980212 BKK POST : EDITORIAL

[suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

February 12, 1998


                                       



                                Editorial


              Fait accompli in
              the forests

              The pronouncement this week by the prime minister to the effect
              that protests against the Yadana natural gas pipeline have come
              too late is probably correct. Had Chuan Leekpai made the same
              utterance four years ago after the contract was signed, the
              protests then would have been too late as well. 

              When governments and industrial giants such as oil corporations
              get together to develop large-scale projects, they take on the
              characteristics of a juggernaut and only the brave stand in the
              way. 

              Given that Thailand has a pressing need for energy, despite the
              present economic lethargy, and that gas from the Andaman Sea
              appears to be the answer, the project was a winner from the day
              it left the drawing board. 

              Which is a pity, because the government, the Petroleum
              Authority of Thailand, Unocal of the United States and Total of
              France have gone about their joint project in a cavalier manner
              that has demonstrated clearly their conviction that nothing must
              be allowed to obstruct their sure thing. 

              The issues here are simple enough: we need energy and we need
              to conserve what is left of our forest cover. The two need not be
              competing demands because the pipeline could and should have
              been routed to avoid forest, particularly the prime watershed of
              Huay Khakaeng wildlife sanctuary in Kanchanaburi. 

              At the time the contract was signed, there were options that
              remain open today. For example, roads have been upgraded and
              built in the expectation that the military dictators in Rangoon will,
              one day, free Burma from its isolationist shackles. The pipeline
              could have followed established routes, in this way sparing the
              forest and avoiding international criticism from conservation
              groups. 

              In the annals of public relations disasters, the government, in the
              form of the Petroleum Authority and the Kanchanaburi provincial
              authority, have distinguished themselves. They have behaved like
              children when confronted by demands that they make public the
              clause in the contract which, they say, leaves Thailand liable to a
              daily fine of 40 million baht if the project is not finished by July. 

              At public meetings, opponents have been allowed to see the
              contract - but from a distance. The provincial authority continued
              in this vein by staging a concert at its headquarters at which luk
              thung singers and dancing girls entertained a crowd of
              30-40,000 people who were described by officials as
              pro-pipeline protesters. 

              The tactics brought into play by the authorities have been crude,
              and rather embarrassing given that ecological issues tend to
              assume international proportions. The governmentÕs decision to
              deploy 200 soldiers along the route to protect the site from
              protesters who have kept their cool while struggling to be heard
              is another over-reaction and another mistake. With a little
              foresight, matters could have been so different. It would have
              cost more to have built the pipeline along a different route and
              that would have been a price worth paying if our natural
              resources were to be saved. It would also have been a price the
              oil companies could pay with ease. Such action might have gone
              some way towards showing Thailand is paying more than lip
              service to the environment. 

              Despite the promotional spiel about eco-tourism being pumped
              out to attract visitors and their money to Amazing Thailand, the
              Yadana project is becoming an international cause. Perhaps it is
              just as well that Amazing Thailand is concentrating on beach
              resorts, department stores and other totems of the international
              tourist monoculture. 




                                       




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Last Modified: Thu, Feb 12, 1998