One-Year Reprieve Sought for Saphan Lek Market

[Jonathan Fairfield]

One-Year Reprieve Sought for Saphan Lek Market

By Sasiwan Mokkhasen

Staff Reporter

BANGKOK — A member of the Human Rights Commission today urged Bangkok Gov. Sukhumbhand Paribatra to grant one year for Saphan Lek vendors to relocate and called upon the Minister of Interior to intervene before demolition of the historic market begins Tuesday.

Officials and nearly 100 vendors joined a public discussion at the National Human Rights Commision office, where commissioner Niran Pitakwatchara asked city hall to give the vendors one year to clear the historic market, and an advisor to the governor refuted accusations a developer influenced the city’s sudden bid to shut it down.

“Bangkok has said that due to inefficient law enforcement, the demolition has been postponed for more than 10 years since a 1997 cabinet resolution ordered them to move,” Niran said. “Then there should not be any further damage to give them one more year to prepare.

Otherwise, he said, the city may be accused of acting on behalf of a vested interest.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration announced its campaign to reclaim public space from the famed Saphan Lek market on Sept. 28, stating the market was built over a canal where it has obstructed its flow and encroached on public land. But the vendors, some of whom also live there, complained the process was unjust.

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[whatproblem]

10 years already ,what a joke

[Jonmarleesco]

'“Bangkok has said that due to inefficient law enforcement ...' That says it all.​

[Srikcir]

When a government authority allows laws to be continuously and knowingly violated for years without enforcement, it has in effect established an exception to the rule of law under common law adjudication. Correcting such legal inconsistency by merely allowing the Saphan Lek vendors one year to vacate is the simplest and fairest approach to the issue.