VZCZCXRO2629
PP RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHCHI #0132 2290704
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 170704Z AUG 06
FM AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0253
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK PRIORITY 0526
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI PRIORITY 0287

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