Land in protected area found illegally owned by rich people

JANJIRA PONGRAI

THE NATION

PHATTHALUNG: -- A natural-resource protection agency learned yesterday that some wealthy people in Phatthalung province had cordoned off a plot of land inside the Thale Luang Non-Hunting Area, which has been declared protected under the Ramsar Wetlands Convention.

Chai Sunwanchart, chief of the Thale Noi Non-Hunting Area, led Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) officials on an inspection trip and discovered that more than 10,000 rai of forests had been destroyed and divided into 550 plots. These plots are now allegedly owned by some wealthy people and politicians.

They also found that these so-called owners had put up a sign warning trespassers and built a fence cordoning off 15 rai in the protected area, located in tambon Panang Tung, in Phatthalung's Khuan Khanun district.

The team is now investigating how the landownership documents for these plots were acquired before reporting the case to DNP director-general Damrong Phidet, Chai said.

"Many local people illegally occupied forestland in a non-hunting protected area," he said.

Last week, Damrong gave 39 inspection teams the job of looking into the encroachment of land in protected peat swamp areas in Nakhon Si Thammarat and Phatthalung after a raging fire had destroyed forestland in these provinces.

The peat swamp forest covers an area of more than 230,000 rai in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Patthalung and Songkhla. Recent forest fires have destroyed more than 10,000 rai of forestland in this area and to date fires are still burning at three key spots in these provinces. Local forestry authorities have sent 100 firefighters and are using about 10 long-tailed boats to travel into the peat swamp area and douse the blaze.

The department said massive land encroachment was one of the major causes of the forest fires because people set fire to large swathes of forested land before moving into the area.

Chai said his team would spend 30 days investigating land-encroachment issues in Thale Noi and Thale Luang non-hunting areas before passing the investigation results on to Nakhon Si Thammarat Governor Wiroj Jiwarangson, who leads a government-appointed panel to manage the protected peat swamp forest.

Separately, 500 residents of Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung, Trang and Satun yesterday rallied outside the Khao Banthat Wildlife Sanctuary in Phatthalung to demand that the prime minister help solve land disputes and stop park officials from cutting down their rubber trees or tearing down their buildings.

-- The Nation 2012-08-29

Rich means above the law! But not for long I am afraid:

"Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught

will we realize we cannot eat money." ~ Cree Indian Proverb

Rich stays, Rich says! Nothing will change!

As Phatthalung is gun country I expect there'll be one or two minor officials will meet an early death as an warning to the the higher ups. The case will be dropped or dropped into the memory hole as usual.

Shame as that area is so important for animal life.

As Phatthalung is gun country I expect there'll be one or two minor officials will meet an early death as an warning to the the higher ups. The case will be dropped or dropped into the memory hole as usual.

Shame as that area is so important for animal life.

the whole of Thailand is gun country.

"rich people" are easily topped by "the unusually rich of Thailand...." as the newspapers here like to dub them (never mind the interesting grammatical lapse)

Edited August 29, 201213 yr by thurien

They're rich so they can do what they want...what's the problem? Get them the F out of there and start making examples to the rest of the civilized world that Thailand can/will follow the rule of law.....finally!

why they write :"allegedly" ... they cannot check this fact at the land department

They're rich so they can do what they want...what's the problem? Get them the F out of there and start making examples to the rest of the civilized world that Thailand can/will follow the rule of law.....finally!

We are used to reading comments like the above. Is it not the relative ease of lifestyle and feeling of relative importance and relatively cheap fun that farang feel amongst the entertainment girl ghetto that attracts them here?

More rich Thais raping the land.... who would have thought it.

These plots are now allegedly owned by some wealthy people and politicians.

Nah the poor people own it; Of course their Rich, didn't need a news paper to tell me that.

How is it a country with 65+ Million people can only print 10pages of news?

Edited August 29, 201213 yr by Sayonarax

They're rich so they can do what they want...what's the problem? Get them the F out of there and start making examples to the rest of the civilized world that Thailand can/will follow the rule of law.....finally!

We are used to reading comments like the above. Is it not the relative ease of lifestyle and feeling of relative importance and relatively cheap fun that farang feel amongst the entertainment girl ghetto that attracts them here?

NO!! Is your daughter a ghetto girl?

landscape in the south is already so dreary, you have choice : rubber tree or palmtree. Well, it's still better than the so called upper class condo of Bangkok with open sewer view

These plots are now allegedly owned by some wealthy people and politicians.

Nah the poor people own it; Of course their Rich, didn't need a news paper to tell me that.

How is it a country with 65+ Million people can only print 10pages of news?

Happens everywhere...The Sun newspaper in the UK prints 30 odd pages a day but about half of one page is really news !

They're rich so they can do what they want...what's the problem? Get them the F out of there and start making examples to the rest of the civilized world that Thailand can/will follow the rule of law.....finally!

We are used to reading comments like the above. Is it not the relative ease of lifestyle and feeling of relative importance and relatively cheap fun that farang feel amongst the entertainment girl ghetto that attracts them here?

What are you on man? I'm doing mental gymnastics to try and tie together your comment and the original post. What in the name of God has girl ghetto bars got to do with rich people owning land in protected areas? From your writing I am assuming you are possibly Thai? if so (and I may be wrong) you are continuing the common generalisation that foreigners come here for cheap sex. Be careful what you say because you would in fact be making a generalised comment as to the morality of Thai women. Please engage your brain before opening your mouth.

Separately, 500 residents of Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung, Trang and Satun yesterday rallied outside the Khao Banthat Wildlife Sanctuary in Phatthalung to demand that the prime minister help solve land disputes and stop park officials from cutting down their rubber trees or tearing down their buildings.

The above is so revealing about the problems with basic rule of law in Thailand. It's not enough that members of the public, and especially members of the government, are involved in the destruction of their own protected wildlife habitats. They actually have the audacity to protest the enforcement of the law in Thailand. It all demonstrates a deep-seated failure to comprehend the value of legal protections in the context of a whole society. I assume this is because, in all likelihood and in a country as corrupt as Thailand, it makes more rational sense for the individual or family to make money in utter contravention of the interests of the country and then use that money to further exploit the weaknesses Thailand's highly inefficient, venal government proffers. The wealthy (and politically connected) in Thailand openly flout their wealth, power, and impatience with law and order and this infects the rest of the society with a very unhealthy attitude towards fairness, justice, and affluence. It will take generations of concerted effort and good fortune for Thai society to rid itself of lawless, underdeveloped mentalities which is why, when government officials propose high-speed rail to help Thailand "avoid the middle-income trap", it's difficult not to openly laugh. The Kingdom is several decades away from being a fully developed country and no amount of superficially fancy infrastructure trappings will change that.

Wow…I'm in a state of shock. How could this be happening?

Land in protected area found illegally owned by rich people

I sadly fear that new laws will be passed making these so-called "protected" areas

much smaller than they already are. Pretty soon people will have to go to museums to

see what a tree looked like.