Letter from the members of the
Parliament in Japan
on the World Bank funded Pak Mun
Dam in Thailand
July
21st, 2000
The
Honorable Mr. Chuan Leekpai
Prime
Minister of Thailand
Dear
Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai;
We,
the members of the Parliament in Japan, express our grave concern as well
as great regret, with regard to the recent cases of police attack on and
arrest of massive members of the Assembly of the Poor, who had attempted
to occupy the Government House to protest against the Thai Government's
indifference to their demands for the Government to comply with the
recommendations submitted by the Committee, which had been set up by the
Government itself, to resolve the sixteen on-going conflicts, the most
salient of which is the Pak Mun Dam case. We are writing this letter, not
only as members of the international community who strive for human rights
and dignity, but also as stakeholders of the World Bank, which funded the
Pak Mun Dam.
The
Thai Government is fully responsible for the current situation, not merely
because it plays a supervising role over the police force, but because the
protestors' action was a reaction out of desperation to the Government's
indifference to the recommendations made by the Committee. The Government
should not forget that the Committee was established with its own
initiative. We request that the Thai Government should immediately and
fully comply with the committee's recommendations, the most immediate of
which is to open the gates of the Pak Mun Dam to let fish swim upstream to
spawn in the Mun River.
The
police used batons and tear-gas to attack the protestors. This is
absolutely intolerable and should be condemned, for the protestors had
repeatedly vowed to be non-violent and indeed were. The protestors were
totally off-guard, for the use of tear-gas was unexpected, inappropriate,
and illegitimate. During the police attack on the July 16th, forty to
fifty villagers were reported to be injured. On July 17th, thirty more
were hurt. A few of them were very seriously injured and had to be sent to
a hospital for treatment.
We
strongly request that the Thai Government should immediately order the
police force to stop using any more violent means against the protestors,
who continue to stay and demonstrate outside the Government House. The
protestors' action to occupy the Government Housing should not be used as
the justification for the use of the force and the making of arrests.
The
Thai Government should also order the police not to arrest any more
protestors. Those who were arrested during the second police attack were
mostly senior citizens, women, and children, including a one-year-old
infant. This in itself deserves condemnation. We also request that the
Government not make arbitrary use of judicial procedures to harass and
intimidate the protestors, but make considerate and thoughtful decisions,
including making an immediate public announcement to drop any charges it
might have against the released protestors who are on bail.
We
emphasize again, as our final remarks, that the Thai Government should
take immediate action to settle the current conflict in a peaceful and a
democratic manner. The Thai Government should, as it has so far, try to
resolve the tension through open and sincere dialogues with the
protestors, instead of resorting to violence, arrest, and any other
illegitimate means.
Thank
you very much for your earliest possible attention.
Sincerely
yours,
Signed
by
MP
FUKUSHIMA, Muzuho +81-3-3508-8506
MP
NAKAMURA, Atsuo +81-3-3508-8632
MP
TAKEMURA, Yasuko +81-3-3508-8603
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