Thailand To Compensate Victims Of Southern Unrest

[webfact]

Thailand to compensate victims of southern unrest

Bangkok, April 24, 2012 (AFP) - Thailand on Tuesday approved a $67 million compensation package for victims of an insurgency in the Muslim-majority deep south that has left thousands dead over the last eight years, officials said.

The families of people killed in the conflict will each receive 500,000 baht ($16,130), or 1.5 million baht if government officials were responsible, Justice Minister Pracha Promnog said after the cabinet agreed on the measure.

"We hope it will make the situation in the south more peaceful and we hope it will be sufficient because some of them have received compensation before," Pracha told reporters.

The offer is less than the 7.5 million baht that the government has said it will pay each family of victims killed in political violence during a series of rival protests in Bangkok since 2005.

The families of more than 4,000 members of the public who were killed and roughly 6,000 who were wounded would be eligible, along with those of 1,056 government officials who lost their lives, Pracha said.

Militant suspects who were arrested and jailed but later freed because their cases were dismissed by the courts would also receive money, Pracha said.

"We expect to deliver first payment in the next two weeks," he added.

The shadowy insurgency, without clearly stated aims, has plagued Thailand's far south near the border with Malaysia since 2004, claiming more than 5,000 lives, both Buddhist and Muslim, with near-daily bomb or gun attacks.

A Muslim leader in Yala province expressed doubt that the compensation offer would bring an end to the violence.

"Remedies are part of the solution but the government has to clearly identify the root of the problem," 54-year-old Ma Samae told AFP.

"Personally I think it's hard to end the southern unrest because most residents are Muslim but the leaders are not."

A state of emergency is in force in the worst-affected parts of the region, which rights campaigners say in effect gives the tens of thousands of military troops based in the area legal immunity and fuels rights abuses.

A series of bomb blasts in two southern cities at the end of March killed 15 people and wounded hundreds in the deadliest attacks in the region in years.

Eight people were wounded Tuesday by a roadside bomb targeting patrolling soldiers in Narathiwat province, including a soldier and a three-year-old Muslim boy whose conditions were serious, police said.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2012-04-24

[webfact]

Three-year-old boy among eight wounded in Narathiwat bombing

NARATHIWAT, April 24 - Eight persons, including several soldiers and a three-year-old boy, were injured in a roadside bombing on Tuesday in restive Narthiwat’s Tak Bai district, according to local police.

Four of the eight casualties were members of Narathiwat Special Task Force Unit 36, identified as MSgt 3rd Class Uthen Kaewichean, MSgt 2nd Class Thanin Saksri, Pvt Amnuay Sriwandee and Pvt Charan Puvo, Pol

Capt Thongchai Fukkapan of Tak Bai police station said.

The other four victims were Mohama Yuso, a village head, Warunee Ma, Meela Ma-air and Muhamad Daneeya Paosa, a three-year-old boy.

The injured were sent to Tak Bai Hospital for medical treatment while MSgt Uthen and young Muhamad were hospitalised at Naradhiwasrajanagarindra Hospital.

In response to the incident, Pol Capt Thongchai led a bomb disposal unit and forensic science experts to the Tak Bai-Taba Road to investigate and collect scattered bomb fragments as evidence.

A homemade bomb placed in a metal box, weighing an estimated seven kilogrammes, was triggered by a remote radio signal as the four soldiers on patrol in a jeep passed the scene. The explosive device was hidden in a black plastic bag in a handcart on the roadside near a Muslim cemetery.

The four local residents were on a motorcycle behind the military vehicle, which was damaged by blast.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet on Tuesday approved in principle a Bt2 billion budget to compensate victims of southern violence, according to Justice Minister Pol Gen Pracha Promnog.

The justice minister said the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre (PBPAC) was authorised to set criteria for compensation as earlier proposed by the rehabilitation committee, the victims should be divided into four categories.

Gen Pracha said Bt500 million will be allocated to the first group (the general public) affected by the violence, Bt200 million for state officials, Bt1 billion for those affected by the state security operations and Bt300 million for those detained or prosecuted in insurgency-related cases.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said again that compensation must be transparent and fair for those affected, and must improve their living conditions, Gen Pracha said. The government will also provide education and vocational training for them.

More than 5,000 people, including local residents, state officials, monks and insurgents, have been killed since violence erupted in Thailand's predominantly Muslim southern border region in 2004. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-04-24

[webfact]

Cabinet approves 2.08 bil bt to South victims

BANGKOK, 24 April 2012 (NNT) - The cabinet today approved Bt 2.08 billion in compensation for victims of violence in the Deep South.

Justice Minister Pol Gen Pracha Promnok, in his capacity as chairman of the committee set up to compensate and rehabilitate southern unrest victims, said the cabinet has approved the proposed payout plan for families of four groups of violence victims.

Out of the total compensation budget of Bt 2.08 billion, Bt 500 million will be allocated to residents affected by the unrest, Bt 200 million to government officials and Bt 1 billion to victims of extrajudicial abuse and arbitrary arrest at the hands of local security forces.

Pol Gen Pracha said Prime Minister Yingluck has instructed affiliated agencies to ensure fairness and transparency in handling the compensation payouts to locals in the southernmost provinces.

-- NNT 2012-04-24

[Buchholz]

Justice Minister Pracha Promnog said

"We hope it will make the situation in the south more peaceful

I'm sure it will work.

Afterall, no reason to assume that families would see any double standard in their receiving compensation at

1.5 million baht

when others receive compensation at

7.5 million baht

because they will actually see a quintuple standard as others receive 5 times the amount of compensation.

.

[Skywalker69]

Justice Minister Pracha Promnog said

"We hope it will make the situation in the south more peaceful

I'm sure it will work.

Afterall, no reason to assume that families would see any double standard in their receiving compensation at

1.5 million baht

when others receive compensation at

7.5 million baht

because they will actually see a quintuple standard as others receive 5 times the amount of compensation.

.

Got to keep the Reds happy.

But in the long run there is a risk (chanse) they will turn against the Government.

It´s a big movment.

When they had enough, they will come.

[KireB]

One of the most famous song writers ever had it right:

"Can't buy me love! Can't buy me love!"

[Pib]

Sometimes I wonder if all the govt compensation make just makes the situation worst because the terrorists (probably mostly local folks) figure their bombings/killings will just end-up making some family rich and some folks may actually make a planned killing (murder) appear terrorist caused to hopefully collect compensation.

[heiwa]

I am afraid this is throwing gasoline on the fire. I would have assumed that people in government would have been highly intelligent strategists especially after such a long time with this problem - and the legs keep being blown up. Met an Indian Malay tourist who had been blinded by one of the bombs. But its all a case of vote buying giving different values to different lives. Appalled and saddened by this diabolical mentality.

Edited April 24, 2012 by heiwa

[MEL1]

What about the victims of electrocution during the floods last year?

Is there any pay-out for them? Is it immaterial?

Where there any responsible persons of electrical authorities that didn't give the go ahead for black-out when people escaping through metres of water were killed instantaneously?

A life is a life, and an eye for a tooth doesn't exist in Pali scripture? It sure does!

-mel.

[Sayonarax]

If your own military cant solve the problem, hire someone who can! Start some bloody action and DRAW UP A PLAN, not whip out your ATM card. If stupid was a disease then you've surely got it.

Its a two country problem, what are you an Malaysia doing about it? Nothing, ZERO. Does Thailand have an intelligence agency? it must be labeled under dumbfounded.

[heiwa]

My God! It's really hard to find something that is not a diabolical <SNIP!> UP. I really need some good news. What is PTP doing right? I really would like to be positive.

Edited April 26, 2012 by metisdead

[heiwa]

Bomb alert between May 8th to 11th. You have been warned. Stay away from tourist areas between these dates. Always be aware of special dates. Bombs are often planned around meaningful dates.

Edited April 25, 2012 by heiwa