Phuket Sea Gypsies Under Siege From Owners

[webfact]

Phuket Sea Gypsies under siege from owners
Nattha Thepbamrung


A child at the sea gypsy village.

PHUKET: -- The Phuket Provincial Court is facing a long series of lawsuits aimed at getting members of the Rawai Sea Gypsy village – the largest such village in Phuket – evicted from land claimed by a local businessman who bought the land four years ago.

On one side of a complex ongoing legal battle are the 2,035 residents of the village. On the other are six people who claim that the land under the village of 244 houses belongs to them – and who have paperwork to back their claims.

The cases highlight a long-running dispute between the villagers, who claim that they and their ancestors have lived on the land for at least 500 years, and the six owners.

Businessman Piyawat Sangiamkul, who owns the Baan Raya Resort & Spa on Racha Yai Island, is the second owner to take legal action.

Suthep Mukdee has already won two cases, against brothers-in-law Maren and Anan Bangjak, who lost their bid to stay on the land when the court ruled that because they had signed a lease, this indicated they did not own the land. An appeal against this ruling has already been lodged.

Niran Yangpan, representative of the fishing community, in conversation with The Phuket News, insisted that the village had been at its present site for more than 500 years.

“Our ancestors moved here more than 500 years ago. The land owners who hold the deeds claim that they have deeds issued since 1971. This is later than our history.

“They claim that they already owned the land when [sea Gypsies] came to ask them to allow them to live on the land.”

Only in recent years has friction grown between the two sides, with attempts launched in 2008 to get the Sea Gypsies off the land.

Mr Niran said that strangers had come to set up businesses in the village with the permission of the people who claim the land. This, he believes, was a ploy to demonstrate to the courts that the land had been leased, and was not owned by the villagers.

A lawyer representing the villagers, Puwanark Buaniam agrees with this view.

“From the oral evidence and from visiting the area, I believe the village dates back to before the official promulgation of the Land Code in 1954.

“Moreover, there are photographs of HM the King visiting the village in 1959, which proves it existed before the deeds were issued in 1971.

“We have oral evidence [from old people], together with their old and unique culture, the graveyard and permanent houses.”

Mr Niran also explained how Mr Maren and his neighbour Mr Anan lost their cases.

“The land owner came to see them, and told them they could stay on land and that he would look after them, and all the people in the area. He just wanted their signature on a document.

“Both are illiterate, and they believed him and put their thumbprints on the document. Later, they realized that they had signed a land lease. So, from being owners of the land, they became lessees.” The court backed up this view of the situation.

The lawyer, Mr Puwanark, has already lodged an appeal on their behalf and they are waiting for a court date.

On October 4 another villager, Sanit Saechua, appeared in court but the case against him was stopped when it was shown that his sister Bangorn, not he, was the occupant of the house involved in this case,and he had been removed from the house registration book.

Oddly, the house registration book does not specify who the owner of the house is.

Mr Piyawat told The Phuket News he bought the land in Rawai at auction from the Bank of Ayutthaya and the Legal Execution Department, which handles auctions of property pledged against defaulted loans.

Mr Piyawat believes absolutely that the deed is legitimate. “This land was auctioned by the bank and I bought it. It has a deed which assures me I have legal ownership.

“If the court rules against me I will sue the bank and the Legal Execution Department for selling land with a bad title deed.”

Mr Piyawat wants to use the land to build a pier for transport between Rawai and the resort on Racha Yai.

Initially Mr Piyawat told The Phuket News that he did not know before he bought it that there were people living on the land. He only learned this when his family went to survey the land after the sale.

“When I bought the land I hadn’t seen it – I had just visited the rough area. When my mother led a team of land officials to survey the land they were shouted at and chased off by some fishermen from the village. That’s when we learned there were people living there.”

Later, however, Mr Piyawat admitted that he and his family had known people in the village for long time and had employed villagers on many occasions to move items between Racha Yai and Rawai Beach.

However, he said that he had bought the land without having it surveyed first; he had ensured only that it was in area he needed to make a warehouse and pier. He added that he had believed that the fact that the land had a deed and was for sale meant that no one could be living on it.

“I really cannot give land to those villagers who have house certificates. I paid a lot of money for the legal land deed,” he said. “The people who have house certificates must be evicted. As for the rest who do not have [house certificates] I will organize for them to live on the land and let them work for me,” he said.

After Wednesday’s brief hearing that established Mrs Bangorn as the target of the lawsuit, the hearing was adjourned to a date yet to be fixed.

Mr Piyawat’s lawyer, Prasert Nantalohit, said that suits will be brought against another seven villagers living on his client’s land.

The case against Mrs Bangorn worries the village representative, Mr Niran. “I am concerned that if [Mr Piyawat] wins this case, the rest of the village land will go to the ‘owners’,” he said.

If the owners win their cases against the villagers, it could end in the break-up of Phuket’s biggest traditional fishing community. No one seems to have any idea about where the Sea Gypsies would move to if they are ordered off the land.

The community has a unique way of life, a unique culture or unique religious beliefs. Without the village, Phuket may lose a chunk of centuries-old cultural heritage.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-sea-gypsies-under-siege-from-owners-37476.php


-- Phuket News 2013-03-04

[Locationthailand]

Unbelievable - this is no different to squatters in Bangkok but they remain. Somewhere down the line - and you can bet it was by corrupt - these people with 'title deeds - have most likely obtained them in 'good faith bar the one who asked them to sign. He appears to be a crook. But the origins of the land title deeds need to be traced back for the real answers. Any water front land will be valuable so you can understand why the move for eviction and the request of clarification for those with legitimate deeds.

Having said that a friend of mine bought and paid for land in Tak, came back to Thailand after a years absence only to find a new home built on his land. Some local official had been paid off, a stamp, a title deed and there was nothing he could. So I wouldn't put it past the existing corrupt officials in Phuket as this is common for there and Samui.

[Pinot]

The owner stole the land fair and square.

Don't ever buy anything in Thailand.

[phuketsub]

Phuket Land = Pandora's box

[steelepulse]

>>Mr Piyawat wants to use the land to build a pier for transport between Rawai and the resort on Racha Yai.

I don't believe it. He can use Chalong Pier for that. He wants to turn this land into his personal gold mine by developing it.

[stevenl]

>>Mr Piyawat wants to use the land to build a pier for transport between Rawai and the resort on Racha Yai.

I don't believe it. He can use Chalong Pier for that. He wants to turn this land into his personal gold mine by developing it.

Or Rawai pier. Much closer to Racha Yai than Chalong Pier and directly next to his new land.