Thai Man Fighting for the Forests
12/20/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Fighting for our forests
Source: The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd.
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 20, 1999
Byline: VITOON CHALAYONNAVIN
As a lad he wanted to be a policeman and so protect people, now as a
forestry officer he is taking on the political head of the police and
a few suspected sycophants over their alleged trampling on the rights
of the many simply so they can enjoy the good life.
Uamdao Noikorn
It is not at all difficult to spot Vitoon Chalayonnavin in a crowd.
Despite an average height of 165cm, the determined look and strong
personality of the 45-year-old director of Forest Protection Division
Unit 1 make him a hard man to miss.
Anyone seeing him will understand why he dared file a countersuit
against a former assistant governor of Kanchanaburi, Prayat Wessabutr,
and his daughter when they charged he and his subordinates earlier
this year with trespassing on their property.
The group were asked by neighbouring villagers to look into three
homes built beside a reservoir in Sri Nakharin National Park.
Mr Vitoon's refusal to roll over has been applauded by his fellow
officers, environmentalists and the public, who say it is proof that
the Royal Forestry Department is not intimidated by Mr Prayat's close
ties with Sanan Kachornprasart, the powerful deputy prime and interior
minister who is suspected of being the real owner of the three homes.
After months of virtually no progress, police investigators led by Pot
Lt-Gen Luan Panrosathip concluded this month that the Forestry
Department could not sue Mr Prayat and his family for encroaching on
forest land because there was not enough evidence to back the charges
and the map used by the department did not correspond with an army map
using a larger scale.
"I was disappointed but not surprised," said Mr Vitoon. "Political
intervention and the old boys' network is so strong, it's hard to
ignore." Despite 23 years of protecting forests, having to deal with
various "influential" people, three attempts on his life and a handful
of death threats, Mr Vitoon said the case involving these three homes
was the "toughest in my life".
On a difficulty scale of 1-10, he gave the case a 10 because the
government is openly exerting political influence.
Mr Vitoon was born on April 2, 1954, the second of nine children. He
grew up on a farm and life was hard. He took all sorts of odd jobs as
a child to help his parents support his brothers and sisters.
Those who know say they would have been surprised if he had not
decided to fight back against the Wessabutrs. They say he has a thirst
for justice and a stubbornness once he is convinced he is in the
right.
These are the traits he developed as a child.
He started out in school in the same class as his elder brother "but
my parents, being poor, asked me to drop out for a year so I could use
his textbooks and uniforms. I told them flatly that my brother should
drop out because I did better than him in school. We stayed in the
same class finally. "The heavy-set man, known by his childhood friends
as "Tiny", did well in school and at other activities throughout most
of his childhood.
When it came to a job, Mr Vitoon always knew what he wanted to be.
"I told my mother when I was seven that I wanted to be a cop, and
didn't even know what it meant. I just loved seeing police in movies
and I hated social inequality, particularly the suppression of the
poor... I wouldn't play any other role in school plays," he said
grinning.
But his attachment to his friends led him into forestry studies at
Kasetsart University even though he did not know what was involved.
But he found he liked it because nature and geography were two things
he was interested in. After graduating in 1974, he spent a year with
the National Statistical Office before joining the Forestry
Department. He was able to practise mapmaking at this first job, which
later would help him protect nature and poor, landless farmers.
Given this background, it is easy to see why he resented Pol Lt-Gen
Luan's questioning of the Forestry Department's real motives in its
investigation into the three homes and the claim that it was using a
dodgy map.
He was the state officer to introduce the use of aerial photographs to
settle land disputes and has been a court expert on aerial photos and
map analysis since 1991. He is convinced the three homes in
Kanchanaburi were built illegally on state land.
He smirked at the police claim that science alone could not determine
co-ordinates and geographical aspects had to be taken into account.
"Everybody knows geographical details change every 10 or 20 years.
That's why co-ordinates are so important in mapmaking... Navigation of
all kinds relies on them. "Mr Vitoon was reluctant to say whether this
case would erode the influence of politics for personal interest or
whether it would even get to court.
"I believed during my school years that I would not only protect the
forests but also increase them. I could literally feel the pain when I
saw big trees being felled. But that was 20 years ago when over 60% of
Thailand was covered in jungle.
"Now I have learnt that the world isn't that simple. What I thought
was just a drive-by shooting (in one attempt on his life) was in fact
a really complex network and connections between politicians,
businessmen and the military," said the man who his friends describe
as a daredevil.
He believes that eventually there will no longer be any forests in
Thailand, not because of ordinary encroachers but because of
politicians.
Cases involving landless farmers squatting on forest land masterminded
by local influential figures would be easy to deal with, he said, if
the government could find them decent farmland. But when the
politicians are behind the encroachment, Mr Vitoon says he is often at
wit's end trying to gather evidence for use against the masterminds
despite knowing full well who they are.
"In most of the cases, they have land rights or ownership papers. Even
if we can find solid evidence to use against them, they probably will
still walk away unless we can catch them red-handed." Mr Vitoon
submitted a petition to the National Counter Corruption Commission
last week calling for an investigation into Pol Lt-Gen Luan for
"abusing his power in favour of an individual's personal interest
under political influence".
This is just the latest example of his commitment to saving the
forests and standing up against suspected dark influences.
It is a frustrating task and he is not blind when it comes to his own
staff's honesty. He said there are many forestry officials who can be
bought, and this is the determining factor in the success of those who
destroy our forests.
Despite his pessimism about the fate of Thailand's remaining forests,
now about 15% of land cover, Mr Vitoon says he cannot rest because
protecting the forests is a continuing battle.
"I won't give up; I will keep going until retirement. Then I might run
for the senate because I can do a lot more for the country."