304. เมื่อเสือแม่วงก์คำราม...
Mae-Wong-Yatra
Agenda: Demarcating Problem ME vs
Solution WE
Darunee Tan, 29
September 2013
วาระแม่วงก์ยาตรา: เส้นแบ่ง ปัญหา “ของกู”, ทางออก “ของเรา”
ดรุณี
ตันติวิรมานนท์
Reflecting
on a debate on Thai PBS (23 Sept. 2013) between Sasin Chalermlap (Secretary-General
of Seub Nakhasathien Foundation, who led the 13-day, 388 km[1] Mae Wong
Yatra, concluding on Sunday 22 September with many thousands supporters
culminated at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, the hearth of Bangkok) and
Virakorn (an MP who insists “My Dam” is the desire of Ladyao people in Mae Wong
vicinity), Mae Wong Yatra may be a powerful symbol of another longer yatra/march
of conscience advocating a larger agenda…connecting past collective struggles into future
survival of the Common—for human communities, and diversity of the whole planet,
“WE” (ecological sensitive technologies), as oppose to GDP/Greedy economy,
Dirty Politics, “ME” (fossil-based, energy intensive, ecologically corrosive
technologies). ME can also be seen as
me-first (selfish, greed, short-term gain) paradigm, while WE embraces me and
others (sharing, cooperation, long-term coexistence).
From: Pachamama
Alliance via Avantgardens
Different
Stances: Sasin “WE” vs. Virakorn “ME”
Sasin
stated clearly that though he is a natural conservationist who opposes Mae Wong
Dam project, the decision for Mae Wong Yatra was prompted by the incomplete and
distorted EHIA (Environmental Health Impact Assessment) report that the authority
planned to pass on 23 September. Mae
Wong Dam project is part of a larger bundle of contradictory water management
projects that the current government has insisted on moving parliamentary
approval for borrowing THB350 billion (over USD11 billion). Mae Wong alone is
set for THB13 billion.
Virakorn, on the contrary,
repetitively argued that this EHIA is thorough enough to go ahead. He showed a map and argued that Mae Wong
Reserved Forest is only a tiny spot in the vast track of Western National
Conservation Park, and it is only a “wasteland”.
Such argument is opposite to the
evidence shown by experts during the seminar at Rangsit University (20
September)[2] where Petch Manopawit, Director of
WWF-Thailand, confirmed that the population of tigers has been steadily
increasing recently from almost extinction 30 years ago (due to deforestation
by earlier forest concessions). Petch
said, this is a good sign showing that Mae Wong Forest has begun to revive and
regenerate into a healthy natural forest.
Therefore, the construction of Mae Wong Dam will not only deprive (the
rights of) all wildlife, especially the endangered ones—tiger, peacock, deer,
barking deer, etc., from their natural habitats and food resources but also
encouraging hunters/profiteers to hunt these endangered creatures, especially
for a tiger prized for million, as well as stimulating precious tree falling
during the prolonged 8-year-dam-construction.
For this reason, if the government continues to stubbornly, and if successfully,
pushing for Mae Wong dam, it will only cut open another new wound, regardless
of its initial size, that soon will spread into ever increasing patches of
chronic sores and puss, eating away the Western National Conservation
Park—including the Wildlife Conservation Park of Thungyai Naresuan-Huay Kha
Kaeng, the Unesco proclaimed World Heritage of Natural Wildlife—according to
Dr.Smith Tungkhasmit, professor in Social Innovation, Rangsit Univ., at the same seminar.
Local
People Suffered From the Forest vs. From Official Flaws in Water Administration
& Local Mafia
Virakorn
argued that Ladyao people suffered greatly from recent flash flood, that’s why
they demanded for the dam. Sasin told
what he witnessed upon rushing to check out the consequence of the same flash
flood. At one spot, there was mud stuck
in the incomplete drainage tube, blocking the water flow. At another spot, it was the mistake in opening/closing
the watergate. Instead of opening it towards
Bang Pla Ma that needs water, the gate let the water rush into Ladyao that
could not take any more water. This
eyewitness episode reflects the possibility of human error and mismanagement,
not the forest water alone.
Such human error is reinforced by another
episode of human intention/greed that partly responsible for the mishap of the massive
and prolonged (almost 2 months!) flood in 2011 that inundated a large part of
the country, especially vast areas of the Greater Bangkok Metro, the capital
and a few suburb provinces. Besides the
unprecedented rainfall due to La Nina (global climate change) and the rising
tide of the sea then, the order of some rich and powerful politicians triggered
the unprecedented and unmanageable flood crisis. One top-down order delayed the timely release
to reduce the dam water… just to protect the benefit of his constituency and friends
in Suphanburi province who were about to harvest their profitable rice. Another top-down order was Bangkok’s Big Bag
strategy to keep the economic hearthland of Bangkok dry in spite of the outcry
of many conscientious Bangkokians, “Let the water pass”. Such are the blemish / wound in the history
of the 2011-political flood.
Nevertheless, the same government has since used that trauma to cultivate
fear, perpetuated by mainstream media, infusing into most Thais’ mentality,
especially urbanites.
Mae
Wong Yatra : A Candle Ray Dispelling “ME” Fearing Flood à
“WE” Future Rights
New
critical mass conscience of Thai civil society would have been less this time
if not because of sharing through new social media and ICT. Except
Thai PBS’s occasional reports, no other mainstream media cared to cover the
event during the 13-day march.[3] The 13-day marathon walk from Mae Wong site to
Bangkok slowly and gradually woke the Thai public beyond their “ME: fear of
flood” to “WE: fight for future”. Through
circulating of concrete data shared through the social media, along the long
walk, public awareness grew into collective urge to join the march, especially
when Mae Wong Yatra hit the streets of Bangkok suburb on 20 September. Mae Wong Yatra emerged as an alternative
space[4]—stretching
from provincial grassroots up to urban middle class in the capital—for citizens
to exercise their democratic rights demanding the protection of the remaining Common
for present and future survival (WE) as well as transparency and accountability
(Good Governance), rather than passively allowing such mega projects (ME) to
wreak havoc as before.
Three maps demonstrate the depletion
of forest coverage in past 50 years
(from left to right): in 1963, 2008,
and remaining naturally healthy forest patches[5]
Since the 1960s, all administrations
have been staunch pushers of the ME approach.
With their utilitarian view, they claim the need to make use of all the
natural resources for economic development (i.e., urban industrialization and
consumerism, measured by GDP). Under
the present administration, Dr.Plodprasob Surasawadi blamed NGOs for caring
tigers more than local people, claiming, “forest can be replanted, …”. Interestingly, in 1999 when he was still the
director general of the forestry department, he publically stated against the
construction of Mae Wong dam.
Local
Dark Influence (ME) + National Politicians (ME) Manipulating EHIA
Virakorn’s
ME vantage, asserting the completeness of this EHIA because it has been “studied
for over 20 years” sounds absurd. By tracing
the 30 year journey of Mae Wong Dam proposal, political intervention and arm-twisting
of the check and balance mechanism, become obvious;[6]
hence, destructive of Good Governance.
1982 Irrigation Department proposed Mae Wong Dam
project
1995 Expert Committee asked Irrigation Dept. to
conduct additional EIA study[7]
1997 Irrigation Dept. carried out additional EIA
study, complying to Expert Committee’s Resolution
1998 1st Resolution of Expert
Committee: “Disapproving the implementation of Mae Wong Dam project”
2000 Public hearing on Mae Wong Dam project[8]
2002 3rd Resolution of National Environmental
Committee “Disapproving EIA”, requesting Irrigation Dept. to identify
alternative site for the project as well as carrying out additional study for
an integrated approach for administering and managing the overall watershed
system
2012 April 10—Cabinet Resolution approved in
principle the implementation of Mae Wong Dam project with a budget of THB13,280
for a duration of 8-year period under construction, with an annual budgetary commitment
till 2019
2012 Year end—Expert Committee asked to correct
EHIA and add more information, especially in studying about wildlife ecology. Since the methodology of such a study requires
more than one year, beyond the time frame of this EHIA, the present EHIA took
only 1.5 months and borrowed incomplete data from secondary sources (20 Sept.
seminar, RSU).
2013 Early of the year, Plodprasob[9] has
become deputy prime minister, and also in charge of the mega water management project,
aiming to borrow THB350 billion. To
clear the way, a restructuring of the national check and balance mechanism
began in the Office of Policy and Planning on Natural Resource and Environment
(OPPNE) and the Expert Committee
- Secretary General of
OPPNE, by replacing Dr.Vicharn Simachaya (a highly regard academic specializing
in environment) with Santi Boonprakhab (a bureaucrat from the National Economic
and Social Development Board, NESDB)
- President of
Expert Committee, by replacing Dr.Santhad Somjivita (an expert in the National
Environmental Committee, and former senior bureaucrat who is also highly regard
in science and environment) with another bureaucrat from NESDB
- Removing critics
from the Expert Committee who faithfully pin point the flaws in EHIA
- Removing the seats
from the Expert Committee originally reserved for environmental NGOs and
representatives of National Park for Conservation of Wildlife and Plants Department.
Sasin shared his first-hand
experience when the group had to pass Ladyao community. Despite earlier unwelcoming threat, as it was
getting dark, the trio had no alternative but entering the community. They were surprised to be warmly welcome by a
group of villagers who offered them food and water. The villagers told the group that they did
not want the dam but needed help to solve the water management problems. Others said that they agreed with Mae Wong
Yatra, but had to play low profile for fear of being harassed, etc. (Tawanchay
Phongwilai, Seminar at Rangsit Univ., 30 Sept).
Mae
Wong Yatra Is Not Opposing Dam, But Problem ME in EHIA + Offer Solution WE
Sasin
emphasized that he was not opposing Virakorn or the government about
constructing the dam. The Coalition of
Environmental Conservation Organization, consisting of 24 NGOs—spearheaded by
Seub Nakhasathien Foundation, felt the need to bring to attention of the authority
not just the flaws but also possible solutions that are less costly but more ecologically
friendly (WE instead of ME) since last year.
But such efforts through official channels only met with deaf ear. Thus, it was the stonewalling of the
government and authority that prompted Mae Wong Yatra, to inform and engage the
Thai public/civil society, the owner majority of Thailand, to decide and come
forward collectively to stop the government from repeatedly going on wrong
direction, officially.
23
Years of Continuing Struggle and Legacy
Seub Nakhasathien
(1949-1990)
|
It
is not a coincidence that Mae Wong Yatra was led by a Secretary General of
Seub Nakhasathien Foundation. Twenty
three years ago, Seub Nakhasathien, a forest ranger chief of this Western
National Forest Conservation Park, was driven to shoot himself as a protest
against the indifference attitude of the government then. It was also the time of global awakening on
widening environmental challenges that culminated as the 1st Earth
Summit in Rio. Seub was dead, but his
legacy, “May I speak on behalf of the wildlife…”, lives on as Seub
Nakhasathien Foundation, a candle ray of hope where determined
conservationists live the legacy that inspires young men and women.
|
The tyrannical flare of the present government
signaled by marking 23 September for officially approving the Mae Wong Dam
project triggered the Coalition to step up its campaign. In the word of the President
of Seub Nakhasathien Foundation, Rataya Chantharathian (an 82-year old woman):[10]
รตยา
จันทรเทียร
ประธานมูลนิธิสืบนาคะเสถียร |
“That’s because Mae Wong and Huay
Kha Khaeng are the same forest, inseparable, and 23 years of losing Khun Seub
taught us how to keep the forest…until Mae Wong (now) has 11-12 tigers. These are only what were captured (by our
camera) on photo, many more unknown are not on the photos.
It requires 1,000 human hearts to
achieve this.
Then the government comes out and
do like this!”…
“This means, the death of Khun Seub
is an empty loss?…or
Does it need one more life to make
23 years after this better?”
Rataya Chantharathian, President,
Seub Nakhasathien Foundation (from
Facebook)
|
The
Coalition took it to the roads, highways and streets of 388 km to invoke the democratic
spirit and conscience of Thai citizens. Three men set foot from Mae Wong Forest on 10
Sept. On the concluding day many thousands
supporters, not just from Bangkok but also from other parts of the country,
turned up to show solidarity with Mae Wong Yatra. The crowd was creatively steered into a
human-powered “Mae Wong Tiger”. The
authority yielded, postponing the fateful date.
Mae Wong
Yatra: 10-22 September 2013, 388 km from Mae Wong to Bangkok
Mae
Wong Tiger Roar…How Far and How Long
The
battle, however, is far from over. The
following morning, the unrepentant Plodprasob insisted on Mae Wong dam
justified by the rising flash flood in many parts of the country. The fact is that dam cannot undo such symptoms
of global warming havoc. Advanced
countries such as US are breaking up some dams to let the uncontrollable massive
water flow, or to recover wildlife and the ecosystem in order to heal the
health of Mother Nature. But for
Thailand, the fact is that more forest areas are rapidly disappearing. Two samples of voices from outlying provinces
echo such backward reality.
In Lampang, we also
hear the news of Mae Wong protest, some are interested, but very few. Lampang is now mobilized on building a water
reservoir in Muang Pan district. People
are beginning to pay attention to, too, because it will be built in a head
water/watershed forest. The Provincial
Buddhist Patriarch (a senior monk) stood up to protect the forest. Meanwhile, villagers encroached to claim
forest land for sale. We have begun our
campaign locally. But the Monk was
criticized, “It is not proper for a monk to interfere with worldly matter!”…
Mae Wong Forest and every forest…need to be very jealously guarded. What will be the future of Thai forest?...How
much will be left for our children, or not, depend on Thai people, only.
(Siriporn Panyasaen, Lampang province)
“Phayoong wood (a
species of hard wood, new wealth in China prompts fierce hunt of such precious
wood in Thai forests) are being bought in sweep. Those who refuse to yield are robbed
immediately”. (Bupphawan, Amnatcharoen province)
Thus,
the new collective consciousness of “Mae Wong Tiger” needs to go beyond the
physical dam opposition to the mental construction between ME/me and WE/we,
long implanted through the top-down national economic development paradigm. Though once it has helped improve (unevenly) the
standard of living for Thai citizens, the official obsession with material
wealth and personal/immediate gains of those “gatekeepers” gave rise to
collusion between capitalists and politics.
A deeply entrenched corruptive mentality has trickled downward faster
than the fruit of “development”, especially by the end of last century. Thus, State-led national development has
become an anti-environmental justice, therefore social “punishment” or
“hypnosis”… which is now being challenged the world over by new collective
consciousness spread through IT highways, and global warming reality.[11] Dam is only one example of state’s submission
to ME, by commodifying the life and livelihood of a vast majority of its citizens
and the remaining health of Mother Nature (WE) into stock exchange, the
borderless financial flows (ME), sucking
the economic blood from the base majority to feed the endless greed of the top minority.
Epilogue
Thailand
used to pride itself for being “never colonized” and therefore a superior ego
over its neighbors. We fondly called our
land, “Our Golden Axe”, a map contour similar to an ancient axe, and the “gold”
is borrowed from the land’s ancient name, Suwannabhumi (now the name of the new
airport that obstructed the flow of annual flash water from the north into Gulf
of Thailand). Thailand is the hearth of
Southeast Asian mainland, the Food Basket of the World. One first lesson my generation (half
a century ago) learned in school, “In the water, there is fish; in the field,
there is rice” (ในน้ำมีปลา ในนามีข้าว). That is how plentiful this subtropical land--well
covered with rainforest—I remember as a child. And a lot of subsistence small rice farming
families, who were enshrined as “the backbone” of the nation since the World
Bank-led, bureaucratic planned, top-down, national development began in
the1960s.
Alas,
today, small farming family is an endangered species, swallowed up by
agro-business, and food industry (domestic and foreign MNCs) including
plantation, industrial zone and urban housing.
They were deskilled and transformed into cheap urban labour, factory
workers or overseas migrants, etc. The
government has allowed such controversial corporations as Monsanto to operate
with a high possibility of contaminating the diverse plant species and
patenting seeds and life, hence; robbing the food sovereignty of the people and
ruining the food security of the nation (may be securing currency for state
coffer, but insecurity for losers out in this new game). In the name of
development and luring FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), all fronts of natural
resources: land (factory, agro-industry, mining, urban housing, etc.), water
(commercial fishery, fossil oil, hotel industry, etc.), air (Bangkok traffic
congestion made it an unsafe place for children, etc.) have been pushed to the
edge while the “superior ego” and lethargic mentality (promoted by government
popular, handing out, policy and vote buying) breed opportunistic behavior and
uncritical thinking from national leadership down to villagers.
One
manifestation is, Thailand’s abundance of food has been greatly polluted by
heavy application and misuse of agro chemicals.
The fact that Thailand ranks the 5th as the world user of
insecticide, and the 4th, herbicide (FAO), may, in fact, reflect
Thai state’s opportunistic mentality and behavior in stimulating agro-business
to produce such cash crop as rice, rubber and sugarcane, to feed the world
hunger for food (world food crisis in 2008), raw material (for China’ gulping
rubber industry), and alternative fuel, gasohol. The result is the disintegration of small
farming families as well as community cohesiveness. Manufactured “garbage food” and chemically laced
produces in addition urban lifestyle have caused alarm in national health
situation with rapid rise in modern diseases—cancer, coronary, diabetics,
obesity, etc, in addition to mental illnesses.
The ripple effect is “irresponsible villagers encroaching the already
fragile forest”, because, “if I don’t do it, others will; therefore, I must go
first”. Many took it as a well-paid job
to cut down trees for hire.
This
may be the price of “never being colonized”, never knowing the pain of losing
the sovereignty of a group (nationalistic?), or having to struggle against any fierce
climate (like Vietnam or Philippines), or any explicit enemy, thus easily
embracing sweet-talk, covert intruders…inviting foreign investors to plunder
its virginity of natural resources. Mae
Wong Yatra woke Thai collective conscience to the reality of almost extinct
forest and wildlife in Thailand.
My
all-day news radio devotes almost half of its daily air time to mainstream
business and market trading oil, gold, business, etc. FTA and the like, and AEC are seen as
inevitable escalator to endless growth—another merry-go-round carousal to avoid
domestic tax, or another roulette to gamble with their money, either of those hard
earned of salaried men and women, or black money. Such a financial game is a syphon and
hypnotic toy insulating one’s feeling towards other less fortunate citizens by
guarding themselves in ME “banking-investment” with “false security”. With all eyes focusing on the tower of
“money” security as a personal choice along the melodic tune of mainstream
media, the foundation of Thai society is subsidizing and disintegrating … when
people’s health is declining along with increasing garbage “food” available
everywhere while access to natural resource and productive means increasingly monopolized. On the contrary, those who insist or go out
of way to grow real food are marginalized and invisible in mainstream market
places.
Mae
Wong Tiger must roar louder, wider, and longer…to cover issues of food
sovereignty, and to reclaim the rights to natural health of both human and
Mother Earth, the eco-health as well as small people’s access and control to production
means and management of natural resources…as a base of direct participation in democracy
and Good Governance…at the national level.
There is a need to bridge the wildlife conservation campaigns and the rising
organic agriculture movements (already over 2 decades) as well as environmental
urban pollution awareness campaigns and FTA so that a new space for education
and choice of consumption is more accessible to all, besides
conventional/mainstream. New thoughts of
world economists call for slow growth; the age of eternal, endless growth is
not just a myth, but responsible for today’s calamities, including great flood and
great heat waves all over the world. We
cannot allow our Food Basket of the World to be turned into hydro-power house
to run wasteful industries and pamper wasteful, energy-intensive urban
lifestyle…only to sustain the myth of endless growth in GDP.
As
someone suggests, as consumers, we can “vote” with our money by mindful in
spending our baht on eco-friendly produces, products, services and locally
sourced. By reaching out to repair the
broken linkages between “they” organic food producers and “we” consumers, we
can rebuild small tillers’ profession in food production and ecological care so
that they can supply for mindful consumption of people through alternative
market relations, and also investments. The deep wound and bleeding at the foundation
of Thai society can begin to heal only with such collective intentional “right
path” (สัมมามรรค) of awareness, thoughts, practices and action. It is a
personal and also collectively intentional choice between ME or WE. The “Goliath” is here to stay; part of the Monster
is inside each of our hearts…as well illustrated in the film, The Matrix.
[2] 298. แม่วงก์ยาตรา:
กระแสปลุกประชาธิปไตยที่ประชาพลเมืองมีส่วนร่วมโดยตรง
ร่วมกันสร้างธรรมาภิบาลโพ้นลมปาก--เสวนา “EHIA เขื่อนแม่วงก์:
ซับซ้อนซ่อนเงื่อน...ดราม่า (wari-wari2011.blogspot.com)
[3] During the
13-day walk, the media was (and still is) crazy about Lin Ping, the borrowed female
panda of Chinese nationality. Many hours
per day at a radio news station I normally listened to, for example, was
devoted to small talks regarding preparation for its “wedding” and “travelling”
to China…the fanfare still going on this day even Lin Ping has already landed
in China! Commercial mainstream media,
press, TV or radio, will probably continue like this to “construct” Thai public
mentality with such “entertainment”: who will Lin Ping choose as her “husband”,
and will her mother, Lin Hui’s insemination fruitful, and what sex is the
offspring, etc. Ironically, the same
media corporation called off the airing of a serial documentary retelling “the
13-day journey of Mae Wong Yatra, after its first showing on 28 Sept, arguing
that the story is “one sided”. The
producer put it on YouTube, and 267,229 has viewed it at http://goo.gl/gbFQ5z, according to Parkpoom Patumcharoen on Facebook, by 29
Sept. at 19:36.
[4] There had
been a few important long marches earlier.
One most powerful was Assembly of the Poor (AOP), during the 1990s, consisting
mainly of grassroots men, women, elderly, children from different parts of
Thailand, who suffered from mismanagement of state-led development mega-projects,
especially in relation to dam. AOP was
partially supported by a handful of men and women from NGO activists, academic
intellectuals and individuals in addition to some conscientious civil servants.
[6] “ทำไม!!...ต้องค้านเขื่อนแม่วงก์”
เครือข่ายองค์กรอนุรักษ์ด้านสิ่งแวดล้อม, กค ๒๕๕๕, http://www.ebooks.in.th/ebook/6578/ทำไมต้องค้านเขื่อนแม่วงก์ และ
“แถลงการณ์คัดค้าน...” ณ วันที่ ๒๐ กย ๕๖
[7] Thitiphan
Phatthanamongkol wrote about his first-hand experience when a public hearing
was carried out for villagers in Mae Wong vicinity in 1994, where an amulet was
handed out to each villager, who sign upon receiving, which then tolled
together and submitted as supporters of dam construction (http://www.sarakadee.com/2012/10/17/maewong-dam/)
[8] Harnnarong
Yaowalers, President of Integrated Water Administration and Management
(Thailand) Foundation, discussed about the heavily guarded scenario at the
recnt local public hearing site where villagers were bombarded with competing
noises of popular concert and the hearing forum, while outside observers or NGOs
like himself were intimidated. Recent news
footage on TV showed a man (pro-dam) mobilizing local villagers with slogans of
threat and hate--not allowing outsiders or NGOs to enter their areas. Apparently, this dam construction is an
election campaign promise of the present government to stop flood and drought
in that area, therefore, EHIA is used as a stamp to materialize its promise,
not the other way around.
[9] Many years
ago, with his position and authority, Plodprasob permitted Hollywood crew to
shoot a movie on the scenic Pi Pi Island in the South, despite strong
opposition of NGOs fearing ecological nightmare. He proved NGOs right. It was unclear how and who paid for the
reclamation, and eventually who benefited, who lost in such a deal.
|
[10]
Rataya Chantharathian is a retired civil servant, devoting herself for over
past 40 years in urban and rural housing as well as conservation of natural
resources and environment. A contemporary of Seub, including having actively
participated in campaigns against dam construction in 1987-88, Rataya has served
as the President of the Foundation for the past two decades, upholding the
motto: “Forest can exists, so can human and wildlife”; and “No forest, No
water, No life”. (ASTVผู้จัดการออนไลน์,
30 May 2011)
|
|
[11] See collection
of English-Thai excerpted articles in <wari-wari2011.blogspot.com>
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