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Dubious Development Concepts in the Thai Highlands: The Chao Khao in Transition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Chupinit Kesmanee
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Abstract

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Thai government policies for highland development are creating serious problems for ethnic hill tribes, among them environmental pollution, prostitution, AIDS, increasing opium addiction, and social disruption. Three questionable assumptions underlie government policies. Concern for opium eradication not only directs attention and funds away from groups who do not produce opium but has also failed, thus far, to find substitute crops that do not require extensive use of polluting chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The flawed assumption that shifting cultivators, rather than logging concerns, are major destroyers of the forests has led to fruitless efforts to relocate hill peoples. And the questionable theory that ethnic peoples pose a threat to national security has led to educational efforts that undermine traditional forms of village authority.

Type
Part III: Land & the Natural Environment
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 28 , Issue 3: Special Issue: Law & Society in Southeast Asia , 1994 , pp. 673 - 686
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 by The Law and Society Association.

References

1 The term chao khao also includes the Mlabri, a small number of hunters and food gatherers. Unfortunately, owing to Mlabri nomadism, the government has made no effort to generate development activities for this target group.

2 The areas are Doi Pae Per (1987–91) in Chiang Mai and Tak; Doi Sam Mun (1987–91) in Mae Hon Son and Chiang Mai; Doi Wiang Pha (1988–92) in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai; and Doi Yao-Pha Mon (1989–93) in Chiang Rai and Phayao (Thai Rath [Bangkok], 9 Mar. 1990).

3 Generally speaking, not only has the number of opium addicts increased, but an increasing number of heroin addicts are found among highlanders, especially in Chiang Mai (Wanat Bhruksasri et al. 1991:19–28).