Response toward cemetery land shifting to a new police office arise by the group of Moken sea gypsies who against that plan. Around 50 members of the Ban Laem La and Ban Hin Look Diow Moken communities voiced their rejection at the Treasury Department’s plan to grant nearly half of their public cemetery to the Provincial Police.

Members of the two communities in Mai Khao said the decision was made without any act of discussion with them. The protesters petitioned the Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop and order all parties involved to come to a good solution. According to the Treasury Department, a meeting was held a day after the protests in which all parties agreed for a full re-evaluation of that plans.

In 1967 a survey by the Thalang District Chief and the Moken measured the cemetery at 75 rai, but over the years encroachment has reduced it to just 17 rai. The Tsunami Memorial Cemetery is also located within the 17 rai plot.

News by Phuket Gazette