The request, addressed to Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew, was received at Phuket Provincial Auditorium by Phuket Vice Governor Anupap Rodkwan Yodrambam.
Leading the group was Uthai Suksirisamphan, who also called for the Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command (3AC) to hold a public meeting with villagers to “solve the problem” of villagers being ejected from the protected forest.
The fear of being evicted from the protected forest area follows the Royal Forest Department granting the Navy use of 3,763 rai in the forest to create a new home for the 22nd Anti-Aircraft Battalion, the 2nd Anti-Aircraft Regiment, the Anti-Aircraft Command Unit, an Air Defense and Coastal Defense Center and the 4th Naval Police Battalion of the Naval Police Department.
Mr Uthai yesterday claimed that the Navy has never held such a meeting, despite a public meeting being held in April. Present for that meeting were representatives from the Phuket Provincial office of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE Phuket), the Phuket branch of the Royal Forest Department (RFD), local village headman (Phu Yai Baan) in the area as well as local residents, including those who live in the protected forest.
Regardless, Mr Uthai yesterday said there should be a public meeting to let local residents decide whether or not the Navy should be allowed to use the land.
“There are crops of people who have been living and making a living continuously in the area since 1998,” Mr Uthai said.
Not recognised yesterday was that Vice Admiral Arpakorn Yookongkaew, Commander of the Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command, has already recognised 265 “cases” that had been approved use of areas within the forest, which has been officially classified as “degraded forest”.
However, there are many others with no such legal right to occupy areas in the forest. Such people will be forced to vacate the area, he said.
During an inspection of the forest by V/Adm Arpakorn last month, one illegal occupier was found with a building on site that clearly contravened any legal use of land within the forest. The occupier was given 15 days to remove the structure, or the Navy would do it for them. The move was praised with much support online.
Mr Uthai yesterday said local residents for many years had filed many objections to the Navy’s plans to build facilities in the forest. Complaints had been filed with the Ombudsman’s Office, the Royal Forest Department, the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment and even now-caretaker Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-ocha.
All of the complaints received no response, Mr Uthai said.
Mr Uthai argued that the Navy had no right to install the barbed-wire fence in the forest.
He also argued that the Royal Forest Department had no right to prosecute nine people for illegally occupying areas within the forest as they had already been granted TorPor 4 use of the land. The Royal Forest Department had handed cases over to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) to issue summons to the accused, he said.
The nine each face a charge of “construction, clearing or burning of forests, or committing any acts that destroy forests or occupy forests for themselves or others without permission from the competent official” according to the Forest Act 1941 and according to the National Reserved Forest Act 1964.
Vice Governor Anupap, received the complaint and assured that he would pass it on to the Governor and relevant government agencies. He also suggested that the issue be presented to Phuket MPs to consider whether relevant and problematic laws need to be amended, especially in the case of overlapping land issues between the state and the people.
Of note, Mr Uthai and the villagers occupying land in the protected forest have never recognised that their claim to using the land may end at the Royal Forest Department’s discretion.
Also of note, the Royal Thai Navy has never explained the strategic necessity of building the military installations in Phuket.