Thai activists walk a dangerous road, a belief most recently confirmed in the disappearance of Porlajee ‘Billy’ Rakchongcharoen
‘Where’s Billy?’’
That’s the question being asked by the media and the public following the disturbing disappearance of Porlajee “Billy” Rakchongcharoen. Billy is a prominent Karen rights activist who has been involved in a lawsuit since 2011 accusing officials in Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi of destroying the homes of more than 20 families in the area.
Billy’s April 17 disappearance follows his meeting with Kaeng Krachan park chief Chaiwat Limlikitaksorn and has sent out a sinister vibe, confirming for many the widespread belief that Thailand is a dangerous place for grass-roots and environmental activists.
The wrangle between the Karen community in Kaeng Krachan province and the national park is long-standing and reeks of unsettling details. One of the community’s key supporters, local politician Tatkamol Ob-on, was gunned down in 2011, and Chaiwat is facing criminal charges regarding his death. Chaiwat admitted that Billy was arrested in the park for allegedly possessing wild honeycomb and six bottles of wild honey, but was released with a warning.
According to statistics complied by Union for Civil Liberty, a Bangkok-based NGO, one grass-roots activist has disappeared and 33 have been killed in the past 20 years in Thailand. All were protesting against projects with environmental impact, such as rock quarries, illegal logging, land-grabbing, power plants and dams. In most cases, the murderers were not arrested. When they were, they turned out to be low-level hired assassins. The real masterminds have never been caught.
Recently, London- and Washington, DC-based NGO Global Witness released a report entitled Deadly Environment, which accounted for the deaths of environmental activists between 2002-2013. Brazil was ranked the most dangerous place for environmental activists, with 448 of slain during the time period, following by Honduras (109 cases), the Philippines (67), Thailand (16) and Cambodia (13). Phairoj Pholphet, a member of the Thai Law Reform Commission said the degree of threats and death tolls among activists in Thailand surprisingly rose after two constitutions — in 1997 and 2007 — allocated increasing power to individuals and communities regarding natural resource management and environmental disputes.
The fate of Billy remains unknown, but Phairoj urged society and authorities to create initiatives to boost the safety of environmental activists. He believes a protective system called a “White List” could be applied to Thailand. Conceived and used in Latin American countries — most notably Brazil — the system publicises the identities and activities of high-risk conservationists and the threats they face.
“The idea of a ‘White List’ is to inform society about those activists and the threats. That information will be a good monitoring system and a protective measure,’’ said Phairoj, adding that he proposed the idea to the Ministry of Justice and the National Human Rights Commission, but hasn’t heard anything back.
“The authorities still hold on to the old mindset that takes the death of activists as ordinary criminal cases. Law enforcers don’t understand the need to create a special preventive monitoring system. For them, murder cases are all alike,” he said. “These activists are doing work for the authorities and for us in protecting natural resources and the environment. We should not let them fight alone.”
Jintana Kaewkao
▶ This activist’s life has been under constant threat since she led a community protesting against a coal-fired power plant proposed for construction in a coastal village in Prachuap Khiri Khan province. In 2008, her home was riddled with bullets. In 2011, she was sentenced to four months in prison for interrupting a banquet party at the compound of Union Power Development. After serving her term, she remains active in conservation and has become one of the country’s prominent activists.
Watcharin Upajong
▶ This grass-roots activist from Chiang Mai was fired at with a M16 machine gun in June 2012. Luckily, the shots missed. Watcharin has protested against illegal logging in Chiang Mai province for years.
Phra Supoj Suvacano
▶ Phra Supoj spearheaded forest and watershed conservation in Fang district of Chiang Mai province. The monk then moved to Suan Metta Dhamma, a forest monastery in San Sai, a sub-district of Fang located on property coveted by land developers and orange farmers. On June 17, 2004, Phra Supoj was found dead, his body covered with blood from around 20 stab wounds to the head, throat, hands and torso. After a decade, police have yet to make an arrest.
Charoen Wat-aksorn
▶ Charoen was a cheerful man who brought smiles to everyone around him, except supporters of a coal-fired power-plant project slated for construction in Prachuap Khiri Khan province. In one of the highest-profile assassinations the country has ever witnessed, Charoen was shot at a public bus stop on June 21, 2004. Gunmen and perpetrators were arrested. The culprits were affected by Charoen’s investigation into illegal land acquisition regarding the power-plant project.
Suwat Piyasathit
▶ An ordinary middle-class man and engineer living in Samut Prakan province, Suwat was unable to put up with the smell and pollution from a landfill in his community. Suwat protested and investigated, eventually uncovering corruption within the garbage landfill project. In 2001, Suwat was shot dead in broad daylight as he was holding a meeting in a community shop. Culprits were arrested and were found to be involved with the landfill.
Peera Tantiseranee
▶ On Nov 7, 2012, the mayor of Muang Songkhla municipality and a former lecturer on public health at Mahidol University was shot by 30 bullets fired from M16 machine guns. His death is believed to stem from protests against a proposed cable car across Songkhla Lake. The investigation is ongoing. One of the suspects is a local administrator of Songkhla municipality who is believed to be involved with the cable car project.
Prajob Naowa-opas
▶ The head of a village in Chachoengsao province was shot in broad daylight on Feb 25 of last year. His death resulted from protests against illegal toxic dumping in the community. People were arrested, among them a Ministry of Industry official who was involved with the waste disposal company affected by Prajob’s protesting.
