An elderly Thai couple and their 33-year-old son have said they are willing to crawl to the Prime Minister’s office to receive help in their battle with an alleged land-grabbing investor.
The family claims that the investor has blocked access to their 5-rai (0.8-hectare) rubber plantation in Surat Thani’s Wiang Sa district for a decade, and threatened to shoot them dead if they attempt to gain access to the property to tap latex.
Informing the media of their plight, the family said their efforts to get help from state agencies had failed. They said they were prepared to go to Government House in Bangkok and crawl from the main entrance to the prime minister’s office to appeal for his aid.
Pramuan Khongchawan, 64, his wife Prapai, 60, and son Kittipong, 33, took reporters to inspect the plantation, which Pramuan inherited and for which he holds a land title deed numbered 16696.
They previously had access to the land via a public road, but they say an investor took possession of public land in Tambon Thung Luang in 2005. The investor then sold the land, divided it into plots at Bt200,000 per plot and dug a three-metre-wide and five-metre-deep ditch that blocked the family’s access to the plantation.
They had not dared to go near the plot since 2007, when they received a threat that those entering the plantation without permission would be shot dead.
The family’s pleas to state agencies had fallen on deaf ears.
Pramuan said that if telling their story to the media did not lead to help, the family was prepared to crawl to the PM’s office to ask for his sympathy and assistance.
If this story is true and it appears to be genuine, then this is another example of a wealthy Thai thinking that he is above the law and the authorities letting him get away with it.
Let’s hope their voice is heard and “justice” is eventually done !
(Source:-The Nation, Thailand)