Thailand's Reds Return To Heartland In Disarray

[gardenubon]

According to Wiki:

Isan's total population as of 2000 was 20,825,00.

The primary rice crop in Isaan is sticky rice, accounting for about 60% of the cultivated land in the region.

Due the the desert-like climate and terrain, they can get one crop per year, two if they are lucky.

Where I live, near the Chao Phraya, they get 3-4 crops per year, and the rice tends to be Hom Mali (Jasmine) or high-yielding Hom Patum.

A large number of Isaan people work in the Bangkok and send money home.

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

Hey Reds:

If Thaksin was really your friend, and not just using you as pawns in his Machiavellian plan to take over Thailand, he'd have developed better farming infrastructure in Isaan, and/or researched alternate farming plans, or encourage any other industry suitable for the region.

Example: guayule

This plant grows quite well in desert climates.

What is this plant good for? Rubber.

Not just rubber, but hypoallergenic rubber, which is required in medical applications.

Thailand already is the world leader in Rubber, with all the processing infrastructure and techniques. But competition is close on Thailand's heals, being financed by the Chinese in neighboring countries. However, these efforts focus on the rubber tree, which is not hypoallergenic after normal processing. Guayule could potentially help keep Thailand ahead of the game, and give Isaan a new cash crop.

Well, maybe, Thaksin has his reasons for not coming up with ideas like that for Isaan.

Better to keep you poor and upset, so he can use you as pawns.

yeah issan has a desert climate eh! you just shot yourself in the head.

the reason people can get 4 crops where you are is the river! i live near the mun river and alot of villages here can get 3 or 4 crops also. the climates roughly the same over most of the north, north east, central and west. with the south and east(trat) getting higher and more frequent rainfall. and i know alot of people work in bkk.

they grow sticky rice because of the poor soils of issan, as central thailands soil is much more fertile so more quality rice can be produced

[noahvail]

A few people had talked about the reds doing things in a Veera-esque style. I'll take a leap and say that is because he seemed the most moderate of the main group of leaders.

Let's not forget his history. He was convicted of lese-majeste in the late 80s, obtained a pardon, and was banned from politics for five years. He was also the leader of the Democrats at one stage.

I rather doubt that he could obtain a second pardon for the same offense, no matter how sincere his apologies.

Rather than go on about Veera, is there anyone in the second-tier leadership of the reds who could be a moderate and unifying factor for the future?

[agord]

fyi . the heartland of thailand is bangkok and the central provinces , NOT the north or northeast (issan).

How do you think BKK would get along if Issan stopped the delivery of food to BKK and all the Issan people working in BKK just packed up and went home? Where do you think the working class comes from? Without them, how would the elite in BKK get by?

Curious.

Curious?

I don't think so.

The red attack on Bangkok was an attack on the working class of Bangkok.

The workers of Bangkok showed their contempt for the Thaksin forces by not supporting them.

Not one neighbourhood.

Some live in a fantasy world where only the people of Issan are working class and everyone else in Thailand is living high on the hog???? From what I know of people in BKK and the south I don't think that they would be the least bit upset if all khon Issan packed up and went home. that's not my personal view either so save your flames. All you have to do is listen to the way people from BKK and the south talk about khon Issan.

[Jerrytheyoung]

If the reds attack populated malls in Central Thailand, etc. they will indeed kill different nationalities. Not many western tourists in Hat Yai anyway.

I think the reds, before going down this path,

better remember exactly what Sae Daeng made his reputation for back in the day.

Fighting Ideological insurgents back country.

He could have as easily shot Weng back then

as become his partner in a different inssurection now.

Bet the Rangers or some equivalent get a quick resurrection after the first mall is bombed.

And the hunt will be on, and the bodies NOT recovered.

Oh, and Abhisit won't be told a thing about it, it will just happen.

Sarah Pole-in????

Things to do when jet-lagged in Chi?

Disagree with you, because it is a very large part of the population. What has been done in the past with the rangers was on a structured Political Party. It was easy to destroy the leaders and then get the calm, because the instigators of unrests were the leaders at the opposite of the Current situation.Today there is no leaders.

As I have explained it is a very difficult situation to manage when there is no structure controlling the mob, we have known that with some social movements in Europe. The Government have to help the emergence of represntative new leaders, for example by asking the Reds to send some delegations for discussing their issues in Commissions.

Then some new leaders will emerge they will be the people with whom the Government will have to discuss, even the Government will have to help them gaining credibility: how? By considering as credible interlocutors and by advertising on the dialog.

This is the way to do: creating commissions and requesting the Red population send delegations.

[NanaFoods]

Actually they don't work "dawn till dusk 365 days a year" they are farmers so their work is seasonal. You don't blame them for burning down CTW eh? "it used to be a beautiful green rice patty"? You may want to go back and revise your post because for soemone who claims to know so much about Thailand you don't seem to have a clue! Any idea who owns that land genious? look it up

Wiki:

" It is on Crown Property Bureau land. In its acquisition, the Central Group's property development arm, Central Pattana (SET: CPN), secured a new 30-year lease on the site.^[3]"

Ooh. Major offense.

Bad move, Reds.

Really bad move.

Doh!!

[needforspeed]

If any human, the key you have to be a human, sees what these terrorist have done in the area they stayed (Ratchaprasong) for weeks, will never give the hero welcome. They lived and destroyed everything they could like wild animals.

SHAME on you should not call yourself a Thai EVER

They not like wild animals, wild animals don't destroy there own living area.

And better let them call themselfs Thai than European .

[OzMick]

fyi . the heartland of thailand is bangkok and the central provinces , NOT the north or northeast (issan).

How do you think BKK would get along if Issan stopped the delivery of food to BKK and all the Issan people working in BKK just packed up and went home? Where do you think the working class comes from? Without them, how would the elite in BKK get by?

Curious.

Quite well, I would think. In a market you have both buyers and sellers, and prices are set due to supply and demand. In SE Asia, unskilled labour is both plentiful and cheap. If Isaan wished to withdraw theirs, it could be easily replaced with workers from Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and VN. They compete at the moment but their access is restricted - open the doors and there would a flood. Same applies for food which sells for higher prices in Thailand.

More to the point, Isaan needs the rest of thailand to sell their produce. Most of the wealth in thailand is generated in BKK and the central provinces, and tax revenue is used to subsidise the North and south. Better education might even the balance, but not if the reds continue to burn schools.

[somtampet]

"So it will be no surprise if we hear of more violent riots across the country, especially the north and northeast, because these people do not have faith in the election process, so they turn to violent alternatives."

No "faith"?? How about just a little patience?? ....Elections are coming up soon.

Either these folks are khon jai ron, or they are really worried that they will have difficulty selling their votes next election.

The Red Shirts are copying the behavior of the Yellow Shirts. They introduced mob rule.

Mate,

You're leaving yourself open to a massive flaming there, the Yellows looked like boy scouts compared the the antics of the reds when they were forced to leave.

You are right that the yellows started with mob rule, but the reds have now shown that they are simply thugs and that they couldn't give a sh1t about their own country. They should never be allowed to run anything, yet alone a country.

These people are not Thai, they are simply scum.

Tom.

You are so funny khun yellow

[somtampet]

New leaders will emerge to take the place of those arrested. Abhisit has a window in which to make real progress toward a true resolution of the social issues. If he fails, we will be right back where we started after the election regardless of who wins it. The question is whether Abhisit commands the power to make a real difference or is he just another slave to the elitist hidden commanders we all know are present in Thai politics.

Abhisit is clearly intelligent and understands the problem but whether he can resolve it remains to be seen

The elitists run the country,the pm is a puppet and the yellows will continue to rape the country

[somtampet]

northern heartland

dear writer of this article,

fyi . the heartland of thailand is bangkok and the central provinces , NOT the north or northeast (issan).

NOT quite right,you should have said the HEARTLESS BANGKOK

[OzMick]

fyi . the heartland of thailand is bangkok and the central provinces , NOT the north or northeast (issan).

How do you think BKK would get along if Issan stopped the delivery of food to BKK and all the Issan people working in BKK just packed up and went home? Where do you think the working class comes from? Without them, how would the elite in BKK get by?

Curious.

Not that I disagree with your sentiments, I don't. But, I would suggest rice is probably cheaper from Burma these days and I guess the workers would come from Burma and Cambodia as many do now. Without government control of rice prices etc, many Issan farms would simply not be able to survive because you can be sure as hel_l that the rice mmillers and traders will not loose out on the deal. If ever the "reds" had a target it was there I would have thought.

got to say your are an idiot pure and simple, do you think that will happen? thailand the worlds biggest rice exporter will buy rice from another country???

also do you think it would be good to see all the poor rural people who work hard in the sun everyday for 200 baht or thereabouts lose thier income? what would they do? it would put the country baqck 50 years!

im enraged by you, if more people think like you then im not surprised there is so much poverty in this world

your rage and flaming are sadly misplaced. If you read the question posed, the answer was fair and appropriate.

[somtampet]

Mate,

You're leaving yourself open to a massive flaming there, the Yellows looked like boy scouts compared the the antics of the reds when they were forced to leave.

You are right that the yellows started with mob rule, but the reds have now shown that they are simply thugs and that they couldn't give a sh1t about their own country. They should never be allowed to run anything, yet alone a country.

These people are not Thai, they are simply scum.

Tom.

attitudes like this are precisely why Thai society is so broken

I think you'll find Thai society is in a bad way because of systemic greed and corruption, from both Thaksin and the established rich who hate him so much, as opposed to my comments.

I was simply stating facts. The reds that have just pointlessly burned and trashed large parts of central Bangkok are scum and should not be allowed to call them themselves Thai people.

Do you disagree with this?

Tom.

Tom you dont have any right to say who is Thai and who is not Thai.

You didnt have to grow up in poverty here and you obviously know nothing about the culture or the history.

These are the lower classes who unlike those in your own country never got a union or a civil rights movement to give them a better life.

They work from dawn till dusk 365 days a year and the most they could ever buy at central world is maybe a plate of food from the food court in the parking lot.

Frankly I dont blame them for burning that ugly building down which probably was build over a beautiful green rice paddy and sells useless foreign crap for the rich.

Is your idea of who is Thai is simply that they should smile and obey?

The same thing happened in USA in the 60s you might not be old enough to remember but the black is los angeles completely flipped out for a week and they burmed and looted everything that they could get their hands on because they had enough and couldnt take it anymore and thats what happened this week in Thailand. So now we know what they can do and I think they will not be ignored in the future.

By the way nobody ever accused the blacks of not being American since they are ones who built America.

Have to agree with you there.could be the white skins v the dark skins in a few years,better get a better tan quick,might be mistaken for the farang elite,now that could be dangerous.Can you run or are you good at street fighting

[NanaFoods]

By the way nobody ever accused the blacks of not being American since they are ones who built America.

Have to agree with you there.could be the white skins v the dark skins in a few years,better get a better tan quick,might be mistaken for the farang elite,now that could be dangerous.Can you run or are you good at street fighting

...and how old are you?

[somtampet]

By the way nobody ever accused the blacks of not being American since they are ones who built America.

Have to agree with you there.could be the white skins v the dark skins in a few years,better get a better tan quick,might be mistaken for the farang elite,now that could be dangerous.Can you run or are you good at street fighting

...and how old are you?

OLD ENOUGH MATE

[tigerfish]

By the way nobody ever accused the blacks of not being American since they are ones who built America.

Have to agree with you there.could be the white skins v the dark skins in a few years,better get a better tan quick,might be mistaken for the farang elite,now that could be dangerous.Can you run or are you good at street fighting

...and how old are you?

OLD ENOUGH MATE

hey look, jeoffs appeared everyone!

Edited May 22, 2010 by tigerfish

[somtampet]

Couldnt let you guys down,could i.

Have fun on here,i am,and i never thought i was a good angler

[espinoza]

"Unless he is guilty of criminal acts, let it go.

Personally I have no problem with farangs being politically involved."

Maybe it`s the steroids and the other drugs that made this loonie joining the terrorists.

Is that a good excuse ?

I think it is an criminal act involving like this. It`s not political involvment.

[toptuan]

"So it will be no surprise if we hear of more violent riots across the country, especially the north and northeast, because these people do not have faith in the election process, so they turn to violent alternatives."

No "faith"?? How about just a little patience?? ....Elections are coming up soon.

Either these folks are khon jai ron, or they are really worried that they will have difficulty selling their votes next election.

The Red Shirts are copying the behavior of the Yellow Shirts. They introduced mob rule.

Mate,

You're leaving yourself open to a massive flaming there, the Yellows looked like boy scouts compared the the antics of the reds when they were forced to leave.

You are right that the yellows started with mob rule....

But ones who originally opened Pandora's Box should have a lot to answer for. Instead they got off scott-free. What a wonderful precedent to set for the group that would come later!

[chadintheusa]

Go ahead

Blame the yellows for having their own protests

blame the army for tossing out a corrupt Prime Minister

blame the judges who convicted the PPP of electoral fraud

blame the foreigners who brought investment and jobs

blame the elites for being more successful

blame the red leaders for lying to them

blame Thaksin for hiring them

Why take personal responsibility for the crimes they have committed?

[surangw]

I suppose this just confirms the obvious....It ain't over yet

next phase, gurella warfare thai style ?

[sokal]

A headline like this is really going to help matters. Rub it in, that should make the reds feel good.

[seahorse]

northern heartland

dear writer of this article,

fyi . the heartland of thailand is bangkok and the central provinces , NOT the north or northeast (issan).

Dear writer of this post,

For your information, the writer of the article used this phrase to refer to the Reds' heartland, not the heartland of Thailand.

HTH

[mazeltov]

Just saw a report on Al Jazeera talking about a major red leader there saying the new red movement will be like south Thailand's terrorism, with random attacks on innocent people in places like malls. It seems credible. How long before the USA and Europe get on board with the Thai government to root out these TERRORISTS? You think tourism is dead now, wait until they actually follow through on killing masses of civilians and tourists with a random bomb. Shame on the reds if they copy the southern Muslim radicals. Shame on them for even THREATENING this. That in itself is a soft form of terrorism. There are peaceful avenues for change possible in Thailand, now more than ever. Where is the regard for human life?

Islamophobic mindset.

Are you sure that report wasn't about that the Reds are now getting the same treatment as the so called Muslim terrorist?

Kill random people who participate in anti-government protest with snipers like in Iran? Or throw bombs at their villages up north or Sơn Mỹ them?

What Thailand don't need is the US-American War On Terror.

[CIHUAHUA]

NOT DEFEATED - regroup and learn from the fight. The youth are thinking about their next move. OMG - my pen right

[seahorse]

Just saw a report on Al Jazeera talking about a major red leader there saying the new red movement will be like south Thailand's terrorism, with random attacks on innocent people in places like malls. It seems credible. How long before the USA and Europe get on board with the Thai government to root out these TERRORISTS? You think tourism is dead now, wait until they actually follow through on killing masses of civilians and tourists with a random bomb. Shame on the reds if they copy the southern Muslim radicals. Shame on them for even THREATENING this. That in itself is a soft form of terrorism. There are peaceful avenues for change possible in Thailand, now more than ever. Where is the regard for human life?

Just to clear up one thing - and not defending what is going on in the south at all, but - i do not know of one foreigner that has been killed down there by the separatists / mafia. I seem to remember one being injured in an explosion outside a Tesco a few years ago. Terror attacks that included foreigners would be a death blow to Thailand, but that is not what's been happening down south.

Based on the desperation of Thaksin and his cohorts, bombings in Bangkok would not surprise me.

In Hat Yai a few years ago, a farang was killed by a bomb in or outside a pub frequented by foreigners, (playing western rock / pop music with Thai singers singing in English). My girlfriend and I had plans to go there that night but luckily she decided she wanted to stay in. I believe there were two or three bombs that night at different venues in the city centre.

Ten years ago, I was teaching English on a Saturday afternoon about 100 yards from the railway station. Boom! There could have been foreigners there at the time. And that is not the only time it has been targeted.

There are other isolated incidents. I can't remember them all.

OK, it's not a widespread campaign, probably due to lack of funds.

I dread to think what an organised, co-ordinated terror campaign could achieve in the tourist resorts of the south and the governmental and financial institutions of the centre by someone with a big chip on his shoulder who is keen on revenge and who is immensely wealthy.

Did anyone notice the word "mosques" mentioned by Nattawut as a potential burning target? Stir them up, create more trouble. Separatists in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.

Why not Issan or Lanna?

Divide and conquer.

[Jingthing]

Islamophobic mindset.

Yes, boychik, I guess I picked up that Islamophobic mindset watching AL JAZEERA!

[SiamRose]

If any human, the key you have to be a human, sees what these terrorist have done in the area they stayed (Ratchaprasong) for weeks, will never give the hero welcome. They lived and destroyed everything they could like wild animals.

Don't be silly. They lived very organised and cleanly, and didn't destroy anything until the end and that was done by a few extremists.

[Jingthing]

If any human, the key you have to be a human, sees what these terrorist have done in the area they stayed (Ratchaprasong) for weeks, will never give the hero welcome. They lived and destroyed everything they could like wild animals.

Don't be silly. They lived very organised and cleanly, and didn't destroy anything until the end and that was done by a few extremists.

It's unbelievable anyone would think that.

Did you have a problem getting news updates during the red occupation?

Oh well, I guess it was FAKE REDS, that's the ticket.

Edited May 22, 2010 by Jingthing

[SiamRose]

Why is it unbelievable? I live close to Rajprasong and saw for myself. Can you explain how the reds "lived like wild animals?"

[deepskyfreak]

According to the report, red shirt protesters went home without an idea what to do now, how things go on as their leaders are either hiding or jailed (my note: and the flow of easy money has stopped)...

How about work and support their families?

Sure it is hard to work for 250 Baht a day now after having received 500 for repeating hatred slogans and doing nothing but block roads and bring chaos to other ordinary citizens' lifes.

Pathetic, really.