Tensions rise as PM stands firm
The Nation, July 29, 2000
TENSION rose at Government House yesterday as Prime
Minister Chuan Leekpai refused to bow to all of the hunger strikers'
demands.
Chuan said he would grant one major demand - that the
government organise a public hearing on the issues - and appealed for
unity and harmony. It failed to appease the hunger strikers, who vowed to
continue until all demands are met.
Meanwhile, about 5000 protesters staged a sit-in to
support the hunger strikers, and more groups of protesters with different
sets of grievances threatened to join them. The protesters also demanded
that the government dissolve the House of Representatives.
At least one official claimed the protesters' real
purpose was to oust the government.
The heat took its toll on the hunger strikers. One,
Nudaeng Tenkhunthod, succumbed to exhaustion and was carried to Vatchira
Hospital for treatment.
Non-governmental agencies also expressed their support
for the hunger strikers by donating several hundred thousand baht to their
cause.
Forty people - 22 men and 18 women - began the hunger
strike on Thursday to demand that the government address their remaining
problems. The original protest was begun by villagers living along the Pak
Mool River. They claim that the Pak Mool dam has disrupted their
livelihood - fishing - by preventing fish from swimming upriver to spawn.
However, the protest has been expanded to include a
broad range of grievances, most involving environmental and land-rights
issues stemming from mega-development projects.
The Cabinet last week agreed to some of the measures
proposed by a neutral committee to address the protesters' grievances,
including their major demand that the gates of the Pak Mool and Rasi Salai
dams be opened. But the move failed to satisfy the protesters, who
immediately said they would conduct a hunger strike until all of the
committee's proposals were adopted.
Chuan yesterday said the government could not meet all
of the protesters' demands, especially calls for it to pay additional
compensation to villagers affected by the Pak Mool dam, because more
problems were bound to arise.
Chuan also urged academics and activists to offer
constructive criticism to prevent the situation from escalating any
further.
"Please give comments that will bring about unity
and harmony in this time of trouble, and the problems will be solved
according to democratic principles,'' he said.
Suriyan Thongnu-iad, an adviser to the Assembly of the
Poor, the group spearheading the protests, condemned as insincere Chuan's
tactic of speaking through the press. He pointed out that Interior
Minister Banyat Bantadtan had earlier told the media that the government
would not organise a public hearing.
"We are confused. Chuan should have come and talked
to us if he agreed to our demand, if he is sincere,'' he said.
Banyat yesterday said the government would continue its
stance on the compensation issue.
"We will not allow other groups of people to claim
additional compensation and assistance,'' he said.
Pol Lt General Yothin Matthayomnan, commissioner of the
Special Branch Bureau, yesterday said the protesters have revealed their
real motive: to oust the government.
"The protesters have tried to lure authorities into
using violence to suppress them so that they can claim that the government
is unfit to run the country,'' he said.
National Police Commissioner Pol Maj Gen Damrongsak
Nilkuha said he dispatched 300 anti-riot officers to monitor the scene
yesterday, and another 150 were ready if the protest turned violent.
One protest leader, Paijit Silarak, said the hunger
strike actually might last only three days. "Too much pressure may
create turmoil,'' he said.
Meanwhile, 1,500 workers laid off by Thai Kriang Textile
Co Ltd yesterday staged a separate protest at Baan Phitsanulok after the
government agreed to help them. The workers had threatened to join the dam
protesters at Government House.
They had demanded that the government help them
negotiate with the company to allow them to return to work and to have all
lawsuits against them dropped.
There was some good news from along the Pak Mool River
yesterday. Villagers at a seminar at Ubon Ratchathani University said they
have been able to catch more and bigger fish since the government opened
the dam's gates.
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand,
however, said it will lose Bt212 million by opening the dam's eight gates
for four months every year - not Bt1 million as claimed by the Assembly of
the Poor.
The Nation |
