The Mahakan Fort community will send a letter to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) in a bid to protect the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration from being sued by the anti-graft agency for failing to evict the residents in long-running land dispute.

After a discussion with Mahakan Fort Community members on Thursday, Bangkok deputy governor Pol General Aswin Kwanmuang agreed to accept suggestions from the community and academics in an attempt to end the 24-year dispute.

He said the community had to find a solution for the BMA and stop it from being punished by the government.

“I guarantee that there will be no surprise forced relocation of the community,” he said. “We are an official agency, not the mafia. If we decide to do so [evict the community], we will notify [it] beforehand. Moreover, we still have no plan to evict the community soon.”

He said the BMA faced a legal threat from the NACC, the Ombudsman’s Office, and the Supreme Administrative Court because it was the BMA’s duty to appropriate the land. If the BMA allows the community to stay, it would face a charge of failing to perform its duty.

“I would like to ask the community and academics to find the way out for the BMA as well. I personally have no benefit in whether the community will be relocated or not, but many officials in the BMA will face punishment,” he said.

BMA Land Acquisition Division director Sakchai Boonma explained that the project to build the park was not a city project, but the government assigned it to carry out the project according to the Rattanakosin Island beautification plan.

Pornthep Buranaburidet, the deputy community leader, revealed that after the meeting yesterday the BMA asked the community to send a letter to the anti-graft agency to inform it of the situation and identify which members of the community received compensation from the city and intended to leave.

“For now the fate for the community is still unclear, but we will do what the BMA asks and we will talk with the BMA again next week,” Pornthep said.

The atmosphere at the discussion between the BMA and community members on Thursday was intense, as both sides have dug their heels in. However, many possible solutions for the conflict were presented to the forum and Aswin promised to take all suggestions to the Bangkok governor.

Chatri Phakitnonthakan, a lecturer in Architecture at Silpakorn University who has studied community preservation, said all the relevant parties should work together. He said the Rattanakosin committee’s beautification plan to build the park was wrong.

“The plan by the Rattanakosin panel is outdated and unfit for the setting of old-town Bangkok,” the lecturer said, adding that the BMA should call for the plan to be torn up, given it is being pressured from both sides.

Tuenjai Deetes, a Nation Human Right Commission member for communal rights, said the BMA should listen to the suggestions and respect the rights of the community.