Pak Moon villagers say they've lost faith in democracy

General News - Thursday December 20, 2007

RACE TO PARLIAMENT

Pak Moon villagers say they've lost faith in democracy

SUPAWADEE INTHAWONG

Ubon Ratchathani - Disillusioned villagers affected by the Pak Moon dam have lost all faith in parliamentary democracy, saying it fails to produce politicians who truly understand their grievances, community leaders said.

"No candidates come to our community to campaign for votes among villagers affected by the Pak Moon dam, regardless of how many elections are held," said Somkiart Ponpai.

The 53-year-old man is one of thousands of villagers who have been petitioning successive governments to reassess the dam project.

He is also a member of a local committee pushing to revive the livelihoods of residents living along the Moon river.

"Politicians never offer policies to tackle the problems of the Pak Moon dam. Villagers' questions remain unanswered," he said.

Mr Somkiart said he would vote for no one on Sunday as he had no hope that any of the country's lawmakers would ever solve his problems.

"The issues surrounding the dam are too big for MPs to tackle, because vested interests are involved," he said.

Pak Moon protesters' legendary struggle against the dam has dragged on for over 18 years.

It began in 1989 when the Chatichai Choonhavan government gave the green light to the project. They continued their protests when construction began in 1991 during the Anand Panyarachun administration.

The dam began producing power for the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) in 1994 during the tenure of then-prime minister Chuan Leekpai.

There have been several clashes over the years between villagers and state officials.

Thousands of villagers have been affected by the closure of the dam's sluice gates. They have petitioned for compensation from successive governments, including the current administration led by Gen Surayud Chulanont.

The Surayud cabinet issued a resolution on May 29 to open all sluice gates for four months, starting from June 17.

But on June 12, the cabinet passed a new resolution, instructing Egat to keep the gates shut as suggested by the Internal Security Operations Command, which claimed that opening them would affect more than 20,000 fishermen.

The about-turn sparked protests and the gates were opened again in August.

Mr Somkiart said past and present governments had continually failed to come up with clear-cut policies on natural resources management.

Though some representatives of the Assembly of the Poor, a mouthpiece for the anti-dam villagers, have contested in national elections, Mr Somkiart said he had never placed his hopes on their chances.

Kanokwan Manorom, an academic at Ubon Ratchathani University, said studies had concluded the dam was not economically viable. The researchers had recommended that all of the dam's sluice gates be permanently opened.

Bangkok Post