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

[aasim khan]

hope you know the latest pro golf-slogan.



no if. no but. sirf putt.

May i suggest an idea for a SUNNY day out:lets go golf
course digging.Dont forget to pack some pickles
wrapped in pranthas for the evening picnic .Also get
some old copies of Indian Express to be used as a
dastarkhwan.After all Mr. Gupta has been a PRO all the
way when ever one mentions the four letter word.Eh
says its in our natinal interest;(

'too bombastic...'.did i hear someone say.
aasim.
PS:something tells me Mr. Gupta is going to find the
pickle a bit too sour for his taste. 







--- Mario Rodrigues <majorod22 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> 
> 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 &#8216;green game&#8217; 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 &#8216;World No Golf Day&#8217; 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 &#8216;tiger
> economies&#8217; 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&#8217;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 &#8216;People&#8217;s
> Daily&#8217;, golf courses are devouring land
> illegally &#8211; 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&#8217;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 &#8216;The Golf War&#8217; (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
> &#8216;The
> Green Menace: The Untold Story of Golf&#8217; (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
> &#8216;greens&#8217; 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,
> 
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