Recent History
An important political issue at the end of the 20th century was the construction of the Pak Mun dam in the district of Khong Chiam, in Ubon Ratchathani Province. The project was completed in 1994, flooding 117 square kilometres of land and displacing around 3000 families. The project has been criticised for insufficient compensation payments, adverse effects on the fisheries of the Mun River, and failure to produce the projected power output.
Protesters against the Pak Mun dam joined with other grassroots activists in 1995 to form the Assembly of the Poor, a group seeking to promote the involvement of the poor in decision-making processes, and to have their interests taken into account. The group has organised a number of protests against the project in Bangkok. The now deposed prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, responded by claiming that activists NGO Living River Siam are trouble-makers who do not reflect the opinions of ordinary people. The same issue arose with the Rasi Salai Dam in Sisaket Province, which was also completed in 1994 for the generation of electricity; it was abandoned for that purpose in 2000 and converted into a recreation area.
Read more about this topic: History Of Isan
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