Around 100 members of the People’s Movement for a Just Society (P-move) yesterday met with Minister Ormsin Chivapruck and related agencies to discuss and find mutually beneficial solutions to address people’s chronic problems regarding forced relocation and land loss nationwide.

After travelling 800 kilometres from Krabi to Bangkok, 80-year-old farmer Rieng Khongthum looked weary from the long journey, but she said her feelings could not compare to the fatigue from a decade-long unsettled dispute over 15 rai (2.4 hectares) of land with authorities from the Hat Noppharat Thara–Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park.

“My home and my rubber plantation were all destroyed in August 2014. I have no land and I have no home now. I can only fight to take my land back,” Rieng said.

“This has had a big impact on the final stage of my life, as I lost my home, my land and my income. I have to live with my relatives, but since I have no income, I have many debts.”

Rieng’s was one of 30 households on 359 rai of land in Krabi’s Muang District that were forced out.

She said she and other community members had fought for their land in the disputed forestland for nearly 15 years, but no progress had been made despite her claim that people had occupied the land since 1967, long before the establishment of the national park.

The situation worsened when the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) took power and initiated the forest reclamation policy, which led to authorisation to clear entire plantations and structures in disputed areas.

“I have come to Bangkok several times to fight for my rights to my own land. I hope that this time the government will understand the burden of the people and sincerely solve poor people’s problems,” she said. “I still hope that I can regain my land before I die.”

Due to the delayed progress, P-move yesterday issued a statement urging the government to expedite policies to solve people’s land-related problems by establishing a land bank and issuing communal land deeds.

The group also asked the government to stop further actions that would harm people’s livelihoods, such as forest reclamation, and postpone projects that would have a significant impact on communities, such as the Tak Special Economic Zone.

PM’s Office Minister Ormsin Chivapruck said at the meeting that authorities understood people’s hardships, adding that he would report to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to find mutually agreeable solutions to the problems.