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DAM-L THE NATION: "Hearing to stress unity" (fwd)



FROM:
The Nation, Aug 11, 2000

"Hearing to stress unity"

NO banners, symbols of affiliation or distribution of 
documents will be allowed at the public hearing co-
organised by the government and the Assembly of the 
Poor (AOP), scheduled for next Thursday, Thammasat 
University lecturer Somchai Srisuthiyakorn said 
yesterday.

Somchai, who is acting as the mediator between the 
two parties, said the ban was necessary to eradicate 
the feelings of division among the participants.

"The public hearing is not a confrontation. It's a time 
when both parties turn to each other with the aim of 
reaching understanding," he said.

Speaking after a meeting to draw up the public 
hearing's framework, Somchai also disclosed that 
both parties had agreed on Senator Chirmsak 
Pinthong, Thepchai Yong and Chaiwat Satha-anan as 
potential moderators.

"The moderator has limited duties. He is not 
expected to make any conclusions but only to monitor 
the time of each representative's presentation," 
Somchai said.

Chirmsak, however, has declined to act as moderator 
at the public hearing, citing the limited role, while 
both Thepchai and Chaiwat said they could not 
perform the task because they had prior 
engagements.

The three issues of forestland encroachment, dams, 
and land grievances will be discussed at the hearing. 
Representatives from both parties will be given a 
brief amount of time to speak. After their 
presentations, there will be a question-and-answer 
session.

Somchai also said as Thammasat's Small Auditorium, 
the public hearing venue, could accommodate only 
800 people, AOP was limited to taking 200 of its 
members inside. The remaining seats will be reserved 
for the public.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob and Royal 
Forestry Department (RFD) director-general 
Plodprasop Suraswadi will give a presentation on the 
problem of AOP members allegedly encroaching on 
national forestland, said PM's personal secretary 
Alongkorn Polabutr.

PM's Office Minister Savit Bodhivihok and Deputy 
Science Minister Pornthep Tejapaibul will speak on 
the ongoing dam issues, while Deputy Interior 
Minister Vattana Asavahame and Land Department 
director-general Vichien Ratanabirabongse will discuss 
land grievances, Alongkorn said.

Alongkorn said he, government spokesman Akapol 
Sorasuchart and deputy prime minister's secretary-
general Amnuay Patise will be responsible for the 
question-and-answer session.

In a separate development, AOP advisor Laotai 
Nilnual said aides to the RFD's Plodprasop had 
threatened him and his associate throughout the 
production of a television programme to which Laotai 
and Plodprasop had been invited to discuss the land 
controversy.

"They bawled us out and acted as if they were going 
to take weapons out," Laotai said, adding he was 
considering filing a complaint with police.

Laotai said the threat might have resulted from the 
fact that he played up the inequality in land 
possession for the poor and the rich during the 
programme, citing as an example the "Rai Suraswadi" 
land plot owned by Plodprasop's brother which 
contains a river source.

Laotai said poor people would never have been 
allowed to possess a plot of land with a river source.

fwd from SEARIN