The moniker "daughter of the sea" didn't come from thin air. Khairiyah Rahmanyah, 19, feels she has earned it.
If youth chart the future of a generation, the fate of the bitterly controversial Chana industrial park project in Songkhla looks certain to be shaped by the Chana Rak Thin group.
The young Khairiyah is one of the more prominent figures of the group demanding a say in a contentious state project.
The group travelled to Bangkok, fired up and determined to get from the government what had been promised to them -- a halt to the industrial park they say threatens to rob them of their livelihoods and their identity.
On Dec 10 last year, the government gave villagers its word the project would be put on hold pending public input.
A year has passed and still the strategic environment assessment (SEA), which weighs the viability of the project, has still failed to take off.
Worse, the town plan in Chana district has taken on different colours. In areas that used to be green, connoting farms and rural zones, or green with white stripes symbolising protected forests off-limits to industrial development, the plan now paints them over with purple zones where industrial development is allowed in three tambons -- Nathab, Sakom, and Taling Chan.
The purple zones open the door to the Chana industrial park project.
Locals questioned whether the shift in town plan reveals the government's true colours. The Chana Rak Thin group did not wait around to find out.
They headed to Bangkok and rallied at Government House to remind the government of its promise to the Chana people. The group insisted it would not leave until it got an answer.
The protesters were dispersed by police, which only galvanised them. Pressure on the government mounted and on Dec 14, the cabinet resolved to put the project on the backburner. The group also agreed to return home although Ms Khairiyah takes the cabinet resolution with a grain of salt.
"We have to be careful not to be sidelined again," she said.
The Dec 14 resolution calls for the project to be halted and the SEA conducted, inclusive of all stakeholders. The assessment must also be carried out with transparency with residents better educated about the project.
The cabinet resolution is not yet a victory for the residents, but a bridge in that direction. An inclusive SEA was what locals had demanded from the outset.
"It's a principle the government and all agencies must comply with," she said.
While her recent rally in Bangkok served a cause, Ms Khairiyah says it left her distressed when the group was confronted by police who proceeded to arrest them.
"If the project had an unfeigned objective to bring about sustainable development, no one would have opposed it," she said.
The older residents who accompanied the group and joined the rally in Bangkok put up a fight to keep their offspring from the prospect of losing their homes to an industrial development.
If the Dec 14 cabinet resolution had not been issued, the rally would have persisted. "We came knowing we must bet our lives on it. We couldn't return to Chana empty-handed. It would feel like we're dead inside," Ms Khairiyah said.
During her rally in the capital, Ms Khairiyah came across many homeless people. It moved her. "I don't want our folks in Chana to end up like that," she said.
Chana district in Songkhla boasts ecological abundance both in sea and on land. It is also on the tourism map with the famed Ban Liwong's pristine natural beauty being compared to the "Switzerland of Chana."
Ms Khairiyah lives right by the sea in Suan Kong village of tambon Sakom. Born to a fishing family, as were other villagers, she insisted the sea feeds and sustains not only the locals but people of the entire country.
The seafood caught in the district are sold in Bangkok and Samut Sakhon and exported all the way to Japan and South Korea.
Dolphins, which are a gauge of clean ecology, are sometimes spotted close to the beach near Ms Khairiyah's house.
She engages in a local movement to conserve natural resources. She has her father and her ancestor to thank for her spirit in fighting to safeguard the sea.
The locals believe no one can can look out for one another better than people within the community. It is how the Chana Rak Thin group came about and what binds the members together.
The group was founded in 1993. Ms Khairiyah has taken part in the group since she was 12 and her strong activist streak has earned her the name "daughter of the sea".
But her sense of protecting the community runs in her veins.
From the age of three or four, the young Khairiyah would be carried by her father to their neighbours' homes where adults discussed current affairs and issues affecting their village.
The talks often lulled her to sleep on her father's lap.
As she grew up, she was immersed in the problems close to heart. She cultivated an awareness of local issues which affected the village.
Ms Khairiyah urged the government to tackle problems in a holistic manner and maintain the rich sources of food which nourish the country.
"I think we have enough industrial estates. Our experience with the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us a valuable lesson about sharing food produced by various sources and having each other's backs," she said.