[Reader-list] the political sociology of golf in south asia -- posting

[Mario Rodrigues]

The political sociology of golf in South Asia--Posting


Over the last decade, golf has acquired the status of
a four-letter word because of the havoc it has wrought
across the globe. These ravages have been most
manifest in Asia, and especially in South-East Asia,
which has experienced some of the most concentrated
golf development as a result of state policy.

The so-called ‘green game’ has made
millions of people across the world see red because of
the excesses and illegalities associated with golf
course development. These include: issues relating to
illegal and sometimes forcible acquisition of land
required to build deluxe resorts and golf courses, the
displacement of traditional and/or marginalised
communities from their ancestral land, deforestation,
destruction/alteration of environment and ecological
life systems, use of (harmful) pesticides to keep
courses green and pest-free, contamination of soil and
neighbouring water systems due to heavy use of
pesticides, and the consumption of large amounts of
water at the cost of the public. 

These excesses have been mimicked in almost every
country across the globe, including India: this will
be highlighted in a future posting. Such excesses have
provoked strident protests from environmentalists,
activists, NGOs and those affected by golf
developments, sometimes erupting in violent incidents.
The violence has often been perpetrated by golf
developers in collusion with the
governments/authorities backing such developments.

To combat the scourge of golf, the Global Anti-Golf
Movement was founded in 1993 by Japanese market
gardener Gen Morita after he discovered that his crops
were contaminated by chemicals from the water draining
off a nearby golf course. The GAGM has been observing
a ‘World No Golf Day’ since the 1990s and
its activists have waged sustained campaigns against
controversial golf projects, especially in South-East
and East Asia, sometimes successfully. Of late, GAGM
has not been as active as before due to the economic
recession and the setbacks to the ‘tiger
economies’ a few years ago, which badly impacted
on the golf business. But it seems that golf back is
back on the agenda of national governments now and
golf courses have become an intrinsic part of the
landscape in South-East Asia.

Some of the anti-golf struggles that erupted in the
region, especially in the 1990s, and excesses
connected with golf, include:

* THAILAND: The Golden Valley Golf & Country Club
designed by Jack Nicklaus allegedly encroached on the
famous Khao Yai National Park, with developers
dynamiting a hill in the park to join two roads. A
number of golf courses in the country have allegedly
trespassed on protected forest areas and national
parks.

* MYANMAR: GAGM activists launched a campaign to try
and force Nicklaus to de-link himself from designing a
golf course for the Andaman Club on Thahtay Kyan
island, a $ 24 million five-star resort and casino
project, in view of the economic sanctions that were
in force against the Burmese military junta.  

In another instance, the army used strong-arm tactics
to evict traditional residents so that the land could
be freed for the development of the Myanmar Golf Club
in Rangoon.

* MALAYSIA: The Berawan, a small indigenous ethnic
group, were locked in grim battle with a Japanese
hotel chain and the Sarawak provincial government over
plans to build a 200-acre course on their ancestral
land in the Mulu National Park.

Hundreds of acres of tropical forests were reportedly
cleared to pave the way for luxury resorts and golf
courses in Langkawi island leading to all-round havoc
and deprivation.

* INDONESIA: Farmers, students and religious groups
launched a bitter though unsuccessful agitation
against the forcible acquisition of land by the
government to built the 120-acre Le Meridien Nirwana
Golf and Spa Resort (with links to the disgraced
former dictator General Suharto) near a Hindu shrine
overlooking Tanah Lot in Bali. 

In the Gili Trawangan islands off the picturesque
Lombok region, government forces used violence to
evict inhabitants and visitors; while in West Java, a
developer bulldozed crops to force farmers off their
land.

* VIETNAM: Security forces cracked down harshly on
protestors from the Kim No village outside Hanoi who
were protesting the Communist government’s
decision to confiscate their farmlands and hand it
over to foreign developers to build a golf course.

* CHINA: There is a moratorium on golf course
development after it was found that almost all courses
have been built after illegal acquisition of land.
Premier Wen Jiabao warned in Parliament that the
government would resolutely put an end to illegal
acquisition and use of farmland. According to
statistics published in the ‘People’s
Daily’, golf courses are devouring land
illegally – and of the 176 course in 26
provinces, only one has been approved by the central
government. The inference is that the rest are all
illegally built. According to the law, golf courses
can only be built on unused hills, waste land and
sloping fields, a rule seemingly observed more in
breach by local governments.

* THE PHILIPPINES: Citizens groups have valiantly
fought the efforts of the Fil-Estate Realty Corp to
build the Harbortown golf course and marina over 8,650
hectares of farmlands in Hacienda Looc, about 80 kms
off Manila at the suggestion of USAID. Ironically,
ownership of about 5,000 hectares of land was handed
over to the locals as part of the government’s
agrarian reforms programme earlier. But the government
then sold all 8,650 hectares on the cheap to
Fil-Estate without even bothering to notify the
peasants beforehand. To know more, check out the
documentary film ‘The Golf War’ (1999) by
Jen Schradie and Matt De Vries, a story of land, golf
and revolution in the Philippines.

Also check out the hard-hitting documentary ‘The
Green Menace: The Untold Story of Golf’ (1993)
by Thai independent film maker Ing Kanchanawanit,
which highlights the devastating effects of golf
course development on the environment. It includes
graphic footage of pesticide poisoning, forest
encroachment, and water theft associated with golf
course construction in Thailand; and features
interviews with golfers, caddies, engineers, doctors,
developers, and golf superstars (including Jack
Nicklaus and Greg Norman). 

* Golf courses are also known to use phenomenal
amounts of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides,
artificial colouring agents and so on, to keep the
‘greens’ and fairways green and pest-free.
A New York Attorney General study of pesticides used
on 52 Long Island golf courses found that the average
golf course applies about seven times more pesticides
per acre per year as compared to that applied in
agriculture.

* Water usage of golf courses is also a very sticky
issue.  According to a study done in 2000, an average
San Antonio golf course in Texas, USA, used 312,000
gallons of water per day. According to other sources,
while on an average a golf course anywhere in the
world uses about 10,800,000 litres of water per year,
according to the Golf Course Superintendents
Association, US golf courses use, on an average,
414,500,000 litres a year. In essence this means that
each golf course uses enough water to provide at least
1200 people with their basic water needs for a year. 
Gen Morita of the GAGM says that an 18-hole golf
course consumes 5,000 cubic metres of water a day,
enough for 2,000 families.

On its part the golf industry has since tried to clean
up its act and introduced several
environmentally-friendly measures to reduce pesticide
consumption – a few pesticide-free courses too
have made their appearance – and water
consumption. The golf industry has also gone on a
propaganda offensive to highlight the
‘green’ elements of golf. Whether all this
goes far enough to qualify golf as a
‘green’ game or something close to it is
the moot point.



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