August 10, 1999
We care Thai-Karen families from Ban Suan Turian wade through streams after being evicted. They were in search of food at nearby villages. Lessons in the university of life For the last 26 years, students have been learning that there's more to a good education than sitting in a classroom-especially when it comes to developing a social conscience Story And Pictures By Supara Janchitfah Naruemol Paiboonsithikul could have been in class preparing for her forthcoming mid-term exam. Instead, she was trekking through rough terrain to help a group of evicted forest dwellers in Prachuab Khiri Khan province-experiencing education of a different kind. The two huge bags of rice on her back made it difficult for Ms Naruemol, a Thammasat University student, to balance as she crossed the forest streams, but she and her friends kept on. Their destination was Ban Pah Maak, a small forest settlement in Hua Hin district. Waiting for them were some 200 Thai-Karens from Ban Suan Turian, still shocked by their eviction. Although the Suan Turian Karens have lived in their village for generations, the military moved them on-in a mass relocation last July. The reason given for the relocation was that the villagers threatened the well-being of the watershed area. Regardless of the reason, the manner of the eviction was such that many might consider it a stark violation of human rights. Because the eviction involved a minority group, it received little attention from the public. And that triggered Ms Naruemol, in her capacity as coordinator of the Natural and Environment Conservation of 16 Institutes (CNEC), to act on their behalf. The CNEC is a student organisation established in 1973 after the hunting scandal in the Thung Yai-Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuaries became public. Over the years, the committee has been a driving force in many campaigns aimed at stopping environmentally destructive mega-projects such as the Nam Choan Dam, the Tantalum smelting plant and the Kaeng Krung dam. An evicted family make a roof for their new home. The Committee initially comprised of students from four institutes, but later expanded to 16 institutions. Its mission is to raise public awareness of environmental and natural resources conservation, to stop the destruction of natural resources often caused by the state, and to promote people's participation in natural resources management. When a problem crops up, the committee sends a study team to the area. After gathering information, they return, analyse the situation and try to contact concerned agencies to solve the problems. In the case of the Ban Suan Turian eviction, the committee submitted a petition to Parliament's Human Rights Committee. They also contacted the army, NGOs and the media to make the issue public. They also asked concerned agencies to look into the rights of the Karens as Thai citizens. But the immediate emergency was hunger. The shelters at Ban Pah Maak were half-finished shacks, hardly sufficient for the villagers. The military gave nothing to help the villagers survive and officials at Sam Roi Yod district said they could not help much since the government has no budget to help uprooted forest dwellers. For a week, the committee members carried boxes up and down the streets around Thammasat University campus asking for donations. They collected about 2,000 baht. "We've learned people on the streets still have a heart for the underprivileged," said Thanathorn Juerungreungkit, also a Thammasat University student. The 2,000 baht was not enough to buy rice and medicine for the 200 evicted villagers. So the committee members dug into their own pockets, as they often do when there is an emergency. "The evicted Karens in Ban Pah Maak now only have one meal a day. Many of them go to bed on empty stomachs. Their huts have no roofs and walls," said Mr Thanathorn. "We don't mind sharing our own allowances to help people in misery," he said. The evicted Suan Turian villagers have been touched by their generosity. "We didn't know them before, but we only know they came at the right time to help us. We had no one to turn to. They helped us to stand up again," said Jamjaeng Chanoop-pathum, a Thai-Karen villager. Since its inception, the CNEC has been a vehicle promoting a collective social conscience among university students. "I joined the CNEC because I wanted to learn more about my own field aside from what was being taught in class," said Ms Naruemol, a fourth-year science student. "Honestly speaking, I've learned more about biodiversity in Thai forests through my work with the Karens than in the classroom," she said. Such work has also provided students knowledge on the workings of bureaucracy, politics, anthropology, and development. "I also have learned that much of the people's misery is caused by the authorities' lack of systematic information, their prejudices and their use of top-down power," said Ms Naruemol. "A case in point is the state authorities' sweeping generalisation that all forest dwellers are forest destroyers. They don't care to research into how the forest people live and how they have managed their natural resources," she said. Moreover officials still cling to their old authoritarian ways despite the new Constitution's demands for a respect for human rights, she added. She pointed to the forced eviction of the Thai-Karens from Suan Turian village to Pah Maak village. The military just walked in and told the Ban Suan Turian villagers they all had to move. Only those who spoke Thai, practise Buddhism or have identity cards would be allowed to remain in Ban Pak Maak. The rest faced deportation to Burma. The Thai Karen families were forced to cut down plants at Ban Pah Maak in order to build new huts. The authorities had taken no proper measures to help them resettle. Due to the state's poor system of highlanders' registration and the village's isolation, many Suan Turian villagers did not have the required ID cards, nor the special blue cards certifying them as highlanders. And so they were subject to the eviction. "This is simply unjust," said Ms Naruemol. Ban Suan Turian is a branch of Ban Prak Takhao in Hua Hin district. The old hamlet is scattered along the Talui Prakkwa stream which is the tributary of the Pran Buri River. (Talui in Karen means durian). The lush orchards in the area show the long establishment of the village. Many factors have contributed to the Karen people not having the blue cards. "In 1988, the officials told us to come for a meeting. Many of us did not know it was to register us and so didn't go. Some people only sent the head of their family," said Daeng Jaiyen, a 73-year-old Karen. Mrs Orasa, 30, a Thai-Karen, was born in the village and is fluent in Thai. Yet she was also evicted. She did not attend the meeting in Ban Prak Takrao-24 kilometres away-because on that day she gave birth to her baby. Spelling mistakes by officials has also led many Karen villagers to be evicted because their names do not match with those on their ID cards. Some 169 Suan Turian Karens have fled into the jungle amid fears they will be pushed into Burma. A study by Dr Pornchai Danwiwat of the Department of Treaties and Legal Affairs, says minority people have the right to a peaceful existence and identity-and the right not to be discriminated against. In respect of these rights, different survey and registration methods should be used to accredit the citizenship of these Thai-Karen minorities, said Ms Naruemol. Though the CNEC was set up to protect nature, the committee members quickly realised how closely the health of human societies was linked to the health of the environment. "The indigenous Karens have been living in their forest settlements for generations. And the forest remained fertile. That in itself is evidence their existence does not harm the environment," said Thanalack Sasean, Kasetsart University student. Unfortunately, state authorities seem blind to this fact, she said. Worse, they continue to promote the big agro-industry projects and plantations that have severely destroyed forest lands. "From Hua Hin to Ban Pah Maak, pineapple plantations stretch to the horizon. Not long ago, the same areas were lush forests," she said. "Who destroys the forests? I don't blame the Thais who grow the pineapples. They are just pawns of the pineapple canning factories." Naruemol Paiboonsithikul: "The state authorities make sweeping generalisations that all forest dwellers are forest destroyers." The CNEC is constantly busy because conflict over natural resources management has been increasingly intense in the last few years. In recent years it has been involved in campaigns for the Community Forest Bill and in protests against the construction of the Kaeng Sua Ten Dam, the Yadana gas pipeline and the nuclear power plants. Generation after generation of students works with the CNEC, then leaves to pursue different careers-but many take with them a firm commitment to be an agent of change in their particular field of work. Kanitha Inchukul, a journalist, said her college experience as an CNEC member has been invaluable to her understanding of the country's environmental problems which, more often than not, have been aggravated by state inertia and corruption. And Kulthida Samapudhi, a writer on Feature Magazine, said the CNEC experience instilled in her a voice of conscience that refuses to be silenced. Thammasat University law lecturer, Prinya Thaewanarumitkul, a former student activist, said socially-conscious university students remained a rare breed. "While most university students are trapped in a competitive education system, the committee members have succeeded in breaking loose because they let compassion and a desire for social justice steer their conscience. "Their work against injustice has strengthened their social conscience and that stays with them for life," he said. "If we want to live in a compassionate society, we should support these students. We need people who are willing to lend a helping hand. "We must realise a country which focuses only on academic excellence and material success cannot create a humane society. We need students who have a heart." "We Care" is a weekly series honouring people who believe in giving. Apart from supporting these causes, you can also let us know about people who unselfishly help others so we can make more people aware of their efforts. Fax "We Care" on 240-3668 or call 240-3700 ext 3208 or 3212. Email can be sent to sanitsuda@bangkokpost.net. For a comprehensive list of charities covered by Outlook's "We Care" weekly series, see the Bangkok Post Website at http://www.bangkokpost.net/outlookwecare/ Info for donations: Name of organisation: Committee for Natural and Environmental Conservation of 16 Institutes (CNEC). Contact person: Ms Naruemol Paiboonsithikul Address: 2nd Floor, Student Activities' Building, Thammasat University, Tha Phra Chan Campus, Bangkok 10200 Tel: 223-2858 Fax: 221-6111 ext 4130 Or send a cheque payable to Post Publishing Public Company Limited (For CNEC) to Mrs Kusuma Mintakhin, Editorial Manager, 136 Na Ranong Road, off Sunthorn Kosa, Klong Toey, Bangkok 10110. Her telephone number is 240-3700 ext 3224-5. 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