Protesters: We’ll kill ourselves

[dirtydog]

Protesters: We’ll kill ourselves
Published on November 22, 2005
High-profile protester Rattana Sajjathep yesterday threatened mass suicide in front of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) headquarters.
Rattana said she, her three children and a three-year-old granddaughter would kill themselves if they did not get a more sympathetic response from the authorities.
“We will let the public know that they cannot turn to the BMA and the government for help,” she said.
Rattana was speaking after one of her daughters was hospitalised on Sunday because of stress.
Her family has been camping in front of BMA headquarters since late August in an attempt to pressure the authorities into punishing corrupt or negligent officials.
Rattana has been fighting for her rights for 11 years after buying a townhouse from an estate developer in Bangkok’s Bueng Kum district. Shortly after the purchase, the local district office told her she would have to vacate the house because it stood on public land and would have to be demolished.
Since then, Rattana has protested repeatedly that officials refused to compensate her or offer her legal assistance, even though she was clearly the victim of a scam. She has accused some officials of collusion with the developer in issuing unlawful title deeds for her townhouse.
Sympathisers and supporters, aware of how tough it was for the family to live in a tent outside the BMA, brought them a prefabricated shelter on Sunday. But BMA officials refused to allow it to be located within the BMA compound and it was set up on Bamrungmuang Road.

[dirtydog]

Rattana takes the money, ends protest outside BMA
Published on November 23, 2005
Duped homeowner Rattana Sajjathep yesterday agreed to accept money to buy a new home and move out of her temporary abode in front of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) headquarters. Rattana, her family and Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin yesterday met with Saneh Jamarik, chairman of the national human rights panel, to find a way out of her impasse with the BMA.
On Monday, Rattana upped the ante by threatening that she, her three children and her three-year-old granddaughter would kill themselves if they did not get a more sympathetic response from the authorities.
The family has been camped outside the BMA since August to demand that corrupt or negligent officials be punished for allowing an estate developer to trick her into buying a townhouse in Bueng Kum district that was earmarked for demolition.
Rattana’s supporters brought the family a prefabricated shelter on Sunday but BMA officials refused to allow them to erect it within the BMA compound and ordered it to be set up on Bamrungmuang Road instead.
When Saneh pleaded with the city not to tear down the shelter, Apirak said he would try to find a new home for Rattana using Bt6 million previously approved for the case. Apirak said the city had passed the case of alleged corrupt or negligent officials to the National Counter Corruption Commission. He said agencies would discuss amending the building law to prevent similar cases in the future.
Saneh also convinced Rattana to accept Bt3 million offered by the real estate developer and Bt6 million from the government as compensation for a new house. He said the money was an admission of responsibility by the real estate developer, not a donation offered out of pity.
Patjanapa Sajjathep, Rattana’s daughter, said the family was willing to move away from the shelter and move to a new home after Saneh guaranteed that the corruption probe would be started and that the money was not a donation.
She said the family would stay at the prefabricated shelter until a suitable house could be found. Patjanapa urged the authorities to identify the townhouse’s land title deed as an illegal document due to official misconduct so that the estate developer would not be able to abuse the law again and Rattana would be absolved of legal charges.