek in your economic situation?

8. What improvements do you seek in your social situation?

9. How do you describe your current livelihoods?

10. Have you had any difficulties or easiness for your job(s)?

11. Do you notice any social changes in your own life; in that of your family?

12. Do you notice any economic changes in your own life; in that of your

family?

13. Do you think your livelihood is better than before? Why?

14. Do you think your livelihood is worse than before? Why?

15. In your own opinion, what are the factors that make your livelihood

improved?

61

16. In your own opinion, what are the constraints that make your livelihood

worse?

The questions for “focus group” discussions:

1. How would you describe about livelihoods in your community?

2. Would you think that it has been improved? Why?

3. Would you think that it has NOT been improved? Why?

4. Why do you think that (some)one’s livelihood has been improved?

5. Why do you think that (some)one’s livelihood has NOT been improved?

6. Do you think that religion plays important role in determining

improvement of livelihoods in the community? If so, in what ways?

7. Do you think that education plays important role in determining

improvement of livelihoods in the community? If so, in what ways?

Concerning on Marriage life:

1. What are the factors you would consider when you are planning to

arrange your children’s marriage/ to choose your spouse?

2. What factor would be your most important one? (Economic status of

(children’s) spouse, residential place of the spouse, beliefs of the spouse

or ethnic background of the spouse) To what extent, is it important for

your livelihood?

3. In what community did your son live when he married? Son 1: Here?

62

Wife’s Cham community? Where? Another Cham community? Where? A non-Cham Community? Where? Son2: Here/ Wife’s Cham community? Where? Another Cham community? Where? A non-Cham Community? Where?

4. Where were you resident prior to your marriage: husband: at Chong Khneas at another Islamic Cham community specify where................................................ at another non-Cham community specify where.................................................. Was the community where you lived the community of your father? Of your father’s father? wife: at Chong Khneas at another Islamic Cham community specify where................................................ at another non-Cham community specify where.................................................. Was the community where you lived the community of your father? Of your father’s father?

63

5. How did you meet your husband/wife? sons and daughters

In what community did your son live when he married? Son 1: Here? Wife’s Cham community? Where? Another Cham community? Where? A non-Cham Community? Where? Son2: Here/ Wife’s Cham community? Where? Another Cham community? Where? A non-Cham Community? Where? In what community did your daughter live when he married? daughter 1: Here? Wife’s Cham community? Where? Another Cham community? Where? A non-Cham Community? Where? Daughter 2: Here/

64

Wife’s Cham community? Where? Another Cham community? Where? A non-Cham Community? Where?

65

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