[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

NEWS - Karen villagers set for sal



Subject: NEWS -  Karen villagers set for salween battle

The Nation - March 14, 1999

Headlines

SUNDAY REPORT: Karen villagers set for salween battle

SIWADER, Mae Sam Lap -- With the government giving the go-ahead for the
studies on hydropower and water diversion projects on the mighty Salween
River and its tributaries, the Karen villagers along the water basin are
bracing themselves for a head-on fight against their eviction from their
indigenous forest habitat.

The villagers have long heard of the mega projects, but only in recent
years has the threat become a reality.

The idea to dam the Salween goes far back, but it was the former army
chief
Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh who first raised the issue with the Burmese
government when he visited the country early 1988.**

After years of critical water shortages -- due to annual drought,
deforestation and poor resource management -- which has threatened the
second-crop rice cultivation in the central plains and a water crisis in
greater Bangkok, successive governments came to realise the Salween's
worth
as a potential source of water supply to replenish major water arteries,
particularly the Ping. The Ping is one of the four tributaries of the
Chao
Phrya River, the water lifeline of the country.

It was the interim government of Anand Panyarachun -- installed by coup
leader Gen Suchinda Kraprayoon -- which first floated the water
diversion
potential from the Salween. Since then the idea to dam and divert the
water
from the Salween and its tributaries has gained firmer ground over the
years.

Karen Thai villagers in the Salween basin have been living under threat
for
generations, first from the Burmese army which tried for five decades to
wipe out their Karen Burmese brothers, living across the Moei and the
Salween on the Burmese side. Burmese troops have often launched
hot-pursuit
or deliberate raids across the border whenever Karen guerrillas fled to
Thailand for safety.

But as the Burmese threat subsided after successive Karen defeats, a new
threat for the Karens has, however, emerged -- this time from the
central
government in Bangkok.

The government of Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai in January gave the green
light for the feasibility study on the Salween water diversion project
and
in the following month approved a Bt186.5-million budget for research on

potential water sources, including those from the Salween, the Moei, the
Nam Ngao and the Nam Yuam.

Last Wednesday, over 500 Karen villagers in the Salween River-basin
areas
vowed to fight against the government's hydropower and water diversion
projects which they said would dislocate them from the forest land of
their
forebears.

They said they are defenceless against state power but stand ready to
die
for their cause.

''We will follow in the footsteps of Kawthoolei [armed Karen guerrillas
in
Burma] who have fought against the Burmese. I don't know if we will be
able
to withstand the fight, but we are ready to sacrifice our lives to
oppose
the government projects,'' said Tudtoo Malasrisamorn, assistant head of
Mae
Harn village in Mae Hong Son's Mae Sariang district.

''We have no arms. We only have mouths to voice our opposition. They
[the
government] will use force [to evict us]. We are not pigs or dogs that
they
can chase here and there, but Thai people,'' he added.

Tudtoo was among some 500 Karen representatives from 22 villages along
the
Salween River-basin in this northern province who attended a ''prayer
meeting'' held in a pristine piece of forest close to Siwader village in
Mae Sam Lap district.

The ''prayer meeting'' was a multi-religious ceremony -- Christian,
indigenous animist and Buddhist -- aimed at protecting their natural
forest
habitat against illegal logging and the government's pending
mega-projects.


But Chalermsak Wanichsombat, director-general of the Ministry of
Science's
Department of Environmental Quality Promotion, who travelled the rough
dirt-road journey to chair the prayer ceremony, tried to allay Karen
concerns of displacement from their land.

In an interview with the The Nation, Chalermsak said environmental
protection and development projects have to go hand-in-hand and both
factors will be taken into account when it comes to a final decision.

He said he does not foresee any conflicts from the Salween projects as
there are means to create understanding through talks and discussions.

''The government will have to take all factors [including environment
and
development] into account [before a final decision]. It will see which
factors have better supporting arguments and which factors are
necessary,''
he said.

He said the government has, in recent years, promoted participatory
roles
for the people and held public hearings on government's major schemes.
''Thus, the locals will have a more active participatory role in the
decision-making process,'' he added.

And with the passing of the new Constitution in 1997, which allows the
public unhindered access to government information, the local people
will
be better informed and able to get the right picture and understanding
of
the government's development activities, he said.

Chalermsak's optimistic views are far from convincing to the Karens who
have seen, heard and learned of countless painful experiences in
fighting
and losing wars against state projects, and unfair government treatment.

As the hydro projects will take off immediately after the completion of
the

36-month feasibility studies, the Salween promises to be another flash
point for a serious state versus people conflict in the years to come.

BY YINDEE LERTCHAROENCHOK

-------------------------

** REPOSTED AGAIN AS REQUESTED BY YINDEE LERTCHAROENCHOK **


Hi,

I don't know if you're interested in the story below which was published
on Sunday, 14 March. There is one mistake in paragraph three as a copy
editor changed the year 1988 I put to last year. Yes, 10 years
different.
I was very upset with the mistake.

So the third paragraph should be

      "The idea to dam the Salween went far back, but it was the
      former army chief Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh who first
      raised the issue with the Burmese government when he
      visited the country in early 1988."

instead of

      "The idea to dam the Salween goes far back, but it was the
      former army chief Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh who first
      raised the issue with the Burmese government when he
      visited the country early last year."


If you want to post it, pls post the corrected part. I was up in Mae Sam
Lap last week, had a cruise down the Salween to see the potential site
for
the lower Salween dam, and visited this Karen Thai village of Siwader.
Villagers in the whole neighbourhood are extremely upset with the
government's decision to dam and divert the water without consulting
them.
I think there could be serious state-people conflicts in the future. I
plan to write a background article on the Salween projects.

Regards,

yindee