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THE NATION: Report warns Salween lo
- Subject: THE NATION: Report warns Salween lo
- From: suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 17 Feb 1998 17:57:00
Politics
Report warns Salween
logging threatens
national security
SERIOUS national security problems could
possibly flare up at any time if the illegal
logging in the pristine Salween National
Park, an operation which needs to employ
Burmese minority groups, continues
unimpeded, according to a police report.
According to the report, compiled by Pol
Gen Salang Bunnag, an assistant police
chief in his capacity as head of the Police
Department's anti-deforestation force, the
illicit business is not only devastating
Thailand's pristine forests, but also
contributing to the uneasy and sometimes
simmering situation on the Thai-Burmese
border.
The recent investigation into the illegal
logging in Salween Wildlife Sanctuary and
Salween National Park in Mae Hong Son
revealed that the operation was the biggest
since commercial logging was banned in
1989. The operation involved various
groups, including Burmese and Thai
officials, the report said. The long-standing
scandal was rekindled last week when
Forestry Department Deputy Director
General Prawat Thanadkha decided to
donate Bt5 million to the Thai-Help-Thai
campaign. He claimed that the money was
left at his house as a bribe for him. Although
he declined to elaborate on who tried to
bribe him, public and media attention
immediately focused on the Salween
scandal, and Prawat himself did not deny
the reports.
The large-scale destruction of the forests
had been in operation for three years,
covering vast areas of Ban Ta Fang, Ban
Mae Sa Kerb, Ban Sob Ngae, and Ban
Chob Tha along the Salween River in Mae
Sariang district, the report said.
Normally, logging operators recruited both
Buddhist and Christian Karens -- Burmese
minority groups who have been waging
wars against each other. The firms would
pay them one-third of the wages in advance
and the balance after the logs had been
transported from Burma to Thailand, the
report said.
Although most of the timber was cut in the
Thai forests, they were floated along the
Salween River to Burma and then shipped
back to Thailand again. The process would
allow the timber to get a stamp and
certificate of Burmese origin.
Apart from the Burmese ethnic minorities, a
group of Thai people was also hired by
unscrupulous logging firms to work in the
illegal logging industry. These people had
good relations with Burmese military
officers, who in turn would facilitate the
unlawful operation.
The local group was very influential and they
usually resorted to violent means in dealing
with Karen workers.
''They forced Karen people trying to get
refuge on Thai soil to work for them. If the
immigrants refused, they would shoot the
elephants the Karen brought along with
them,'' the report said.
In addition, they also pressured Thai
officials, including the Anti-Deforestation
Command (ADC) to cooperate with them.
Conflicts often sparked when timber
shipped from Burma arrived on Thai soil in
Ban Ta Fang, an area dominated by
Buddhist Karens. The Buddhist Karen
usually opened fire if the loggers did not
supply them with protection money.
Following the Prawat bribery controversy,
the logging scandal intensified when
Thaweesak Antha, a former police
sergeant in Mae Sariang, handed out a list
of people allegedly involved in the illegal
logging to Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai
on Saturday.
Chuan, who was on an inspection trip in
Mae Sariang, was caught off guard when
Thaweesak told him that the list contained
15 names of those involved in Salween
logging.
Thaweesak said that he had been
assigned in 1994 to glean information
about the illegal logging. However, he was
forced to quit his job after he submitted the
details to his superiors.
''I was accused [by my superiors] of being
involved in the illegal business as well.
''But how could I catch a tiger cub, if I did
not go inside the [tiger] cave,'' he told
reporters.
Last December Thaweesak submitted the
same details to the Agriculture and
Cooperatives Ministry, however, he failed
to get any response.
In an interview with The Nation, Thaweesak
said he spent several months in the forest
trying to get along with loggers and traders.
He said he had taken some photographs of
the logging process.
''I sent the photographs to the prime
minister. I also wrote down the details of
each process in the pictures,'' he said.
The most popular route for transporting the
timber, from Tha Pua to Mae Sariang, is 30
kilometres long. Thaweesak said the
loggers used high-powered trucks to carry
the timber over the first 20-kilometre stretch
from Mae Pua to Huay Haeng, which was
rough terrain.
From Huay Haeng, the timber would be
loaded onto 18-wheel trucks, which were
later covered with canvas.
Thaweesak said the transportation from
Huay Haeng to Mae Sariang was often
carried out at night.
''The trucks always went smoothly through
several check-points. They were never
checked or intercepted,'' he said.
Fearing for his own safety and for his
family, Thaweesak called on Central
Investigation Bureau chief Pol Lt Gen Seri
Temiyavej to take him as a witness in the
Bt5 million bribery.
''I think that those involved in the Bt5 million
scandal are among the 15 people on the
list,'' he said.
BY PREECHA SA-ARDSORN
The Nation