Opinion - ‘Like the Khmer Rouge': Forced from her home by soldiers

The Star

14 hours ago

Several families in Banteay Meanchey's Prey Chan village were evicted from their homes by Thai soldiers on Aug 13, 2025. Now, barbed wire barricades prevent them from returning. - Photo: FN
PHNOM PENH: When Thai soldiers forced families from their homes in Banteay Meanchey province's Prey Chan village, one local woman in her sixties could only compare their cruelty to the forced evictions of the Khmer Rouge.
I spoke to​ Aunty Nuon Aun over the phone on Friday (Aug 15). She told me how Thai soldiers forced her to leave her home and fenced her house off with barbed wire on August 13.
Here is her account.
My name is Nuon Aun. I am 62 years old. My husband is Taing Ny, is 61 years old. He lost his leg to a landmine in 1997.
I was born in Chamkar Leu district in Kampong Cham province. I settled here in Prey Chan village, in Banteay Meanchey province's O Chrov District, in 1990. I have two sons and a daughter.
My eldest son is married, with three children. My husband and I live with him and his family, meaning there are seven people in our household.
At 3pm on August 13, I was laying on my hammock when a group of about 30 armed Thai soldiers began shouting at my family and the families of three or four other houses.
They told us we must leave our homes, immediately.
The barricades mean they cannot access the houses which were their homes, in some cases since the 1990s. - Photo: FN
Unable to resist and in a state of shock, my family and I left without taking anything, not even a cooking pot.
At this point, I was reminded of the evacuation during the Khmer Rouge era, when the black-clad Khmer Rouge soldiers shouted at us and forced us to leave our homes and go to the countryside.
But when the Khmer Rouge forced me to leave my home, my house was small and made of wood, just like a hut. Now my house is made of brick, 4 metres wide and 7 metres long.
I am so frustrated and get angry. I cannot believe that I have been forced out of my home again, and that I cannot go back inside because of sharp barbed wire barricades.
This is the first time Thai soldiers have done this to the villagers of Prey Chan. I would like to state that before August 13, the soldiers' post was around 100 metres away from my house, and we never had any problems.
After erecting the barbed wire around my home and the houses of my neighbours, the Thai soldiers patrolled for about an hour before leaving. But they still have drones constantly monitoring us.
After leaving home, I received a tent and other gifts for temporary use from kind Cambodian citizens. Some villagers and I crawled through the barbed wire fence into the house to get a pot to cook rice.
My family and I are staying in a temporary shelter while we wait for the Cambodian government to find a solution for us. - The Phnom Penh Post
[So Farina is deputy director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia/the Queen Mother Library. This article is published with permission from Aunty Nuon Aun.]