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Lift national park road blockade before talks

Published: 20/12/2011 at 01:17 PM
Online news: Opinion

Blocking a road as a means to support demands has become such a common practice that many protesters now wrongly believe it is legal. But the Wang Nam Khieo protesters appear to be doing the owners of the illegal resorts a favour with their road blockade.

If the 1,000 plus protesters who have been blocking a section of Highway 304 between Nakhon Ratchasima and Prachin Buri since Monday want the government to pay serious heed to their concerns about the possible impact on their livelihood from the demolition of illegal resorts in Thap Lan national park they should, first of all, take into consideration the hardship they causedto innocent people by illegally closing the road.

Many hundreds of vehicles and their passengers have been trapped in the traffic gridlock for hours on end. Many finally opted to turn back and take a different route. The protesters have erected three tents across the traffic lanes and set up a make-shift stage beside the road. Latest reports said they had opened one traffic lane to allow vehicles to pass through this morning.


Opponents to the demolition of illegal resorts in Thap Lan National Park stage a protest by blocking the 80th kilometre of Highway 304, linking Nakhon Ratchasima’s Wang Nam Khieo district and Prachin Buri’s Kabin Buri district. (Photo by Prasit Tangprasert)

The protesters’ blocking of the road is not only an illegal act but, by so doing, they have deliberately and unnecessarily caused problems for other people.

Also, the protesters have unwittingly played into the hands of the illegal-resort owners who have been resisting the government's demolition order.

The protesters want park officials to stop the demolition of the illegal resorts and to hold talks with them in order to find a solution to the problem. They claim that demolishing the resorts hurts tourism in Wang Nam Khieo area and that many of them will lose their jobs and businesses selling local products to tourists will suffer.

There is no question that the resorts - eight of them in Wang Nam Khieo district and five in adjoining Na Di district of Prachin Buri – have trespassed on Thap Lan national park, which must be preserved given the sad truth that the country’s national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and forest reserves are under serious threat  from illegal encroachment by landless farmers and influential figures.

The illegal resorts should be demolished and the land reforested, even if that means some people have to lose their jobs or lose income from tourism-related business.

As for the villagers who were living in Thap Lan long before it was declared a national park, their rights must be respected. Which means that they should be allowed to stay on and, more importantly, be able to make a decent living. For instance, they could be allowed to open homestay premises to cater to tourists under the  strict condition that they must also take care of the nearby forest.

If the Wang Nam Khieo protesters really want talks with the authorities then they should lift their illegal road blockade first. There is no justification whatsoever for their causing hardship for other, uninvolved, people.

Protecting the country’s dwindling forest cover is an uphill task for all those tasked with the job, especially given the increasing population and the need for more land for agriculture and other human activities. At the least, the need for new agricultural land could be effectively curbed if productivity can be increased significantly - eliminating the need to cut down forests  for new farms.

Bangkok Post