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Govt in disgrace over protest violence

 

THE NATION EDITORIAL:

July 19, 2000

The government should be ashamed of its handling of the break-in at Government House by the Pak Mool villagers over the weekend. A total of 223 people, including women and children, were apprehended and several were injured by rough manhandling by security guards. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt.

It is not acceptable to treat the villagers as a terrorist gang. That they certainly are not. So it was understandable why Chiang Mai University professor Nidhi Eoseewong launched a tirade against the government, furiously branding its action as dictatorial.

This incident is not the first of its kind. Not so long ago the same group of villagers forced their way into Government House during a weekend of protests to make the government sit up and pay attention to their plight resulting from the Pak Moon Dam.

The government should have learnt from this and instituted measures for dealing peacefully with future incidents instead of letting a clash occur. Lacking directions from the government, the security guards, authoritarian by nature and who seem to take on an extra degree of self-importance when they don their uniforms, no doubt felt they were not obliged to use pacific measures against protestors. Therefore, to lay the blame on the villagers as the instigators of the violence is out of line, especially as the government has a specific duty to understand their grievances and, where necessary, accommodate their demands. On balance, it must be pointed out that there are certain rogue elements among the protestors who need to take the blame and share the responsibility of this mishap.

The Pak Moon Dam has been a long time in the making and cannot be easily undone now. That's why both sides need extraordinary spirit and patience to jointly settle the problems it has caused. To let the protests go on without any attempt to bring sanity to the situation is not going to solve anything. Conversely, there is nothing whatsoever to be gained, other than discontent and tragedy, by pushing or beating the protestors.

Obviously, the villagers do not want to be put in the position of having to confront the government, which has all the necessary means and legal powers to crush them if need be. Therefore, the Chuan government, which has gained a measure of international acceptance for its respect of human rights, must be reminded that the Pak Moon villagers see the manifestation of their protest in terms of salvation for all the downtrodden and disaffected in Thailand, not just in narrow political terms.

Government officials, in particular the prime minister and his spokesman, need to understand this. Otherwise their words will simply fall on deaf ears and eventually lead to more confrontation and destruction. It is foolish for the authorities to take the position that the protestors broke the law by trespassing on government property. The Pak Moon episode is not just concerned with people breaking into Government House, nor is it about the instigation of a mob by a third hand. It is more about the future of Thailand - it is about relations between the state and communities throughout the country. Why should they obey the state if the state fails to respond to their needs?

We have arrived at a very delicate time in terms of relations between the people and the government. It is a time for cool heads to prevail and common sense solutions to be sought. We live in a democracy and the civilised way to solve problems is to get down to brass tacks and talk about them. The government must strive to prevent a repetition of the weekend's events, as violence only begets violence, which benefits no one.

Likewise, all those arrested have to be released immediately as a show of faith that the government is prepared to take a conciliatory stand and begin efforts to appease the villagers. The longer it drags on the more tempers will rise. The non-partisan committee which was recently appointed to address the demands of the villagers should be allowed to do its job and work out solutions that are acceptable to all. There is after all a lot of faith at stake here.

 

The Nation

 
 

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