Southern Thailand

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Pinnapa "Muenoor" Prueksapan knew that her husband Porlajee "Billy " Rakchongcharoen may be in danger

A barrel of oil has been discovered on the bottom of a Reservoir in a nature reserve in Thailand in April 2019, threw a light on a story that remained of some of the rather hidden. It is a story of powerful men, and the lengths you go to, allegedly, their crimes covered up. But it is also the story of a woman who is determined to get justice for The Man she loved and the community he fought is.

Pinnapa "Muenoor" Prueksapan remembers The Words that her husband told her, back in the year 2014, As If it happened yesterday.

"He told me: 'The people are with this not happy with me. They say if they Find Me , they Kill Me . If I do disappear, don't come looking for me. You don't wonder where I went. You will probably have killed me'.

"So I said to him: 'If you know you're in danger, such as these, why you can help stop her grandfather and The Village ?'.

"And he said to me: 'If you're doing The Right thing, you have to continue to fight, even if it means that you may lose your Life . '.

"And after he said that, I couldn't ask him to stop," she recalls.

If Porlajee "Billy " Rakchongcharoen left for work on the 15th of April of the same year, Muenoor has no questions. He left just Like any other day, grabbed the travel bag and his wife Packed for him, and to walk out the door without saying goodbye.

He said Muenoor that he was going to have with the people in his role as locally elected officials - But that was not the whole truth. In fact, Billy had gone to his grandfather and the members of his village to gather Evidence to take to lawyers in Bangkok - The Evidence that he hoped they would prove, once and for all, the local authorities in this remote part of Southern Thailand were illegal displacement of indigenous communities.

Three Days later, Muenoor got a call from Billy 's brother asked if he came home safely. But he still wasn't home. Suddenly she remembered Billy 's words.

And now, Billy was gone.

The Cursed forest perhaps, the call would have never happened, it's not for another tragedy three years previously.

Billy came out of a forest on the Thai-Myanmar border In July 2011, three military helicopters crashed in a remote part of the Kaeng Krachan National Park , in the vicinity of Southern Thailand , The Border with Myanmar. They went down, one after The Other in a series of accidents the blame on the bad weather.

The Tragedy has yet to collect compounded by the fact that The Last two helicopters were sent to The Remains of The First .

seventeen people lost their lives in the three accidents: 16 soldiers and a member of the Bangkok press.

crashes drew the attention of the media in the country. Soon journalists from all over Thailand were descending on the area this meant, for the First Time , all eyes were focused on this quiet, rural region - and the Dark Secrets he hid.

In the end, a tip-off led the journalists to a remote location, far into the dense green jungle, the country's largest National Park , and the whole secret, The Soldiers were to protect seemingly try to die.

Because there, deep in The Forest , were the charred remains of a village.

The Park rangersThe village was once home to a small indigenous community of about 100 families from the Karen minority. They were farmers, living a simple Life in balance with their environment.

It was where Billy grew up with his grandfather, Karen spiritual leader of the Ko-ee Mimee.

He lived in a small village with his grandfather, Ko-ee Mimee (in the picture with Muenoor) its existence to sound, in some ways, idyllic. But the 352,000 Karen people, seen them live in Thailand as an outsider. The majority of The World 's five million Karen people live in the neighbouring Myanmar.

But decades of persecution and a long-lasting Civil War with the government in Myanmar, thousands of Karen civilians to cross The Border , where the Thai authorities have designated a foreign threat, have forced the riots said in connection with drug smuggling, and militant.

And it is obvious why the locals National Park of say, a Ranger, was evacuated, The Village and burned everything to the ground weeks before the damn helicopter flights.

The military helicopter has been understood on the way to The Village , to ensure it was completely and utterly destroyed.

Park Rangers came in may 2011, The Villagers did not say that Billy was there The Night The Park Rangers came in the year 2011. He had married Muenoor and moved to a village closer to their family.

But it was a father, a spiritual leader and a well respected member of The Village , his home, and allowed to stay with the Rangers , The Night in his hut.

"To this day, there were three helicopters were flying over The Village ," a Karen man who wishes to remain anonymous, told the BBC.

" That on The First day there were 15 Park Rangers . She went to Billy 's grandfather's house. She spoke to him and asked to stay for The Night . "

The Village was evacuated, and the Rangers set, the light in the apartments Ko-ee Mimee had no idea what was about to happen.

"The Park Ranger not to say, or to Do Something , felt threatened, except for the fact that they came with guns. On The Following day, at 9 a.m., the helicopter returned. The Village headman said to Billy ' s packing a grandfather to his clothes, and you go with The Park Ranger in the helicopter," Karen man reminded.

Even if The Villagers were told to in the helicopter, there was no panic: you still didn't understand what was going on.

It was only as they rose over the trees, the enormity of what took place, and was finally Clear .

The entire village was destroyed "When we started, I began to see smoke, and I was the crackling of The Wood to listen to, out of The Fire ," the villager told the BBC. "When the helicopter was high above The Village , I looked down and saw my whole house In Flames .

", Everything in Billy 's was burned down dad's house. All he had was a bag, with his hat and a T-shirt inside. The rest of The Villagers were not able to have all of their possessions.

"Everything was, we burned ever owned down along with our houses. "

The peasants, the Limlikidacsorn fought backChaiwat, the National Park chief, would later tell reporters, the families were intruders, and The Village was used as a transit country for Karen drug smugglers come across The Border from Myanmar.

according to Thai law, he would argue that permanent structures could not be built inside protected national parks, and this year the team of the Rangers Chaiwat were to apply for Kaeng Krachan, a Unesco world heritage site.

Chaiwat Limlikidacsorn said the destruction was necessary in The Village was often alleged smugglers used Billy 's community denied the accusations. They said the military cards from the year 1912 showed even in their village there were in the same Position for at least a hundred years, and long before The Forest became a National Park in 1981.

"The way we lived and farmed, was In Harmony with The Forest ," Abisit "Jawree" Charoensuk, a local Karen village, reports the BBC. "We Karens respect for the nature as our God. We worship a water God, a forest God, and all living things in The Forest . Our farming technique is friendly to the environment. And we grow what we consume, throughout the year.

"We catch fish in The River , we catch small animals in The Forest and we grow fruit as a result. We grow and sell rice, and to sell The Women weaving clothes. "

But after The Village had been Burnt , if The Park authorities moved the community to The Outskirts of Kaeng Krachan, things were very different.

"There is no rice for us to harvest, to grow up because there is No Land for us rice. The Land they moved us all on the rock," Billy told newsmen in 2011. "Since we do not can not live, we know How To survive. Some of us don't have Thai citizenship, so we can't look for jobs in The City .

"Many are afraid, if you leave the area, you will be arrested by The Police . We can not live down here; we have to go back to where we were. "

The destruction of his village was a Turning Point for Billy , the transformation of a young peasant in a Human Rights activist. He and his grandfather got in contact with lawyers in the capital, Bangkok , about two and a half hour drive away.

But it was the helicopter crash was, finally, their plight, the attention that it needed.

Billy was more and more justice passion. He organized seminars on Karen rights of the company, and the country to explain traveled, what had happened in his village. He led attempts to sue The Park Rangers to compensate.

The Last time Billy saw was alive, he was arrested under the Wild Honey from The Forest .

When they arrived, they asked Muenoor to pray next to the water.

on Thursday, 2. January.

thailand, human rights, myanmar, asia

Source of news: bbc.com