[sustran] Ban Krua community threatened by expressway (again)

[Craig Townsend]

The news item below is from today's Nation newspaper in Thailand. It refers
to the case of Ban Krua, a 200-year-old community of Muslim Chams from
Cambodia who were settled in Bangkok by King Rama I in recognition of their
loyal military service to Siam. (Although in the news report it refers to
the community members as "villagers", the community is in fact in central
Bangkok.) A century later, when French gunboats advanced up the Chao Phraya
River during the reign of Rama V, Muslim seamen fought fiercely for
Siameses independence. Half were killed and are buried in Ban Krua's three
Muslim cemeteries. 

In 1987, a cemetery and a mosque were targeted for destruction by the
Expressway and Rapid Transit Authority (ETA) to make way for the Bang
Khlo-Chaeng Wattana Expressway. Residents protested, saved the threatened
mosque, and thus launched a battle that is still being fought today to save
their community.

Intendend to serve a central shopping mall (the World Trade Centre), the
proposed expressway and approach ramp would evict about half of the
families. The Ban Krua committee forced a series of public hearings between
May and September 1993, allowing them exposure to the media. In September
1993, a government committee came down on the side of residents, yet the
ETA has continued to press ahead with construction. 

With the economic crisis that begun in Bangkok in 1997, there was hope that
the plans would finally be buried.


>From The Nation newspaper (Thailand), 7 September  

"Villagers foil bid to start expressway work"

AN attempt to continue construction of the controversial section B of the
expressway project faced strong opposition from the local community at Ban
Khrua yesterday. 

Project owner, Bangkok Expressway Plc (BECL), sent 50 workers and engineers
into the Saphan Hua Chang community at Bang Khrua to demolish buildings to
make way for the second stage of the expressway. 

But their work was blocked by villagers, several hundreds of whom
surrounded the three teams of workers and engineers. 

Villagers claimed the construction is illegal because a Cabinet resolution
abandoning section B of the expressway has already been approved, mainly
due to investment difficulties and the highway's adverse impact on
surrounding communities. 

''The public hearing committee established by the government concluded in
November 1994 that section B must be scrapped,'' villagers' leader Thong-in
Soonsawasdi said. 

After a tense five-hour standoff, amid acrimony and arguments, the
construction teams were forced out of the area. No injuries were reported. 

The villagers are against the construction because many families in the
project area have not agreed to move or take compensation. Less than 50 per
cent of owners of structures have agreed, they said. 

''The problem is that the buildings are connected to each other. You cannot
demolish one block without damaging the next,'' Thong-in said. 

''Moreover, the demolition of such buildings must be approved by district
officials, according to the law. In this case, they did not get such an
approval. I confirmed this with an official of the Ratchathevi
sub-district,'' he added. 

Thong-in said the villagers have called an urgent meeting tonight to plan
their next move against BECL. 

''We will try to use legal ways to fight back. But if that does not work,
other more violent measures will be considered,'' he warned. 

''This is not the first time that BECL has sent such construction teams to
our community, but it was their first serious effort. They came like
commandos, and wanted to bring down the buildings without prior warning to
the community. I think some officials of the Expressway and Rapid Transit
Authority of Thailand were also members of the team,'' he added. 

The villagers plan to consult the Law Society of Thailand in a bid to file
a lawsuit against BECL. 



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Craig Townsend
Institute for Science & Technology Policy
Murdoch University
South Street, Murdoch
Perth, Western Australia 6150

tel: (61 8) 9360 6293
fax: (61 8) 9360 6421
email: townsend at central.murdoch.edu.au
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