Save The Akha: The Systematic Land Theft

From A Paper By:
Dr. Cholthira Satyawadhna
Pathumthani, Thailand
In the Year  2000
 

Confronting with the state take-over and intervention, most highland ethnic communities in northern Thailand have once again become the  social space of power struggles over natural resources and eco-politico-cultural domination. Community culture has been re-constructed to signify various forms of contestation between  highland and  lowland sectors at large. Re-invention of community-based forest management and a push for its recognition through community's customary laws are, among other things, tendencies of the community culture.  In Northern Thailand, according to Chusak (1999), these grassroots movements have currently widened to the "tribal-based movement struggling for citizenship rights and access to natural resources." These civic movements emerged in line with the will of the new Thai Constitution (1997), as afore-mentioned,  stating the community rights over natural resources as well as peopleís participation in resource management. 

Although it seems that Thailand has moved towards a civil society where cultural diversity is tolerated, these processes have not taken place without challenges.  For the Lua of Chiangrai and their ethnic neibouring groups in Chiangrai who were forced to relocate in Lampang, it was a failure.  Hardships, starvation, bad harvest, drugs, prostitutions, have become their forefront situation which there is no way out,  Therefore, broad-based alliances of diverse grassroots movements are needed to consolidate the rights in power and sharing of natural resources as proposed by Chusak (Chusak 1999)

It is not too much exaggerated to claim that the politics of environment in the Thai State can also be interpreted as an obvious case of racial oppression stretches between the lowlanders and highlanders of  this plural society, where valley-based state-authorities have often attempted to sedentarize or suppress hill-dwelling ethnic minorities. The afore-mentioned case of the Boe Kleue Lua in Nan Province fits into this category.  Recently, racist patterns and processes in the northern region have been augmented and transformed through the activities of the state taking over land and forest resources. 

In compare with other Southeast Asian ethnic communities as well, in a scheme which would affect 60 million people in six Mekong valley nations, for example, the Asian Development Bank has proposed to reduce the "population of people in mountainous areas and bring them to normal life". In Thailand, half a million hill-dwellers scapegoated for deforestation have faced various kinds of resettlement threats for over a decade, with various international agencies and foreign environmental organizations providing encouragement. (Larry Lohmann 1999)

In Chiang Mai, the most obvious case currently occurred has been the conflict over water and forest resources in the Northern Thai district of Chom Thong, as studied by Lohmann. The case evidently shows that international nature conservationism, national park ideology, scientism and positivism interact with the expansion of state territorial control and notions of hierarchy and mapping to re-embody the classical racist dualism of exclusion/assimilation.   International environmental racial oppression also plays a part in creating conflicts among the NGO groups.  A British support NGO group who manipulates the lowlanders Thai (Yuan) to fight against the highlanders Hmong has made possible new spaces for anti-racist resistance among academic and NGO movements.

>On the other way round, international support for highlanders' human rights and community rights via the internet has been a landmark issue for the resistance to the state intervention.  In this last part of my paper, the case of Akha at Ban Huay Mahk, Chiangrai Province, will be elaborated to show how the global agricultural system has effected a small traditional Akha community even in the most remote area of Northern Thailand, and how the international human rights supporters could assist the Akha to  seek a way out from their dilemma. The Akha resistance of relocation which expressed in terms of voting for their community rights and the unbelievable international supports from the  internet community which occurred just recently has been a chalenge to the state's tolerance and the process of political reform -  creating a process of people's participation in Thailand, in according with the Thai Constitution (1997), Article 46.

______________________________________________________________________________

  I don't know Julia Trybe, an Australian lady, who sent me a hot-mail. I met her on the D-Day (27 January 2000) at Ban Huay Mahk, Mae Fa Luang District, Chiangrai Province, after she cried for help and campaign for human rights for the Akha of Chiangrai who were forced to re-location via internet.

As for Julia and her partner, Tony Martin, they assisted Mathew McDaniel, an American who creates the home-page of the Akha Foundation (Thailand).  Both of them came across the news of forced relocation towards the Akha of Ban Huay Mahk in Mathew's home-page.  They then traveled to Ban Huay Mahk to seek for further information and find out the truth.  After having reached there, the young couple were sure that the information in the Akha Heritage Home-page was valid and accurate.  They went to meet Mathew and started working on the internet in his small residence at Mae Sai to campaign internationally for the Akha. 

When I first received Julia's hot-mail, I gave her via e-mail my moral support and listed some connections in Thailand for her to further contact and campaign.  When the situation had led to the confrontation among the Akha, the Forestry personnels, the Military, and the international human rights campaigners,  Julia sent me another hot-mail inviting me to attend the meeting which will be held for voting on the Akha 's community rights.  She said it was important to have someone, a Thai,  being witness for this landmark event. 

I decided to join her in the far north and booked the flight immediately.  On the 27th of January 2000, I reached Huay Mahk just on time.   The Akha villagers seemed to be very happy having many witnesses observing their significant meeting.  There were also one American NGO activist, two Italian national television reporters, and myself, who flew over there when receiving the news from the internet.   Of course, no one knew each other before, but we had been good friends within a few minutes.  When it's time for voting, the Military did not showed themselves but the vote  to confirm the Akha's view to maintain their living in the present settlement was conducted and the majority Akha having 35 households as representatives won the vote.  The Chinese-Lisu under Taiwanese influences were the minority having only 14 voices.  International friends were very much impressed with the way the Akha expressed their legal consciousness and democracy by standing out and having their thumbprint in front of the Chair, community members and international witnesses. 
It was an opened-voting without any fear and reluctance.

__________________________________________

It was also interesting to have a chance to observe that during the opened-floor discussion before the voting, a Chinese-Lisu representative discussed and gave many reasons in Chinese, trying to convince  the Akha that Taiwanese authorities would help them in many ways, such as housing, job, money, schools, etc., if they moved to the new place.  I learned later that he was a village teacher giving Chinese language lesson for years in this community.   However, his attempt was in vain,  the minority Chinese-Lisu could not influence the majority traditional Akha who would like to maintain their simple way of life and their subsistence economy.  Also, it should be noted that among the Akha households, the Akha's vote was unanimous. 

By the end of the voting process,  the internet international friends who, by their human rights spirits and sympathy towards the Akha, had travelled and reached the remote Akha community and witnessed the landmark event,  covering 1 Australian, 1 British, 2 Americans, 2 Italians, and 1 Thai, all did not know each other before, signed willingly as witnesses in the Akha thumbprinted document to officially support the Akha' will.  They were all very much impressed with the daring expression of the Akha who conducted traditional and communal democracy and could not understand why the Thai authorities did not value such precious tradition. 

After the vote, Athu Pochear, Director of Association for Akha Education and Culture and Niwat Tami, a Lisu NGO - Director of CONTO, who came from Chiangmai and appointed, by the Military, as Chair and witness of the meeting,  led all the international friends, taking two 4-wheel-drive vans, hiking up the cliff and trekking down the creek for another few hours toinvestigate the cemented settlement for the Akha at the new site.  After having witnessed the new buildings, the internet alliances thanked for the Akha's right decision.  They truly appreciated the Akha's decision-making as it could be imagined from seeing the new site that the Akha would have become cultivated slaves of the new global agricultural system if they were not strong enough to stand firmly for their community rights. 

;Another hour passed on the way to meet the Military authority.  No one knows what would happen next if the Military said 'No'ÖforcingÖarrestingÖburningÖor even killing ?  When reaching the military camp at the Mae Fah Luang Project, Cholthira Satyawadhna - Local Community Rights Project Co-ordinator, the only Thai among the internet international friends and Akha representatives, had to play major role in discussing and negotiating with the Military authority. Many good reasons including the King's advice on 'subsistence economy' were raised and issued to convince the structured idea and the ready-made master plan of the Military and the Forestry Division in chasing highlanders out of their traditional homeland.

After a long discussion, luckily, the Military authority -  Colonel Sawat Krataithong seemed to be quite receptive and declared that he would stop the mission, not because of  this pressure but in respect of  people's decision.  The last scenario at the military camp ended up with smiles (?), cups of coffee, and hands-shaking between the Military authority and the internet international friends. 

What will  happen  next ? No one knowsÖ

Let's get  our fingers crossed and keep an eye on it. 

 Thanks for the Thailand Research Fund's support which made it possible for me to fly by business flight and reach Ban Huay Mahk on time. We had won another case, apart from the case of Ban Khrua in Bangkok, to preserve local community rights in Thailand. 

Let's hope that the peoples' rights will be respected !

Not until the departure that  my last question  was raised to Julia, how could she get my name - Cholthira Satyawadhna, which made it possible for her to send me the hot-mail and inviting me to join the event.  It is amazing indeed to find out  the answer that she could get it from the internet!  She said that she typed and searched for "Thai activists" in the internet desperately but failed.  The only trace she could get from the world wide web was "The 7th International Conference on Thai Studies" which took place in Amsterdam, in July 1999.  On that web-site, she came across my name as Panel Organizer of 'Community Rights in Thailand and SEA', together with the abstract on this particular issue and my e-mail address. 

That was the whole fantastic sequences of the internet community which brought at least 7 international human rights alliances to join the Akha landmark event on top of Doy Mae Salong in Chiangrai and witness the traditional vote for Akha community rights!

Three video cameras recorded the landmark event including mine.

________________________________________ __


The case of the Akha forced relocation was an urgent message. This move was to occur on the 30th of January 2000, relayed via a meeting of village elders and authorities in Hin Taek on the morning of January 11, under order of the Thai Military. All 189 residents in this 78-year-old village - one of the oldest surviving in Thailand - were requesting not to relocate. They had signed a petition which was posted on the internet at hppt://www.akha.org/eviction.htm

Thai military personnel said that the village was being forced to move because they were cutting down trees and polluting the watershed. However, local NGO sources monitoring the area said there was no proof that this village was involved in deforestation or contamination of water supply. The Thai Forestry Department had since backed out of the move, but perhaps played an underground role.  Nevertheless, the Military continued to be adamant that an enforced relocation would occur at the end of the month against the will of the villagers.

An unknown Taiwanese charity recently donated money to Huai Mahk via Thai authorities. The opened-purpose of this donation was to build new concrete housing and encourage a conversion to a Chinese Christian religion.  However, upon receivership of the funds (and perhaps unknown to the original charity), Thai authorities informed the villagers that no new construction would occur in the original village, and that all 189 residents must relocate to a new site.  There may have been something else behind the smoke screen.

This 'new village' has been rapidly constructed further down the mountain at 400m., Julia described. It comprised 31 concrete boxes with iron barred windows and asbestos ceilings. The location was on a very steep hillside excavated in such a way that mud sliding was imminent next rainy season.  It was reported that this new site resembled nothing short of a concentration camp and was a huge misappropriation of funds.

According to Julia's investigation, the original Huai Mahk village, at 1000 metres, was remarkable in that it had independently developed sustainable agricultural eco-systems of self-sufficiency. It featured exemplary rice terracing, lychee, papaya, tea and even coffee plantations, in addition to bountiful green vegetables, legumes and ginger. There was no evidence of malnutrition, illegal activities or conflict. Huai Mahk was an ideal case study of indigenous self-reliance and preservation. (Julia Trybe 2000)

If the village was forced to move from 1000m to the new site at 400m, it would be a certain move into poverty, disease and social welfare disaster. The villagers would have to abandon all their land and homes in exchange for no land to farm. Livestock would never survive as well at lower altitudes, nor would there be enough room for them. The protein and iron supply of the village would drastically diminish, so that general nutrition would find its end. The inevitable move into a market economy would strip the Akha of all assets and their unique traditions of self-sufficiency would be replaced by dependence.

The effects of forced assimilation in other Akha villages that had been relocated to lower areas had been well documented. Tragic situations more frequently come to light of villagers who had been reduced to the only options of amphetamine trafficking, prostitution, missionary reliance or labor class positions (to local Thai farmers at $2 a day), where such relocations had 'succeeded' in the past.

The people of Huai Mahk had been informed by military that non-compliance with the deadline of January 30 would lead to a refusal by authorities to grant "white cards" (Thai citizenship) to all villagers. This was despite the fact that most were born in Thailand and some had lived at Huai Mahk since 1920.  (Julia Trybe 1999)

A serious question has been raised to the Thai authoritites that, as a member of ASEAN, it is of extreme concern that Thailand, a country receiving much Western developmental funding, is party to such indigenous civil rights abuses. It is also alarming that this country is not protecting its human resources which bring in so many tourist dollars, due to the attraction of trekking to visit some of the world's last surviving ethnic groups. 

As the matter of concern, the relocation of hilltribes for various development projects, security and assimilation policies, has been occurring in South East Asia for decades. Without identity or legal recognition, much of their plight goes unquestioned. However, the plight of Huai Mahk Akha village is an injustice,  documented on video and the Internet's freedom of information. It may set a precedent for the future civil liberties of indigenous peoples if their plea is not ignored.

___________________________________________

It was first believed that a foreign presence would help protect the villagers' rights and bring world attention to the inhumanity of this relocation procedure.  Two Embassies - Brithish and Australian, Amnesty International, UNHCR, Human Rights Watch/Asia, and many other human rights organisations had been notified. International press and television agencies had also been informed to monitor this potentially tragic situation.

It has been a big challenge to the Thai authorities ! 

In the meeting which was held in the same day in the evening with the Royal Thai Army official in charge of moving the village, Colonel Sawat of Mae Fa Luang District Security Development Project had gone on record to say that he would not relocate the village. 

Present as witnesses were Cholthira Satyawadhna; International Thai Studies program, Rangsit University (Thailand),  Independent human rightsworkers; Julia McDonald (Australia) , Anthony Martin (Britain) , Dan Kahn (United States), AFECT and Akha Heritage Foundation representatives, as well as press from The Nation; Prathai Piriyasurawong, and a television crew from Italy; Lorenzo Hendel and Massimo Gabrielli.

Acting as mediator was Athu Pochear, Director of AFECT (Association for Akha Education and Culture in Thailand) Chiang Rai.

Receiving the thumbprinted document of the people of Huay Mahk at his army base, Colonel Sawat was willing to engage in lengthy discussion concerning the fate of the village. However, he said that if   the village did not move, he would no longer be responsible to protect it's security in the region, nor implement any Thai development projects concerning roads, electricity, health or education.   That perhaps, when this village was left on it's own without military protection, we might find some rich overseas donors to make up the difference.

As the matter of fact,  the people of Huay Mahk  have flourished on their own for over 80 years at this location. They are aware of technology but have designed other methods to sustain their lives.  Some speak up to four languages.  All are aware of their rights and only desire them to be recognised. (Julia Trybe 1999)

In invaluating the landmark event,  Julia credited it as an incredible breakthrough for community rights  - that electrical technology can help bring such situations into the open, and expose potential injustice to the international community. When Thai press were reluctant to cover such a story because 'it happens all the time' and criticism of the Military is unheard of, the internet proved to be an invaluable tool. This village is geographically isolated. There are no official Akha human rights groups in the country for them to turn to. They have no legal recourse because they are not recognised as citizens of Thailand nor displaced persons. They are simply and discriminatingly referred to as the 'hill-tribers' (chao khao).

But in just three weeks of campaigning for the rights of this village via the net, and finally being face to face with the 'powers that be',  we have witnessed history being written on a new page of humanity. It's an amazing lesson on how very possible it is to influence world events through the power of individuals' compassion.  Julia ended up her views via the net:

Human rights are universal,

and the far reaches of the internet are helping them be heard.

However, for Mathew McDaniel, the true breaker of the Akha crisis, also the creator of the Akha Heritage Foundation Home-page,  seemed to be more serious.  After the event, he wrote me a letter :

Dr. Cholthira:
First I want to tell you how much I appreciate that you came up, this was all frantically put together,  Julia had been in touch with me for a year and then she and Tony ended up at my tiny room/office in Maesai, hammering out emails for days, and then that brought you to the meeting.

My feeling?

Well, I think that this planting of pine on the part of forestry is an incredible theft of the environment on the part of the people involved first off. 

It is an environmental disaster. 

But secondly since it requires the displacing of Akha instead of working with them and allowing them land, it is also ecocide.

The situation in the villages about land now is horrible, these people know what they are doing, they are squeazing the villages hard and know it and it is pushing the men towards dealing in drugs, crime,and the women toward prostitution, but then they are just living up to the propaganda so "so what" forestry seems to say.

There is a very big inertia on this pine planting and these people are not going to back down easily.

So I think that is a major concern to me.  There is Huai Mahk but also there are a score of other villages that are loosing much of their land, the list is incredible, and the Forestry position is that they are intruders so "do what we have to with them, it is our land".

The meeting with the Col. I have to say that I did not trust.

I like the Col. but I am far too familiar with what the attitudes are toward the Akha, how they are treated by both army and police. To me it was not a victory so much as a pause and then need for much greater work.

I am also still concerned for my security in dealing with an issue that obviously has millions of dollars behind it.

We are trying to track this down with Asian Development Bank to see if they are involved also.

I hope you don't mind my asking, but I was concerned that he asked you to step out of the room and wondered very much what he said to you?

As I see it, the Army is the hired gun of the forestry department or vis versa.

I would very much like to see this pine issue get the attention of His Majesty the King's Daughter.

I also dream that there could be some kind of autonomous administration of the Akha some day, that they could be allowed to handle some of their own affairs, and that they could deal more directly with the international community on issues of aid.

The issue seems very much to me, "are they going to be allowed to be a people, a mountain people, with rich knowledge and heritage, or a slave class, does Thailand have the room intellectually and social for the former?"

The dangers of the latter are very apparent.

I would also like to talk to you very much about the Chrisitian missionary
presence in north Thailand taking advantage of the troubles of the Akha and pressuring them all to convert and abandon their culture in a time of crisis.

What can you suggest could be done about this. I think that as far as the indigenous are concerned, it is time that the church be held accountable for its negative role.  I would like to appeal to the King or whoever to stop the prosyletizing in north Thailand, I see it as a threat to Thai society and hill tribe societies as well.

Thank you once again for coming.
I hope we can continue to discuss.

Matthew *
   (Personal letter to C.Satyawadhna via internet, 8 February 2000)

 Unfortunately this was not an isolated case, just bigger than most others. It served to highlight the difficulties that many environmentalists have in trusting a bureaucracy that is also actively seeking to expel local ethnic communities from protected areas for ëconservationí purposes. Yet few would dispute that biodiversity, ecological, recreational, watershed, spiritual and other such values that do not compete well in the market system need some special form of protection if they are to survive for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations. Establishment of centralized protected area systems is a means towards this goal, but should not be mistaken as the goal themselves.   National parks and wildlife sanctuaries are not always successful in achieving these goals, nor should they be thought of as the only way to achieve conservation goals. 

________

The purpose of my paper is to outline some of the key challenges faced by the environmental movement in Thailand in reconciling the need to protect conservation values in the future with provision of livelihood opportunities for the present and the role of people's participation in achieving this goal.  With increasing interest in environmental issues, there has been a steady accumulation and increasing visibility of some of the hill and forest dwelling populations in the northern and western parts of Thailand. 

Not only researchers such as ourselves, but also, civil activists, the media, and the local hill dwellers themselves have participated in this process. In fact, in the case of the Lua, at present, they have to be submissive to the state take-over.  Not because they are weak, but because they have been too strong.  That is why they have been  seriosly controlled by the Thai authorities in almost every part of Northern Thailand.  As for Akha peoples, among the leading voices are the local elders themselves who are articulating the interests of their own peoples along the lines of wider environmental issues on the one hand and the ëtraditionsí of their people on the other.  Their strength has challenged the Thai authorities.  And the next scene has not been plotted. While drawing upon coexisting values and ideas in their own communities, they are formulating a ëtraditioní and ethnic identity that will facilitate the recognition of their rights to forest and land.  This process is indeed well fit in with the spirits of community rights recognition declared in the Thai Constitution (1997).

The people in the cluster of  Lua villages in Northern Thailand, where I have conducted fieldwork, have been only peripherally involved in some of the recent environmental activities. In this paper, I  have drawn out the past condition of land and forest use in one of the local Lua communities - Boe Kleua of Nan Province, presenting the coexistence of different and sometimes conflicting power relations, and the power shift from one ethnic group to another which is related and effected to gender relations.  Yet there is also a discourse of the ëcommunityí and a conscious effort to maintain communal rights to land and forest resources - not only salt, but also natural resources - particularly forest, in the present-day situation.

Through the contrast between the  'forest conservation' which is the matter of 
'state take-over'  and  ëcommunal traditioní which is part and parcel of 'community rights'ócreating discourse of some of the region-wide cases and the confusion that exist in specific locality, the focal point I want to  dialogue is not that the current discourse is merely a created tradition, but that such a creative discourse and movement have sprung right out of such a complexe State as Thailand - a plural society in its existence and reality, but a unified Royal Siam Kingdom in its national,  even  racist,  ideology. 
 
 
 

Cholthira Satyawadhna
   Pathumthani, Thailand
        In the Year  2000
 __________

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