Sack Egat chief for either incompetence or
public deception
The Nation, November 25, 2000
The governor of a large organisation has a lot of important issues to
deal with and cannot be expected to be aware of every small incident at
every office of his organisation. However, the protest over the Pak Mool
Dam hardly falls into the category of small incidents. The protest has
been going on for many months now with activities both at the dam site and
in Bangkok. It has received substantial media coverage. Yet Egat governor
Vitaya Kotcharung still does not know the reason the villagers are camped
at the dam site, or who they are ["Egat files suit over damage at Pak
Mool", The Nation, November 23].
If that is true then he should be removed from his post forthwith for
incompetence. How many other things are there about the organisation he
heads that he should know but does not? The protesters have hardly tried
to operate under cover. Nor have they made any secret of their concerns.
It would have been very easy for him to have gone and talked to them.
Plenty of journalists have done so.
If, on the other hand, he does know, then he should be removed for
trying to deceive the public as the head of a government agency.
I was pleased to read that, by chance, someone happened to have a video
camera handy when the villagers were attacked. It should be fairly easy to
identify the attackers and who was leading the attack from this hard
evidence. Thus we can expect to find out in a few days who the gang
leaders were and who the plotters were behind this thuggery.
Gareth Clayton
KING MONGKUT'S INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NORTH BANGKOK
__________________________________________
Bangkok Post, November 25, 2000
A propos the recent violence committed by hired thugs against
peacefully protesting villagers at the Pak Moon Dam, a comment by Boonlert
Mongkolvit, assistant chief of public relations of the Electricity
Generating Authority of Thailand, caught my eye (Bangkok Post, Nov 20).
He sought to justify the attempted evictions using violence by
asserting that "their [the protesters'] presence has obstructed our
work and their shacks on our property and outside Government House are an
eyesore".
Now, I should not need to remind regular followers of news in Thailand
why these villagers have found it necessary to protest almost non-stop for
over 10 years against a dam they never wanted or were even consulted about
being built in their private backyards and communal resources.
I would hope that common sense and basic principles of human rights,
never mind the evidence that has come out in the World Commission on Dams'
final report, would tend to convince people that the villagers have been
justified in questioning the dam and seeking adequate redress for their
losses.
But the concept that Khun Boonlert should find the shacks that the
protesters have built to keep the elements off their heads "an
eyesore", is a curious one. Perhaps he would rather they had built
luxury "shacks" with plush landscaped gardens, like those of
senior Egat employees and dam contractors. I am sure he would also feel
more comfortable if the protesters turned up at rallies in the latest
four-wheel drives and designer clothes, just as I have seen Egat staff
proudly sport.
But if they could afford those, then it would probably suggest that
they had been made better off by the dam and would not need to protest,
just like Egat and the various government staff who have prospered since
the dam was built.
The truth is Egat is uncomfortable with the concept of poverty itself,
especially when it is created by the state and highly visible. Packing the
poor back to their villages is the only way out that they can see-out of
sight of the wealthy and powerful.
To me the only eyesore at Pak Moon, (which I have frequently visited),
is the dam itself and the pylons stretching away from it, which testify to
the destruction of a unique ecosystem and way of life.
David JH Blake, Kent, UK
