Give Land Title To Those Who Need It, Not The Wealthy: Thai Editorial

[webfact]

EDITORIAL

Give land title to those who need it, not the wealthy

The Nation

Legal amendments are required on forestry issues and land reform in order to address some of the fundamental problems of the poor

BANGKOK: -- Over the past few months, the ongoing conflict between forestry officials and the owners of luxury resorts inside various natural parks has made headlines. But these all-too-familiar incidents belie the fundamental problem, which is the country's failure to ensure good governance over land use.

Most of the properties in question are in areas that had no title deeds until the government redefined the forest zones to issue land ownership deeds to the farmers who had long earned a living there.

The government's policy is supposed to prevent landless people from encroaching upon forest land and illegally exploiting it. In reality, ownership often ends up in the hands of influential businesspeople and political officeholders. There is an insufficient legal framework to encourage local participation in sustainable forest and community development, thus opening the door for wealthy opportunists to abuse their power, and the law, to seize title to cheap land. Many of these supposedly protected zones are in areas that have seen a tourism boom, such as Wangnamkiaw in Prachin Buri and Suan Pueng in Ratchaburi.

The land ownership issues have become chronic because the legal framework doesn't do enough to promote or protect local ownership. Thailand's community forest law has yet to be enacted to promote grassroots participation in development schemes.

Conflicts inevitably arise when the authorities issue new ownership titles to outside investors. Locals meanwhile are often portrayed as the villains, "encroaching" on the very land that they and their families have been tilling for decades.

Land-use systems and deforestation are interrelated. As we have seen too often, inefficient land-use governance and lax law enforcement lead to significant deforestation. However, it is possible for local people to constructively co-exist with forests if they are encouraged to preserve the natural resources for sustainable use over generations. This is even possible if cultivation in these areas is managed correctly.

At present, however, there are no clear property rights or obligations for the use of land. Each ownership decision tends to depend, arbitrarily, on the local authority that approves the land allocation.

The failure of land reform in Thailand is evidenced in the high number of farmers who don't have enough soil to make a living. Yes, the authorities have been allocating land over the past few years, but it rarely seems to go to those who have the most legitimate claim.

In 2004 more than 4 million small farmers and poor people applied for authorities' assistance regarding land ownership. Of this number, 811,871 farmers owned no land where they could earn a living. Between 1 million and 1.5 million other households have to lease land because they don't own sufficient land themselves to sustain a crop or business.

Ironically, around 90 per cent of the total land area in Thailand belongs to just 10 per cent of the population. These big-time owners are not farmers but politicians and businesspeople. Even worse, this exclusive group is not subject to proper taxation because the collection system for land and property taxes is so inefficient. It's time the authorities closed the loopholes, tightened administration procedures and forced these wealthy landowners to pay what they owe to the state.

The government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra won a mandate from the grassroots population, which continues to suffer from unequal access to opportunity. Thus the government, with its full control of Parliament, has no excuse for failing to provide a proper legal framework and undertaking efficient land reform. It must show the courage to do this, so that land is distributed fairly and the people it purports to represent have a chance to make a decent living. Without this, it is unlikely that Thailand will ever be able to address the festering problems of inequality of opportunity and the widening income gap.

-- The Nation 2012-12-29

[ramrod711]

Give land title to those who need it, not the wealthy

I couldn't agree more, let those who need it, sell it to the wealthy so they can pay for their new cars.

[Bluespunk]

Fairly intelligent article. Pity it won't happen.

[Ricardo]

Give PM-Yingluck a chance, she's only been in power a year-and-a-half, and her government has other help-the-poor priorities like the Corporate-Tax & Income-Tax cuts or the new-car rebates or getting her brother his passport & money back, these things are far more important to the poor farmers !

... erm ... aren't they ?

The reality is that land-title reform is on-the-back-burner, whoever's in power, the Dems or the 'for-the-people' TRT/PPP/PTP.

[ratcatcher]

Give land title to those who need it, not the wealthy

I couldn't agree more, let those who need it, sell it to the wealthy so they can pay for their new cars.

I'm having trouble reading your post...................

[northernboy]

Sadly the truth is most of the poor will sell any land they are given as Ramrod 711 so truthfully said. It is not the lack of opportunity that makes one poor but the choices that often make them that way.

I have purchased land from people who where given it and held it the required time before they could legally sell it. where most neighbors sold it as soon as the papers where issued and did name changes ten years later.

So stop faulting the lack of opportunity put a long term thinking.

[Arkady]

Forest reserve titles to rich people is the norm like the scandal in Phuket that brought down the first Chuan government. Wealthy Chinese brazenly showed in up their benzes to collect their deeds at the ceremony in full view of the press and everyone else, not to mention the corrupt Land Dept officials who issued and presented them. The only problem was that there were only supposed to be given to people without any other land, who had lived on the land for at least a generation and made their sole livelihood from it. Of course the real inhabitants were just driven off the land by government officials.

[Misterwhisper]

The only problem seems to be that those "needy persons" usually don't hold on to the land they received for free and instead sell it on (illegally) to the wealthy. And then they go out again and hold rallies and demand more free land, so they can repeat the process. It's always the same story: Lend the poor a helping hand and before you can blink twice, they hold both of them. I want to see both parties go to court, those who received free land and sold it off illegally after a couple of months, and those who buy it, knowing perfectly well that such a purchase was illegal, too.

[khunken]

The only problem seems to be that those "needy persons" usually don't hold on to the land they received for free and instead sell it on (illegally) to the wealthy. And then they go out again and hold rallies and demand more free land, so they can repeat the process. It's always the same story: Lend the poor a helping hand and before you can blink twice, they hold both of them. I want to see both parties go to court, those who received free land and sold it off illegally after a couple of months, and those who buy it, knowing perfectly well that such a purchase was illegal, too.

Yes, that certainly does happen. But it can be prevented by giving title to land only for agriculture, making the land useless for property developers. It also needs monitoring to prevent bribes to Land Office officials for 'upgrading' the land usage stipulation. I think the country has been through this cycle already - without the monitoring.

[canopy]

However, it is possible for local people to constructively co-exist with forests if they are encouraged to preserve the natural resources for sustainable use over generations.

I live in such an area and find this statement preposterous. Poor people constructively using land? preserving resources? sustainable usage? Sounds great on paper but it hasn't happened and they will be the last ones to do it kicking and screaming the whole way. The poor landowners are the most destructive people I could have ever imagined. They rape everything including national forests as much as the law bends in front of them and I see it over and over. They are only too eager to greedily sell their land illegally to the highest bidder. The writer is completely out of touch with the minds of these poor people. Only a few rich people think about the blue sky things he writes of. Unfortunately this is the reality of my area of Thailand.

[Rancid]

However, it is possible for local people to constructively co-exist with forests if they are encouraged to preserve the natural resources for sustainable use over generations.

I live in such an area and find this statement preposterous. Poor people constructively using land? preserving resources? sustainable usage? Sounds great on paper but it hasn't happened and they will be the last ones to do it kicking and screaming the whole way. The poor landowners are the most destructive people I could have ever imagined. They rape everything including national forests as much as the law bends in front of them and I see it over and over. They are only too eager to greedily sell their land illegally to the highest bidder. The writer is completely out of touch with the minds of these poor people. Only a few rich people think about the blue sky things he writes of. Unfortunately this is the reality of my area of Thailand.

Good point, why the idealistic view of the peasant farmer, he couldn't give a stuff about conservation, look at all the fires every year. That aside of course the rich will end up with the land one way or another, otherwise the program wouldn't even exist, good for headlines, however it is all about redistributing land to insiders.

[ramrod711]

Give land title to those who need it, not the wealthy

I couldn't agree more, let those who need it, sell it to the wealthy so they can pay for their new cars.

I'm having trouble reading your post...................

That's hilarious, sorry I'm low tech, when I copied the text, my comments came out the same size. You gave me a good laugh though, I appreciate it.

[DP25]

Ironically, around 90 per cent of the total land area in Thailand belongs to just 10 per cent of the population. These big-time owners are not farmers but politicians and businesspeople. Even worse, this exclusive group is not subject to proper taxation because the collection system for land and property taxes is so inefficient. It's time the authorities closed the loopholes, tightened administration procedures and forced these wealthy landowners to pay what they owe to the state.

Abhisit attempted to institute a land tax, but faced opposition even within his own party so it got no where.

PTP is dedicated to protecting the interests of the elite, particularly the large rural landowning elite that are some of the primary backers of Thaksin, so you will see pigs fly before a Thaksin government attempts to extract taxes from these people. They are 'for the people' when they are shouting slogans at the poor, but when it comes to legislation they are cutting taxes on corporations and the rich, attempting to pardon billionaires of criminal tax fraud, and refusing to fix the corrupt and inefficient taxation system that benefits the rich and politically connected at the expense of the poor.

[Thai at Heart]

Ironically, around 90 per cent of the total land area in Thailand belongs to just 10 per cent of the population. These big-time owners are not farmers but politicians and businesspeople. Even worse, this exclusive group is not subject to proper taxation because the collection system for land and property taxes is so inefficient. It's time the authorities closed the loopholes, tightened administration procedures and forced these wealthy landowners to pay what they owe to the state.

Abhisit attempted to institute a land tax, but faced opposition even within his own party so it got no where.

PTP is dedicated to protecting the interests of the elite, particularly the large rural landowning elite that are some of the primary backers of Thaksin, so you will see pigs fly before a Thaksin government attempts to extract taxes from these people. They are 'for the people' when they are shouting slogans at the poor, but when it comes to legislation they are cutting taxes on corporations and the rich, attempting to pardon billionaires of criminal tax fraud, and refusing to fix the corrupt and inefficient taxation system that benefits the rich and politically connected at the expense of the poor.

There is no way a land tax will be passed here. It is the easiest way to launder cash, and then beyond that, you have a bit of an issue with some pretty important people who have made an not insignificant amount of wealth from this immoral issue, who goo way beyond ptp, or democrat backers.

[dighambara]

Give PM-Yingluck a chance, she's only been in power a year-and-a-half, and her government has other help-the-poor priorities like the Corporate-Tax & Income-Tax cuts or the new-car rebates or getting her brother his passport & money back, these things are far more important to the poor farmers !

... erm ... aren't they ?

The reality is that land-title reform is on-the-back-burner, whoever's in power, the Dems or the 'for-the-people' TRT/PPP/PTP.

Give land title to those who need it, not the wealthy

I couldn't agree more, let those who need it, sell it to the wealthy so they can pay for their new cars.

I'm having trouble reading your post...................

Sadly the truth is most of the poor will sell any land they are given as Ramrod 711 so truthfully said. It is not the lack of opportunity that makes one poor but the choices that often make them that way.

I have purchased land from people who where given it and held it the required time before they could legally sell it. where most neighbors sold it as soon as the papers where issued and did name changes ten years later.

So stop faulting the lack of opportunity put a long term thinking.

AND ON AND ON IT GOES...

Land reform rquires good record keeping and T.I.T. where corruption is rampant and money buys land titles. Perhaps this is one of the reasons foreigners cannot buy land, because they would demand good records, with adherance to contracts and would pay their taxes -corruption would be forced out.

[surangw]

its the wealthy that control ( own) the legal system, guess who will win ever time?

[Time Traveller]

"Ironically, around 90 per cent of the total land area in Thailand belongs to just 10 per cent of the population. These big-time owners are not farmers but politicians and businesspeople" - Comments like this are meaningless and this journalist is just quoting stuff out of thin air. If Nation wants some credibility then they should open the books and disclose who exactly the largest land owners are. I would bet the Nation does not have the courage or would need to censure the names of these "powerful" people. We all know one of the largest landholders does not pay any tax, so why should newspapers like Nation just write garbage stories like this.

Edited December 29, 2012 by Time Traveller

[JurgenG]

However, it is possible for local people to constructively co-exist with forests if they are encouraged to preserve the natural resources for sustainable use over generations.

I live in such an area and find this statement preposterous. Poor people constructively using land? preserving resources? sustainable usage? Sounds great on paper but it hasn't happened and they will be the last ones to do it kicking and screaming the whole way. The poor landowners are the most destructive people I could have ever imagined. They rape everything including national forests as much as the law bends in front of them and I see it over and over. They are only too eager to greedily sell their land illegally to the highest bidder. The writer is completely out of touch with the minds of these poor people. Only a few rich people think about the blue sky things he writes of. Unfortunately this is the reality of my area of Thailand.

Agree with you. But do not blame the local uneducated peasants. In our modern world to be able to exploit these lands in any profitable way you need two things : money (financing) and education. Without that, the landless farmers do the smartest thing they can do with the land given to them, they sell them. Honestly, nobody is interested anymore in subsistence farming.

The only persons to blame are the (anonymous) idiot who wrote this editorial and those who support him. The best use of these lands is to sell or rent them to the people who have the ability to exploit them in accordance with what is most beneficial to the population. Because that's what's going to eventually happen anyway, the lands will end in the hands of those who are the best able to take care of them. That's what we call free market and nobody so far has been able to beat that ... take extended holidays in North Korea if you don't believe that