Thai rice farmers seek sympathy from tourists at Suvarnabhumi Airport

[englishoak]

So are they going to pay the tourists back when they do get paid or is this just an easy target for some fast cash ? for that matter how easy will it be for other unscrupulous Thais to pretend to be farmers now ?

Not comfortable with this one at all, farmers i sympathise with but tapping tourists is ridiculous why dont they go around the streets like suthep if its that bad for them ... charity begins at home and so does the help n all that... now screwing tourists it should be thais they are tapping at the least

Have to say this needs to be stopped asap

Edited February 17, 2014 by englishoak

[Thaiready]

Hm, well,... I don't really know what to say,... whether I should laugh or should I cry,...

... when rice farmers go that far to such International tourism areas. That's the first time I've ever heard such thing.

All I can say is that soon there will be a discussion of mixed opinions here...

It's the first time in Thailand that a government has failed to meet its financial obligations.

They have worked hard for us and now are reduced to begging.

What would any of us do if we were in their predicament?

I'd go get my Rice

[JoeThePoster]

Some tourists also dropped donation in the boxes and some also greeted them with sympathy.

Those were the ones not already supporting the farmers through the bar-fine fund, yes?

Edited February 17, 2014 by JoeThePoster

[Scamper]

A 30 minute plea for help and understanding has apparently shook the Earth off its axis for some ! Not only that, but they are apparently swallowing hook line and sinker the Yingluck's administrations line that the only farmers that are complaining are " fake farmers ". With such gullible absorption of the administration's line, one wonders why Pheu Thai haven't thought of using it before. It's a big hit in some places.

This is a Buddhist country, and one of the things a monk learns very quickly that he must do, is to ask for charity. For those that think it is easy asking for other's charity, try it one day. It's not as easy as you might think. If you ever find yourself in the position of not having money to feed your family, and have no other recourse, you may quickly realize that these farmers most definitely have a just complaint. Perhaps you should try spending each day in a hot rice field, slaving away during growing season, sell your rice to an administration under promise of payment, and payment never comes. How would you feel ?

Perhaps a wrong question to ask, because your reasoning suggests an inability to feel. As well as an inability to reason.

[samjaidee]

Seriously? Don't they have any shame at all?

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Lets let you and your family spend all of your money with no chance to make more and see if you are not reduced to doing this. Show some sympathy mate. These farmers could be your family. Hopeless with noone to turn to and in great debt

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Go out & find other jobs that will put food on the table. Income will not come to those that just sit & wait. Everyone has a choice.....work or don't work & beg.

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Farmers, some of whose families have been farming the same land for generations are are suddenly supposed to stop farming and find jobs.

So.... Where are all these jobs waiting for all the rice farmers?

Do you practice writing crass comments? You're very good at it.

[wpcoe]

from the OP:

Farmers waited for foreign tourists emerging out the airport’s departure lounge and gave them token made from rice straws tied with flag color ribbon as a gesture of welcoming.

Where are the farmers meeting the tourists? I doubt they can enter the sterile area where the departure lounges (gates) are.

[NCFC]

Seriously? Don't they have any shame at all?

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Lets let you and your family spend all of your money with no chance to make more and see if you are not reduced to doing this. Show some sympathy mate. These farmers could be your family. Hopeless with noone to turn to and in great debt

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Go out & find other jobs that will put food on the table. Income will not come to those that just sit & wait. Everyone has a choice.....work or don't work & beg.

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Farmers, some of whose families have been farming the same land for generations are are suddenly supposed to stop farming and find jobs.

So.... Where are all these jobs waiting for all the rice farmers?

Do you practice writing crass comments? You're very good at it.

Plenty of jobs in Thailand. Might have to displace a few Cambodians and Burmese first though.

[kingstonkid]

Why the donation box?

I thought Suthep had collected more than 20 million in 1 day last week for the farmers?

Ha Ha I doubt it would be for the farmers, more likely his pocket. Just another one on the bandwagon ripping of the Thai's.

God you have to love the simple minds on here at times.

Instead of getting facts an looking at them you go with the little scraps of crap you get here.

GIVE ME A FREAKING BREAK

SUTHEP has announced publicly to all the people at the sties and through out thailand in Thai and English that he is and the PDRC are rounding this up to 22.2 million Baht. 20 million is gong to the Thai legal fund for the farmers so that they can proceed with their legal case whch is a strong one against the government.

He will be presenting the second apart of it on stage in front of media and followers.

2.2 million is gong to the families of the farmers that due to the government driving them to utter despair killed themselves.

For those that have a hard time with simple math that is

2,200,000 divided by 11 families equaling 2000,000 per family again that will be presented.

Everything he is doing is above board

The farmers are not begging because they want to unlike more and more farang if you go by the news articles. They are more wanting people landing both tourist and business to be aware of what is happening to them.

Really they are simple folk that have only done one thing wrong in their lives and that was trust Chalerm, the Shin family and the rest of the PTP and UDD who told them they were going to look after them and make the country better.

I realize that most of us come from countries where the government hands out money at will even if you do not want to work.

These people want to work and want to farm BUT when you do not have the money for the seed to grow the product what are you supposed to do sit on your ass and do nothing?

Edited February 17, 2014 by kingstonkid

[soalbundy]

"Donation ? oh sorry iv'e already given, red cross. I am here for H O L I D A Y you understand, swimming,whiskey,cheap farmers daughters, oh! you no understand.

[farmerjo]

I dont support what they have done for half an hour.

But its better than the airport being shutdown.

Wonder what if that happened again.

[soalbundy]

This is where its all taken out of proportion,poor farmers dont have chanote land therefore could not go into the pledging scheme.

Its the middle class farmer who,i say who should have a bit of business knowledge having entered this scheme.

Now if you run a mediocre business,you should still have funds for the next couple of years to see you through if paid or not for a certain amount of time.

If you dont,you should sell your chanote land and get out of business.One of the problems with the thais is they dont like to sell assets if there struggling.

I'm sure there will be farmers hurting,but the percentage will be small.

Usually the poor farmer without land entrusts his rice with a relative or friend who has a chanote for his rice fields and so in a round about manner is also "in the scheme"

[NHT]

Hypocrisy at its highest!

Farangs are not allowed to even join their friends at rallies and face imprisonment and deportation

THAI, however, are allowed to intentionally incriminate foreign tourists!

Should I add "Racism and discrimination" at its highest, too! Is Thailand so desperate to proof it is absolutely incompetent to distinguish between Right and Wrong? But, I need to pay credit, too. It helps us to faster realise, to better stay away.

It's the most pathetic, and controversial country on this globe. Thailand, you're truly "amazing" !

= = =

It also shows clearly, that Thai people are just after ONE thing - and that is, the FARNG MONEY! In such efforts, Thai receive even the support of Thai police and other officials, etc.

Pathetic, disgusting, despicable!

Edited February 17, 2014 by NHT

[Baerboxer]

People come to Thailand for a holiday on their saved cash for such a holiday. They should not be subjected to beggars at the airport on arrival and the Police should have them removed. The Gov is now paying them, so bugger off.

Is that true - the government is now paying them? How many, how much?

[farmerjo]

This is where its all taken out of proportion,poor farmers dont have chanote land therefore could not go into the pledging scheme.

Its the middle class farmer who,i say who should have a bit of business knowledge having entered this scheme.

Now if you run a mediocre business,you should still have funds for the next couple of years to see you through if paid or not for a certain amount of time.

If you dont,you should sell your chanote land and get out of business.One of the problems with the thais is they dont like to sell assets if there struggling.

I'm sure there will be farmers hurting,but the percentage will be small.

Usually the poor farmer without land entrusts his rice with a relative or friend who has a chanote for his rice fields and so in a round about manner is also "in the scheme"

Thats not how its works,otherwise who's to blame.

[NHT]

People come to Thailand for a holiday on their saved cash for such a holiday. They should not be subjected to beggars at the airport on arrival and the Police should have them removed. The Gov is now paying them, so bugger off.

Is that true - the government is now paying them? How many, how much?

That's easy to answer. The Farang did not buy the rice, which the government tried to sell, Hence, the government couldn't pay the farmers.

Result = whole Thailand blame the Farang, All is well - Thailand is good, falang is bad!

[rucus7]

I see this action as a stroke of genius. What a first impression of Thailand after a long hall flight. They created a fantastic sound-byte for CNN. This is bound to go viral. Look at the the conundrum it created in this limited peanut gallery.

[farmerjo]

Soulbundy has a valid point on where alot came from.

Now it would be hard to payout farmers who have a little rai with alot of rice.

This could upset agriculture figures for years to come.

[kevc]

There are some utter ar**oles on this forum who've probably gleaned their knowledge from the TV in the bar. These people graft hard for their money upto twelve hours a day why shouldn't they make their case known to everyone and to the poster who said they should get another job if the government's not paying them why?? they've got a job and they need THEIR money that they've grafted for to start working again.

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[darren84310]

If the farmers wish to dun people for money, instead of begging from

astounded tourists, I would think a better idea would be to find out who

has the 400 billion baht that is missing ( Thaksin and fellow elites),

and go get their money from them..... Is that an over application of farang logic ?

They could start by harassing the police to do their job and find out where the money has gone. Oh, I forgot Thaksin has probably got them firmly in his pocket.

[farmerjo]

As long as their legitimate,i dont have a problem with that.

When figures are being altered which makes it hard on the overall log keeping of the project.

Who knows where they stand from bottom to top,this will take a long time to sort out.

[easybullet3]

Hm, well,... I don't really know what to say,... whether I should laugh or should I cry,...

... when rice farmers go that far to such International tourism areas. That's the first time I've ever heard such thing.

All I can say is that soon there will be a discussion of mixed opinions here...

What a picture.

Rice Farmers degraded to beggars by stupid Agricultural Policy

Why the donation box?

I thought Suthep had collected more than 20 million in 1 day last week for the farmers?

Ha Ha I doubt it would be for the farmers, more likely his pocket. Just another one on the bandwagon ripping of the Thai's.

30 mins in the airport seems so short !

why drive for a few hours to the airport, and only stay there for 30 mins ???? (not much of a campaign).

the article said that the airport staff allowed them to stay there, so why did they leave so quickly?

Maybe they just did it in a hope to make the news papers to put more pressure on the government. (if thats the case, then yes, they did it).

but really... 30 mins is not at all long enough to get sufficient money for even a couple of familes.

so it must have been a media campaign,, (rather than a donation campaign).

[ericthai]

People come to Thailand for a holiday on their saved cash for such a holiday. They should not be subjected to beggars at the airport on arrival and the Police should have them removed. The Gov is now paying them, so bugger off.

They were there a short time so it was not like they impacted that many tourists. Also it appears they did not mug the tourists but gave them small gifts and were asking for a donation. So why should the police remove them they weren't disrupting any operations. Don't they have the right to peacefully gather in public and protest? or you still think Thailand should rule with an iron fist like when "others" were in charge.

If you were in their shoes what would you do? They worked hard to grow their crop of rice for their annual income, the govt offered them a better price and then delays months in paying. Most of those farmers owe workers who helped harvest the rice, suppliers for fertilizer etc and I'm sure they are being asked for what is owed. On top of that they have bills to pay that they typically count on the cash from the annual rice harvest. You go to get paid and keep being told come back later, come back later. It appears your cry to the govt for not being paid are unheard so why not try and get some international attention, make the govt lose face. Just might work! If your employer did not pay you what would you do? Just sit home and wait?

I think you have no idea how farmers in Thailand really live. My company deals in agriculture sector so I work with allot of farmers and because of this I live in Issan. I know these farmers and the issues they are having from not being paid. They count on that money to pay the majority of their bills for the year.

You are worried about a few tourists that were greeted by these farmers, I'm sure their encounter with immigration was more painful than dealing with this handful of farmers.

Edited February 17, 2014 by ericthai

[rogerdee123]

How do we know they are farmers?

no worries ... the tourists are probably fake tourists also ... the usual crowd going on their visa runs ....

[unanimosity]

How long before they will start to blame the foreigner ?

When the man in Dubai brainwash tells them to...

Afraid you got the wrong role model, lad. The bloke with the box is operating on a page out of the Suthep playbook of hustling street cash. But the bottom line is that this was nothing more or nothing less than a 30 minute photo op.

[HerbalEd]

How long before they will start to blame the foreigner ?

A very long time. Probably never.

[HerbalEd]

How long before they will start to blame the foreigner ?

When the man in Dubai brainwash tells them to...

Taksin and his little sis are starting to lose their luster with the rice farmers who have been lied to and screwed by the rice scheme enacted by the present government. Maybe you haven't read that many of these farmers have been demonstrating "against" Yinluck and her government.

[HerbalEd]

Seriously? Don't they have any shame at all?

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Obviously you've never experienced people who are desperately poor.

[HerbalEd]

People come to Thailand for a holiday on their saved cash for such a holiday. They should not be subjected to beggars at the airport on arrival and the Police should have them removed. The Gov is now paying them, so bugger off.

The government is "now" paying them nothing. Yinluck they'll be paid soon, but she's done that several times already and still hasn't paid.

[jpeg]

There are some utter ar**oles on this forum who've probably gleaned their knowledge from the TV in the bar. These people graft hard for their money upto twelve hours a day why shouldn't they make their case known to everyone and to the poster who said they should get another job if the government's not paying them why?? they've got a job and they need THEIR money that they've grafted for to start working again.

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Um, whilst I agree with the thrust of your post, I do remember watching a doc which said they work around 4 to 5 hours per day. Still back breaking work though. Bit like the Burmese here on Phuket building sites.

[HerbalEd]

Why the donation box?

I thought Suthep had collected more than 20 million in 1 day last week for the farmers?

Did you read that they were only at airport for 30 minutes? The donation box was to make a point, not to raise any significant money.