Senator Prapan Koonmee described Agriculture Minister Thammanat Prompao’s policy, to convert Sor Por Kor 4-01 (land reform) certificates into title deeds, as a distortion of the principles of the land reform law with an intent to pave the way for a land grab by politically-connected commercial developers.
In his speech, during the Senate’s general debate against the government on Monday, Prapan said that the land reform law was first distorted in 2020, when the Land Reform for Agriculture Committee issued an edict allowing land reform plots to be used for non-agricultural purposes, including the setting up of an abattoir, a saw mill, a convenience store, a bus terminal and a petrol station.
Before the issuance of the edict, he said the Agricultural Land Reform Office (ALRO) sought advice from the Council of State as to whether land reform plots could be used for non-agricultural purposes, but the council’s answer was vague, prompting ALRO to go ahead with issuing the edict, despite the fact the Supreme Administrative Court had ruled that land reform plots could not be used for wind energy projects.
Senator Prapan claimed that about 50% of land reform plots are now occupied by nominees of land developers and money barons, who are waiting for the Sor Por Kor 4-01 certificates to be converted into title deeds so they can take ownership of the land from their nominees.
He said that the idea for converting Sor Por Kor 4-01 certificates into title deeds became a campaign policy of both the Move Forward and Palang Pracharath parties to woo the electorate.
He predicted that, once the government introduces a bill to parliament to convert Sor Por Kor 4-01 certificates into title deeds, the 6.4 million hectares of Sor Por Kor land will fall into the hands of land developers and wealthy people, with genuine farmers being left empty-handed.
Prapan blamed the land conflict in Khao Yai National Park on an edict issued by Agriculture Minister Thammanat, to change the selection criteria for farmers eligible to receive Sor Por Kor land and to empower the provincial ALRO as the sole authority, instead of the land allocation committee chaired by the provincial governor, to allocate land reform plots to farmers.
Defending the criticism, Thammanat vowed to take legal action against anyone found to be occupying Sor Por Kor land plots as nominees of other people, adding that a committee has been formed to probe land occupation in Nakhon Ratchasima, to ensure that the land plots are occupied by bona fide farmers.
