Villagers on Thailand’s northern border have called on state authorities to stop the expropriation of land that they have been using while a local official said that it is being done under orders from the junta.    

According to Transborder News, on Tuesday, 14 July 2015, representatives of Ban Wang Takhian, Tha Sai Luat Subdistrict, Mae Sot District of the northwestern border province of Tak attended a meeting the Centara Mae Sot Hill Resort in the province to discuss the impacts of land expropriation policy to make Special Economic Zones (SEZs) with the state authorities.

The meeting was organised by the sub-committee on community rights of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRC). The Deputy Governor of Tak Province and representatives of the provincial Chamber of Commerce also attended the discussion chaired by Niran Pitakwatchara, head of the NHRC sub-committee.

At the meeting, Chomphunut Khruekhamwang, one of the village representatives, said that the villagers in the area were never informed that large areas of Wang Takhian were going to be expropriated by the state for businesses and industries.

She added that the villagers only know that Mae Sot District is an SEZ and they signed documents to allow the state authorities to pave roads, but were not informed about the land expropriation policy.

Wang Takhian land being paved in preparation for Special Economic Zones (courtesy of Transborder News)

According to the current plan, two plots of land in Mae Sot are now being expropriated and cleared for SEZs. The first is a plot of about 2.2 sq.km and the second plot covers an area of about 1.3 sq.km. The authorities stated that the expropriated plots are empty public land. But many villagers have been using the area as farmland.

Chomphunut also pointed out that while the land used by the villagers is expropriated, investors’ land is exempted from the Thai authorities’ measures.

“The villagers are wondering why certain plots of land are exempted while we are accused of being investors or being hired out by investors to protest against the expropriation policy,” said Chomphunut.

In addition, she mentioned that affected villagers who are more vocal than others are being intimidated by state officials in and out of uniform.

Phanom Saengplaeng, a member of the Tambon Administration Organisation (TAO), said that the villagers felt that the authorities had neglected them because no one informed the villagers about the expropriation plan.

He also alleged that the state authorities prevented the villagers from coming together to voice concerns about the plan.

Villagers' farmland now expropriated by the state for Special Economic Zones (courtesy of Transborder News)  

“We are suffering because the authorities attempted to prevent us from voicing our concerns; we even had to send our complaint to the NHRC in secret,” said Phanom.

Nonetheless, the Deputy Governor said during the meeting that the policy to expropriate land in Mae Sot in order to create SEZs was approved by the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), who invoked Section 44 of the Interim Constitution, which gives the junta absolute power to maintain national security.

The Deputy President of Tak Chamber of Commerce said that the idea to turn the disputed land into SEZs was first proposed by the Chamber of Commerce. However, in the original plan, the government was to give the villagers sufficient compensation and come up with measures to assist the villagers who would lose their farmland.

After the lengthy meeting on Tuesday between the villagers and state parties, no conclusion on the land dispute was reached.