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By : Sanitsuda Ekachai
Bangkok Post July 17, 1998
Koren forest dwellers in western Thailand join hands in solidarity with the collective aim of protecting the forest and their livelihood |
Threats to their natural environment, pressure on their social structures and poverty has strengthened the Karens' cultural identity and led to the realisation only by working together and supporting each other will they survive
When land speculators were about sell the nearby forest to an open zoo operator, the Karens at Samakae village in Kanchanaburi refused to take it lying down.
Knowing their small village could not fight the combined power of officials and big business, they mobilised the help of other Karen communities and environmental groups.
That was how the Karens at Kanchanaburi's Baan Samakae, Tambon Nasuan, Sri Sawad district, saved their forest.
They united and formalised a previously loose network of indigenous Karens in western Thailand. The group then organised a ceremony to pronounce the 3,500-rai forest under threat as the Samakae Community Forest.
With the event presided over by senior officials from the interior ministry their cause was seen to be supported from above. In addition, Karen-born monks were key members of the conservation movement and held an oath-taking rite forcing village leaders and officials to drink holy water and swear on their life not to harm the forest.
Four years on, the Samakae forest is safe and its protectors now feel able to support other Karen communities in their environmental and cultural struggles.
"We must take other Karen communities' plights as ours and help solve them as one," said Wuth Boonlert, 44, secretary of the Thai Karens in Western Thailand Network.
"We've learned from the Samakae experience unity is essential," he said.
Wuth Boonlert:"We must take other Karen communities' problems as our own and between us we can find solutions." |
Their new challenge is the plight of the Karens at Lower Klity, a small forest settlement across the mountain, where the stream is toxic.
Nestled in a forest at the rim of the Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary, the forest community of 350 subsistent Karen peasants live downstream from a lead mine.
The once clear creek, which had been the source of sustenance for the Lower Klity village for centuries is now a muddy, foul-smelling stream of poison.
According to the Pollution Control Division, there should be no more than 0.01 milligrammes of lead per litre of drinking water. In the Klity stream there is 0.545 milligrammes per litre - the highest anywhere in Thailand.
Phra Khru Wuthikanchanawat: WThe laypeople suffer when the common forests are plundered. Monks must help." |
This poisonous stream flows into the Kwae Yai, one of Kanchanaburi's crucial water sources.
Klity creek is dead. A 20 centimetre-thick sediment of lead covers the bottom. Over the years farm buffaloes have died after drinking the water and villagers have become sick.
Now the villagers' drinking water comes from a natural spring high on the mountain. Necessity, however, forces them to use the stream water to douse their vegetable plots. Many do not realise their food can absorb the lead which is toxic and damages the central nervous system.
Boonkerd Pitakkhiri: "The forests are the roots of our culture and identity." |
The Mineral Resources Department has ordered the mine to close temporarily until it has fixed its waste treatment ponds. But environmental groups want to close the mine for good because of its poor record which puts the Thung Yai Naresuan, a World Heritage Site, at risk.
For the Thai Karens in Western Thailand Network, the conflict at Lower Klity epitomises the oppression and double standards some of the 50,000 Karen forest dwellers in the region suffer.
Thung Yai's status as a World Heritage Site is an example of how indigenous Karens live in harmony with nature with the aim of
protecting the forest.
At the same time many of the Karens live in constant fear of being evicted by forestry officials, while authorities allow the environmentally destructive mining in Thung Yai to continue.
"The forest is not only our home. It is the root of our culture and identity," said 46-year-old Boonkerd Pitakkhiri, one of the network leaders. "That's why we have to help one another to protect our forest homes."
A growing sense of ethnic identity, in the face of environmental and cultural threats, is helping the traditionally meek Karens to dare to demand their rights.
When the Thai Karens Network took up the Klity cause members from near and far assembled at the Thampapirun forest monastery in Kanchanaburi's Sri Sawad district to call for the closure of the Klity mine.
Clad in white with a matching turban, Noo Nasuansuwan, 73, trekked across the mountains and took a long boat ride from his remote Onglu village to join the protest.
"The mine must go," said the determined elder.
He knows from bitter experience the pain of being a pawn in development battles. His fertile Nasuan community is now drowned under the Srinakarin Dam.
"Like others, I was forced to relocate and given a much smaller and poorer plot of land," he said.
The limited land and harder livelihood, he said, has forced most of the young Karens in his village to seek work outside. Those who stick around, like his son Yaseu's family, now living at Lower Klity, have had to endure abuses to their environment in silence.
The gathering at Thampapirun forest monastery, apart from highlighting the immediate problem Thai Karens are facing, also reflected a dynamic interplay between traditional and modern ways in their grassroots movement.
Monks' chanting filled the air as the Karens vowed to help one another to protect their forest homes. Then, girls in long white robes danced to the traditional ram tong tunes with lyrics reminding them of the importance of nature and a moral life.
In a gesture of solidarity, a group of Karens from Ratchaburi province performed music for their Kanchanaburi cousins. Then Karen elders from various parts of western Thailand took turns to explain their communities' problems: eviction threats, threats to the forests and cultural erosion.
"Progress" said Mr Boonlert, has corroded much of the Karens' traditional values of sharing and simplicity.
Kai Peu, for example, refers to the Karens' cultural values of common property and stems from the philosophy that no one owns the forest. Then came modern concepts of land with price tags and private ownership.
"When the road came to our areas, we watched fences sprang up in our common woods and large patches cleared for cash crops by outsiders."
The problem, he said, has been aggravated by modern administration which requires village leaders to have formal education certificates.
This regulation has screened out Karen elders from taking up community leadership positions. The young generations cannot fill the leadership vacuum in a time of rapid change due to poverty and educational discrimination, he said. This has resulted in more and more non-Karens becoming their official leaders - leaders who do not understand Karen culture and who do not think twice about selling off the forest.
One is lost without cultural identity, he said. "In looking toward a better future, we must respect our traditions, our roots."
In keeping with tradition, elders' opinions are always sought by the network which is run by younger generations who, like Mr Boonkerd and Mr Wuth, tend to be better educated.
"It's our duty to call for the rights of our people," said Mr Wuth, a social worker.
The network also has a religious section. Phra Khru Wuthikanchanawat, is an advisor to the network and forest conservation is considered part of the monks' responsibility.
"The lay people suffer when the common forests are plundered. We must help," he said.
Having monks spearheading their cause has often taken the rougher edges off their battles to stop the forests being sold off. When the forest behind the temple was under threat for example, the abbot Phra Khru Prakatkanchakit and other monks trekked up the mountain to ask the violators leave.
"Then, they stayed there to meditate and guard the forest until things returned to normal," said Phra Khru Wuthikanchanawat.
Had the Karen villagers tried to stop the trespassers themselves, there was a danger of blood being spilled. "Monks help our policy of avoiding violence," said a grateful Mr Boonkerd.
That was why, when the council of monks, elders, village leaders and network activists sat under the Bodhi tree to map strategies to help the Klity Karens, a suggestion of street demonstrations was diplomatically, but quickly, dismissed.
Instead, the members explored legal channels to end the mine's concession. The authority to grant, extend, or cancel concessions lies with the Mineral Resources Department.
The Klity mine purifies lead which comes from two other mines - Bor Ngarm and Pujeu - which are in the Thung Yai vicinity. Their records in waste treatment have been called into question and the Bor Ngarm mine's record has been dubbed a shambles following studies by the National Environment Board and the Mineral Resources Department.
The concession of Bor Ngarm expired two years ago. The Karens argue the authorities could now take the decision not to extend it, since it has repeatedly violated regulations by releasing toxic water into natural waterways.
One person suggested the Or Bor Tor local management body which oversees the mine sites, could put the Karens' case to the Mineral Resources Department and encourage it to reject the request for a concession extension from the Bor Ngarm mine.
"Impossible," a Karen leader from Thongpaphum district said. "We know how powerful the mine owner is." Adding that the Or Bor Tor could not be relied upon to fight their case.
Lead-laden water from the Klity mine has turned the nearby river toxic. --Smith Sutibut |
Another speaker pointed out the Mineral Resources Department appeared to be resistant to cancelling mine concessions. In various meetings it has taken a softly-softly approach to the problem, issuing warnings for mines to clean up their act and orders for short-term closures. But each time mines have been allowed to reopen, he said.
"Never say impossible," said Pisit Yangprayut, 39, a school principal and an active member. "Stopping the mines should not be relegated to Or Bor Tor alone. Such a big challenge requires effort from all of us. We also need to link up with friends outside who want to see justice."
After hours of discussion, network secretary Mr Wuth stood up to declare support for the Klity Karens and to demand the closure of Klity mine.
The mine, he said, had repeatedly broken their promise to turn over a new leaf and not to pollute the waterways, so there is no point in giving it another chance.
"The health of our people and forest must come before mine money," he said.
"By calling for the mine closure, we Karens are following our ancestors' traditions as forest protectors," he added with pride.
As if in a symbolic blessing, the canopy of the bodhi tree sheltered the assembly as a light rain began and Phra khru wuthikanchanawat started to wrap up the meeting.
"Our task does not end here," he said. "Our gathering will be futile unless we continue working together and exchanging information.
"The path towards justice requires wisdom and unity. And wisdom must come from information, which is the key to knowledge and success."
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