The landless poor aren't holding out for riches, they just want some place they can call their own where they can produce enough food to feed their families. SUPARA JANCHITFAH
"Why can't we villagers use public space to protest? We only want to ask the government to address our problems and take prompt action.
"When we use a plot of land without permission, we are arrested. If companies occupy land after their leases have expired, they are not arrested," said Somsak Polpakdi, a landless farmer of Surat Thani province.
"Some of these companies have been illegally occupying public lands for over 20 years, yet state agencies ignore this," said Wicharn Petcharat, who testified before the Senate Agriculture Committee. The companies lease the lands from various state agencies. For instance, records of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment show that it is ignoring expired leases on 61,018 rai of land which were contracted to six persons.
Wicharn told the committee how members of his group, the Network of the Poor, had used land, but not illegally.
"Our members do not need to have land title deeds. Title deeds can be bought. What our members have are inherited documents, such as Sor Por Kor, that allow us to use the land," he said.
Many of the private companies which have expired leasing contracts on government land are cultivating palm trees for their oil. They say that they do not abide by their contracts because they are unable to break even.
The Department of Agriculture says palm trees start yielding oil after three years, and on the eighth year a grower will break even.
During the hearing, some senators asked if the landless farmers would continue farming for palm oil on the lands if they were turned over to them.
Wicharn said they would not want to continue the business. "We want to practice self-sufficient agriculture as the King advises. We don't want to get rich, we only want to have enough food," said Wicharn.
Records at the National Statistics Office show that of the 1.8 million families who own less than 10 rai of land, at least 90 percent of them own only one rai or none at all. Ten percent of the national population own more than 100 rai of land each.
Statistics of the Agriculture and Land Reform Office show that at least 18,117 are landless in the three southern provinces of Chumphon, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani.
Landless farmers say they work as hard as anyone but do not own land to build a house on and cannot grow enough rice or vegetables for their tables, let alone to sell.
Sometimes it is state policies which are responsible for farmers losing their land, or for the land they farm becoming unproductive.
A case in point is the Pak Panang development project in Nakhon Si Thammarat province. Pak Panang villagers say their land became salty and unfit for plants after the government built several weirs or water reservoirs that blocked the natural flow of water into the sea.
TEN RAI EACH
Government officials say there are many difficulties in trying to help the poor, and one one major problem is interpreting and implementing the various declarations and Cabinet resolutions. There are so many rules and regulations, which are the result of the petitions from various organisations, not to mention government policies.
Another difficulty is identifying exactly who the poor are, said Mr Adul Kongchareon, chief of the Surat Thani Natural Resources Division. He said his province had too many lists of poor people.
"One list is from Mr Wicharn's group. Another is a provincial list, made up of people who had registered for the state's programme for eradicating poverty," he said.
Mr Wicharn said that his group has screened who the real landless people are, and who are disguising themselves as poor. He wants the government to be clear about what it intends to do regarding his group's requests.
The concern over identifying the "real poor" lies in the plans of action that the government has prepared towards distributing more land to the landless. A new Cabinet resolution issued on 13 January of this year says that public lands used by encroachers, lands with expired leases, public lands under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, as well as public lands under other agencies, will be divided. Half will be for companies who wish to renew their leases and half will be allocated to the poor, at about 10 rai per person.
The Cabinet resolution also says the government will confiscate all lands which are illegally occupied, to be distributed to the poor.
Although this may be a cause for joy among many landless farmers in the protest movement, Wicharn is not satisfied. He said the resolution is in conflict with a previous resolution issued on 26 August, 2003 which states that expired land leases will not be renewed. Instead, the government will examine the land for allocation to the poor. "Now they still allow the rich to occupy the land," said Wicharn. "The poor will get only 10 rai of land each.."
NHRC RECOMMENDATIONS
Commissioner Wasant Panich of the National Human Rights Commission said the NHRC is concerned that the poor are deprived of their rights to use land. The NHRC held an inquiry last year on the issue and also looked into the alleged abuses by police against landless protesters.
In his testimony before the NHRC, the Pray Praya district chief showed a document to Mr Wasant dated February 5 bearing his signature. The document asked those who occupied public land illegally to leave, saying that charges had been filed against them. "I have tried my best to implement government policy," he said.
Mr Jatuporn Prompan, an adviser to Natural Resources and Environment Minister Praphat Panyachartrak, testified before the NHRC that he ordered the police raid because he had received a report that some protesters were carrying weapons.
Director Chongkol Tathornmetha of the Aoluk Settlement Cooperative testified before Mr Wasant that many companies have bought the land from the villagers themselves. "The land was so arid that the villagers sold it," said Chongkol.
After looking at all the evidence, the NHRC took a stand in favour of the protesters. Mr Wasant said, "We will advise the concerned state ministries to allocate to the poor all land with expired lease contracts, and all illegally-occupied lands. If these agencies do not take action, the NHRC will submit its findings and recommendations to the Prime Minister and the Parliament.
"Although at the provincial level there is concern about the palm oil export business, we should put the interests of the landless people first," he added.
"These companies have been using the land for years. The situation has changed. The common people need land. Why don't we allow them access to land so that they can feed their families and ease our social problems?"
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Inquiry sought over break-up of protest
Nutcharee Raekroon, Temsak Traisophon and Wassayos Ngamkham
Land reform activists have accused local officials and business groups in Nakhon Si Thammarat province of encroaching on public land which was earmarked for the agricultural land reform scheme for the poor.
About 30 activists from the Network on Land Reform for the Poor in the South lodged a petition with Nakhon Si Thammarat authorities to demand legal action against the encroachers.
They claimed that local officials and businessmen had allegedly encroached on public land in Thung Yai and Nop Pitam sub-districts.
They have also demanded that the government set up a panel to take disciplinary and legal action against officials involved in the use of force against protesting landless farmers in mid-October. Their other demand is that the government allow representatives from the National Human Rights Commission, the Senate, the Fourth Army Region and the opposition and government parties to take part in the investigation.
On Oct 15, a group of landless farmers seized a plantation belonging to the Thai Ruam Pattana Farming Co. They were protesting against the government's leasing of large tracts of land to big palm oil producers and demanding the land be reallocated. More than 1,000 police were sent to the gathering site to break up the rally on that day.
Panu Bunrakka, the Nakhon Si Thammarat deputy governor, promised to look into the alleged encroachment by businessmen and local officials and forward their demand to the government for the setting up of a high-level probe panel.
Meanwhile, a group of activists urged Crime Suppression Division police to arrest the politicians, senior officials and police officers involved in the alleged use of force against protesting farmers in Krabi.
The group on Tuesday filed a complaint with CSD police against Jatuporn Promphan, adviser to Natural Resources and Environment Minister Praphat Panyachartrak, ministry spokesman Thonglor Polkhot, Krabi governor Amnuay Sa-nguanngarm, Krabi police chief Pol Maj-Gen Suwit O-thong and the officers deployed to break up the Oct 15 rally.
Somchai Sangthong, a land reform activist, said several farmers had been physically assaulted by police.
Pol Lt-Gen Ronnasil Phusara, the deputy CSD chief, said he would seek more details from Krabi police about the violence, which the protesters had recorded.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Wan Muhamad Nor Matha has asked provincial authorities to arrest the swindlers who had allegedly fooled farmers into applying for membership in the asset capitalisation programme with them.
Victims had been asked to pay 500-1,000 baht to the swindling gangs which had talked them into believing that they could help them obtain agricultural land plots, said Mr Wan Nor, adding these gangs were very active and preying on farmers in the North, Northeast and the South.
He has discussed the problem in a meeting with the governors of Krabi, Surat Thani, Chumphon and Nakhon Si Thammarat.
He also thanked the governors and police for putting down the protests by landless farmers in the four southern provinces.
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