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July 20, 2000
His Excellency Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai,
We write to you as a Thai scholars to express our concern about the
government and police response to recent demonstrations at Government
House
over the Pak Moon dam. While the villagers who entered the
government
compound several days ago acknowledged that they were violating the law,
they did not pose any threat to the Thai government or to the safety and
secuirty of anyone in Thailand. The police response--including
beatings,
tear gassings, and arrests--has been excessive and is bound to be
counterproductive, both in terms of resolving the conflict and in terms of
encouraging peaceful, democratic development in Thailand.
As the Thai government is aware, the reason for the demonstrations is the
just concern of the villagers over the effects of the Pak Moon dam on
their
livelihoods. More particularly, the current demonstrations reflect
the
failure of the government--including the Ministry of the Interior and the
Electricty Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT)--to act on the
recommendations of the government-appointed committee which has studied
the
issues and called for the gates of the dam to be opened for four months
during the rainy season. We believe that for the Prime Minister's
office
to simply reproach the protesters for violating the law by entering the
government compound to peacefully protest, and for it to endorse the
violent response of the police, is to ignore the real issues at stake and
to cast blame in the wrong direction. Instead of chastising the
demonstrators for violating the law, we believe the Prime Ministers'
Office
should confront EGAT and the Ministry of the Interior over its failure to
act on the recommendation of the government-appointed committee, this
being
the root of the current conflict.
We therefore strongly urge the Prime Minister's Office: (1) to drop all
charges against the protesters--who were only seeking space to discuss
their concerns with the government and are not criminals--and to
immediately release all demonstrators who have been arrested; (2) to admit
the government's responsibilty for, and show political accountability for,
the violence which occurred during July 16-17, 2000; (3) to demand that
EGAT and the Ministry of the Interior adhere to the recommendation of the
government-appointed committee calling for the gates of the Pak Moon dam
to
be opened; and (4) to immediately address the remaining 15 unresolved
issues brought before the government-appointed committee by the Assembly
of
the Poor.
We know that our views are shared by a wide range of international
scholars
and students of the Pak Moon case, and we thus hope you will consider
these
urgings seriously.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jim Glassman, Department of Geography, Syracuse University, USA
Dr. Kevin Hewison, Department of Asian Studies, University of New England,
Australia
Dr. Philip Hirsch, Director, Australia Mekong Resource Center, Department
of Geography, University of Sydney, Australia
Dr. Bruce Missingham, Health Transition Centre, Australian National
University, Australia
Dr. Chris Sneddon, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies
Program, Dartmouth College, USA
Dr. Andrew Turton, Department of Anthropology, SOAS, University of London,
UK
Dr. Peter Vandergeest, Department of Sociology, York University, Canada
Dr. Gisèle Yasmeen, Sustainable Development Research Institute,
University of British Columbia, Canada
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สมาคมแม่น้ำเพื่อชีวิต 138/1 หมู่ 4 ต.สุเทพ อ.เมือง จ.เชียงใหม่ 50200
Living River Siam Association 138 Moo 4, Suthep, Muang, Chiang Mai, 50200 Thailand
Tel. & Fax.: (66)- E-mail : admin@livingriversiam.org |
