first eight months, the Forestry Department reduced the laborers’ work
schedules to only fifteen days a month for the next six months, and then
stopped the project. Meanwhile the forest-destroying gangs intensified
their operations and the cutting of trees has sharply increased. In other
words, under the supposed cooperation between Phra Prachak and the
Forestry Department, the forest has been increasingly destroyed. The
government even publicized this situation to convince the public that
monks and villagers lacked the capacity to protect the forest.
Many attempts were made to discredit Phra Prachak and to erode
his support. A rumor was circulated that he was paid a good sum of
money by the government, which caused many people to stop making
donations for his work. Government officials gave money to some villagers
and not to others, with the intention of causing misunderstandings
among them.11 The villagers finally divided into three groups. The
first, the majority, turned their attention to new plots of land provided
by the government. The second group accepted patronage from the
influential people who were behind the illegal loggers and withdrew
support from Phra Prachak. The third and smallest group continued to
support his forest conservation efforts, since they realized that if the
forest was completely destroyed, villagers would find it extremely difficult
to survive, and the area would face serious problems of drought
and water shortage.
Although Phra Prachak’s campaign was held back by government
authorities, his campaign represents a grassroots Buddhist liberation
theological struggle in response to environmental problems.
Under Thailand’s military dictatorship, the government openly used
its authority to destroy the forest for its own benefit. This prompted
people to organize and protest. Today, under an elected civilian government,
the process is more subtle yet equally destructive, since the
bureaucracy remains unchanged and influential people use covert tactics
to invade the rain forest (Phanthasen, 1994:38–39). Through his
campaign against environmental degradation, Phra Prachak has helped
awaken the ecological conscience of Thai people at the national level.