Seventh suicide attributed to lack of rice-pledging payments

[Skywalker69]

I know many farmers lack much formal education but to believe in a scheme that offered to pay them 50% more than the market price for their rice was ever going to be more than a scam was being naive in the extreme. They should have just sold their rice to the brokers at the market price at harvest time.

The problem is in the past, when financial times were better, they were told the same thing and they got paid.

The government Ponzi Scheme could still work. But as with ALL Ponzi Schemes someone gets screwed in the end.

So they believed it, This time it has gone tits up, as it always was expected to do in the eyes of

people who understood the whole scheme in relation to the current situation.

So the ones who were hoodwinked are getting it in the neck.

It's not a ponzi scheme, it's a rice subsidy and a rice reserve. With floods and shortages in other places, you need a rice reserve and you need to keep farmers farming so we're not dependant on imports.

So why is Thailand the third biggest rice importer from Cambodia????

http://oryza.com/content/cambodia-ships-146854-tons-rice-january-may-127-last-year-thailand-china-remain-top

[animatic]

I know many farmers lack much formal education but to believe in a scheme that offered to pay them 50% more than the market price for their rice was ever going to be more than a scam was being naive in the extreme. They should have just sold their rice to the brokers at the market price at harvest time.

The problem is in the past, when financial times were better, they were told the same thing and they got paid.

The government Ponzi Scheme could still work. But as with ALL Ponzi Schemes someone gets screwed in the end.

So they believed it, This time it has gone tits up, as it always was expected to do in the eyes of

people who understood the whole scheme in relation to the current situation.

So the ones who were hoodwinked are getting it in the neck.

It's not a ponzi scheme, it's a rice subsidy and a rice reserve. With floods and shortages in other places, you need a rice reserve and you need to keep farmers farming so we're not dependant on imports.

So why is Thailand the third biggest rice importer from Cambodia????

http://oryza.com/content/cambodia-ships-146854-tons-rice-january-may-127-last-year-thailand-china-remain-top

Simply because Cambodia's big rice dealers wanted in on the extra high price rice scam too.

It is sooooo obvious.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Cuchulainn]

...........Mrs Boonma was said to be the eight farmer to commit suicide from the failed rice-pledging scheme of the government ............

Their blood is on your hands, Shinawatra. May you roast in the bowels of hell forever.

[theoldgit]

Post containing disgraceful suggestion removed.

[Davidhere]

Tragic. More blood on Suthep's hands. His vindictive efforts to block these payments will come back to haunt him

14 posts before someone blamed Suthep.

The money was owed long before the protests.

Blood on Yingluck's hands!

Absolutely.

The feeble attempt to divert focus and responsiblity is disgusting in the context of people are killing themselves in despair.

That such basic timelines, such as the deceased has been waiting since October to get paid, are ignored reveals the slimy depths to which they'll sink to.

[ShannonT]

They don't hang themselves because they don't get the money from the rice.

They hang themselves because they borrowed at ridiculous rates and the loan sharks run behind .

[aimbc]

Congratulations Yingluck .. your incompetence is responsible for these 7 deaths.

Are you tying to catch up to your brother?

IMO should be arrested and jailed for the 7 deaths

Can she be trialed for that. I hope she does and burn. If anything, karma is a bitch.

[aimbc]

I know many farmers lack much formal education but to believe in a scheme that offered to pay them 50% more than the market price for their rice was ever going to be more than a scam was being naive in the extreme. They should have just sold their rice to the brokers at the market price at harvest time.

That's the thing about economics....

If you guarantee a high price of the end product, then more people will want to produce it and the costs of production will increase. Land rents and other cost rises made it more expensive to produce the rice.

So farmers really didn't have any choice but to join in my opinion.

I am not so sure about that. More than 50% of the farmers did not participate in the program, how did they survive? I think this entire thing stinks.

[Bluespunk]

They don't hang themselves because they don't get the money from the rice.

They hang themselves because they borrowed at ridiculous rates and the loan sharks run behind .

And why did they have to do that?

[diehard60]

The problem here is that Thais think they will get a lot of money, but it is not in their hand, but that does not stop them from going out and borrow on money they have not even seen yet.

[mikemac]

I know many farmers lack much formal education but to believe in a scheme that offered to pay them 50% more than the market price for their rice was ever going to be more than a scam was being naive in the extreme. They should have just sold their rice to the brokers at the market price at harvest time.

Sadly they where still "infactuated" with their Emporer being beamed live via Skype to the Red Shirt stage filling them with all the populist BS so they could be elected and continue to drain the trough ..... Now they are being forgotten .... Oh unless of course you come from Chan Mai or another " strong hold" of the Reds ...... Condolences to this Farming Family ....

@ noikrit - I used to think CM was a redshirt stronghold as well, when I first moved there from Chiang Rai nearly five years ago.

Not so much the case now, people who used to openly voice approval for the redshirts and Thaksin have now turned against them. And I have been told by more than one Thai that the only reason "some" people support the reds is because they are too scared not to.

When I first met my wife she was a redshirt and PTP fan, now she calls them idiots. A lot can happen in five years.

[noikrit]

I know many farmers lack much formal education but to believe in a scheme that offered to pay them 50% more than the market price for their rice was ever going to be more than a scam was being naive in the extreme. They should have just sold their rice to the brokers at the market price at harvest time.

Sadly they where still "infactuated" with their Emporer being beamed live via Skype to the Red Shirt stage filling them with all the populist BS so they could be elected and continue to drain the trough ..... Now they are being forgotten .... Oh unless of course you come from Chan Mai or another " strong hold" of the Reds ...... Condolences to this Farming Family ....

@ noikrit - I used to think CM was a redshirt stronghold as well, when I first moved there from Chiang Rai nearly five years ago.

Not so much the case now, people who used to openly voice approval for the redshirts and Thaksin have now turned against them. And I have been told by more than one Thai that the only reason "some" people support the reds is because they are too scared not to.

When I first met my wife she was a redshirt and PTP fan, now she calls them idiots. A lot can happen in five years. alt=thumbsup.gif width=25 height=19>

Thanks Mikemac for the info ... ....

[Suradit69]

As usual, in Thailands kow tow history, the elites screw the little people.

But this time it's the LEGENDARY FRIEND of the little people VISIBLY doing the screwing.

It's been going on all long like that, but not in a way the poor were able to see,

now like a redheaded step child in a dark haired family, it's there on full display for all too see.

Who's your daddy? It ain't that Kuhn T.

Agree with your assessment of the wealthy and powerful in Thailand generally and the specific reference to a certain family, but

"As usual, in Thailands kow tow history, the elites screw the little people." ???

Hardly unique to Thailand or Asia or recent history. Once again, one gets the impression that farangs resident in Thailand lived in a bubble before coming to stay here and suddenly they can see injustice and inequality (that exists in every country on the planet) and act as though it is a local problem unknown outside the country's borders.

[Skywalker69]

They don't hang themselves because they don't get the money from the rice.

They hang themselves because they borrowed at ridiculous rates and the loan sharks run behind .

If government paid the farmers they didn't need to borrow .

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[ggold]

They don't hang themselves because they don't get the money from the rice.

They hang themselves because they borrowed at ridiculous rates and the loan sharks run behind .

how were they supposed to feed themselves, wait till the government paid them? Waiting since October for payment.

Even if the government had at least paid something they would have been able to pay the loan sharks something, No doubt fellow reds making money from the plight of red rice farmers!

[Davidhere]

They don't hang themselves because they don't get the money from the rice.

They hang themselves because they borrowed at ridiculous rates and the loan sharks run behind .

And why did they have to do that?

Because they don't get the money from the rice.

He's just circle jerkin' to feebly divert attention away from Yingluck and her Rice Committee.

.

[AleG]

They don't hang themselves because they don't get the money from the rice.

They hang themselves because they borrowed at ridiculous rates and the loan sharks run behind .

If government paid the farmers they didn't need to borrow .

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

If anything has come to light regarding this scheme is how some people are (or pretend to be) absolutely oblivious to the most plain things imaginable.

[Thait Spot]

They don't hang themselves because they don't get the money from the rice.

They hang themselves because they borrowed at ridiculous rates and the loan sharks run behind .

Same thing.

Death by government.

What have you done to help?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Sam Gold]

I know many farmers lack much formal education but to believe in a scheme that offered to pay them 50% more than the market price for their rice was ever going to be more than a scam was being naive in the extreme. They should have just sold their rice to the brokers at the market price at harvest time.

Yes, but if you've ever spent time with these people you will know they are largely unaware of how the world works and very vulnerable.

Blaming them for it is like blaming an old woman for being mugged.

The Thai government is 100% responsible for an ugly crime against its own people, and it should pay up no matter what.

[tingtongteesood]

They don't hang themselves because they don't get the money from the rice.

They hang themselves because they borrowed at ridiculous rates and the loan sharks run behind .

That may be true in some cases, and even if it is, it is due to the complete incompetence of the caretaker government that was more interested in buying votes to gain power to rob the country blind then whitewash all their crimes rather than try and actually, you know, do the job they had been voted in for and run the country effectively...The buck stops with the fugitivie puppet master and his proxy puppet. The Shin clan must be held accountable for their crimes against the kingdom.

[FiftyTwo]

"Another farmer, Buaphin Toopklom, 47, said the rice-pledging scheme now owed her Bt390,000."

What's wrong with these numbers?

Rice scheme was to help small farmers, 390k of rice is a hell of a big farm.

(250kg per rai =1/4 tonne/rai. Rice 12k per tonne)

390/12 = 33ton x4 = 130 Rai

That's quite a large farm!

PS

My missus has a 5 rai rice farm.

She gave up farming it 2 years back, the return wasn't worth the effort.

Government didn't buy from small farmers, they only bought from the mills.

Farmers were paid in cash by the mills.

Rice mills made all the money, farmers did all the work.

Edited February 12, 2014 by FiftyTwo

[metisdead]

An off topic post has been removed as well as a reply.

[oldthaihand99]

...........Mrs Boonma was said to be the eight farmer to commit suicide from the failed rice-pledging scheme of the government ............

Their blood is on your hands, Shinawatra. May you roast in the bowels of hell forever.

Buddhists don't believe in the idea of burning in "hell forever" of fundamentalist Christianity, Islam & Judaism. As to suicide & mental illness:

"Suicide --how Does Buddhism Look At It?

"...one should not kill and it is clear that killing oneself is a type of killing.

"...the First Precept shows that the taking of any human life is the gravest offence a Buddhist can commit (Saddhatissa 1970 pg87-88).

"...The long-time abbot of our local wat has been suffering some form of mental illness for the past few years and recently committed suicide.

"...It could be argued that all suicides are in some way mentally ill as one of our strongest

natural instincts is self-preservation.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/130988-suicide-how-does-buddhism-look-at-it/

"A person who takes their own life are,sadly, in possesion of a great delusion.The delusion

that by taking their own life it will end their own particular suffering.From a Buddhist point

of view all beings-unless abiding in a peaceful nirvanic state-are subject to rebirth in saha,

or the samsaric world-that of suffering.Life-and all in life-is by definition subject to

impermenance,and that in turn will create suffering.It is only by using those conditions

towards enightenment, as they arise, that we may attain Buddhahood in this life.By turning ,

and changing,our bad karma into something positive can we overcome suffering.We can in effect change poison into medicine.

"...mental illness is defined by any personality trait that is so pronounced that it interferes

with the normal operation of day to day life. Emotional pain, depression, anxiety etc that

leads to death might just qualify. Especially considering that by far, most suicides don't

arise out of uncommon conditions.

"...In the context of traditionally held "mood" disorders such as depression and mania, most

people would view a person as rational but just not filled with normal motivations and

emotional balance. But most lay people view schizophrenics as irrational, while I would say

they can be quite rational while lacking a normal set of ground facts or beliefs from which to

reason. Whether this lack of grounding manifests as delusions or full-on hallucinations, it

leads sufferers to pursue trains of thought that result in very odd behavior.

"...Some people might say that it is irrational to hold beliefs such as "my problems are

insurmountable" and "my death is not a (bigger) problem". "

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/14625-buddhism-and-suicide/

[jpeg]

The problem here is that Thais think they will get a lot of money, but it is not in their hand, but that does not stop them from going out and borrow on money they have not even seen yet.

No. The problem here is that people find themselves in a bad place not of their own making. Everyone does, from wherever and which soever corner of this planet. This time it's Thai rice farmers. 'Money they haven't seen yet' applies to everyone on the planet from a country wantonly issuing credit cards to those whom they've already decided it in their best interest be in debt ad infinitum. That folks, is the way the world's been turning for a very long time. SE Asia in general and Thailand in particular, are merely playing 'catch up'. The Shin's are willingly grist to the never ending mill. Do try to look at the bigger picture.

[oldthaihand99]

They don't hang themselves because they don't get the money from the rice.

They hang themselves because they borrowed at ridiculous rates and the loan sharks run behind .

how were they supposed to feed themselves, wait till the government paid them? Waiting since October for payment.

Suthep is giving away free food. Prisoners eat for free too. This isn't rocket science.

[FiftyTwo]

They don't hang themselves because they don't get the money from the rice.

They hang themselves because they borrowed at ridiculous rates and the loan sharks run behind .

how were they supposed to feed themselves, wait till the government paid them? Waiting since October for payment.

Suthep is giving away free food. Prisoners eat for free too. This isn't rocket science.

Very few farmers are in danger of starving.

If the worst comes to the worst, they can eat the rice.

(Hint: farmers keep enough crop back for themself to eat all year)

[ggold]

They don't hang themselves because they don't get the money from the rice.

They hang themselves because they borrowed at ridiculous rates and the loan sharks run behind .

how were they supposed to feed themselves, wait till the government paid them? Waiting since October for payment.

Suthep is giving away free food. Prisoners eat for free too. This isn't rocket science.

Very few farmers are in danger of starving.

If the worst comes to the worst, they can eat the rice.

(Hint: farmers keep enough crop back for themself to eat all year)

well neither of you are rocket scientists that's for sure!

[oldthaihand99]

Yes, but if you've ever spent time with these people you will know they are largely unaware of how the world works and very vulnerable.

Blaming them for it is like blaming an old woman for being mugged.

The Thai government is 100% responsible for an ugly crime against its own people, and it should pay up no matter what.

Blaming them for selfishly killing themselves is more like blaming Mrs Bobbit (& many Thai ladies) for chopping off their husband's joy sticks. Temporary insanity. Justified long prison terms. Guilty as charged.

But where is the proof the woman found hung killed herself & it was not a murder. It would make a great excuse for a husband who wanted to rid himself of the wife. Or for anti gov propaganda. Pay a few guys off to off their spouses & they kill two birds with one stone.

But of course all those foreigners skydiving w/o a parachute off hirises were suicides. Yeah right. Believe everything you read in the Thai press.

[Cuchulainn]

...........Mrs Boonma was said to be the eight farmer to commit suicide from the failed rice-pledging scheme of the government ............

Their blood is on your hands, Shinawatra. May you roast in the bowels of hell forever.

Buddhists don't believe in the idea of burning in "hell forever" of fundamentalist Christianity, Islam & Judaism. As to suicide & mental illness:

"Suicide --how Does Buddhism Look At It?

"...one should not kill and it is clear that killing oneself is a type of killing.

"...the First Precept shows that the taking of any human life is the gravest offence a Buddhist can commit (Saddhatissa 1970 pg87-88).

"...The long-time abbot of our local wat has been suffering some form of mental illness for the past few years and recently committed suicide.

"...It could be argued that all suicides are in some way mentally ill as one of our strongest

natural instincts is self-preservation.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/130988-suicide-how-does-buddhism-look-at-it/

"A person who takes their own life are,sadly, in possesion of a great delusion.The delusion

that by taking their own life it will end their own particular suffering.From a Buddhist point

of view all beings-unless abiding in a peaceful nirvanic state-are subject to rebirth in saha,

or the samsaric world-that of suffering.Life-and all in life-is by definition subject to

impermenance,and that in turn will create suffering.It is only by using those conditions

towards enightenment, as they arise, that we may attain Buddhahood in this life.By turning ,

and changing,our bad karma into something positive can we overcome suffering.We can in effect change poison into medicine.

"...mental illness is defined by any personality trait that is so pronounced that it interferes

with the normal operation of day to day life. Emotional pain, depression, anxiety etc that

leads to death might just qualify. Especially considering that by far, most suicides don't

arise out of uncommon conditions.

"...In the context of traditionally held "mood" disorders such as depression and mania, most

people would view a person as rational but just not filled with normal motivations and

emotional balance. But most lay people view schizophrenics as irrational, while I would say

they can be quite rational while lacking a normal set of ground facts or beliefs from which to

reason. Whether this lack of grounding manifests as delusions or full-on hallucinations, it

leads sufferers to pursue trains of thought that result in very odd behavior.

"...Some people might say that it is irrational to hold beliefs such as "my problems are

insurmountable" and "my death is not a (bigger) problem". "

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/14625-buddhism-and-suicide/

<deleted>. You must be bored!!!!

[Showbags]

Blood on its hands in more ways than one.

Sad that it comes to this for many farmers, not just in this country, but around the world.

They provide food for the world to eat, but get the short end of it most times.