With the government pledging to address a land conflict involving local authorities, ethnic Tai Dam villagers in Surat Thani province -- who are facing eviction -- can breathe a sigh of relief, albeit temporarily.
The ethnic villagers, from Ban Na Doem district in Surat Thani, travelled all the way to Bangkok on April 21 to rally and speak out about their plight after negotiations with district officials broke down completely.
Authorities had adopted a heavy-handed approach to the dispute, threatening arrest and prosecution.
On April 23, the villagers met with Deputy Interior Minister Songsak Thongsri, who ordered provincial authorities to suspend the eviction and refrain from intimidating the community.
They agreed to return to Surat Thani while waiting for a subcommittee to be formed within 30 days to investigate and resolve the long-standing land dispute.
The villagers, who settled in Ban Na Doem in the 1950s, said they lived peacefully until 1986, when the state initiated a plan to seize their land.
They allege that land registration documents contain incorrect data, wrongly categorising their homes and farmland as state property.
Despite repeated efforts to correct the records, local authorities have ignored their requests to correct the data and instead moved to evict the 135 families.
Tensions escalated last month when district officials ramped up the eviction efforts, telling villagers to leave or face arrest -- disregarding a 2023 cabinet resolution that called for a compromise.
The aggressive approach prompted the villagers to bring their case straight to Bangkok.
The contested land is part of a larger 7,000-rai plot claimed by the state.
Authorities have never clearly stated their plans for the land, fuelling suspicion that business interests tied to the controversial Southern Economic Corridor may be behind the push.
The new eviction order has rekindled fears from 2019, when Surat Thani officials seized farmland from the community and turned it into a reservoir.
Maitree Jongkraijug of the non-profit Chumchonthai Foundation said no villagers received compensation for the reservoir project.
Given that the Tai Dam community settled in the area before it was registered as public land, the seizure amounts to a blatant violation of land rights, he said.
The plight of the Tai Dam villagers is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to land injustice in Thailand, where the state often encroaches on local communities' rights -- leaving many marginalised.
According to Mr Maitree, authorities have made no mention of compensation or relocation plans for those affected by the latest eviction order.
Such silence is completely unacceptable.
At the very least, the authorities must disclose their intentions for the land to allow for public scrutiny in a transparent process.
Before any action is taken, they must resolve the disputed data, which otherwise enables unfair land grabs.
This process must be open and inclusive, with full participation from the affected villagers and civil society.
The villagers deserve land justice -- no more, no less.