Surat Thani Villagers Hope For Eviction Reprieve

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Surat Thani villagers hope for eviction reprieve

Chularat Saengpassa

The Nation

Supoj Kansing from the Klong Sai Pattana community in Surat Thani produces documents showing that the land on which he and his neighbours live belongs to the Agricultural Land Reform Office, not a private firm. /Nation/Chularat Saengpassa

SURAT THANI: -- Villagers in Surat Thani were holding their breath yesterday as they awaited a crucial document from the Agricultural Land Reform Office (ALRO) they hoped would save their communities from demolitions scheduled to take place today.

The villagers have lived and laboured on plots of land they say belongs to the ALRO. However, United Palm Oil Industry Pcl lodged a complaint against nine local residents on March 25, 2009 accusing them of encroaching on its land.

On December 29 last year, the Surat Thani court ordered that the nine vacate the plots or lawenforcement officials would demolish their properties by today.

"But these land plots belong to the ALRO, the company has no right to them," Siriwan Vongkietpaisan, a lawyer who has helped the local villagers, said yesterday.

She accompanied the villagers to the ALRO yesterday to ask that it immediately issue crucial documents to save the villagers' communities.

ALRO deputy secretarygeneral Sathitpong Sudchukiat said he had called on officials to notify the company that it did not have the right to seek the court's authority to evict the villagers.

"Because these land plots belong to ALRO, such right belongs to the ALRO," he said. He said the official letter would be sent to relevant authorities today.

According to Siriwan, as the court case proceeded, the ALRO has on another front managed to prove that it owns the land plots. She produced a document dated May 3, 2011, stating that the company was willing to hand over the land plots to the ALRO for further distribution to landless farmers.

The document asked the ALRO to withdraw complaints and lawsuits lodged against the company.

The land plots in question covered more than 1,400 rai. The nine locals and neighbours at the Santi Pattana Community have occupied about 202 rai of land.

"ALRO deputy secretarygeneral has promised to inform in writing the Surat Thani Court, Surat Thani governor and Surat Thani branch of ALRO that those plots belong to it, and the court order for the demolition of the farmers' properties should not be implemented," Siriwan said.

Santi Pattana community leader Boonyarit Pirom, 62, said ALRO and the government must take responsibility if their slowness to take action results in confrontations and casualties.

He said he would rush back home to watch out for any demolition attempt.

Santi Pattana is not the only community that has been the subject of encroachment complaints filed by big companies.

Supoj Kansing of the Klong Sai Pattana community, which is also located in Surat Thani, said he was among 12 villagers being sued by Jiew Kang Jui Pattana Co Ltd.

"We have faced threats. We have heard gunshots almost every night," he said.

According to him, ALRO has already proven that the land plots on which his community is located in fact belong to ALRO. A court has already ordered Jiew Kang Jui to vacate the plots, but the company has appealed against the verdict.

Both Supoj and Boonyarit hoped the ALRO would swiftly issue documents granting the right to use the land plots to the local villagers.

-- The Nation 2012-06-29