Pailĭn

Pailĭn () on kaupunki ja samanniminen provinssi Kambodžan länsiosassa Thaimaan vastaisella rajalla, Khao Banthatin (Phnom Kravanh) vuoriharjanteella. Kaupungista on 20 kilometrin matkaa Thaimaan rajalle Ban Phakkadin rajanylityspaikalle Outside Magazine: From the Wonderful People Who Brought You the Killing Fields, Patrick Symmes (05/1999), haettu 20.4.2008  Because of its proximity to Thailand--just 20 kilometers from the border--Pailin is not only an ideal refuge for war criminals and defeated guerrillas, but also a prosperous center for the smuggling of gems and lumber. ja Băt Dâmbângin kaupunkiin 80 km. Asukkaita Pailĭnin kaupungissa on 35 234 henkeä (2007) Tourism of Cambodia, haettu 19.4.2008 The current population in this municipality is about 35,234 people or 0.25% of the country’s total population (14,363,519 person in Cambodia, 2007, provincial government data), with 19,059 male and 16,175 female. The population density is therefore 44 people per square kilometre..

Pailĭn erotettiin omaksi hallinnolliseksi yksikökseen Băt Dâmbângin provinssista 2001. Thaimaan puolella Pailĭnin maakunta rajoittuu Sa Kaeon, Chanthaburin ja Tratin provinsseihin. Ympäröivä maaseutu on vuosikymmeniä jatkuneiden vetäytymistaisteluiden jäljiltä hyvin tiheästi miinoitettua  Landmine Monitor Report Cambodia (2000), haettu 19.4.2008 However, most of the rural communities living along the Thai-Cambodian border are affected by mines in various ways. Statistics from the CRC/HI Database reveal that most mine incidents in 1999 occurred in Battambang (31% of total incidents), Banteay Meanchey (20% of total incidents), Oddar Meanchey, Siem Reap, Preah Vihear, Pailin and Pursat.  Travelinsurance Direct: Cambodia - Dangers and Annoyances, haettu 19.4.2008  The most heavily mined part of the country is the Battambang and Pailin area, but mines are a problem all over Cambodia..

 Punaiset khmerit   
Alue on tunnettu aiemmin rikkaista jalokiviesiintymistään (rubiini, safiiri), jotka ovat ehtymässä The Nation: Golf course planned at former Khmer Rouge stronghold (1.4.2008), haettu 19.5.2008  Once rich in gems and timber, these resources were all but stripped bare by the Khmer Rouge as they tried to keep the remnants of the rebel movement alive by selling them off before the rebels finally conceded to join Hun Sen's government in 1996., ja punakhmerien perinteisenä tukialueena ja liikkeen vallasta syöstyjen johtajien turvapaikkana  The Observer 24.10.2004, haettu 19.4.2008 Several Khmer Rouge leaders live in villas in Pailin, profiting from large farms, logging of hardwood forests and gem mining.  Punakhmerien johtajat, kuten Ieng Sary, pitivät Pailĭnista kiinni viimeiseen asti, koska se turvasi heidän taloutensa  Yale University - Cambodian Genocide Program: Thailand's Response to the Cambodian Genocide, haettu 20.4.2008 Pailin has been such a precious asset for the Khmer Rouge leaders that they did not want to abandon it, even those who they had decided to defect from the Pol Pot-led guerilla forces. In 1997, Ieng Sary’s faction, which defected to the Cambodian government in 1996, was reportedly still making millions of dollars selling gems to Thai traders. At least 29 mining companies operated in the Pailin area. Each company was required to pay the dissident group 220,000 baht a month in return for a concession. .

 Elinkeinot 
Pailĭn on keskushallinnon heikkouden, huonojen kulkuyhteyksien ja rajakaupan vuoksi integroitunut enemmän Thaimaahan kuin Phnom Penhiin. 1990-luvulla Chatichain hallituksen ministeri solmi aluetta hallinneiden punakhmerien kanssa sopimuksen alueen metsävarojen hyödyntämisestä ja thaimaalaiset jalokivikauppiaat saivat luvan kaivaa jalokiviä  Yale University - Cambodian Genocide Program: Thailand's Response to the Cambodian Genocide, haettu 20.4.2008 In 1990, several business deals between Thai private companies and the Khmer Rouge were reached. Six Thai timber companies, one partly owned by a Chatichai cabinet minister, were trying to win contracts from the Khmer Rouge to carry out massive logging in Pailin town, south of Battambang and opposite the Thai province of Chanthaburi. In August 1990, the Khmer Rouge granted a group of about five hundred Thai gem traders a concession to dig for precious stones in their newly-captured stronghold of Pailin. In return for the concession, the group agreed to build a 12-kilometer road from Pailin to the Noen Phi border checkpoint in Chanthaburi Province, in order to facilitate their clandestine cross-border trade. . Kolmas merkittävä tulonlähde on Thaimaassa kielletty, mutta Kambodžassa sallittu kasinopelitoiminta, joka houkuttelee paikalle vierailijoita rajan takaa The Nation: Golf course planned at former Khmer Rouge stronghold (1.4.2008), haettu 19.5.2008  Pailin's biggest draw is currently its mainly Thai-owned casinos, which operators say draw up to 10,000 Thais per month. But they lie within a quick sprint of the border and more than 12 km from Pailin town, so most gamblers drop their money there and go no further.. Turismia pyritään kehittämään, mutta toistaiseksi infrastruktuurin kehittymättömyys ja olojen vakiintumattomuus ovat haitanneet matkailuelinkeinoa.

 Lähteet 
Andy Brouwer's Cambodia Tales, haettu 19.4.2008

Viitteet

Luokka:Kambodžan kaupungit