At 107, ethnic Karen elder Ko-ee Mimee had only one wish -- to return to his ancestral land deep in the Kaeng Krachan jungle and die there. On Friday, the icon of indigenous forest dwellers' struggles against state violence and injustice passed, his last wish unfulfilled and the future of his people hanging in the balance.
In 2011, Kaeng Krachan national park officials torched his bamboo hut and forcefully transplanted him in a resettlement village where hunger and landlessness prevail.
The crackdown was spearheaded by Chaiwat Limlikhit-aksorn, then chief of Kaeng Krachan National Park, to destroy the forest dwellers' homes once and for all "to save the forest".
Sanitsuda Ekachai is former editorial pages editor, Bangkok Post.
"When I first opened my eyes, the forest was there. When I first drank my mother's milk, the forest was also there," the centenarian responded with hurt against the allegation that he and other Kaeng Krachan forest dwellers are encroachers.
Grandpa Ko-ee and Kaeng Krachan forest dwellers are among Thailand's last remaining indigenous tribespeople who still live like their ancestors centuries ago because of their isolation.
They live in pockets of tiny settlements scattered in Jai Paendin, meaning heart of the land, the furthermost part of Kaeng Krachan forest. They depend on rotational farming for rice and vegetables which they exchange for salt with the town people.
Their ecological farming system allows forest regeneration, which is why the forest remains dense and healthy.
But Mr Chaiwat branded the Kaeng Krachan subsistence forest dwellers a national security threat, accusing them of being nomadic highlanders from Myanmar, dangerous forest encroachers, supporters of a Karen rebel group, and part of drug trafficking networks.
Despite his age and frailty, the centenarian led his people to sue national park authorities to counter these false allegations and demand the right to live in their ancestral land.
Since then, his face -- the deep wrinkles, the pensive eyes, the turban on his bun, the black teeth and red lips from betel chewing, the bead, the bamboo earrings -- became the symbol of the forest dwellers' fight for land rights and justice. Not only for ethnic highlanders but also for the more than 10 million forest poor across the country.
I first met Grandpa Ko-ee when he and other victims of state arson braved the rugged terrain from the resettlement village to discuss the lawsuit with a group of human rights lawyers from the Lawyers Council of Thailand.
Through an interpreter, Grandpa Ko-ee spoke of his last day at Jai Paendin.
All of the sudden, he said, the forest was shaken with strong winds and thundering noises from a helicopter hovering in the sky. A group of forest rangers then captured him, put him in the helicopter, and burned down his home and rice barn.
Only the spiritual leader of Kaeng Krachan Karen received this special treatment. Other forest dwellers were simply ordered to leave -- or else -- when forest officials set fire to their homes and rice barn.
Du-oo, 60, was still shaken when he recounted the violence.
The officials, he said, arrived at his home deep in the forest at dusk and made his family feed them dinner.
"We had some 30 hens. They used rice to lure the hens out into the open. Then they used sticks and stones to kill them, choosing only 10 big ones to eat.
"At night, they slept in our room. The next day, around midday, without saying anything to us, they set fire to the roof while we were still inside. We had to run and jump off the house.
"The women cried and cried. We couldn't do anything but watch the blaze until nothing was left."
Only one week after the meeting with lawyers, more violence ensued. Community leader Tatkamol Ob-om who coordinated the meeting was shot dead. Police charged Mr Chaiwat with murder, but the court set him free due to a lack of hard evidence.
In 2014, Porlajee "Billy" Rakchongcharoen, a grandson of Grandpa Ko-ee and coordinator of the lawsuits, disappeared mysteriously.
Mr Chaiwat insisted he had released Billy after a brief arrest. Police investigations refuted his claim. But without the enforced disappearance law, Billy remains "missing" as nobody can locate his body. The person last seen with the "missing" also remains free.
For six years, the centenarian and other plaintiffs had to take long, rough trips from the resettlement village to attend court hearings in Bangkok, draining them physically and financially. Meantime, Mr Chaiwat kept climbing the power ladder in the forest agency.
Rights groups and forest poor across the country closely watched the legal battles because the rulings would affect them too.
In 2016, they were stunned when the Administrative Court ruled that setting fire to people's homes is not an overreach of state power. The court also ruled Grandpa Ko-ee and other dwellers were encroachers because their homes were in the forest.
Had the centenarian not petitioned the Supreme Administrative Court, the Kaeng Krachan highlanders and 10 million forest dwellers would have been subjected to similar violence.
Early this year, the Supreme Administrative Court overturned the first ruling.
For starters, the court confirmed that Grandpa Ko-ee and Kaeng Krachan forest dwellers are indeed native to the land and entitled to all their rights according to the constitution.
This means the Kaeng Krachan Karen have the right to stay in their ancestral land.
The court also ruled that forest officials overreached their power and violated not only the indigenous people's constitutional rights, but also the Aug 3, 2010 cabinet resolution prohibiting officials from arresting or evicting indigenous peoples when land rights conflicts have not yet been resolved.
The court also ordered the Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation to pay 50,000-baht compensation to each plaintiff.
However, the judge refused to issue the court order demanded by Grandpa Ko-ee and other plaintiffs to allow them to return legally to Jai Paendin, citing lack of official land use documents.
What lies ahead for the indigenous Kaeng Krachan forest dwellers now that their spiritual leader is gone?
Does this mean the struggle is finally coming to an end?
No, not if they put the court ruling to good use.
Despite the meagre compensation and the call for land use documents, the Supreme Administrative Court officially recognises the Aug 3, 2010 cabinet resolution in favour of the indigenous communities.
Under this executive order, a neutral committee must be set up to settle land rights disputes while the forest dwellers can continue to stay put in their lands. And if it is proven that they are indeed indigenous communities, they are entitled to all their rights.
But it's certainly not going to be easy.
That the national park department refuses to punish the crackdown mastermind speaks volumes about its culture of impunity and support for violent evictions.
When people can easily "disappear" so easily, journeying back to live in remote areas can be a deadly challenge.
Uprooted and weak, it is hard for the Kaeng Krachan tribespeople to get organised. Without external assistance from civic groups, it is also difficult for them to negotiate with forest authorities on the boundaries of ancestral land.
Before his passing, Grandpa Ko-ee filed a criminal charge against the former park chief for destroying his home and belongings. The lawsuit is stuck in the bureaucratic maze.
Indigenous people may have the law on their side. But their rights remain only in the letter of the law when the power structure still supports ethnic oppression. The reason is racism.
Equally important, if not more so, is the forest bureaucracy clinging to central power to own and manage all forests as it sees fit, refusing to share forest management with the locals.
Change may be possible if the public realises that the land security of the forest dwellers is crucial for their own life safety. Research worldwide has shown that indigenous people's land security helps expand healthy forests, a key factor in mitigating the effects of climate change.
Short of public support, the fight for the forest dwellers' land rights spearheaded by the charismatic Ko-ee Mimee will continue to be a long one.