NIGHT SAFARI PROVIDES TOUCHSTONE FOR ATTACKING THAKSIN

UNCLAS CHIANG MAI 000132

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL SENV TH
SUBJECT: NIGHT SAFARI PROVIDES TOUCHSTONE FOR ATTACKING THAKSIN

REF: CHIANG MAI 233 (05) (THANKS BUT. CHIANG MAI STRUGGLES WITH DEVELOPMENT DESIGNED IN BANGKOK)


1. Summary: As recent flooding in Chiang Mai renewed concern
over the long-term effects of the area's Night Safari and other
development projects, a Chiang Mai NGO has joined with other
regions to file a case in the Supreme Administrative Court
against the Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism
Administration (DASTA),an independent government organization
appointed by the cabinet. While the case concerns the
protection of public land, the politics of this issue is pointed
directly at Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. End summary


2. An environmental protection group calling itself the Love
Chiang Mai Alliance (Pakhee Khon Hak Chiang Mai) is seeking to
dissolve a government entity created in 2003 to boost tourism
and generate income. According to this group and its NGO
partners in Koh Samet, Rayong, Phi Phi Island and Loei, DASTA's
operations conflict with a legal requirement that public
organizations must be non-profit. The Love Chiang Mai Alliance
accuses the tourism development agency of illegally encroaching
on the Suthep-Pui National Park to create the Chiang Mai Night
Safari. (reftel)


3. Still in the drafting stage, this planned court case moves
the Alliance's long standing fight against the Night Safari and
Thaksin's development plans onto the national level and into the
judicial system. Thaksin has pledged to help develop his
hometown by turning Chiang Mai into a major tourist hub. The
head of DASTA, Dr. Plodprasob Surasawadi, also heads the Night
Safari. Anti-Night Safari activists view the establishment of
DASTA in 2003 as part of a government plot to develop parts of
the Suthep-Pui National Park for mass tourism.

Wolf on the Lam Eats Chickens
--------------


4. The Love Chiang Mai Alliance has charged that Thaksin's
ideas for tourism development are poorly conceived,
environmentally harmful, not transparent and lacking community
input. Approval for the Night Safari was handled in a
fast-track manner, bypassing normal bidding procedures.
Opponents got fresh ammunition in recent weeks after revelations
of a government cover-up in the case of an escaped wolf that
roamed the area for a month eating villagers' chickens. The
Night Safari and other development projects have also been
blamed for several flooding incidents that affected Chiang Mai
in August.

Not Only Is It Wrong, It's Unprofitable
--------------


5. In addition to environmental and wildlife concerns,
opponents point out that Night Safari attendance is low and the
project is losing money. Officials report 261,091 visitors
since February, generating revenue of 17.49 million baht. With
Thai and foreigner ticket prices set at 50 and 100 baht by day
and 250 and 500 baht at night, these figures suggest many
visitors are non-paying, including a reported 10,000 villagers
who gathered there Monday night to welcome the Prime Minister.


Now the Army is Mad Too
--------------


6. Angered at what it considers to be a conspiracy between
Thaksin and Plodprasob to ram through not only the Night Safari
but additional Disney-type projects in the national park, the
Alliance is attempting to raise alarms about additional plans
for a large elephant park with accommodation for tourists.
Infrastructure development for the Chiang Mai World project has
also created conflict with Army Region 3, which rejected a
request from the Public Highway Department to construct a new
road into the Suthep-Pui park area that it uses for training.
The Highway Department nevertheless awarded a contract to a
construction company that is owned by the father-in-law of
Minister to the Prime Minister's Office Newin Chidchob. Both
sides are now playing tug of war, with Third Army Commander
General Saprang, already identified as a Thaksin opponent,
declaring that the road will not be built.


7. Comment: Although the NGOs in Chiang Mai and in other
communities have coalesced around protection of public lands and
national parks, the true target is Thaksin. Thaksin's effort to
channel development money and increase tourism to his home town,
while welcomed by many local people, has inflamed environmental
and cultural protection groups who feel steamrollered by
grandiose projects developed without local input. Many hope
that the increasingly negative publicity about the Night Safari
could prove another chink in Thaksin's armor.

CAMP