Let's not be hasty in handing out land
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It's fine to empower the landless by handing them land, but before we give away seized plots society should debate and decide on the many related issues.
The land redistributed by PM Prayut was originally forest preserves; why not restore it to its former pristine state, and, say, give the landless low-cost loans to buy developed farmland instead?
If the land is not to be restored, how can we be sure the recipients were selected using transparent criteria related to their poverty, free of politics, with equal opportunities for all those who qualify? Furthermore, since the poorest of the poor probably can’t afford the resources to develop the land, did the government take care to offer them low-cost loans for the necessary training, seeds, etc?
Prayut used Article 44 to bypass the courts and thus save time. But what if a court were to decide in favour of the previous owners? Or has Article 44 replaced our entire judicial system? Even Solomon didn’t lay claim to being infallible.
Let’s think things through carefully on such an important issue.
Burin Kantabutra
