social mobility among muslim cham in cambodia ( tla 2008)

8/9/2019 Social Mobility Among Muslim Cham in Cambodia ( TLA 2008)

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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 inaccordance 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 moreMuslim 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.


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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

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CANDIDATES 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

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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.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. iiiCERTIFICATE OF AUTHORSHIP/ORIGINALITY ............................................................. ivACKNOWLEDGEMENT ....................................................................................................... viLIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................... 3LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................. 4LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................... 5CHAPTER I............................................................................................................................. 6Muslim Cham in Cambodia ................................................................................................... 6

1- Introduction .................................................................................................................. 61.2 Community Profile- Chong Kneas ........................................................................... 81.2 Problem Statement ....................................................................................................... 101.3 Aim and Objectives ...................................................................................................... 121.4 Research Questions ...................................................................................................... 121.5 Rationale of the Research............................................................................................. 121.6 Methodologies .............................................................................................................. 13

1.6.1 Site Selection and Target Group ........................................................................... 131.6.2 Methods of Collecting Data .................................................................................. 141.6.3 Limitation .............................................................................................................. 15

CHAPTER II ......................................................................................................................... 16Theoretical Background of Social Mobility ........................................................................ 16And Social Stratification ...................................................................................................... 16

2.1 Social Mobility ............................................................................................................. 162.1.1 Intra-generational mobility and Inter-generational mobility ................................. 162.1.1 Determination of Social mobility .......................................................................... 16

2.2 Hypothesis of the research ........................................................................................... 18CHAPTER III ....................................................................................................................... 20Social Stratification and Access to Resources..................................................................... 20


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in Chong Kneas ..................................................................................................................... 203.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 20

3.1.1 The Wealthy Groups ............................................................................................. 20A- The Case of Yebs Family .................................................................................. 21B- The Case of Ly Saless Family .......................................................................... 253.1.2 The Middle Group ................................................................................................. 28C- The Case of Sa Els Family ................................................................................ 28D- The Case of Ly Sattass Family ......................................................................... 313.1.3 The Poor Group ..................................................................................................... 35E- The Case of Les Saross Family ............................................................................. 35F- The Case of Ramlys Family .................................................................................. 41G- The Case of Sa Rosat ......................................................................................... 46H- The Case of Soh Hajin ....................................................................................... 46I- The Case of Roun Saros and the Case of Mat Man ............................................... 47

CHAPTER IV........................................................................................................................ 48Discussion and Conclusion ................................................................................................... 48

Wealth Stratification .......................................................................................................... 48Muslim Cham and their Faith ............................................................................................ 49A Piece of Land- As Influential Factor for Mobility ......................................................... 50AREA OF FURTHUR STUDY: ........................................................................................ 52

ANNEXES .............................................................................................................................. 53Bibliography............................................................................................................................ 65


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LIST OF TABLES

1) Table A: Family Profile of Yeb 212) Table B: Family Profile of Ly Sales 263) Table C: Family Profile of Sa El 294) Table D: Family Profile of Ly Sattas 325) Table E: Family Profile of Les Saros 346) Table F: Family Profile of Ramly 42


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LIST OF FIGURES

1) Differences in Perceived Income Levels across three ethnicities 102) Chong Kneas commune Map in South of Siem Reap Town 533) Chong Kneas Map in dry season and Flooded Season 544) Chong Kneas Aerial Photo taken from the Tonle Sap Lake

and from Phnom Krom 55

5) Floating Mosque surrounded by floating houses 566) New road to the Tonle Sap Lake passed through Chong Kneas 577) 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


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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

1.

ADB Asian Development Bank2. DoP Department of Planning, (in Siem Reap, Cambodia)


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CHAPTER I

Muslim Cham in Cambodia

1- Introduction

Cham peoples 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 VietnamNam 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)) Collinss 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


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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 theJahed, 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 triedto 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 economists viewpoint, people tend to move to

a more beneficial job.

Collins 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)


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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 makersand 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


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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 Kneass 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 livelihoods 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 shoreof 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)


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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 EthnicitiesPerceived 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 ethnicgroups, 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


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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 wholepopulation 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 densityand a resulting overuse of

farming and grazing landsin 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).


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

economic choice as one of the most influential factors for ones social

mobility; and secondly

- To explore the linkage between social mobility and physical mobility andthe location of ones 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.


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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 fieldresearch, 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 Kneashas 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


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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


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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 toconduct 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.


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

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

mobility.

2.1.1Intra-generationalmobilityandInter-generationalmobility

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.

2.1.1DeterminationofSocialmobility

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,


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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 inlooking 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


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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 DudleyDuncun 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 ofcultural 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


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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.


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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.


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A- The Case of Yebs Family

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

Head of HHSex

Marital

Status

Spoken

LanguagesOccupation Place

1 Yeb 45 Head of HH M Cham/Khmer

Boat driverChongKneas

2 Saros 42 wife F Cham/Khmer

Seller ChongKneas

3 Yeb Kamri 24 Son M Cham/Khmer


4 Yeb Loh 22 Son M Cham/Khmer


5 Yeb Sary 19 Daughter F Cham/Khmer

Ice sellerChongKneas

6 Yeb Mavy 17 Daughter F Cham/Khmer

Ice sellerChongKneas

7 Yeb Arifine 4 Son M Cham/Khmer

N/AChongKneas

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

ChongKneas

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. Ialso 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 withMing Saros, 35, July 26, 2008)


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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 atour-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 withMing Saros, 35, July 26, 2008)

From these extracts, we could see that Pou Yebs 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 theson, they said. Then his mother went to Saross 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


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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 withMing 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 Saross

familys 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 Tukdriver, he made new friends. In


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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 Tukdrivers 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 Yebs Family

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

makes us question that why did Yebs 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


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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 thatgoing 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 Yebs 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 Saless FamilyAnother 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 Saless 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, Rosmass

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.


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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 NameAge

Relation toHead of HH

SexMaritalStatus

SpokenLanguages

Occupation Place

1 Kub Roymas 51 Wife F Cham/Khmer

HousewifeChongKneas

2 Ly Sales 56 Head of HH M Cham/Khmer

Boat driver ChongKneas

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

ButcherChongKneas

6 Su Lork 22Daughter

in lawF

Cham/Khmer

ButcherChongKneas

7 Les Navy 25 Son M Cham/Khmer


8 Him Noyani 23Daughter in

lawF

Cham/Khmer

HousewifeChongKneas

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

10 Les Su Kriyas 21 Daughter F Cham/Khmer

Clothes sellerChongKneas

11 Les Fasy 19 Son M Cham/Khmer


12 Les Romly 16 Son M Cham/Khmer


13 Les Arifin 11 Son M Cham/Khmer

StudentChongKneas

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


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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 somestaff. 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 Ringgitwas 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 Els family has been fishing for manyyears 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 Els 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

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

dont. 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.


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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 AgeRelation to

Head of HHSex

Marital

Status

Spoken


1 Sa El48 Head of HH M Cham/

KhmerFishing Chong

Kneas

2 Ser Srey46 Wife F Cham/

KhmerFishing Chong

Kneas

3 El Aisas24 Daughter F Cham/

KhmerFishing Chong

Kneas

4 SunTrolib27 Son in Law M Cham/

Khmer

Fishing Chong

Kneas5 El Matsat

22 Daughter F Cham/Khmer

Fishing ChongKneas

6 Ses Saros21 Son in Law M Cham/

KhmerFishing Chong

Kneas

7 El Mosa20 Son M Cham/

KhmerFishing Chong

Kneas

8 El Mansot18 Son M Cham/

KhmerFishing Chong

Kneas

9 El Miasmas14 Daughter F Cham/

KhmerFishing Chong

Kneas

10 El Troheat12 Son M Cham/

KhmerFishing 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


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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 Quran

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.


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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 familys mobility. Imagine that if the Cham who lent the

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

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

livelihood was a bit better.

D- The Case of Ly Sattass Family

A neighbor of Sa Els 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.


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Table D: Family Profile of Ly Sattas


Head of HHSex

Marital

Status

Spoken


1 Ly Sattas 35 Head of HH F Cham/Khmer

FishingChongKneas

2 Mat Sen 45 Husband M Cham/Khmer

Ship keeperChongKneas

3 Mat Rona 19 Daughter F Cham/Khmer

fishingChongKneas

4 Mat Haro 17 Son M Cham/Khmer

FishingChongKneas

5 Mat Les 13 Son M Cham/Khmer

FishingChongKneas

6 Mat Ravy 12 Daughter F Cham/Khmer

StudentChongKneas

7 Mat Rosolin 6 Daughter F Cham/Khmer

StudentChongKneas

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 Els 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.


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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 childrens changed when Mat Sen had changed the job. Shecontinued 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,

everyones nets were partially damaged and fewer fish was caught. Now I am sosleepy 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.


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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 90,000Riels 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 Els family, the first case, have about six

non-dependence members, the second case of Ly Sattass 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 tocyclical 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


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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 illustratedthat 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 Saross 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.


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Table E: Family Profile of Ly Saros


Head of HHSex

Marital

Status

Spoken


1 Les Saros 55 Head of HH F Cham/Khmer

SickChongKneas

2 Sim Sen 56 Husband M Cham/Khmer

DevoicedKg.

Cham

3 Sen Rosat 24 Son M Cham/Khmer

PorterChongKneas

4 Lim Sothea 24Daughter in

LawF Cham/

KhmerHousewife

ChongKneas

5 Sen Yan 23 Son M Cham/Khmer

Camera manChongKneas

6 Sen ry 21 Son M Cham/Khmer

PorterChongKneas

7 Sen Samry 18 Daughter F Cham/Khmer

WaitressChongKneas

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

leaders 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. Lets

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


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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 thefamily 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 4,000Riels

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

caf. 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 concludedthough 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 possessesno 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.


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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 Rouges 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 secretlykept 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


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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 thebaby. There were no sufficient materials, she said, she had to cut her husbands

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 herMuslim 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


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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 toprove 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 theirfather 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


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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 2

social mobility among muslim cham in cambodia ( tla 2008)

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