Thread: Law unfair to poor in land cases : defenders

TAMC threatens to sue as land claimants dig in


TAMC threatens to sue as land claimants dig in


By The Nation
Published on July 21, 2010


Thai Asset Management Corporation (TAMC) has vowed to take legal action against people encroaching on its land plots.

The threat followed the failure of its negotiations with the Council for People from the Four Regions.

The council has led thousands of its members to occupy plots of land TAMC is planning to auction off.

"Occupying these plots is a criminal offence," TAMC president Churairat Panyarachun said yesterday.

She said TAMC, a state agency, had the duty to auction these non-performing assets and give the cash to financial institutions that had originally accepted the land as collateral.

"These plots do not belong to the government," she explained. "People cannot just occupy the plots and try to negotiate with the government."
Churairat said TAMC had lodged complaints with police over the encroachment on its land plots.

Despite the legal threat, the council's chairman Prapas Ngoksoongnern showed no sign the body would give up its efforts to gain possession of the TAMC plots.

"If we let TAMC auction off these land plots, investors will likely get them at a very low price. TAMC has just one year left in service. That means it will have to expedite the auctions within the year and it will likely accept any price the auctioneer can get," Prapas said. "Worse still, investors who may grasp these land plots through the auctions could be the ones who put them up as collateral in the first place."

To Prapas, it would be better if the government allocated such plots to landless farmers.

Kamphan Pochada, 67, has applied for membership in the council because he wants a land plot.

He was seen setting up a hut on a TAMC plot in Khon Kaen yesterday. Dozens more were busy with similar activities.

Sa-nguan Kaewta, 52, said she had been fighting alongside the council for six months already.

"I won't go back home because I am afraid of losing the right to the land plot," she said.

The council's members have occupied TAMC land plots in 19 northeastern provinces.

In Nakhon Ratchasima alone, the council's members, through the Network of Northeast People, have now cleared 120 rai (about 19 hectares) of TAMC land for use.

Bangkok Post : Activists face police charges



ENCROACHMENT
Activists face police charges

• Published: 22/07/2010 at 12:00 AM
• Newspaper section: News

Nakhon Ratchasima police are planning to charge activists who encouraged a group of landless people to illegally occupy land under the care of the Thai Asset Management Corporation.


Landless people, led by activists from the Council for People from the Four Regions (CPER), are accused of encroaching on 30,000 plots in 19 northeastern provinces which TAMC had planned to begin selling by auction on Monday.


About 6,000 rai is in Pak Thong Chai, Kham Thale So and Chok Chai districts.
Pol Col Boonlert Wongwatchana, deputy Nakhon Ratchasima police chief, said the TAMC filed a complaint against Prapas Ngoksungnern, chairman of the CPER, a non-governmental organisation, and other activists last week for encouraging people to occupy its land.


The TAMC will also file charges against the activists for land encroachment in other provinces. Police are collecting evidence and surveying the land before pressing charges against the activists.


The CPER yesterday shrugged off the police investigation, saying its members will not leave the TAMC land.


Mr Prapas said he and other landless people who occupied the TAMC land are ready to face legal action.


The TAMC used taxpayers' money to buy the land during the 1997 financial crisis, he said. Much of the land has sat idle for 10 years.


The TAMC earlier argued that the land that had been encroached upon was not public land or state assets as claimed by the CPER. The corporation says it acquired the land as part of debt restructuring during the financial crisis.
The TAMC now wants to sell the land to recover funds for financial institutions that joined the debt restructuring scheme.


Mr Prapas questioned how the TAMC got the money to buy more than 400,000 plots across the country. He claimed the corporation used taxpayers' money.


The TAMC was established by the government in June 2001 to manage non-performing assets incurred by the 1997 financial crisis.

Land inequality between electorate and elected | Asian Correspondent

Land inequality between electorate and elected


+ enlarge Jul. 23 2010 - 08:08 am







By James Harriman,
Parliament-House & Senate Reported Land Assets
Senate
Total Members=150
Total members reporting land assets=145
Total land assets by members=19,311-2-42 rai
Total land value=10,429.4 million baht/USD 325.9 million
Average land assets per member=128.7 rai/50.8 acres
Average land value per member=69.5 million baht/USD2.2 million

House
Total MPs=476
Total MPs reporting land assets=437
Total land assets by MPs=52,962 rai
Total land value=14,371.5 million baht/USD 449.1 million
Average land asset per MP=111.3 rai/44 acres
Average land value per MP=30.2 million baht/USD 943,487

Democrat Party
Total MPs=173 MPs
Total MPs w/ land assets=160 MPs
Total land assets by MPs=15,181-0-25 rai
Total land value=5,829.6 million baht/USD 182.2 million
Average land asset per MP=87.8 rai/34.7 acres
Average land value per MP=33.7 million baht/USD 1.0 million
More than 1,000 rai=3 people
More than 500 less than 1,000=3 people
More than 100 less than 500=33 people
More than 50 less than 100=24 people
0-50=110

Puea Thai Party
Total MPs=188 MPs
Total MPs w/ land assets=173
Total land assets by MPs=21,079-3-34 rai
Total land value=4,795.9 million baht/USD 149.9 million
Average land asset per MP=112.1 rai/44.3 acres
Average land value per MP=25.5 million baht/USD 790,340
More than 1,000 rai=5 people
More than 500 less than 1,000=3 people
More than 100 less than 500=31 people
More than 50 less than 100=31 people
0-50=118

Bhum Jai Thai Party
Total MPs=32
Total MPs w/land assets=31
Total land assets by MPs=3,853-2-35 rai
Total land value=733.8 million baht/USD 22.9 million
Average land assets per MP=120.4 rai/47.6 acres
Average land value per MP=22.9 million baht/USD 715,625
More than 1,000 rai=0 people
More than 500 less than 1,000=2 people
More than 100 less than 500=11 people
More than 50 less than 100=3 people
More than 10 less than 50=5 people

Puea Pandin
Total MPs=32
Total MPs w/land assets=29
Total land assets by MPs=5,323 rai
Total land value=1,299.4 million baht/USD 40.6 million
Average land assets per MP=166.3 rai/65.7 acres
Average land value per MP=40.6 million/USD 1.3 million
More than 1,000 rai=1 person
More than 500 less than 1,000=1 person
More than 100 less than 500=9 people
More than 50 less than 100=6 people
0-50= 15 people

Chart Thai Pattana
Total MPs=25
Total MPs w/land assets=21
Total land assets by MPs=2,541-0-89 rai
Total land value=483.6 million baht/USD 15.1 million
Average land assets per MP=101.6 rai/40.2 acres
Average land value per MP=19.4 million baht/USD 604,000
More than 1,000 rai=0
More than 500 less than 1,000=1 person
More than 100 less than 500=7 people
More than 50 less than 100=1 person
More than 10 less than 50= 6 people
0-10=15 people

Ruam Jai Thai Chart Pattana
Total MPs=9
Total MPs w/land assets=8
Total land assets by MPs=819-3-33 rai
Total land value= 681.1 million baht/USD 21.3 million
Average land assets per MP= 91 rai/40 acres
Average land value per MP=75.7 million baht/USD 2.4 million
More than 100 rai less than 500=3 people
More than 50 less than 100=2 people
0-50=4 people

Pracharaj
Total MPs=9
Total MPs w/land assets=8
Total land assets by MPs= 3,088-3-81 rai
Total land value=449.2 million baht/USD 14.0 million
Average land assets per MP=343 rai/135.6 acres
Average land value per MP=49.9 million baht/USD 1.6 million
More than 1,000 rai=1 person
More than 500 less than 1,000=1 person
More than 100 less than 500=2 people
Amount range not given=5 people

Social Action
Total MPs=5
Total MPs w/land assets=4
Total land assets by MPs=858-2-80 rai
Total land value=70.9 million baht/USD 2.2 million
Average land assets per MP=171.6 rai
Average land value per MP=14.2 million/USD 440,000
More than 500 less than 1,000=1 person
More than 100 less than 500=1 person
Amount range not given=3 people

Mathabhum
Total MPs=3
Total MPs w/land assets=3
Total land assets by MPs=216-2-07 rai
Total land value=28 million baht/USD 875,000
Average land assets per MP=72 rai/28.5 acres
Average land value per MP=9.3 million baht/USD 291,667
More than 100 rai=1 person
Amount range not given=2 people



Source: Matichon Weekly, July 16-22, 2010, p.29
Exchange Rate: 32 baht to 1 dollar; rounded millions baht
32.31 Exchange Rate (July 21, 2010)

Comments:
—Averages can hide inequalities within the body, party, and society
—Only reports MPs—wealthy (landed) silent party-backers are not reported. Indeed, the main people who “run” many of these parties are not reported at all here
—Only reports land assets, excludes other financial assets like stocks, bonds, etc.
—Transparency question—are all MPs reporting accurately?
—For legal reasons, analysis must remain narrow and focused on this institution—at what cost if any?
—Can we expect MPs to follow quickly on the government’s land reform proposals?
—Is this evidence of a thriving democracy or an elected-plutocracy? What drives voters to choose such a system, or is the structure of the election system such that the outcome is predetermined?
—Interesting to find in the main article the names of the people who seem to own political parties as well as large chunks of entire provinces
—Notice the difference between the Senate (half un-elected) and the House
— According to the Bangkok Post, “A survey conducted two years ago by the National Statistics Office found almost 80 percent of farmers are heavily in debt, with little possibility of them being able to pay back. Up to 60 percent, especially those in the northern and central regions, work on rented land. According to the National Economic and Social Advisory Council, about 90 percent of farmers have an average acreage of only one rai per person, and there are approximately 1.5 million farming families that either are landless or have insufficient land to feed their members (in addition to about 600,000 families of slum dwellers).”
—Please do comment if you see any errors in math or in the BKK Post numbers


James Harriman
[at]Thai_Tweet
harrimanjay[at]yahoo.com

Udon Thani squatters warned on TAMC land grab


Udon Thani squatters warned on TAMC land grab


By The nation
Published on July 23, 2010





Acting Udon Thani governor Wirat Limsuwat yesterday warned people against joining efforts to grab land plots under the care of the Thai Asset Management Corporation (TAMC).





"I have told police to monitor all movement in their jurisdiction and take strict action against illegal activities," Wirat said.

He said he had instructed police and district chiefs to act against the encroachment on TAMC plots of land.

The Council for People from the Four Regions has led the landgrabbing efforts. It has encouraged its members to occupy many TAMC land plots in the Northeast on grounds the government has long failed to tackle the plight of landless people.

To counter the council's move, the TAMC has lodged complaints with police over the encroachment, noting that the land plots are foreclosed assets that will soon be auctioned off in line with legal procedures.

However, the council's members show no sign of giving up. Member Oy Praphasai said she would by no means vacate the TAMC plot she was now occupying.

"If the government wants us to leave, it must allocate land plots to us as it has promised," the 50yearold woman from Si Sa Ket province said.

Oy joined the council late last year in the hope of acquiring farmland adequate to support her children.

"I own 1 rai of land in Buri Ram, but that's not adequate to support the whole family," she said.

She has four children. Her husband has long left the secular world and entered the monkhood.

"My eldest daughter has had to leave school so she can work odd jobs and find money to support the family as well," Oy lamented.

Where is outcry for the economic freedom for the rural poor? Where are is the UDD here?

I’ll tell you where the UDD leaders are, the leaders are waiting for the TAMC to auction off the land so they can buy it and rent back to poor, keeping the poor in the cycle of patron-clients relationships that keeps the UDD leadership in power over them.

Just in case some people are missing the point this thread illustrates brilliantly the fact that the UDD is false organization. It does not represent the interest of the rural poor. It represents the interest of the local strongmen and faction leaders who are the ones actually screwing the poor, not this shadowy Amart/Bangkok elite they have invented as part of the populist demagoguery that has been going on.

Real grassroots leaders have will have nothing do with the UDD and its leadership because they know they are the real enemy of the rural poor.
TH

^ Agree.

The UDD/PT leadership are a bunch of greedy, lying c*nts.

^^ Note the complete absence in this thread of the UDD cheerleader squad....
Guess the couldn't find anything in Amsterdam & Peroff's recent 77 page dissertation that would fit. Not much economics there

TH

Bangkok Post : 300 landless farmers invade national park


300 landless farmers invade national park

• Published: 26/07/2010 at 12:00 AM
• Newspaper section: News

BURI RAM : About 300 landless farmers from Non Dindaeng district have moved on to land in Dong Yai National Park.


Farmers from six villages in tambon Lam Nang Rong yesterday divided up the occupied land among themselves and planted rubber tree seedlings.


They said the seedlings represented their ownership over the land.


The farmers said the government was too slow in fulfilling a promise to allocate them the land, so they decided to take it for themselves.


The area seized is about one-ninth of a 27,000 rai plot provided under a private concession to grow eucalyptus trees.
The concession ended last year.


Kaew Tiengratch, 64, leader of the landless farmers who occupied the land, said villagers want clarity from the government on how its land allocation programme will work.

Let me help you:

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

^ Agree. The Thai politicians (UDD/PT leadership) are a bunch of greedy, lying c*nts.

Originally Posted by Thaihome

^^ Note the complete absence in this thread of any politcial party (the UDD cheerleader squad).... Guess the couldn't find anything in Amsterdam & Peroff's recent 77 page dissertation that would fit. Not much economics there TH

Hilarious how you two choose to ignore the subject matter itself, but instead use it as a political tool to attack opponents, ASTV style...

Back on topic: this is a shameful example of how the current completely corrupt political system needs to be overhauled, so that rich army/PAD/Dem/Red/Other land stealers (such as the coup PM, Suthep, MrT, etc) stop raping the nation as they've done for decades.

The red-shirters have elements which are interested in this future (as MrT's influence decreases this element will grow stronger); Dems/army/PAD do not.

300 landless farmers invade national park
26/07/2010

BURI RAM : About 300 landless farmers from Non Dindaeng district have moved on to land in Dong Yai National Park.

Farmers from six villages in tambon Lam Nang Rong yesterday divided up the occupied land among themselves and planted rubber tree seedlings.

They said the seedlings represented their ownership over the land.

The farmers said the government was too slow in fulfilling a promise to allocate them the land, so they decided to take it for themselves.

The area seized is about one-ninth of a 27,000 rai plot provided under a private concession to grow eucalyptus trees.

The concession ended last year.

Kaew Tiengratch, 64, leader of the landless farmers who occupied the land, said villagers want clarity from the government on how its land allocation programme will work.

bangkokpost.com

Originally Posted by Thaihome

I’ll tell you where the UDD leaders are,

Do you mean the ones still under detention ?

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

^ Agree.

The UDD/PT leadership are a bunch of greedy, lying c*nts.

Talking of Thai politicians in general , are there any at all that don't fit your description ? Come to think of it, our own politicians are not exactly beacons of honesty and integrity.

True.

Isn't it a lovely world...

My wife purchased about 6 Rai of land close to the Ping River, a short drive from Utteraldit years before we got together.

We have since raised half of the property and were going to develop it when she received notice that the government were going to reclaim all or at least part of the property.

No reason was given only she had to be there and whilst the land department measured the land and to tell her how much of it she could keep.

Conveniently for the arseholes they informed her that they were keeping the area we had filled and she could keep the rest.

She had chanoits, government documents confirming that she had legally purchased the land and tax documents confirming she had paid the taxes.

To cut a long story short the government had a beef with the past land owners claiming they had illegally sold the land and some idiot at the land office had illegally approved the sale to my wife.

Now my wife found a solicitor and lead a group of about 100 other rural poor who had suffered the same scam in the courts and have won the case albeit we will have to pay some further land taxes.

The rich here know how to pull swifties and you must stand your ground or they will screw you every time.

So how much for 1 raised rai at the ping Mate

Originally Posted by larvidchr

So how much for 1 raised rai at the ping Mate

If we ever get the papers back you and I can go there, build 2 small grass huts, grow coconuts and distill whiskey all day mate.

Gotta be more fun then what I am doing today..........By the way just received my sim card back and will call you tomorrow.

Originally Posted by Loy Toy

To cut a long story short the government had a beef with the past land owners claiming they had illegally sold the land and some idiot at the land office had illegally approved the sale to my wife.

Sounds like a can of worms LT. Easy to see how the poor are forever getting fucked over, regardless of who is in government. I remember going down the land office in Khon Kaen about 25 years ago. Some poor buggers had been waiting to see someone with sufficient authority for nearly a week. The only way to get same day service was by putting cash in an envelope and discreetly passing it over with any documents surrendered.

Land officers are reknowned as one of the most corrupt places in a corrupt Kingdom...

My missus had an argument with them when she sold some land (basically, she refused to pay bribes), and the big boss (head of the province) came out and shouted at her to pay up the bribe... Yes, she did refuse and the job was done (probably cut off as much of the borders as they could in spite (her familly owns the bordering land...). Bastards!

Farmers in Uttaradit seek quick solution

Farmers in Uttaradit seek quick solution


By Mayuree Sukyingcharoenwong
The Nation
Published on August 13, 2010


Residents of Ban Nong Ya Lam in Uttaradit's Tha Pla district are urging government agencies to solve a long-standing issue of farmland overlapping conserved forestland and state-owned land affecting about half the 8,000 families there. They also asked for progress on the Huai Nam Ree reservoir construction project that would tackle the farming water shortage, threatening to hold a protest if the government kept ignoring their woes.

The Tha Pla association of kamnan and village headmen's president, Kham Jaiyapiangkaew, and his family were among the 4,500 families moved to the allocated lands at the Nan River self-help settlement after their original lands were expropriated for the Sirikit Dam construction over 40 years ago. They gained no real rights to the new lands, some of which were said a decade later to be conserved forestland. He said the villagers have fought for the right to land, but until now they haven't received land title deeds, which deprives them from the land documents required to apply for bank loans to fund their farming activities.

"We've been waiting patiently and peacefully for help with our farming land and water shortage plight. From now on, if the state agencies continue to ignore us we will have to act," Kham said.

Claiming the community located upstream from Sirikit Dam will benefit from it, he called for the Huai Nam Ree reservoir construction project - approved as a royal project with a Bt4.1 billion fund in 2006 but shelved after a landslide disaster - to have an impact assessment and allowed to become the villagers' source of farming water.

Another villager Chamlong Buasomboon, 60, lamented that state officials had notified her the seven-rai land she lived on was a public land and she must move out or pay a rental fee. She said she and other villagers fhad ought for the rights to the land and she wouldn't know what to do if the lands were ruled to be public.

Having no land title deeds, she said she couldn't borrow money for farming from banks and resorted to borrowing from a loan shark who charged 5 per cent interest, so the Bt30,000 she borrowed took two years to fully pay back.

Privy Councillor Air Chief Marshal Kamthon Sindhvananda visited the area and said all agencies were working to solve the land issue. The Royal Forestry Department was working on amending the law to transfer the lands in question to the Treasury Department so they would become state-owned property before they could be allocated and issued with land title deeds for the affected residents. He said the reservoir project was still in the government's consideration process and the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary would follow through its progress to materialise by the end of this year.

The reservoir project's adviser Dnuja Sindhvananda confirmed that state agencies were working to solve the problem over the 11,880 rai of land occupied by the affected 4,500 families. They had sacrificed their land to the Sirikit Dam construction between 1968 and 1971, only to find later their new land overlapped conserved forestland and public land. Therefore, as an initial solution, 1,040 families would get land title deeds for 9,877 rais within this year. The Nan River self-help settlement covered 50,000 rai of land.

Land, building taxes draft bill not true reform : critics

Land, building taxes draft bill not true reform : critics

By Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Nation
Published on August 26, 2010

More measures are needed to reduce inequality; generate income for poor


The draft bill on land and building taxes will not cut down on inequality in terms of land ownership or generate income for poor people and farmers, prominent economist and social critic Pasuk Phongpaichit said.

"This land and building tax bill is not directly aimed at reducing social inequality in land ownership or distributing unoccupied land. There seems to be a misunderstanding and expectations from the bill," she said.

Pasuk was speaking at the "Bill on Land and Building and the Fairness of Land Ownership" seminar held by Thai Land Reform Network at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Economics.

The Cabinet approved the bill in April after it was submitted by the Finance Ministry.

Under the draft bill, landowners must pay their taxes to the local administrative organisation. The maximum rate would be 0.5 per cent of the value as appraised by the Treasury Department at the initial stage.

The draft bill also sets a ceiling on rates for three types of land, with no more than 0.05 per cent on farmland; no more than 0.1 per cent on residential land; and no more than 0.5 per cent on land used for other purposes or left unused.

If land is left unused for three years, owners must pay 1 per cent of the value of the land in taxes, which will be increased to 2 per cent after three years and remain at that rate in following years.

"The bill will force landowners either to sell their land or put it to good use so they can avoid having to pay high taxes," she said. "Also, the bill will help stop realestate speculation."

Pasuk said the government should run programmes like the ones used in Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, where people who own large tracts of land have to hand some over to the state in exchange for government bonds.

"The government could take public land and distribute it among the landless," she said.

Surapong Songrak, a member of the landreform network, said the government should revoke the ceiling on the rate that owners are taxed for unused land, because this would allow them to profit from speculating on land.

"The government should collect land tax at a progressive rate," he said, adding he did not see any clear policies about using financial measures to support the redistribution of land.

Meanwhile, Duangmanee Laowakul, a lecturer at Thammasart University's Faculty of Economics, said the government should set up a committee to monitor each individual owner's usage of land so the local administrative organisation can esti mate the rate at which they should be taxed.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/loca...of-land-owners

ENCROACHMENT

Panel advises eviction of land owners

• Published: 14/09/2010 at 12:00 AM
• Newspaper section: News

Five owners of land close to a property formerly occupied by Gen Surayud Chulanont in the Khao Yai Thieng forest reserve in Nakhon Ratchasima should be forced to leave the area, a panel dealing with forest encroachment has found.

Chonlatid Suraswadi, the co-chair of the panel and director-general of the Forest Department, announced the commission's findings yesterday.

"We have proposed our resolution to the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, but without a clear direction on the cases from the ministry, we can do nothing," Mr Chonlatid said.

He declined to provide details of the owners who the panel said were occupying the land illegally and have built homes on the reserve in Sikhiu district.

A Forestry Department source quoted in the Bangkok Post in February said the five owners were state officials who had tried to sell their land once the scandal broke over Gen Surayud's development.

Mr Chonlatid said the government would compromise in cases of poor families living on low-lying land in the area who have violated the terms of a 1975 cabinet resolution giving them the land.

Over 1,079 rai were allocated under the resolution to 161 poor families at Khao Yai Thieng for agricultural purposes. The resolution forbade them from transferring the land to anybody other than their heirs.

However, the Forest Department estimates that over 90% of the land allocated for agricultural purposes and 50% of plots earmarked for residential use have been transferred to outsiders.

Land use in Khao Yai Thieng made headlines late last year when Gen Surayud was found guilty of land encroachment. He returned the 21 rai of land to the Forest Department in January and the resort home he had built on it was dismantled.

Mr Chonlatid's panel was set up shortly after the conclusion of the Surayud case to further investigate misuse of land on the reserve.

The Forestry Department vowed to apply the same standard it had used in the Surayud case to other allegations of land misappropriation. However, to date there has been no progress in other cases.

Meanwhile, Chote Trachu, the new permanent secretary for the environment, said yesterday he would study the cases. He said he would focus on forest encroachment, which was getting worse because of illegal land possession.

Thailand has 104 million rai of forest remaining, or about 33.3% of its total area. Of that, 22 million rai is considered degraded forests and 6 million has been occupied.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/loca...rs-ystem-abuse

Govt tackles land owners' 'system abuse'

Sor Por Kor laws face major legal shakeup

• Published: 4/10/2010 at 12:00 AM
• Newspaper section: News

The government is planning to replace the Sor Por Kor 4-01 land ownership papers with special title deeds to tackle the abuse which has plagued the land reform programme.

Landowners would be unable to sell the special title deeds during their lifetime, Deputy Interior Minister Thaworn Senneam said.

But they could use the deeds as collateral to obtain a private loan.

Mr Thaworn, who supervises the Land Department, said the ban on the sale of the land was to keep the land from ending up in the hands of businessmen and politicians.

The land reform policy is intended to give farmers land on which to make a living. It is not clear at this stage what restrictions the government might impose regarding the use of the deeds as collateral.

Critics of the policy said the special deeds would not only fail to tackle land reform abuse but might encourage malpractice if they were allowed to be used as collateral without clear conditions.

It is feared the deeds could end up in the hands of businessmen and politicians if farmers defaulted on loan repayments and the land was repossessed.

Sor Por Kor land ownership papers are not transferrable under the present system, but they can be mortgaged with the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives.

"The deeds would be more attractive as collateral," Mr Thaworn said.

The Sor Por Kor papers can be changed progressively to title deeds but this takes a long time and involves many steps. The Sor Por Kor papers will be transformed to deeds under the new policy.

The deputy minister said he had held talks with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva over two months on the launch of the special deeds. He said farmers eligible to have their Sor Por Kor papers upgraded to title deeds could be those who have made a living from the land for a long time, in many cases for at least 10 years.

Farmers who had occupied the Sor Por Kor land for at least a decade would grow attached to the land and would want to keep it for farming.

Mr Thaworn said the reform land occupants would be encouraged to grow and sell crops through the government's crop price intervention. They would not be inclined to give up the land which had provided them with a steady income.

A source said the government was moving to amend a related land law in the process of changing the Sor Por Kor papers to title deeds. The change was expected to be done in phases, starting with the Sor Por Kor papers in provinces where there are no problems with land distribution.

Some political analysts believe the proposed land paper upgrade could prove another time bomb for the ruling Democrat Party if it is not handled properly.

Land reform has remained a sore point for the Democrats. A debate in the House in 1995 exposed alleged irregularities in the Sor Por Kor 4-01 land reform scheme in Phuket that eventually led to the collapse of the first Chuan Leekpai government.

Campaign for Popular Democracy secretary-general Suriyant Thongnoo-iad said the conversion appeared to be a cosmetic measure that was unlikely to deter land grabs.

He said the land reform abuse was left unchecked because there were not enough surveyors at the Agricultural Land Reform Office. Each surveyor oversees about 30,000 rai of reform land.

The reform land covers 31 million rai, or about 10% of the country's land area, in 679 districts across 69 provinces, Mr Suriyant said.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/loca...-at-govt-house

Urban poor rally at Govt House

• Published: 4/10/2010 at 11:49 AM
• Online news: Breakingnews

About 4,000 people who have been affected by land allocation and housing problems from throughout the country rallied at Government House on Monday morning and submitted a letter to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to mark the World Habitat Day.

The demonstrators, all wearing a green shirt, raised campaign banners and spoke through loudspeakers to call for justice. They were led by Somchai Nakthiem, a core member of the National Confederation of Organisations for Development of the Urban Poor.

Their letter was received on the prime minister's behalf by Jittichai Saengthong, an assistant minister attached to the Prime Minister's Office.

The letter calls for the government to issue a law to impose control on land for construction to enable people who own a small plot to land to build houses, and for the State Railway of Thailand to solve housing problems for people living along the railway.

The group would also submit a similar letter to the United Nations, Interior Ministry, and Transport Ministry.

Bangkok Post : Agency finds businessman encroached on forest

Agency finds businessman encroached on forest

• Published: 2/11/2010 at 12:00 AM
• Newspaper section: News

A businessman close to the Puea Thai Party has encroached on land in Nakhon Ratchasima to help expand a golf course project, a national anti-graft agency has found.

Ampol Wongsiri, acting secretary-general of the Office of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission, said yesterday his office had begun investigating the alleged encroachment in March and April after receiving complaints from people living nearby.

Mr Ampol said the alleged encroachment concerned two blocks of land occupied by a businessman with the initial "P".

Mr P is the chairman of the company developing the golf course.

The first block was originally 84 rai but had been expanded by 35 rai to 119 rai by the time a survey was conducted to facilitate the issuance of a Nor Sor 3 Kor land rights document.

An investigation found the developer had included parts of Khao Tien-Khao Khuen Lan forest reserve as part of the land for which he was seeking title.

The other block covered 198 rai of land.

It increased by 60 rai to 258 rai by the time a survey was conducted.

Both blocks are in tambon Lat Bua Khao in Sikhiu district and are part of a planned 2,000-rai golf course project.

Mr Ampol neither confirmed nor denied reports the businessman backing the golf project was Prayuth Mahagitsiri, a businessmen with close ties to the Puea Thai Party.

Mr Prayuth declined to comment yesterday.

Mr Ampol said Justice Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga had acknowledged his panel's findings and planned to push for prosecution.

He said the Department of Special Investigation would take legal action against the developer and the PACC would ask the National Anti-Corruption Commission to deal with any government officials and land surveyors involved in the alleged encroachment.