ELL: Akha Hill Tribe vs Thai Army, contact #2 forced village move

[Matthew McDaniel]

IMPORTANT:

This is an update of events of Jan 24th, 2000, in regards to the Akha
Village Huai Maak forced relocation and the meeting today with the Thai
Army and Forestry Department.

The Thai soldiers and forestry personell in Bah Mah Hahn told me that
today was the appointment  but on the arrival of myself and tv channel
3, a newspaper reporter and numerous Akha from the village Huai Maak and
my translator, along with a number of other witnesses, the Forestry
officials knew of no such meeting but knew of Huai Maak and the
situation.

The top forestry official met us, then became very angry and demanded to
see our ID.  Since neither I nor my translator who is from Germany,
carry our passports with us because of wear and tear on them, the
forestry man said that he would not talk to us, by way of excuse, and
called the police to come and arrest us.  The police came in very large
numbers, the building went into confusion and the forestry official
began a shouting match with the German translator after having called
the German translator bad words.

In all the hub bub I told the forestry that I would not be there had the
army not rousted me out of bed with gun carrying soldiers.

The police took both I and the translator to the Chiangrai Police
station to the Police chief on the instructions of the Forestry
official.

The police immediately recognized me and said that we should be released
and that we must be delivered back to Forestry.  Upon our arrival at
forestry the Colonel from Ban Terd Thai (Haen Taek) Army Base was flown
in to the forestry office from the mountain.  Upon the Colonel's arrival
he called myself, my translator and an Akha man, and a couple other
individuals of forestry into the meeting room we had been rejected from
not so much before.  The head of forestry came back again and became
angry at me again and the Colonel appeared to ask him to leave, that we
had business to discuss, and the Forestry Official did so at once.

We then talked for hours.  I told the Colonel that the village should
not be moved, that it would have international repercussions.  He told
me that he would like to move all the villages, but that it seemed he
had an obstacle, chiefly me.  We discussed many details and I told him
that the matter could not be resolved without a stated policy and
decision on government papers that 1. The village did not want to move
and 2. What the government had decided to do.  He was not sure that he
could do that, so I explained to him that it wasn't up to me, only that
one action would require that I report certain things overseas and that
another action would mean that I would have to report a different action
overseas.  It was up to him.  This he seemed to finally understand, but
was not in agreement with it.

He said that the village would be given the right to make one more
statement if they wanted to move or not.
This then was left to us and the Akhas upon consultation said that they
would once again provide this information to the Army after 11 AM on
Thursday the 24th, which is in three days.

We are seeking international Human Rights observers present, this does
not leave much notice, but to verify that this final statement on the
part of the village is without duress at the time that it is made on the
24th at 11AM in the village.  Immediately following the statement, one
Akha man will carry the papers down to the Army Headquarters in Terd
Thai and deliver them to the Colonel.

There are numerous reason how this village could fall under duress in
the next few days.

Any Human Rights Organization who can provide us with an observer at
this time, it is crucial that you send me an email at
mailto:akha at loxinfo.co.th immediately.  You may call me at 01-881-9288
in Thailand or 66-1-881-9288 from overseas.  But sometimes the phone
does not work due to cellular conditions.

During todays meeting we were told that other villages are slated for
moving, Huai Yoh being the next one.

We were also told that Thailand had been given $200 million from the
Asian Development Bank to begin moving all these people out in part of
the Asian Developments Bank's recommended development and water plan for
the Upper Mekong area.

We have not yet been able to find contact emails for officials at the
Asian Development Bank.

In the afternoon late, when our meeting ended, we were soon able to see
numerous flights of both military and forestry helicopters to the Terd
Thai region coming and going from Chiang Rai.

Today's situation demonstrated two things.  The effect that a few people
can have on a situation and also the need for UN representation for
peoples like the Akha, people who can be appealed to in order to
represent their case.  The current situation with the UN and impossible
access is totally unacceptable.

I will be making further updates this week as I find out more, we still
do not know if the village will be moved.  But the Colonel did say, one,
that he wants to move many villages, two that he knows what he is going
to do, and three that if they do move the village it will be very fast.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you can be of assistance in this
matter.

Matthew McDaniel
Maesai, Chiangrai, Thailand



--



Matthew McDaniel
The Akha Heritage Foundation
386/3 Sailom Joi Rd
Maesai, Chiangrai, 57130
Thailand
Mobile Phone Number:  Sometimes hard to reach while in Mountains.
66-01-881-9288

US Address:

Donations by check or money order may be sent to:

The Akha Heritage Foundation
PO BOX 6073
Salem OR 97304
USA

By Visa Card Secure Site:

https://www.givetocharity.com/cgi-bin/give.pl?CODE=10956

Donations by direct banking can be transferred to:
(Preferred)

Wells Fargo Bank
Akha Heritage Foundation
Acc. # 0081-889693
Keizer Branch # 1842  04
4990 N. River Road.
Keizer, Oregon,  97303 USA
ABA # 121000248

Or In Thailand:

Matthew  Duncan McDaniel
Acc. # 3980240778
Bangkok Bank Ltd.
Maesai Branch
Thailand

Web Site:

http://www.akha.com
mailto:akha at loxinfo.co.th

Discussion Groups:
akha at onelist.com
indigenousworld at onelist.com





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