Another junta legacy encroached upon by the privileged rich 

So the “new trick” seems not so new at all – the poor sell land to the rich. And the new solution is to give back the land to these sellers. And meanwhile they say it is the poor that is doing the encroachment. It’s as if they want the poor to take as much forestland as they please, as long as the rich are kept out of it. It’s not clear how this policy is going to improve anything. The words “poor” or “rich” should not be part of any policy to protect the forest. Just protect the forest equally without discrimination. Then the strategy moving forward will become clear.
canopy
That’s a lot of excuses for years and years by vested interests who “look the other way to find an envelope”. Virtually all the land bordering on a forest and national parks is or has been encroached upon. I’ve seen it first-hand many, many times.
kaorop
The report says: “Since it took power in the 2014 coup, the junta had made land encroachment one of its national priorities. It came up with two orders, the National Council for Peace and Order No 64/ 2557 and 66/ 2557 to directly target the big-time encroachers, generally influential, rich people.”
Yet another legacy/triumph will be deleted from the junta’s history.
The Nation continues: “The justice process, meanwhile, is long and too procedural. Moreover, the definition of ‘Nai Tun’ that is used for big-time encroachers is unclear, prompting wrongful arrests that confuse the cases further.”
Once again it favours the rich and powerful. This coup was to bring happiness back to the people.  It has. All the rich who opposed elected governments are now very happy. 
yellowboat
At least they have done something and started to get back encroached-upon land, something no other govt actually did, preferring instead to let it continue since it was their “mates” doing the encroaching. The only way it will be stopped is to demolish all the building on the land and seize all of the encroachers’ assets, as the only thing these people understand is money. If they start losing it all they will panic. Jail time would also be very beneficial. Trouble is no one wants to make the rich pay for what they are doing, so in reality it won’t be fixed until their is a govt that has the balls to do what is right and not what favours their friends.
seajae
ThaiVisa