Pak
Mool protesters 'willing to die'
The
Nation May 22nd, 2000
PROTESTERS at the Pak
Mool dam yesterday vowed to form a "human shield" to resist any effort
to remove them from the dam site in Ubon Ratchathani, while Prime Minister Chuan
Leekpai insisted that the government would not use violence to end the
stand-off.
More than 1,000
protesters have occupied the controversial dam for days demanding that its
floodgates be opened to allow fish to migrate to replenish depleted stocks
upriver.
Village leaders
yesterday joined with academics and non-governmental organisations in issuing
statements to reiterate their anti-dam stance. The statements emphasised that
the dam had produced much less electricity than official projections and caused
widespread hardship to villagers by reducing their fishery income.
The protest movement
attacked the government for "staying aloof" from the problem by
allowing the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) the final say
on their demand. The government was also accused of trying to portray the
protesters as troublemakers and divide the communities living in the vicinity of
the dam.
"We have been
protesting in a peaceful manner, but if the government resorts to violent
measures to disperse us, we are willing to die," said Sompong Janviang, a
protest leader, as members of the anti-dam movement met at Thammasat University.
"We have formed
a front line to confront any attempt to dislodge us from the site," he
said.
Another movement
leader, Suriyasai Katasila, asked the government to stop its
"propaganda" intended to pit the anti-dam protesters against other
villagers who, the authorities said, could suffer if the dam gates were opened.
Chuan denied the
government was planning a crack-down on protesters, saying he had instructed
provincial officials and Egat to do their best to avoid an outbreak of violence.
He complained that
the government had had to deal with chronic problems not of its making.
"We are facing
the same old problems, and it is too late to cancel [the dam project]. What we
have to do now is think about what is best for the common good," Chuan
said.
"No more dam
construction in problematic areas. We will have to be more careful in the
future. We can't build a structure and then later be held hostage by
problems."
The anti-dam movement
has received plenty of support from local and foreign environmentalists as well
as academics.
Damrong Puttan led a
team of senators elect to inspect the dam site yesterday and called on the prime
minister to deal with the problem himself.
"It's not going
to work if the government expects Egat and the villagers to settle the problem
between themselves," Damrong said. His group also suggested that the
government take this opportunity to show its commitment to the new political
system by resolving the problem in the most transparent and fair manner with the
plight of the affected minority taken into account.
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