Cabinet approves debt relief; Farmers end threatened march

BANGKOK: -- The Cabinet approved a comprehensive farm debt-relief package Tuesday, prompting cancellation of protests and a threatened demonstration at Government House by farmers from the Northeast.

The Cabinet yesterday intervened on the side of indebted farmers, instructing financial institutions and government agencies to delay or suspend legal action against the debtors, Prime Minister's Office Minister Thirapat Serirangsan said.

Mr. Thirapat, who met Monday with the protest organisers in a bid to convince them not to march on the capital, agreed to convey their grievances to the Cabinet on Tuesday.

The minister told reporters that the state-owned Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) and its agencies were also ordered not to proceed with the repossession or the disposal of any land in cases where the court has already declared defaulted farmers bankrupt.

Another important state vehicle -- the Fund for Farmers Rehabilitation and Development (FFRD) -- which provides loan refinancing, will speed up negotiations with other creditors, including commercial banks, to resolve problem loans on the farmers' behalf.

In the final measure, the FFRD and relevant government agencies will map out a sustainable programme to help farmers repay their loans.

According to the minister, a team of senior officials would be set up to monitor the progress of work to deal with the plight of farmers.

He said protest organisers were informed of the Cabinet decision and agreed to call off the protest march.

Hundreds of farmers, most from Nakhon Ratchasima were camping out in Saraburi, about two hours north of Bangkok, and they had threatened to march on Bangkok unless the government came up with effective measures to deal with their debt problems.

Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Thira Sutabutr said there were currently a total of 8,000 farmers facing lawsuits. But of these, only 4,000 farmers were qualified to receive state assistance.

Their debts would be transferred to and refinanced by the Farmers' Rehabilitation and Development Fund by the end of this month, he indicated.

The rest would have to be solved on a case-by-case basis as the loans are either more than Bt1 million apiece or are unclear whether they were used for farming or non-agricultural purposes.

--TNA 2007-01-17

Cabinet approves debt relief; Farmers end threatened march

BANGKOK: -- The Cabinet approved a comprehensive farm debt-relief package Tuesday, prompting cancellation of protests and a threatened demonstration at Government House by farmers from the Northeast.

Why can the government only do the right and sensible thing when forced to?

Is it because they otherwise would have had to deal with farmers's demonstrations otherwise, or because they understand that the debt situation is very concerning?

Every government in the two decades I have been here has faced farmers demonstrations over debt, and virtually every government has made the same decision as this one.

It is probably about time that something substantive is done to reduce the level of indebtedness that many farmers face. To date no government has seriously tried to even come up with policies to do this let alone enact them, which yes would no doubt take time, money, guts and involve education and also be politically difficult. However, to do so would seem to both be a good idea in the interests of national reconcilliation and actaully improving the lives of a large proportion of Thailands people. Considering not being overextended in debt could be considered living within ones means and having means big enough to live within, this could also be considered a self-sufficiency idea and therefore maybe should be a government priority. It may also have the added advantage of freeing farmers from the control of local influentials and other unsavory characters that currently seem to reap political and pecuniary rewards from the plight of the poor.

Every government in the two decades I have been here has faced farmers demonstrations over debt, and virtually every government has made the same decision as this one.

It is probably about time that something substantive is done to reduce the level of indebtedness that many farmers face. To date no government has seriously tried to even come up with policies to do this let alone enact them, which yes would no doubt take time, money, guts and involve education and also be politically difficult. However, to do so would seem to both be a good idea in the interests of national reconcilliation and actaully improving the lives of a large proportion of Thailands people. Considering not being overextended in debt could be considered living within ones means and having means big enough to live within, this could also be considered a self-sufficiency idea and therefore maybe should be a government priority. It may also have the added advantage of freeing farmers from the control of local influentials and other unsavory characters that currently seem to reap political and pecuniary rewards from the plight of the poor.

It would be interesting to know what the debt is...If it is costs arising from crop failure or flooding, that is one thing, but if it is caused by buying pickup trucks, cell phones and motorcycles...that is entirely different...Oh yes and don't forget..there is a huge amount of gambling debt out there that might be mixed in.. This is a very sensitive subject and can not be covered with a single blanket..

Don't be too hard on them.

Blame it on the French influence.

After all they were among the first "round eyes"

to meddle in old Siam.

The very word 'farang' is said to come from

'farangsay' which was "trancais" (you've all heard

of tinglish) at the time.

And it is "de rigeur" (excuse my French) in that

fine country to do an immediate u-turn should

a bit of "street democracy" disturb the peace.

The very word 'farang' is said to come from

'farangsay' which was "trancais" (you've all heard

of tinglish) at the time.

Most likely not.

Westerners were called in Farsi "Ferengi" from the "Franks" (the frankish empire, etc.), also in Urdu still "Ferengi" is the term for westerners. Most likely "Farang" came via traders in use to label westerners here.