Photo: Thai PBS news
At present, there are daily protests in Bangkok against the plans to set up a 25 km² industrial complex in Chana (จะนะ, tjà-ná), located in the southern province of Songkhla. How do the inhabitants experience this struggle? Greenpeace last year interviewed 18-year-old activist Khairiyah about her struggle.
“The police came to my school. My classmates and teachers were scared. We were threatened and my father was followed everywhere. Recently, for the first time, a security camera was installed at the crossroads in my village.”
The life of Khairiyah Rahmanyah (ไครียะห์ ระหมันยะ, Khai-rie-yá Ra-mǎn-yá) has changed since she protested a mega project that would turn her seaside hometown into an industrial area. Khairiyah, a fisherman's daughter from a small village in Chana District, Songkhla Province in southern Thailand, opposes a cabinet decision that plans to turn 26,8 square kilometers (2.680 hectares) of seaside into an industrial zone for both light and heavy industries, including biomass power plants, petrochemical manufacturing, biochemical plants, and also deep-sea ports.
As a key advocate against this plan, Khairiyah says police and military often visited her house and people were afraid something worse would happen to her. But she was not afraid.
“The one thing that scares me the most is that the industrial zone will be built successfully,” says Khairiyah.
Making an activist
Khairiyah is only 18 years old, but her life is different from that of ordinary high school students. Her rise to become a young human rights defender began in May 2020 when she submitted a letter to the Prime Minister of Thailand, Prayut Chan-o-cha, requesting that public hearings on the Chana plan be called off due to lack of participation from all stakeholders and also because it was to be held during the month of Ramadan and at the height of the COVID19 pandemic. Eager for an answer, Khairiyah and her mother stayed overnight in front of City Hall for 50 hours to hear from the authorities. Their persistence was rewarded and the hearing was delayed by two months. Local media covered her story and she soon became known as the “Daughter of the Chana Sea”.
In July 2020, Khairiyah traveled from Songkhla in southern Thailand to the Government Building in Bangkok to deliver a letter to the Prime Minister requesting the cancellation of his cabinet's approved resolution in principle for massive industrial development in her hometown. The event received massive media and social media attention and was trending on Thai Twitter as #SAVECHANA.
December 11, 2021 in front of the UN Villagers from Chana District, Songkhla, doing finger print activity. Due to dissatisfaction with being arrested by the police last week (teera.noisakran / Shutterstock.com)
At home, the sea means our life
Just a 30-minute drive from Songkhla City, one of the major cities in southern Thailand, Suan Kong Beach in Chana District is a pristine area with green fields and trees that provide shade for visitors to relax on the surrounding campsites. Look it up on Google maps and the name in Thai means “Suan Kong Beach, Paradise for Crab Lovers” (หาดสวนกงสวรรค์คนกินปู, hàat sǒewan kong sàwǎn khon kin poe:). Southeast of this point is the village of Suan Kong, where Khairiyah was born and raised.
“It only takes 50 steps to walk from my house to the beach. As a child I enjoyed building sand castles, finding shells to make toys and simply playing,” Khairiyah recalls. “On a calm day we can see dolphins swimming in front of my house. The fishermen see them almost every day so they don't think it's special. But visitors always like to take pictures.”
Almost all the villagers in Suan Kong, including Khairiyah's parents, are fishermen. Those who do not own a fishing vessel catch fish with traditional nets or by using flashlights around the coastal area to attract fish at night, and to sell their catch at the local market the next day. Khairiyah usually helps her parents with fishing, pulling crabs from the fishing net and selling the seafood at the market.
“The ocean not only provides food to our communities, but also feeds people across the region and several countries. Fishing vessels sell seafood to markets and restaurants, which are later transported to Bangkok and other provinces. When the catch is in Songkhla port, it is exported to Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and South Korea,” says Khairiyah.
There is no denying that the long history of the Suan Kong and Chana people, struggling to protect their natural resources, has played a role in shaping Khairiyah's attitude towards the environment. Since 1993, villagers have been restoring the ocean after it was damaged by destructive fishing practices that wiped out many fish and other marine life from the waters surrounding Chana.
The villagers also successfully overthrew an investor from a neighboring province who was planning to invest in an unsustainable fish farm. When they heard of a deep-sea drilling expedition plan in Chana district, they immediately knew it would lead to a mega-project for industrial zones, and they quickly sent a letter to the Prime Minister.
This sense of activism runs in the family – Khairiyah's father is the president of the Chana District Thai Sea Watch Association, a non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to conserving and restoring marine and coastal resources.
“I always follow my father to meetings. I am full of curiosity. If there are interesting problems, I ask my father all sorts of questions on the way back home,” says Khairiyah.
An unforgettable demonstration
In late 2017, Khairiyah took part in a demonstration against a coal-fired power plant project in a nearby neighborhood. Their purpose was to send a letter to the prime minister who was in Songkhla to participate in a mobile cabinet meeting.
“While there were only 50 villagers, there were 500 police officers armed with shields and batons. We came peacefully to submit the letter to the prime minister, but our villagers were convicted and my father was arrested. I saw 10 police officers gather to stop my father. A woman tried to help him, but she couldn't fight those strong cops. I was little then and I was hit. I tried to go live on Facebook to help save our villagers, but one of the police officers smashed my phone,” Khairiyah said.
The memory of that demonstration raised many questions about justice and fairness. How could this happen? Finally, she and other villagers walked peacefully and unarmed.
“When my father was released from prison, I saw the metal chains attached to his arms and those of the other villagers,” Khairiyah painfully recalls. “It seemed like they were being convicted of killing hundreds of people, but the truth was we just wanted to send a letter to the prime minister. In addition, we were accused of fiscal violence against police officers and blocking the roads. They said we secretly carried concealed weapons in public. We marched with a green flag as a symbol to protect the environment and to protest against coal power plants. That was the only weapon we had.”
(teera.noisakran / Shutterstock.com)
We are the future
The Save Chana movement has been closely monitored by government officials and many people said that the villagers would gradually surrender. But not Khairiyah. She is convinced that there is still hope.
“I grew up surrounded by a healthy environment. I want to pass this fortune on to younger generations. This is what I always hold on to,” said Khairiyah.
She also indicated that social media and Facebook Live have played a vital role in supporting her and the movement, especially people living elsewhere to learn more about their struggles. It's like a shield for the protesters: if threatened, they can immediately go on Facebook Live to reach the media and a wider audience. One of her sources of inspiration is Greta Thunberg, the environmental activist who is her age. She even wrote her a letter through the Embassy of Sweden sharing the problems she faced in her community, thus gaining attention from the Swedish media.
“I follow the news about Greta and I admire her. She is the same age as me and we share the same interest in protecting the environment. I decided to write her a letter to share my story as a peer with the same ideals.”
Last year, Greta Thunberg condemned world leaders in an emotional speech at the UN summit for their "betrayal" of young people through their tardiness about the climate crisis: "You stole my dreams, my youth." Khairiyah is also one of the young people who has a dream. She wants to travel worldwide and study psychology to help develop her hometown.
However, she decided to make her voice heard and not let anyone else determine her own future and her hometown.
“What I have seen and learned from working with many young people is that we all have a dream that we want to achieve. But we have to leave those dreams behind to fight for something important right now. Otherwise we will have no future to dream of.”
This is a translation of the following Greenpeace article, November 2020, with beautiful photos:
https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/45657/thailand-young-female-activist/
If you want to know more about the protests and the government's plans, read a recent article in the Bangkok Post about the matter:
- https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2230483/the-chana-hustle
And also:
- https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2228847/industrial-park-rallies-to-press-on
Thanks for this article, Tino. This is also the old song; polluting industry is brought to regions where people live off nature and, in my opinion, rightly fear the destruction of the environment. And Thailand knows about pollution; people prefer to fill their own pockets. There have been many scandals such as the lead pollution that was recently discussed here. For the wealthy at the top, a human life does not count.
Yet! Thailand is growing, there is a greater need for everything, and then something has to make way. But planners opt for violence and as an activist you are not certain of your life. See Laos with that Chinese railway, see Vietnam with the same pollution, see China and neighboring countries where activists are silenced with long sentences or worse.
Fortunately, people seem to be more and more sensitive to social media, but does that really stop the plans? It will be a cloth for the bleeding; a jew tip perhaps.
Coincidentally, it was in the news yesterday that the demonstrators are returning home to Chana. They had descended there a week ago to protest the imminent launch of the plan for this industry. The government says it will redo the environmental study, and that is enough for now, according to the residents.
So the protests started after the government pushed aside the “memoriam of understanding” that had been concluded earlier that nothing would happen for the time being. It was, I say from memory, drawn up by that minister who was recently fired (and whom we know from being in Australian prison, but not for drugs, that was flour smuggling). There was something about the signatures under those pieces that wouldn't be right?? Anyway, there was another peaceful protest, this time at government house (the work office of General Prime Minister Prayuth), there the demonstrators were rather harshly arrested by the riot police, those police who simultaneously tried to send the media away and media attention. sticking the wheels, as good riot police should do.. strict and tough action towards difficult citizens and media who stick their nose in everything.. ahem. But partly due to social media attention, this did not come back under the carpet so easily. For now there is (for a while?) rest. Although I wonder how long because there are of course various parties who believe that the economic engine should run smoothly and then local nature and residents soon become less important...
See also:
https://www.khaosodenglish.com/politics/2021/12/15/cabinet-to-reconsider-industrial-zone-chana-protesters-head-home/
And of course thanks to Tino for finding this piece, it is important to let various citizens and the like have their say. That can give us a better insight and understanding of what is going on in the country and among the people. 🙂
NB: I could not find the beach for "crab lovers" with the description in the English part, fortunately there is also a Thai version on the Greenpeace site. With a few clicks, the exact location was found in no time.
The second image (December 11, 2021) shows the text on the banner
"We are protectors and not suspects."
Their ink-stained fingers indicate that they have indeed been charged.