Livelihood Strategies of Muslim Cham in Chong Khneas, The Latest

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Livelihood Strategies of Muslim Cham after Pol Pot Regime: A Case Study in Chong Kneas, Siem Reap, Cambodia.

BY THA LEANG ANG

CKS Fellow, Summer Program 2008

This paper aims at exploring livelihood strategies of Muslim Cham in a floating village, Chong Kneas,

Siem Reap, right after the fall of the Pol Pot regime in 1979 up to 1990s.The researcher was inspired to

conduct this project because of the view that Cambodians in general and Muslim Cham in particular

started their new life with “empty-hands.” Economic policy of the state was discussed in the paper in

order to reflect and check with the real practice of Muslim Cham in the village level. Findings show

that social capital is the main strategy used by Muslim Cham for survival and continuation of their

livelihood.

Key words: Muslim Cham, livelihood strategies, social capital.

I. INTRODUCTION

About 10 to 15 Kilometers south of Siem Reap town, situated a floating community where nearly all year round visitors to the community can immediately recognize and smell fish which is being processed and hear the noise coming from a lot of machine boats. Meanwhile, we can see retailers sitting on their motorbikes and waiting for fish and other water products brought by the fishermen. In the Tonlesap Lake, they go fishing by using machine boats, Giant Wedge Cone Trap (leay thom), Filter Trap made of Mosquito Netting (Sap Sbai Mong), and Surrounding or Seine Nets (Sien) and many other forms of modern fishing gears. However, going back to the latest 1970s and the early 1980s, a period of Year-Zero-Cambodia, such high-technology machines and fishing tools were very rare in the area.

Cambodia, then, whose official name was People Republic of Kampuchea (PRK), was particularly suffering from severe problems (Chandler D. , 2007, p. 227). Apart from great difficulties in “fighting while negotiating” with coalition government in exile of three resistant groups led by Sihanouk, Son Sann and Pol Pot (PRK, 1989, p. 4), the new regime had even harder time in re-building the country. Leadership from the regime, whose opinions shared by many of Cambodian people, have often described that hard moment by saying that they had re-built the country with “empty-hands.” (PRK, 1989). How could they survive with “empty-hands”? What else could they do to earn a living? This paper aims at exploring the livelihood strategies of Muslim Cham who have been living in Chong Kneas, Siem Reap after 1979 up to the 1990s.

In so doing, a number of research methods were employed. While focus group

discussion provided general information about the community, in-depth interview make

2 available the details of some particular cases. The former made possible the selection of key

informants in the latter. Six cases of household history were in-depth investigated.

II. LIVELIHOOD STRATEGIES

a. Community Profile

Chong Kneas is a fishing community located in the uttermost North of the Tonlesap Lake. The numbers of population were 1,084 households consisting of 5,857 people in 2006 (DoP, 2006) and 1,193 households consisting of 6,415 people in 2007 (ADB, 2007). They live in floating houses which need to be moved in accordance with the fall and rise of the lake.

We can see that there is a significant increase of the population owing to recent development in the area. According to Push-in theory of migration, people would move to a place where they perceive as a better place (Bontemps, Arna, and Jack Conroy, 1997) (Maltoni, 2006). In other words, they would go where they can find a better jobs. Chong Kneas’s geographical location which is about 10 to 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 Chong Kneas was visited by 56,480 tourists (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 was exported to Phnom Penh and other destinations whereas 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 tourism and fish industry there for their livelihood’s improvement.

Chong Kneas is an ethnicity heterogeneous community. Out of 1,193 households, 818 is Khmer, 345 is Vietnamese and 30 is Cham (ADB, 2007, p. 2). Generally, most households live 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)

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This extract suggests that while few families are quite wealthy, the rest is not. However, it did not tell any specific status of one particular ethnic group, especially the Muslim Cham. According to a report published by ADB in 2004, the minority Cham, on average, the 15% poorest of their communities earn only 200 Riel to 1,000 Riel per household per day which is ten times less than that of the Vietnamese counterpart, 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). Different livelihood strategies must have produced different income. What makes Cham community come to this situation? What did they do as a livelihood strategy after the fall of Pol Pot?

Figure 1: Differences in Socio-economic across the three ethnicities in Chong Kneas, 2004

No Ethnicities 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

b. Various Livelihood Strategies through Family History

After the fall of Pol Pot, Cham people as well as their Khmer counterpart returned hometown. However, many Cham, for several reasons, decided to live in nearby communities, such as Chong Kneas. Not different from other villages in the country, Chong Kneas was an empty community consisting of nearly 600 households (Man, 2008). But why did it become a destination for quite a lot of survivors? One of the most important reasons is that Chong Kneas was at that time a place full of fish.

Being asked what he did to earn a living after the DK, Les Mat, 58, quickly replied that “I do not want to talk much about the absolute regime of three years, eight months and twenty days.” He went on by stressing what he called “empty-hand livelihood”:

“The Khmer Rouge destroyed nearly everything, but left nothing. Many of my Cham

relatives who survived, came to Chong Kneas hoping that we could live by catching

fish. We had no any modern tools for fishing beside a small nets (Mong), fishing lines

(Santouch) and traps (Lob). We were not lucky at that time because we did not get any

boats for fishing. Conversely, other villagers who were in the village or arrived there

first could claim old boats that the Khmer Rouge did not take away or burn.” (Mat, 2008)

It is obvious, from the extract, that fishing is one of the most effective and popular strategies Cham people used to earn their livings right after the destruction of Democratic Kampuchea. They tried to make use of remained materials and tools for earning livings. Nonetheless, such things were very few, making some Cham people facing a harder

4 difficulties for their livelihood. In opposite, one Khmer survivor who lived in the same time informed that “every families got a boat for fishing.” (Man, 2008).

To understand various forms of livelihood the Cham made at that time, a number of family histories need to be explored. Following is some selective cases from the field.

1- Pou Yeb

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)

When asked what her husband does, she continued that:

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“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 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)

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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 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.

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Livelihood Diversifications 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 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.

2- 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.

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.

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

8 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.

Table B: Family Profile of Ly Sales

N Name A

ge

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

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 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.”

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“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 livelihood, which also lead to 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.

3- 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.

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

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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. This helps increase his family income because selling fish at the market is more expensive than wholeselling at the shore of the lake.

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 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

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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.”

“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.

4- 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.

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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.

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.

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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 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.

“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

14 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 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.

5- 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.

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

15

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:

“At one time, 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)

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)

16 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.

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 afford to buy a

17 fishing net and boat nor to borrow from the neighbors. She ended up in repairing old nets, instead.

Another Challenge

Gradually, the allegation that her family spied on the community disappeared when her husband became a Senachun, a title for military personnel who helped 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 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

18

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 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.

19

6- 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 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 Mths 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)

20

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)

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

21 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)

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

22 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.

III. CONCLUSION

Though they had a hard time making a living with “empty-hands” after Pol Pot regime, the Cham in Chong Kneas, Siem Reap made some strategies. Fishing was the main source for their income. They could process the fish into many forms such as Prahok (fish paste), dried fish, smoke fish and so on and so forth. When some technology was introduced to the community, some of them involved themselves into other forms of livelihoods such as ice selling, grocery, and especially machine boats. They have been using machine boats for tourism. Many tourists, who are interested in exploring the livelihood in Tonle Sap or for whatever reasons, come to visit the community. This gives those Cham along with other ethnic groups, who be able to buy the boats. They tried to get access to technology for the better livelihood.

Moving place of resident is another strategy the Cham used to get better livelihood. Seeing other places with better opportunity, they would think of in-migrating there. Still, they would choose to move into other Muslim Cham community. Livelihoods diversification also depends on the availability of non-dependent labour in the household group. Those household who have more active members seem to get better income since they have more labor to work.

Last but not least, social capital is very important for the Cham’s livelihood. As each case shown, the Cham had quite strong solidarity among their Muslim brotherhood. Those Cham who are believed to be one of the brothers could benefit from this bond. They could borrow from them some money to run business without paying interest rate. However, those Cham who were suspected not to be Muslim were excluded from the bond. They had no way to access to social capital, borrowing free-interest money or getting help. As the cases of above indicated, they could not borrow money to run business, which consequently lead them to remain in labor sector.

Going through some thirty years after the fall of Pol Pot regime and passing through hard time of “empty-hand” livelihood, some aspects of the Cham mobility have appeared- poor, middle and wealthy, which is measured by wealth. The finding is likely to show that among them, some are doing quite good in livelihood. The wealthy benefit from their involvements in fishing and especially 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

23 means of production, say in fishing. They use their labor to earn money such as fishing laborers or porters.

This study focused only on livelihood strategy of the 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 can be interesting to explore the livelihood of other two ethnic groups to see if which group has better or worse livelihood in the same ecological context.

24 IV- BIBLIOGRAPHY

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