[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
dam-l LS: 3 articles on ADB demonstrations
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/new/09aa06.shtml
THAILAND'S INDEPENDENT ONLINE NEWS & INFORMATION SERVICE
May 9, 2000
ADB protest concludes peacefully
CHIANG MAI - The anti-Asian Development Bank protest dispersed yesterday
afternoon without violence, a few hours after the bank's 33rd annual
meeting closed.
The protest was not as heated as many people had expected. Activists failed
to pressure bank president Tadao Chino into agreeing to their demands for a
meeting with the ADB's board of governors to review its loans policy for
Thailand.
The protesters had threatened violence on Sunday if this demand was not
fulfilled by 10am yesterday, but did not make good on this threat. However,
they pledged to oppose any measures outlined by the bank during its
three-day meeting.
"We, in the name of Thai citizens, would like to declare our stand to
reject any deal or commitment agreed between Thai officials and the ADB
during the meeting here," protest leader Veeraphol Sopha declared.
Apart from condemning the government, Veeraphol voiced condemnation of the
bank for its improper response to the villagers' demands and also vowed to
continue opposing the bank and all its future undertakings.
Despite failing to negotiate with the ADB, the protesters said they could
achieve more by educating the public about the bank's negative aspects.
"The media has communicated our message to the Thai public and the rest of
the world about the negative impact of its loans policy on Thai people,"
protest speaker Suebsakul Kijnukorn said.
The protesters formed a human chain around the Westin Hotel, where the ADB
meeting took place. Their confrontation with police lasted seven hours
during which the protesters attempted one last time to negotiate with the
bank.
The third and final negotiation between the protesters and the bank took
place yesterday at midday, following a move by officials to arrange a
negotiating table at the hotel entrance near the site of the protest.
But the table was quickly removed after the bank's spokesman, NGO member
Gordon Wilkinson, handed the bank's answer to Veeraphol.
The bank maintained its former stance not to convene the special meeting
demanded by protesters. It also insisted on establishing a committee of its
senior officials to review the protesters' demands.
This would be established by May 15 and an answer would be given to all the
protesters' demands by the end of this month, according to the bank's reply
letter.
The meeting between the bank and villagers affected by its projects would
also be arranged at a later date.
Police sent deputy chief of the National Police Office Phornsak
Durongkhawiboon to act as mediator between the two sides, but he was
rejected by the protesters.
According to an ADB senior official, the bank's staff spent many hours
discussing what stance to take against the protest.
US delegates had suggested Chino meet the villagers, but the proposal was
refused.
The protesters finished with a concluding speech by several of their
leaders including Bamrung Khayotha, Wanida Tantiwittayaphitak, Suwit Watnoo
and Veeraphol.
"The Thai government is like a phee baan [ghost in the house] and the ADB
like a phee paa [ghost outside the house]. Thai people are now in a very
tough situation due to both ghosts cooperating to eat us silently," Bamrung
said.
"I hope the protest will awaken Thai people into seeing the true face of
the ADB and the government.
"Remember this until the next election."
Chief of the ADB's external relations office Robert Salamon said the
protesters were dedicated professionals who would shadow the bank's every
meeting.
Despite burning the ADB's flag and letting off fire crackers, the
protesters finished up peacefully by giving flowers to police and the media.
After the protesters had gone, about 50 Chiang Mai residents, escorted by a
provincial deputy governor, gave flowers to the bank's officials.
BY KAMOL SUKIN
The Nation
http://www.bangkokpost.net/today/080500_News01.html
May 8, 2000
ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK
Poor exempt from water tax
A long police line seals the entrance to a Chiang Mai hotel as activists
protest against the ADB meeting yesterday. _ JETJARUS NA RANONG
Talks to set criteria, but NGOs sceptical
Post Reporters
Chiang Mai
Poor farmers will be exempted from planned charges on the use of irrigation
water, the Asian Development Bank announced yesterday.
ADB officials will hold talks with farmers, non-governmental organisations,
academics and government officials about setting criteria for the charges,
Craig Steffensen, the bank's resident adviser in Thailand, said.
Factors to be considered include income and the size and location of the
land involved, he said.
The process would be time consuming.
The tariff on irrigation water would be introduced gradually by targeting
water users who could afford the tax and then volunteers, before expanding
the scheme to other groups.
"Poor farmers will not be affected by the water irrigation scheme," he
stressed.
The tax is aimed at encouraging more efficient use of water.
It is a condition of a US$600 million loan the government entered into with
the bank last September for use in reforming the agricultural sector.
It is also compatible with government policy on water use.
The controversial issue tops the agenda of protesters, who want the bank to
abolish the tax or scrap the entire loan, half of which is financed by
Japan's Overseas Economic Co-operation Fund. It is channelled to the
Agriculture and Co-operatives Ministry through the Finance Ministry.
Finance Minister Tarrin Nimmanahaeminda, who chairs the ADB's board of
governors, told a seminar on Saturday that the water tax would bring
long-term benefits and help preserve the country's natural resources,
threatened by an alarming rate of forest encroachment.
Neglecting the problem now could trigger a severe water shortage for users
in the future, he said.
"In 10 years from now, if we don't do anything, it will come to water
rationing," the minister said.
Preserving water resources was a top government priority, with a budget
already earmarked for the issue, he said.
The government paid attention to the farming sector, which involved the
majority of the population.
Though agriculture yielded only 10% of gross domestic product, 60% of the
population were involved in it, the minister said.
But NGOs accused the government of trying to deceive the public by saying
that water charges will be collected from large-scale farmers while poor
farmers will be exempted.
In reality, the NGOs asserted, it is the poor farmers who will suffer
should the water charge be introduced.
This is because the government would choose to serve those who can pay,
they said.
According to Srisuwan Kuankachorn, chairman of the Foundation for
Ecological Recovery, once water was turned into a commodity for
fully-commercialised agriculture, small-scale farmers who do not have the
money to pay would have less access to water resources.
"Especially in the dry season when the water becomes scarce, it is likely
that the water will go to those who have more economic power," he said.
There was no guarantee poor farmers would be spared, as it was already
stated in the agricultural sector programme loan (ASPL) that a charge would
be collected from all users.
Mr Srisuwan pointed out that "cost recovery" and water charges are the same
thing.
They stemmed from the ADB's basic idea that money should be collected for
the use of water in agriculture.
However, he said any water charges would be unfair to small-scale farmers
who had hardly enjoyed state support when compared to those in the
industrial sector, especially foreigners, who have tax privileges in many
forms including import tax exemptions for machinery and income tax
immunities for a certain period of time.
Mr Srisuwan said a study indicated the use of water in the industry gave
the highest economic return, at eight baht for one cubic metre.
"While economic returns for plants like tobacco will be smaller, the second
crop of rice farming gave the lowest return, at 0.40 baht per cubic metre."
He voiced concern that the study may lead to a state decision that the use
of water in industry was the most cost-efficient and that rice farmers may
be forced to leave their ricefields as a consequence.
http://www.bangkokpost.net/070500/070500_News02.html
May 7, 2000
Protest marks opening of bank conference
Demonstrators try to enter meeting site
Ploenpote Atthakor in Chiang Mai
More than 2,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Chiang Mai as the
Asian Development Bank opened its 33rd annual meeting amid tight security
yesterday.
There were some scuffles with police, who turned out in force from Chiang
Mai and neighbouring provinces. They pushed back protesters who tried to
break through the security cordon to get to the conference hall to submit a
statement to Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai who presided at the opening ceremony.
After some negotiations, police let demonstrators stay at the fence around
the conference hall of Chiang Mai University.
Myoung Ho-shin, ADB vice-president for Region West, came out to receive the
demonstrators' statement denouncing the bank.
Before leaving the rally site late in the afternoon, demonstrators burned
Mr Chuan in effigy, because he failed to show up to receive their
statement. They labelled him "Chuan the Coward".
Police yesterday morning had set up metal fences on Nimmanhaeminda road,
closing it to traffic, to stop demonstrators from reaching the conference hall.
The protesters represented 38 people's organisations and community and
environmental groups from across the country, including the Forum of the
Poor, the Ban Krud and Klong Dan conservation groups, farmers and labour
networks. The Students Federation of Thailand also took part in the rally.
Non-governmental organisations denounced ADB president Tadao Chino for his
attempts to project an image of the bank as having good relations with NGOs.
Srisuwan Kuankachorn, chairman of the Foundation for Ecological Recovery,
said the ADB president's claim that there was an increase in NGOs'
involvement in the development of the bank's country assistance plans (CAP)
was untrue.
"Mr Chino is just lying. The ADB has never consulted the NGOs or the civil
society sector in making the CAP. Worse yet, the plan was drafted in
accordance with the ADB's agenda, which does not answer to the people's
demand," he told a press conference.
Mr Srisuwan said it was impossible for the NGOS to establish a good
relationship with the ADB as the bank had not responded positively to the
people's demands-to abandon the loans and the unfair conditions attached to
them.
Senator-elect and social activist Jon Ungphakorn said the ADB loan
conditions, especially, those concerning health reform, would never solve
social problems. "Worse yet, they will exacerbate the problem."Mr Jon
referred to the plan to launch autonomous hospitals which, he said, was an
attempt by the government to cut back social welfare to the people,
especially the poor. "The community should have a say whether they want
autonomous hospitals," he said.
Ravadee Prasertcharoensook, secretary-general of the NGOs Co-ordinating
Committee on Development, said the people's demands must be respected. She
said the NGOs stood firmly by the people's movement.
Mrs Ravadee rejected allegations that the people's movement was influenced
by the NGOs. "They act on their own will," she insisted.
The demonstrators stayed in the Tha Pae Gate area last night. They are
expected to march to the Westin Hotel, where most of the bank's meetings
are taking place, today to pressure the management to respond to their demands.
Meanwhile, senior officials of the Japanese Finance Ministry met
representatives of villagers affected by ADB-financed Klong Dan waste water
treatment scheme and other projects.
Rintaro Tamaki, director of Development Institutions Division, said the
Japanese government, one of the bank's biggest shareholders, would keep a
careful watch on the projects.
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
Aviva Imhof
South-East Asia Campaigner
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley CA 94703 USA
Tel: + 1 510 848 1155 (ext. 312), Fax: + 1 510 848 1008
Email: aviva@irn.org, Web: http://www.irn.org
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*