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DAM-L LS: Pak Mun Dam Update - Gates not Opened Yet (fwd)
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Date: Sun, 27 May 2001 19:01:57 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200105280201.f4S21vS26364@DaVinci.NetVista.net>
Subject: LS: Pak Mun Dam Update - Gates not Opened Yet
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Sluice gates will be opened, PM promises
Yuwadee Tunyasiri
Bangkok Post, May 26, 2000
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday promised that all sluice gates
at Pak Moon dam would be opened in a few days.
He asked local villagers opposed to the trial gate opening to carefully
consider the cabinet resolution.
Most of the opponents, from 50 families, made a living from raising fish.
The prime minister promised them he would help them with any problems that
might result from the four-month trial. Some villagers wanted the dam gates
opened to revive the Moon river's ecological system, which deteriorated
after the dam was built.
"I have asked the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, the Ubol
Ratchathani governor and MPs to make a concerted effort to solve the
problems," he said.
The opening of the gates was part of the recommendations made earlier by a
committee charged with solving problems caused by the Pak Moon dam. The
panel was headed by social activist Banthorn On-dam and set up by the Chuan
Leekpai administration.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prime Minister Taksin meets the Assembly of the Poor at Mae Mun Man Yeun
(Long-live Moon River) Village
At about 3:00 pm on May 25, 2001, the Thai Prime Minister Taksin Shinawatra
visited Moo Ban Mae Mun Man Yeun, a makeshift village anti-dam protestors
had set
up right next to the World Bank-funded Pak Moon Dam.
The Taksin administration had earlier reached agreements with the Assembly
of the Poor, including, among other things, opening of the Pak Moon Dam
gates for
three months during the rainy season to conduct an environmental study. Thai
Electricity Generating Authority (EGAT), however, refused to open the
gates. They
allegedly hired about 50 villagers to sit on downstream rapids to prevent
the dam
gates from being open. Taksin ordered EGAT to open the gates by May 24,
one day before
his scheduled trip to the Northeastern part of Thailand.
Helicopters hovered over about 35 boats of pro-dam villagers. There was
much confrontation from those who stayed in a shack built on the riverside, as
some anti-dam protestors approached the Moon River. One pro-dam villager
yelled, "You
mobs have illegally occupied the dam site for a long time. We have the
right to stay
here." Another said, "This place is not for outsiders. They (anti-dam
protestors)
are supported by students."
The original plan was for Taksin to take part in a ceremony to pray for safe
fishing on a lookout, take a cerebrated catfish to the riverside, and
release it to the
Moon River.
However, the Government was afraid to intensify the confrontation by Taksin
coming too close to the pro-dam villagers, so he appeared to the ceremony site,
heavily guarded by security police, sat on a prepared straw mat, sprinkled
flowers and water
over a catfish, exchanged a few words with elderly villagers, and left the
site.
It was a matter of less than five minutes. He stayed in the village for
some more time,
meeting villagers and NGO members, but ended up not going down to the river to
persuade the pro-dam villagers to leave the rapids.
More than 1000 villagers gathered at Mae Mun Man Yeun Village. Anti-dam
protestors from other parts of the country, such as Rasi Salai and Sirinthorn
joined the crowd. A series of talks, solidarity messages, and lively
performances were
seen at the central stage of the village.
It is amazing that EGAT has so much power. They completely ignored the
Government's order to open the gates. Taksin's visit does not seem enough,
for as of this writing, which is 5:30pm on May 25, the gates are still kept
closed.
Taksin said to some news reporters that the gates should be open within a
few days and that EGAT should observe the order of the Government. The
international
community still needs to monitor if the Government's promise will be kept.
The World Bank should learn that their funding has created such a complex
problem, the worst part of which is a seemingly irreconcilable split among
villagers.
Toshi & Yuka
Mekong Watch, Japan
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