Farmer protesters to rally at two ministries on Monday

[Lite Beer]

Farmer protesters to rally at two ministries on Monday

BANGKOK, 9 February 2014 (NNT) - Rice farmer protesters have continued surrounding the Ministry of Commerce, awaiting their fellow farmers from other provinces before marching to the Ministry of Justice and the office of the Ministry of Defense in Mueang Thong Thani on Monday.

The farmer protesters have rallied in front of the Ministry of Commerce since 6 February to press the government for payments from the rice support program. Protest leaders and representative of rice farmers took turns to giving a speech to the protesters while sympathizers were gradually traveling to the rally site to donate items to them.

President of the Western Community Rice Center Rawee Rungrueang said around 500 rice farmers from the northeastern and 1,000 from the central regions would arrive at the Ministry of Commerce on Sunday and Monday respectively. They would then converge on the Ministry of Justice to sue the government on grounds of fraud and on the office of the Permanent Secretary for Defense, where PM Yingluck was now working, to ask for the payments from her directly, said Mr Rawee.

-- NNT 2014-02-09

[LadPhrao123]

Will the vampire and his ghouls show up for a feed on the warm bodies of the rice farmers?

Sounds familiar...

"The role seemed to demand that I keep myself worked up to fever pitch, so I took on the actual attributes of the horrible vampire, Dracula."

Bela Lugosi

Edited February 9, 2014 by LadPhrao123

[Lite Beer]

Tearful, angry farmers call Yingluck to step down

BANGKOK: -- Farmers, who earlier this week petitioned the King, appeared on the Pathumwan protest stage of the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) Saturday night, calling on caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in tears and angers to step down immediately if she could not find money to pay them.

They are farmers from Phichit province who blockaded the Asian highway at Indochina intersection .

Standing alongside the PDRC leader, farmers recalled their hardship for living without money for six months now and urged the caretaker prime minister to have sympathy on them and their children.

One of the farmers, Mrs Nuanchan Yadprathum said she was not paid since September last year and recalled how hard her daily life was affected as the rice she harvested was all that she had.

But without money, she could not afford her children not only to school but also to eat.

She bursted in tears asking the caretaker prime minister if she is a mother.

The tearful farmer said while Yingluck’s son has plenty to eat, her children had nothing to eat and no pocket money to school.

She wept and called on her to step down if she could not find money to pay farmers,
Another farmer from Phichit said he was enraged when a caretaker minister called them bogus farmers.

He showed the rice voucher on the stage and said this paper document was obtained from 20 tons of grains he harvested from a total of 70 rai of farm land and pledged with the government.

He said farmers now have brains to think by themselves and no longer be a fool.
He said farmers coming to Bangkok just because they were in real trouble, nothing at all for political reason.
He called on Yingluck to step down to pave the way for the neutral man to come and help farmers.

Yesterday’s street march by PDRC leader Suthep raised about 10 million baht for farmers to support their daily life in the capital to demand their money.

Tomorrow more farmers from Phitsanulok will enter Bangkok to see the prime minister.

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2-9-2014-12-55-33-PM-wpcf_728x413.jpg

-- Thai PBS 2014-02-09

[JesseFrank]

Don't worry, if the auction on 18 February is successful, there will be enough money to give all the farmers babies a single brick of 100 ml of milk.

That is of course if the PT " administration costs" leave some money to distribute.

A total of 220,000 tons of rice will be put on auction via the Agricultural Futures Exchange of Thailand (AFET). The bidding will take place on Feb 13th and the offers will be deliberated on Feb 18th

[djjamie]

"20 tons of grains he harvested from a total of 70 rai of farm land" That equates to 285kg per rai. In Vietnam they yield 862kg per rai. That is 3 times more per rai.

Now the Shin regime has spent in total 1.5 trillion in "helping" the farmers over a 10 year period. Over half of that being from the PTP. 1.5 trillion baht yet at the end of that 10 years the farmers miss one payment from the government and they are starving and committing suicide. Doesn't sound like the regimes rice schemes have really helped the farmers. The reason being is because it is not supposed to help the farmers. They could have helped the farmers over 10 years ago through government programs that teach them about improving water management, better seed selection, alternate pesticides, more efficient harvesting methods and soil analysis. They too could be producing over 800kg per rai like Vietnam armed with knowledge that would keep them competitive in an open market.

In Mukdahan rice farmers are living in dilapidated house and needing hand outs from the government to survive. In Quang Tri in Vietnam which is 200 km away the rice farmers need no hand outs, no government support and are producing bumper crops. But the regime would not be getting the votes from Mukdahan 10 years later or if they were it would be because of leadership potential, good governance, adhering to all the principles of democracy or even just in appreciation for what they did 10 years earlier. This is why the PTP only adhere to elections. Because of the above mentality that in keeping the rice farmers poor they will ensure electoral success.

Shame on you PTP. Shame.

Edited February 9, 2014 by djjamie

[tomross46]

in a cartoon on 4 August 1931, From Si krung newspaper which shows ' Cruel-faced giant does't plunder the fields but on the backs of the people'.

Thai was back in 1931, this is 2014 and corrupt politicians are the cruel faced giants, plundering the money earned by the hard working farmers.

A copy of this cartoon can be seen on page 110 in the book History of Thailand, written by Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit.

[ratcatcher]

Will the vampire and his ghouls show up for a feed on the warm bodies of the rice farmers?

Sounds familiar...

"The role seemed to demand that I keep myself worked up to fever pitch, so I took on the actual attributes of the horrible vampire, Dracula."

Bela Lugosi

Aren't you getting a little carried away with the Bram Stoker references? Do grow up.

Yesterday we were treated to this gem by you.

Posted Yesterday, 10:14

Bela Lugosi is dead and Suthep the ghoul ready to take his place. Message to the rice farmers... I vant to drink your bloood.

Come, come....

[ratcatcher]

in a cartoon on 4 August 1931, From Si krung newspaper which shows ' Cruel-faced giant does't plunder the fields but on the backs of the people'.

Thai was back in 1931, this is 2014 and corrupt politicians are the cruel faced giants, plundering the money earned by the hard working farmers.

A copy of this cartoon can be seen on page 110 in the book History of Thailand, written by Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit.

For those interested in what tomross46 posted, go here:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TEdueeBj1H0C&pg=PA110&lpg=PA110&dq=a+history+of+thailand+cartoons&source=bl&ots=Gt0SbnMWmH&sig=DVeLYzhsmgrxj18HaP0VFPMoOhk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GDH3UrKtE8a_rgfdz4C4BQ&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=a%20history%20of%20thailand%20cartoons&f=false

[Lite Beer]

Ex-Finance Minister disagrees with bond sale to pay rice farmers

BANGKOK, 9 February 2014 (NNT) - Former Finance Minister Theerachai Phuwanatnaranuban has expressed his objection to the ministry’s idea to sell bonds to three government units to finance the rice support program.

Mr Theerachai said there would be a problem of transparency in the bond sale. He also warned that the officials who were involved in the bond sale might be accused of helping the Minister of Finance use the nation’s resources to benefit the government in the general election. The government would therefore risk violating Section 181 (4) of the Constitution.

The three government units include the Government Savings Bank, the Social Security Office and the Government Pension Fund. Bonds might be sold to them so that the government has money to pay farmers participating in the program.

-- NNT 2014-02-09

[BSJ]

Subsistence farmers, a corrupt government that hasn't paid the farmers and Dracula......I see the link......not!

[WilliamCave]

"20 tons of grains he harvested from a total of 70 rai of farm land" That equates to 285kg per rai. In Vietnam they yield 862kg per rai. That is 3 times more per rai.

Now the Shin regime has spent in total 1.5 trillion in "helping" the farmers over a 10 year period. Over half of that being from the PTP. 1.5 trillion baht yet at the end of that 10 years the farmers miss one payment from the government and they are starving and committing suicide. Doesn't sound like the regimes rice schemes have really helped the farmers. The reason being is because it is not supposed to help the farmers. They could have helped the farmers over 10 years ago through government programs that teach them about improving water management, better seed selection, alternate pesticides, more efficient harvesting methods and soil analysis. They too could be producing over 800kg per rai like Vietnam armed with knowledge that would keep them competitive in an open market.

In Mukdahan rice farmers are living in dilapidated house and needing hand outs from the government to survive. In Quang Tri in Vietnam which is 200 km away the rice farmers need no hand outs, no government support and are producing bumper crops. But the regime would not be getting the votes from Mukdahan 10 years later or if they were it would be because of leadership potential, good governance, adhering to all the principles of democracy or even just in appreciation for what they did 10 years earlier. This is why the PTP only adhere to elections. Because of the above mentality that in keeping the rice farmers poor they will ensure electoral success.

Shame on you PTP. Shame.

In Mukdahan rice farmers are living in dilapidated house and needing hand outs from the government to survive. In Quang Tri in Vietnam which is 200 km away the rice farmers need no hand outs, no government support and are producing bumper crops. But the regime would not be getting the votes from Mukdahan 10 years later or if they were it would be because of leadership potential, good governance, adhering to all the principles of democracy or even just in appreciation for what they did 10 years earlier. This is why the PTP only adhere to elections. Because of the above mentality that in keeping the rice farmers poor they will ensure electoral success.

U made a really good point about Vietnam ,

[Lite Beer]

PDRC urges govt take responsibility for rice scheme problems
By Digital Content

BANGKOK, Feb 9--- Thailand's anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) movement has called on the caretaker government to take responsibility for the ongoing overdue rice payments under the rice pledging programme, adding that the PDRC will march again tomorrow to raise funds for disgruntled farmers.‎

PDRC spokesman Akanat Promphan on Sunday demanded the caretaker government and prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra be held responsible for the delayed rice payments, urging the caretaker government stop threatening the protesting farmers.

Mr Akanat also asked the caretaker government not to accuse the protesting farmers of being fake farmers and urged the caretaker government to stop placing blame for the failed rice pledging scheme on other agencies such as the PDRC and state-run banks.

Regarding the planned fundraising event on Friday (Feb 7), the PDRC spokesman said that the total donations collected was valued at some Bt9.2 million.

The donated money has been divided into two portions. One is for farmers to take legal action related to the rice payments. The other part is a fund for transportation and food costs to support farmers who want to stage rallies.

A committee would be set up to manage the fund, Mr Akanat said, adding that the PDRC will march again on Monday to raise funds for the farmers.

In a related development, protesting farmers from several provinces continued staging rallies in front of the commerce ministry to pressure the caretaker government for rice payments.

The protesting farmers will rally at the justice ministry on Monday to submit a petition against the caretaker government regarding the payment delay and then will move on to the Office of the Defence Permanent Secretary in Muang Thong Thani, to demand the caretaker premier and related ministers pay what is owed for their crops under the scheme. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2014-02-09

[Cuchulainn]

Let's hope the farmers sound the death knell of the puppet, her lackies and the Pheu Thai party. Hell serve you right, Shinawatra, for not looking after your own.

[Red Snake]

no, no, it' not our fault it's your fault.

[Local Drunk]

To the rice farmers from those who are accused of being elitist pigs on T.V. We want you to be paid. That was your contract with the former government and that contract should be honored. You have the right to protest this breach of contract, and we wish much success in your endeavors. Please be forewarned that it is a non substantiable policy on the part of the government, and it was created for the sole purpose of obtaining your votes. As it stands: Thailand has more rice that it can sell at rock bottom prices, even over the next few years. If they who made this policy can't afford to pay you now... How will they pay you for your next harvest?

[Smokemachine]

[Suriya4]

Don't give them money. Give them back their rice with interest.

[Suriya4]

in a cartoon on 4 August 1931, From Si krung newspaper which shows ' Cruel-faced giant does't plunder the fields but on the backs of the people'.

Thai was back in 1931, this is 2014 and corrupt politicians are the cruel faced giants, plundering the money earned by the hard working farmers.

A copy of this cartoon can be seen on page 110 in the book History of Thailand, written by Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit.

For those interested in what tomross46 posted, go here:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TEdueeBj1H0C&pg=PA110&lpg=PA110&dq=a+history+of+thailand+cartoons&source=bl&ots=Gt0SbnMWmH&sig=DVeLYzhsmgrxj18HaP0VFPMoOhk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GDH3UrKtE8a_rgfdz4C4BQ&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=a%20history%20of%20thailand%20cartoons&f=false

Watch out. You could be jailed for 5 years.

[sixfiftysevenmember]

Read somewhere today that the Government is planning to take money from three Government agencies one of whom is the Government Savings Bank in return for bonds in order to pay the farmers.

Surely a bond is a promise to redeem the value at some future date and I understood that a caretaker government could not create a debt for any future government.

[mightyatom]

To the rice farmers from those who are accused of being elitist pigs on T.V. We want you to be paid. That was your contract with the former government and that contract should be honored. You have the right to protest this breach of contract, and we wish much success in your endeavors. Please be forewarned that it is a non substantiable policy on the part of the government, and it was created for the sole purpose of obtaining your votes. As it stands: Thailand has more rice that it can sell at rock bottom prices, even over the next few years. If they who made this policy can't afford to pay you now... How will they pay you for your next harvest?

The PTP in their pursuit of votes from the farmers have ruined the rice industry that took years to build up to being a global leader.

How can Thailand take on another 10 to 11 million tonnes next year when the stockpiles are already over the point where they can't sell it quick enough before it spoils.

So from the next harvest onwards, there will be no market for the farmers to sell into. So without a subsidy, their rice is only worth what they can get for it. The one thing that is going for the farmers is that they will hold the freshest paddy which will be more appealing to millers and exporters, but they would need to set up cooperatives to organize... Here is their problem, the government holds power over the rice export licenses, and any activity like this will hinder the government's ability to sell off its stockpiles of rotting rice.

So there is a catch 22 scenario on the horizon that we will all be talking about on TVF by this coming October.

The only way to sort this out is to dump 75% of the oldest paddy in the stockpiles. But even this will not be enough because their will still be a major competitor in the market, being the 25% remaining. So I forecast the farmers making no profits for a long time. This rice problem is in its infant days and can turn into a monster.

The PTP government has feathered a nest of a looming HUGE elephant in the room.

Well done Thaklsin, I hope one day to see you all rotting in some black dungeon.

[mightyatom]

in a cartoon on 4 August 1931, From Si krung newspaper which shows ' Cruel-faced giant does't plunder the fields but on the backs of the people'.

Thai was back in 1931, this is 2014 and corrupt politicians are the cruel faced giants, plundering the money earned by the hard working farmers.

A copy of this cartoon can be seen on page 110 in the book History of Thailand, written by Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit.

For those interested in what tomross46 posted, go here:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TEdueeBj1H0C&pg=PA110&lpg=PA110&dq=a+history+of+thailand+cartoons&source=bl&ots=Gt0SbnMWmH&sig=DVeLYzhsmgrxj18HaP0VFPMoOhk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GDH3UrKtE8a_rgfdz4C4BQ&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=a%20history%20of%20thailand%20cartoons&f=false

Watch out. You could be jailed for 5 years.

lese majeste

Edited February 9, 2014 by mightyatom

[bigbamboo]

Tearful, angry farmers call Yingluck to step down

BANGKOK: -- Farmers, who earlier this week petitioned the King, appeared on the Pathumwan protest stage of the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) Saturday night, calling on caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in tears and angers to step down immediately if she could not find money to pay them.

They are farmers from Phichit province who blockaded the Asian highway at Indochina intersection .

Standing alongside the PDRC leader, farmers recalled their hardship for living without money for six months now and urged the caretaker prime minister to have sympathy on them and their children.

One of the farmers, Mrs Nuanchan Yadprathum said she was not paid since September last year and recalled how hard her daily life was affected as the rice she harvested was all that she had.

But without money, she could not afford her children not only to school but also to eat.

She bursted in tears asking the caretaker prime minister if she is a mother.

The tearful farmer said while Yingluck’s son has plenty to eat, her children had nothing to eat and no pocket money to school.

She wept and called on her to step down if she could not find money to pay farmers,

Another farmer from Phichit said he was enraged when a caretaker minister called them bogus farmers.

He showed the rice voucher on the stage and said this paper document was obtained from 20 tons of grains he harvested from a total of 70 rai of farm land and pledged with the government.

He said farmers now have brains to think by themselves and no longer be a fool.

He said farmers coming to Bangkok just because they were in real trouble, nothing at all for political reason.

He called on Yingluck to step down to pave the way for the neutral man to come and help farmers.

Yesterday’s street march by PDRC leader Suthep raised about 10 million baht for farmers to support their daily life in the capital to demand their money.

Tomorrow more farmers from Phitsanulok will enter Bangkok to see the prime minister.

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2-9-2014-12-55-33-PM-wpcf_728x413.jpg

-- Thai PBS 2014-02-09

"Let them eat rice."

Edited February 9, 2014 by bigbamboo

[Siripon]

It's the same in Ubon, plenty of farmers haven't been paid for last November's crop.

[ratcatcher]

in a cartoon on 4 August 1931, From Si krung newspaper which shows ' Cruel-faced giant does't plunder the fields but on the backs of the people'.

Thai was back in 1931, this is 2014 and corrupt politicians are the cruel faced giants, plundering the money earned by the hard working farmers.

A copy of this cartoon can be seen on page 110 in the book History of Thailand, written by Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit.

For those interested in what tomross46 posted, go here:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TEdueeBj1H0C&pg=PA110&lpg=PA110&dq=a+history+of+thailand+cartoons&source=bl&ots=Gt0SbnMWmH&sig=DVeLYzhsmgrxj18HaP0VFPMoOhk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GDH3UrKtE8a_rgfdz4C4BQ&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=a%20history%20of%20thailand%20cartoons&f=false

Watch out. You could be jailed for 5 years.

lese majeste

Just before anyone gets carried away with scare tactics, the book referenced is available in Asia books in Thailand.

If this link was a breach of TVF rules I would have been contacted by the moderators and the post would have been deleted.

Clear now?

[scorecard]

So when will the supporters of the farmers protest (the farmers) be called to explain themselves to the police / whoever for supporting a protest?

[Cuchulainn]

Hell roast you, Shinawatra. Your foul, selfish deeds would shame the devil in hell himself.

[Cuchulainn]

Will the vampire and his ghouls show up for a feed on the warm bodies of the rice farmers?

They already have been over the past several years in the form of a 'compassionate' (ha!) government.

[SamMunich]

Methinks, with the current collecting of close to 10 million Baht by/from the protesters for the farmers, the horror story of the divide between the protesters and the upcountry folks can be laid to rest. I have not seen any of the PTP or red-shirt leaders coming up with anything like that...

Which shows the farmers, where their friends are where their exploiters!

[Cuchulainn]

Methinks, with the current collecting of close to 10 million Baht by/from the protesters for the farmers, the horror story of the divide between the protesters and the upcountry folks can be laid to rest. I have not seen any of the PTP or red-shirt leaders coming up with anything like that...

Which shows the farmers, where their friends are where their exploiters!

Of course you haven't, Sam. They're all me, me, me............. take, take, take...............

[Yunla]

The non-payment for the rice that these hardworking and desperately poor farmers harvested, is a source of shame that echoes around the world. People in the international community can't believe this has happened, the level of heartless brigandage being displayed by this regime is hard to even process.

PTP should feel deeply ashamed of themselves. I think the sight of poor rice farmers crying because the government essentially stole their crops, is one of the most heartbreaking things I've seen in forty-something years. It saddens me down to my boots. I feel ashamed for just seeing it happen.