Thousands under threat of eviction
Declaration of park destroys livelihood

Ploenpote Atthakor
Thousands of villagers and hilltribe people in Nan province are under threat of eviction from their land in watershed areas of Doi Phu Kha National Park, an environmentalist said yesterday.
Ruengdej Chommuang of the Hak Muang Nan Group said the eviction is imminent as forestry officials have begun talks with villagers and Hmong and Lua people.
Over one million rai of land in eight districts was declared part of the national park last August.
Mr Ruengdej said the villagers had settled there long before the park was declared. Some villages had been there more than 200 years.
"Since the national park was declared, at least 170,000 villagers face eviction because the forestry law does not allow people to live in the park, no matter how long they have been there," he said, Also annexed to the park are the villagers' farmland and their community forests.
Mr Ruengdej said the Hmong would be the first to go under the relocation plan. "I was informed that these people will be removed either to Phitsanulok or Phetchabun."Most of the Hmong grow fruit such as lychees and lamyai (longan), while most of the Lua farm rice.
"Shortly after the area was declared a national park, the lowlanders and government officials led by forestry chief Plodprasop Suraswadi and some radical environmentalists from Chiang Mai began a reafforestation programme in the Hmong's fruit orchards," Mr Ruengdej said.
With the support of the Chom Thong Conservation Group from Chiang Mai, lowlanders in Nan last year blocked a road leading to the hilltribes' orchards.
"These environmentalists don't believe in the concept of the co-existence of man and forest," he said.
"They are trying hard to convince local authorities to relocate the hilltribes."If they were successful, people in other northern provinces faced the same fate, he said.
[BP: 20.8.00]
Why the racial violence now?
Sanitsuda Ekachai
Manoon Khirisantikul is still in shock. His lychee orchard was his only hope of providing a future for his four children. Now his dream has gone up in smoke.
On Monday, his orchard and those of some 180 other Thai-Hmongs in Nan's Chiang Klang district were destroyed by angry lowland farmers. Like dominoes, the lychee trees-many over 15 years old-collapsed one by one against a backdrop of smoke and fire rising above the homes put to the torch.
All farm equipment was destroyed. Chickens and pigs were killed. Cooked rice and other food was thrown about.
Witnesses said the authorities, both policemen and forestry officials, were present during the blitz. But nothing was done to stop the terror. Or arrest the attackers. Instead, the Hmongs were barred from entering their property on grounds that this would be forest encroachment and the raid was a lesson for foreign elements.
"We've nothing left," Mr Manoon told his small son, sobbing. "Nothing but debt."More than 50,000 lychee trees were destroyed. But what was also lost was the Hmongs' hope of peaceful dialogue with and trust in officialdom as conflicts over natural resources worsen and degenerate into racism.
The Hmongs' orchards are said to be causing droughts in low-lying areas and contaminating waterways. The people are also accused of being invaders since they live in Pa Klang district some distance away.
The Pa Klang Hmongs, for their part, have a bitter story to tell of life as a tribal minority who are victim to the whim of state control.
Up until three decades ago, their farmland was actually in Chiang Klang and their villages were higher up the mountain. During the communist insurgency, the military moved them down from their ancestral homes to Pa Klang and used them as informants and soldiers to fight the guerrillas.
But the newly settled land proved inadequate and the soil of poor quality. So they went back to their old farms in Chiang Klang. That was about 20 years ago. It was like going home. A life in peace at last.
The Hmongs are puzzled by the lowlanders' actions. Some of the orchards are over 15 years old. Why attack them now?The authorities promote ecology friendly forms of farming in the highlands. The Hmongs follow that state line. So why destroy the orchards?Lowland villagers and other hill peoples have lychee orchards in the same area. Why target just the Pa Klang Hmongs?The raid was not the first. In June, villagers destroyed part of the Hmongs' lychee orchards. The Hmongs called for a joint committee to settle the conflict peacefully, but nothing happened. Then came Monday's blitz.
"They see us as no better than animals," said community leader Samrit Sae Tao bitterly. "In time of war, they used us to fight. Now we're of no use, they feel it's okay to destroy us."Mountainous Nan province is home to several tribes who have always co-existed peacefully. Why the outburst of racial hatred now?The Hmong leaders and environmentalists are blaming the Forestry Department for fanning ethnic acrimony as part of its scheme to evict hill peoples from forests without getting its own hands dirty.
It happened before in Chom Thong, Chiang Mai between lowland farmers and highlanders. Now in Nan. More than 500,000 hill people live in the forests. Where will be the next scene of ethnic violence?The smoke up on the Nan mountain could be symbolic. Unless the authorities refrain from stirring up racism under the guise of conserving the environment, our country might soon be ablaze.
{BP: 24.8.00]
Army accused of threatening Karen
Military accused of violating their rights

Uamdao Noikorn
Karen villagers have again accused the Ninth Army Regiment based in Kanchanaburi of intimidating hilltribe villagers living inside Thung Yai Naresuan wildlife sanctuary, in a bid to drive them out.
At a press conference yesterday, Karen representatives and conservationists complained that the army unit has charged the villagers with threatening the country's stability and forest ecology.
They said the charge was untrue as the Karen have been living in the forest for more than 800 years.
The government "must stop impeding our participation in resource and cultural management and promote Karen's rights... and in keeping the good Karen culture", said eight conservation groups in a joint statement.
"What they are doing is a violation of human rights, a total disrespect for our culture, tradition and humanity. Our livelihood will be destroyed, so we won't move," said Somphob Satasatharn from Sanehpong village.
The village is one of six situated in the middle of Thung Yai, which is part of the World Heritage site in the Western Forest Complex, targeted for relocation by the army.
The others include Takianthong, Jae Kae, Ti Laipa, Salawah and Kohsaderng.
According to villagers from Takianthong, soldiers from the Ninth Army Regiment have ordered them to leave within this month.
"They have warned us since the middle of last year and dismantled our huts, banned us from farming and sent 18 families to Burma for not producing Thai ID cards," said a villager.
Their lament is not new. Early last year the Forestry Department and the army were accused of destroying the Karen's annual sacred ceremony. Three huts were burned and demolished on grounds the Thung Yai yard was "the heart" of the forest.
Lt-Gen Taweep Suwanasingha, the First Army commander, earlier argued the raid was motivated by the illegal influx of Burmese immigrants whom he claimed mingled with the locals.
Poaching by both groups was also cited as another threat to the nation's sovereignty.
While Plodprasop Suraswadi, director of the Forestry Department, compromised by saying he would not remove those found to have been living in the forest before it was declared a national park, the army continued its "mission for the nation".
Villagers of Salawah community also complained of being threatened by soldiers to move out.
They said signs put up by soldiers at the entrance of each village forbade villagers from settling, farming or making any use of the land, or they would face penalties.
The situation is most tense in Takianthong because the villagers have refused to leave even after the military had allegedly taken action against them.
Now the soldiers have threatened to demolish their houses, the villagers said.
In a recent talk among village leaders and local authorities, the authorities concerned insisted that Takianthong people be moved to a 47,600-rai plot in a mining concession zone which would become a new settlement for all the Karen villagers once the concession period expires.
Jae Kae village chief Supachai Phana-udom expressed concern. "We're not familiar with the landscape and being forced to farm on the same land isn't our tradition," he remarked, referring to their tradition of rotational farming which they claimed would give each plot of land time to recover.
Official sources in Kanchaburi dismissed the villagers' claims, saying the army would never seize any villagers' ID cards.
The sources also said the army did not have anything to do with the relocation plan, saying it belonged to the Forestry Department.
They said some villagers were arrested because they did not stay in their designated areas. 
[BP:19.9.00]
Hmong move to ease rift with lowlanders
Inquiry sought into raids on orchards 

Wuthipong Srisilp
Nan
Hmong leaders have submitted an 11-point demand to provincial authorities to settle a prolonged dispute between their members and lowlanders.
Hmong tribespeople have been engaged in a conflict over land with local people in Chiang Klang district.
The dispute escalated after Hmong houses and lychee plantations in tambon Pa Klang were raided by rival lowlanders.
The tribespeople suspected local government officials might be backing the actions of lowlanders, who accuse the Hmong of encroaching on Nam Peua and Nam Kon forests for cultivation.
Suradet Yangsaeng, the kamnan of tambon Pa Klang and a leading Hmong figure, said tribespeople have called on provincial authorities to settle the dispute.
The group has demanded an investigation into the motive for the raids on Hmong villagers' houses and fruit orchards on June 19 and Aug 2;
- Assistance be provided to tribespeople whose orchards were destroyed;
- Action be taken against those who instigated the unrest;
- Nobody be allowed to enter the destroyed lychee plantations pending the investigation;
- Security measures be beefed up for tribespeople;
- Measures be mapped out to write off the affected tribespeople's debts;
- Provincial authorities to closely monitor the conduct of government and local officials in Chiang Klang to prevent them from taking sides with lowlanders;
- Concerned agencies urgently solve the land conflict between the lowlanders and tribespeople; 
- A neutral committee be set up to take those behind the raids to task;
- Compensation be paid to the affected tribesmen; and
- A rehabilitation scheme be launched in tambon Pa Klang.
[BP:19.9.00]
Status change offers hope to local Karen
Category sees people as part of the ecology
Ploenpote Atthakor
Thung Yai Naresuan wildlife sanctuary should be listed as a Cultural Landscape World Heritage site, which would afford protection to indigenous people living in the area, activists said yesterday.
The call came as Karen villagers and conservationists said forestry officials and troops were intimidating the ethnic minority to force them out of the protected forest.
Alongkot Chukaew of Wildlife Fund Thailand said the new category regards indigenous people as part of the ecological system. Once the sanctuary is reclassified, people living there will be protected, he told a group of senators.
There are only two types of World Heritage sites in Thailand-Thung Yai is a natural site and the historical park in Ayutthaya a historical site.
The activist cited Tongariro Park in New Zealand as an example. The area was on the list of cultural landscape world heritage in 1997.
Mr Alongkot said research has shown that the Karen way of life was in harmony with nature. "That forests in the sanctuary have been conserved means these people can live there and protect the forest."
Though the authorities have pledged there will be no relocation of those living in the area before it was declared a sanctuary in 1974, the villagers said they were under pressure to go.
Surachai Phana-udom, headman of Jae Kae village, said a number of raids had been conducted against the villagers in recent months, in which ID and house registration cards had been confiscated.
He said the authorities have tried to prohibit rotation farming, a traditional method practised by the Karen, and forced them to use the same plot of land. Any villager returning to abandoned farmland faced arrest.
Karen say using the same plot over and over causes a loss of nutrients while rotation allows natural recovery.
Villagers also said a group of wealthy businessmen had encroached on the forests and set up sataw (parkia) and sweet tamarind plantations.
Somphob Satasathan of Sanepong village, said the villagers were willing to co-operate with the authorities in verifying that they were indigenous people and not displaced persons.
Surapong Kongchantuk, director of the Karen Development and Studies Centre, pointed out that attempts have been made to force Karen villagers to change their traditional ways of living which are self-sufficient.
More importantly, there was no resettlement scheme to facilitate the villagers' relocation to new land and there was a possibility the authorities would drive these Karen on to Burmese soil, he said.
Senator Tuenjai Deetes of Chiang Rai said the Senate would look into the Karen's complaints.
She said the National Security Council should be invited to help solve the problem on a long-term, policy-oriented basis.
"Hilltribe minorities in many parts of the country are under the same threat, including Hmong villagers in Chiang Mai and Nan, and we need a clear policy on this issue." [BP: 20.9.00]
Evictions of local Karen ruled out
But those lacking papers must leave

Uamdao Noikorn in Kanchanaburi
The army, the forestry and provincial authorities yesterday denied they planned to evict Karen villagers from Thung Yai Naresuan wildlife sanctuary.
Only those without identity cards would be expelled, they said, in response to claims by the Karen that soldiers and officials had intimidated villagers into leaving the protected forest.
The government was trying to find an extra settlement area for the Karen population to ensure the ecology of the country's most fertile forest was not affected.
"There is no plan to move anyone out of the forest. We just want them to go back to their original villages by January next year," said Maj-Gen Mana Prajakjit, commander of the 9th Infantry Division.
The hilltribes charged that the military violated their rights by forcing them to leave their home of 800 years.
Col Sombat Sunklang, 9th division commander, said the military's role was limited to helping the Forestry Department, which has authority over the areas in which the six villages are located.
He said the Karen population in Sanehpong village had become too big and some people had left to form Takianthong village.
"This is where the military was accused of arresting villagers of 18 families and intimidating others," he said.
The move was illegal, said Col Sombat. They were not allowed to extend their settlement beyond the agreed area. The army arrested 14 Karen families who could not produce identity cards, he said. They were clearly illegal immigrants as none spoke Thai.
A multi-party committee set up in April this year agreed that Takianthong villagers must return to their villages, otherwise they would be moved to Songkalia village which is under the supervision of border patrol police.
The Takianthong villagers have vowed not to move, saying the area was traditionally used for rotational farming. It was part of their culture and they could not accept the ban.
Sangkhlaburi district chief Wijarn Chariyawetwatana asked the villagers not to panic, saying their well-being was a priority of the resettlement plan. "This is not a relocation scheme.
"We just want them to abide by the law. Don't live outside your home village," he said.
The committee decided those with ID cards would go to Sanehpong. They could farm in Takianthong but not live there. Those without papers would be settled in Phu Jue, an old mining area.
[BP: 21.9.00]
Prejudice dictates our every action
Sanitsuda Ekachai
Karen peasant Tao Paopo of Takianthong village in Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary is baffled and bitter.
Thung Yai has been the Karens' ancestral home for ages. So he can't understand why subsistence Karens are subject to eviction when mining companies and the local mafia can freely destroy the pristine Thung Yai forest with state approval.
"The local godfathers are turning our ricefields into sweet tamarind and parkia (sataw) plantations. We're evicted to make way for money barons," he said.
The two-million-rai Thung Yai forest is home to some 2,000 Karens in six scattered villages. They all have similar tales to tell of eviction by the military and ethnic violence.
At Salawa village, for instance, a group of drunken soldiers reportedly used knives to threaten Karen women to move from the forest. At Lai Wo, armed troops reportedly forced the Karen peasants to demolish their farm sheds.
Fear has virtually engulfed the Thung Yai communities. At Sanehpong, a young pregnant woman was told she would be evicted if she did not have an ID card, and that she could not have an ID card unless she paid 1,000 baht first for a health card-a ploy of some corrupt officials to make money from fearful Karens. To get the money, she carried a heavy basket and trekked across the hills to sell rice in another village. The baby was lost. It would have been her first-born.
Last year, the Karens at Takianthong who did not have ID cards-a failure of the census system-were evicted violently. Some were pushed into Burma, others were sent to refugee camps. This year, all Takianthong Karens, though all possess IDs, are being forced to leave before the end of this month.
Last month, the troops stormed in at dawn and rounded up 13 Takianthong villagers. The police subsequently released them as there were no grounds for their arrest.
Meanwhile, systematic efforts by military and forestry officials to block the Karens' traditional farm rotation system have resulted in a drastic drop in rice yields and widespread hunger.
The Thung Yai Karens were to be disappointed, however, if they thought their plight would trigger a public outcry.
True, old Siam had respected the Thung Yai Karens and granted them official recognition and titles as part of the state machinery for their help in fighting the Burmese wars. But that is a thing of the past.
The racist nationalism of the modern Thai state has brainwashed post-war generations into viewing ethnic groups as foreign elements. Or worse yet, as a national security threat due to drug trafficking and forest encroachment.
Such stereotypes, reinforced by the education system and the media, have numbed the public to state persecution of indigenous peoples.
The prejudice is so strong that the voice of reason emerging from research showing the positive role of the Karen forest dwellers in Thung Yai's ecology and biodiversity is simply ignored.
It's also why the Klity Karens who have suffered as a result of the presence of lead mines in Thung Yai for decades have not received any state help.
Or why the Chiang Klang Hmongs in Nan are left in despair after their lychee orchards were torched.
And why the military's scheme to resettle the hill people along the border with Burma is not questioned, despite the violence used.
"To tackle the border drug trade, the authorities must talk to Burma," pleaded Pah Terng of Sanehpong in Thung Yai. "With poaching, talk to the money barons who hire illegal workers to work in mines and plantations in forests. It's no use squeezing and squashing small people like us."
Reason will prevail only when Thai society frees itself of ethnic prejudice. Sadly, a change is not in sight. [BP: 21.9.00]