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dam-l Villagers Face Rising Water Again at Rasi Salai



Villagers Face Rising Water at Rasi Salai with Rice Planting Ceremony

Southeast Asia Rivers Network(SEARIN)
Feb 5 2000

After Depaetment of Energy Development and Promotion (DEDP) drained 
the water from Rasi Salai's reservoir in December, 1999, they closed 
the dam gates once again to refill the reservoir on Jan. 6. The 
reason for this is, district officials in a town downstream of the 
dam discovered ancient boats (200 years old) and DEDP used this 
excuse to close the dam gets once again so that the boats could be 
uncovered and put on display. Because this is the dry season, water 
in the reservoir rises about 1 cm per day, and the protest village 
Mae Mun Man Yuen 2 within the reservoir has once again become an 
island. Also, the road leading into the village has been flooded 
over, forcing the villagers to use boats to reach the land.

Even though the villagers are facing such risks, they still continue 
their struggle in the hope that eventually their demands will be met 
by the government and DEDP.

In early January, 2000, the villagers established another village, 
Mae Mun Man Yuen 3 across the river from Mae Mun Man Yuen 2. Around 
300 families occupy this new village.

On Jan. 30, the protesting villagers at Rasi Salai planted rice in 
the reservoir as a symbolic gesture to reclaim the land that had once 
been theirs. They performed a traditional ceremony to pray for the 
spirit of the rice and the spirit of the land, to protect the rice 
and their lands. They hope that the rising waters will not flood the 
newly planted rice, so that they may have more food to sustain them 
in their protest. Mr. Sulak Sivaraksa, the social critic, sat in as 
chairperson of the ceremony.  About 1,000 villagers and 
students joined in the ceremonies and planted rice together.


Mr. Sulak says that "the construction of this dam illustrates just 
how ignorant the dam builders were. They did not take into 
consideration the vast environmental impacts that the dam would have, 
nor did they concern themselves with the social impacts that would 
seriously affect the lives of hundreds of villagers whose whole lives 
were based around the Mun River. In the Thai beliefs, the river is 
the mother of all the villagers, it provides everything for the 
villagers, just as a mother would." He added that, "I support these 
people's struggle for their rights, but because the politicians and 
state officials are not concerned with the villagers plight, we need 
to appeal for support from our colleagues, both nationally and 
internationally."

************************************************
Chainarong Sretthachau
Southeast Asia Rivers Network(SEARIN)
25/5 Moo 2 Soi Sukhapibarn 27
Changkhien-Jed Yod Road
Chang Phuek
Muang
Chiang Mai 50300
Thailand
Tel/Fax: (66) 53-221157
Email: <mailto:searin@chmai.loxinfo.co.th>searin@chmai.loxinfo.co.th