Also attending part of the day-long Andaman Sea Gypsy Reunification III gathering were Phuket Governor Maitree Intusut and Vice-Governor Somkiat Sangkhaosutthirak, who came to hear their grievances.
The three main ones, they heard, were problems over land ownership, fishing rights and citizenship.
In Phuket, as reported in The Phuket News, two communities – on Koh Sireh and and Rawai – are in dispute with individuals who claim they own the land under the villages, and want the villagers off.
Shockingly, another 23 of the 41 Sea Gypsy communities in the five Andaman provinces face similar threats involving ownership claims for either the villages themselves or the nearby graveyards, or both.
“Our ancestors have lived along the Andaman coast for more than 300 years, in five provinces – Phuket, Phang Nga, Satoon, Ranong and Krabi,” said Niran Yangpan, a Sea Gypsy representative.
“Now, there are 25 sea gypsy communities that may be forced to move by private businesses or by the government. Here in Rawai today, a man who claims to own the land tried to stop us holding this event.
“Our relatives on Phi Phi and in Krabi still live uncertainly. They do not know how long they can go on living in their houses.”
As to fishing rights, the assembly heard that Sea Gypsies continue to be arrested for fishing in national parks.
Preeda Kongpan of the Committee for Sea Gypsy Problem Integrating Solution, pointed out that this is despite the fact that a Cabinet meeting in 2010 resolved to allow indigenous fishermen to fish in national parks using traditional methods.
Nongporn Rungpetchwong, director of theRights and Liberties Protection Department (RLPD) of the Ministry of Justice, promised to help villagers who are prosecuted.
She said the RLPD would help the families of nine Sea Gypsy fishermen, arrested for fishing in the Similans Marine National Park on October 12, by reimbursing the B45,000 the families had to pay in bail insurance in order to get the nine out of the police cells.
Ms Nongporn also said she would see what she could do to help Sea Gypsies disabled by decompression sickness, or “the bends” a condition caused by divers coming up from deep water too fast.
Sea Gypsies are renowned for their ability to dive deep and long, with no diving equipment, but some have been stricken with the condition.
“The law did not allow us to dive in shallow sea areas [in national parks], so we had to dive deeper,” explained Ihim Pramongkij, a victim. After suffering the bends four times he can no longer walk and has to be cared for by his son.
The third main problem is that of citizenship. Some 600 Sea Gypsies out of 17,500 in the five provinces still have no Thai ID card, which means they have no access to health services or education (with the result that some speak very little Thai).
This problem is also damaging to the Sea Gypsy culture, it was explained, because the new generation, trying to fit in with the Thais around them, reject the traditional culture.
Though Sea Gypsies form some of the oldest communities in the Andaman coastal region, and there was a Cabinet resolution two years ago to preserve their way of living, many are still not regarded as Thai.
Gov Maitree told the assembly, “I will call the departments concerned with each problem and see if they can understand the problems and come up with solutions.
“For the land issues, the SorPorTor [Provincial Land Centre] and district-level equivalents will soon be formed, which will work on these issues in an integrated way,” he added.
Although they are related, the three tribes speak different dialects and approach their way of living differently.
The Moken spend more time at sea than on land, while the Moklen have been more receptive to incorporating other cultures into their own. The Urak Lawoi tend to live on small islands and have a very different language.
There are three Sea Gypsy communities in Ranong, 20 in Phang Nga, five in Phuket, 10 in Krabi and three in Satoon.
Mr Niran said, “This reunification today is not only for us to meet our relatives but also to strengthen the Sea Gypsy network in the Andaman Sea area, to restore our culture and to push forward policies and solutions that will address Sea Gypsy problems.”