Good (?) news for Koh mak & Koh Kood, the Thai government announced that they intend to use the Koh Chang tourism management model to systematically develop other neighbouring islands. Cue the sound of the cheering masses.
This is the same tourism management model that allows developers to do pretty much what they like, oversees the building of public toilets that don't have running water, sees that way too many slummy shop units are erected, provided close on a million US dollars for a waste management plant - that's actually a large hole in the ground, and, after several years of half hearted construction never got round to completing the road around the island.
The brain factory behind the scheme is DASTA (Designated Area of Sustainable Tourism Administration) committee - headed by Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Environment Plodprasop Suraswadi. The report also mentions that the model will serve as the development master plan for the straw-clutching 'Riviera' project, which aims to promote the eastern seaboard as an international beach paradise. (All that's required are international paradise-like beaches.)
But, who is Plodprasop? A quick glance at his CV shows he's the right man for Koh Chang ;-)
He was Thailand's Forestry Chief and is the guy who in 2000 allowed owners of two illegally built resorts in Tap Lan National Park in Khon Kaen to continue operating despite a court order for them to close. At the time he was quoted as saying "How can we demolish their buildings? They have invested a lot of money." Fair enough and just to show he could stand up to encroachers the Bangkok Post, 2 Dec 2000, reported that he dispatched a battalion of 1,200 armed men to demolish four Karen shacks in Thung Yai forest on grounds of encroachment. "The law must be respected." Plodprasop insisted. Even though the forest dwellers argued that the area had been the home of indigenous Karens for generations.
He also, in July 2002, decided that all you tourists should pay 10 times as much as Thais for entrance to National Parks. (No, the extra money doesn't go direct to the Park as park fees have by law to be returned to the central agency, Royal Forestry Dept, which isn't exactly renowned for its probity in administering funds. High-ranking positions in RFD are known, according the boss of the Center for Conservation Biology, Mahidol University, to be bought and sold for millions of baht.)
However, later in 2002 he took 'early retirement' when the cabinet was reshuffled and he was out of a job. Oh, at the time there was a little matter of him being under investigation by seven different government fact-finding committees following several malfeasance complaints but that's probably only coincidence.
However, you cant keep a good man, or Plodprasop, down for long and he remerged, reputation intact to head DASTA.
He still knows how to wow foreign visitors, as, at the grand opening of Chiang Mai Night Safari in Nov 2005 he announced: “The zoo will be outstanding, with several restaurants offering visitors the chance to experience exotic foods such as imported horse, kangaroo, giraffe, snake, elephant, tiger and lion meat. We will also provide domestic crocodile and dog meat from Sakon Nakhon province."
Running a zoo isn't all about dog burgers and BBQ lion ribs you've got to know your market . . . the animal export market, and no one knows it better than Mr P., as in 2004 an inquiry by the Thai government panel on wildlife and plant protection, concluded Plodprasop broke the law by allowing a private Thai zoo to export 100 tigers to China for "research purposes". (Probably to see what they tasted like stir fried.) Fortunately, the illegal export of endangered animals merited no more than a judicial slap on the wrist, so didn't result in any loss of job this time round.
Plodprasop is also an excellent judge of character, or possibly recognises his own kind. In 2000, at a meeting to map a national tourism strategy, chaired by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, he called for a statue of Kanchanaburi Senator Chaowarin Latthasaksiri to be erected on account of his discovery of a huge stash of WWII Japanese gold & billions of dollars in US Treasury bonds hidden in a cave. Time magazine had this to say on the matter: "The lost treasure of Lijia Cave is now notorious as the biggest hoax in Thailand's history, a scam so brazen it came dangerously close to ensnaring the monarchy."
People are entitled to make errors of judgment, but so long as Plodprasop is liked by those on Koh Chang all should be well. Unfortunately, in May 2005, an adviser to Trat Environmental Conservation Group was reported as stating that "The organisation (DASTA) is killing our island" and had "Totally ignored people's participation in formulating the master plan". The report concluded by calling for the ouster of Plodprasop to ease local resistance to the project as the locals had questioned Plodprasop's transparency and his disregard for public opinion.
Will Plodprasop listen to the locals? Doubtful as this is what he had to say following criticism last year by Surapon Duangkhae, Secretary General of Wildlife Fund Thailand, over the transfer of wild animals from Kenya to Chiang Mai. Plodprasop was quoted in the Bangkok Post (9 Nov. 2005) as saying, "Mr Surapon is nobody. . . I'd like to warn him to stop making comments on the issue."
Methinks someone needs a spin doctor.
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