Will the farmers who put Yingluck in power bring her down?

webfact · February 20, 2014

BURNING ISSUE
Will the farmers who put Yingluck in power bring her down?
Supon Thanukid
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The caretaker government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is reeling from the problems stemming from its inability to pay Bt130 billion to farmers who joined the rice-pledging scheme.

Yingluck and her government did not know how to react when farmers in several provinces announced they would launch all-out protests to demand the money they should have received months ago. The farmers have rallied at district and provincial offices and on roads to demand their money after the government repeatedly postponed the payments.

With no more love to be lost between themselves and the government, the angry farmers gave the government an ultimatum: Pay them by February 17 or face massive protests. But the government could not find sources of money for the payments, as no financial institutions wanted to help a caretaker administration.

The Pheu Thai-led government has created a huge debt under the rice programme, and since it now is a caretaker administration, it is hard to find a bank that is willing to provide loans to finance the scheme.

So far, the government has simply tried to survive day by day, blaming its opponents for its cash-strapped situation while insisting the rice-pledging scheme is a good policy that could really help poor farmers.

The government claims the problems are caused by politics, but the actual problems have existed and been damaging the government's reputation for years. The problems have simply worsened and are now easier to see.

The problem has affected not only the economic system in provinces, but also the country's economy as a whole, disrupting several economic mechanisms, mainly because the purchasing power of more than a million farmers has disappeared.

The rice scheme's problems have affected the economy in cities, because many young working people in urban areas come from rural families. When their parents have problems, these working people have to send cash to help their rural families, so their purchasing power is reduced.

The government has been rushing to try to sell its stockpiled rice to try to earn money to pay farmers, but it will not be able to raise enough to pay for all the debt in one go.

The government's struggle to find sources of money to pay farmers has affected the Government Savings Bank, which saw net withdrawals of Bt20 billion in just one day on February 17, by depositors who were uneasy with the scheme. The problem prompted Woravit Chalimpamontri to resign as GSB president.

Reacting to the crisis, Yingluck went on TV to make a statement, in which she insisted that the rice-pledging scheme is a good policy that really helps farmers to tackle poverty. She claimed that the programme's cash crisis was caused by her political opponents, who she said pressured banks not to grant loans to the scheme. But Yingluck declined to admit that the cause of the problem stemmed from the government itself.

Worse still, her statement didn't answer several questions on the minds of members of society. For example, she didn't explain why the government did not move earlier to sell all the rice in its stocks to raise money to pay to the farmers.

If the government lets the problem remain unsolved, it will affect the country's economy severely and affect other sectors in a chain reaction.

The Pheu Thai Party won the election - propelling Yingluck to become Thailand's first female prime minister - because of its populist policies, especially the rice scheme, which helped the party win a lot of votes from farmers nationwide.

Yingluck and Pheu Thai won power mainly because of farmers. So will they be removed from power by farmers as well?

-- The Nation 2014-02-21

Snig27 · February 20, 2014

One thing is 100% for sure, if Suthep or his bosses, or whomever they deem to be "prime minister" are in power any chance at all that farmers might get paid ever flies out the window. Anyone with even a slender grasp of Thai history knows how the Dems and and their military allies have treated annoying farmers over the past 50 years or so. It wasn't that long ago that bombs were an acceptable means of control for the rural masses.

Edited February 20, 2014 by Snig27

WitawatWatawit · February 20, 2014

^^^

You seem to forget the Dems supported a scheme to help farmers that was far more fair and corruption free than this Thaksin insanity.. I hope you and your ilk are giving thought to what lies in store for farmers in the coming ccrop seasons. To assist you, I'll tell you what lies in store - nothing. No money to buy the crops, no demand for the crops, no income for the farmers etc etc etc. There's a sh*t-storm coming, let you not under-estimate that. And every iota of blame lies squarely on the shoulders of Thaksin, Yingluck and this entire PT-led govt.

PatOngo · February 20, 2014

Will the farmers who put Yingluck in power bring her down?

One can only hope.......The worm is turning!

Siripon · February 20, 2014

What nonsense you write, Apisit's policy of price guarantee to all major crops in the last government was far superior to this pie in the sky fiasco rice mortgage scheme.

carbine1125 · February 21, 2014

Oh you mean like fire bombs in Bangkok 2010?

chainarong · February 21, 2014

If they had any guts they would , however like all farmers world wide, farmers tend to be conservative, so I wont hold my breath, they all rubbed the hands with glee the other day when money started to flow , naturally there cause had been listened to and fixed , when the money stopped they had to restart there protest, what I am saying here is don't always believe what you hear , see or read in Thailand or anywhere else for that matter , cause you could be very wrong, they must apply tremendous pressure, have a big backing and keep momentum , doubtful this will happen ,Suthep is having trouble with the momentum factor , so prove me wrong rice farmers of Thailand.

Ricardo · February 21, 2014

"One thing is 100% for sure"

On the contrary, that is absolute crap, any succeeding government, including a military one or another PTP one, will still be liable for the previous government's legitimate-debts, which definitely includes these overdue ones to the farmers.

No government can afford to walk away from these debts, any more than they can refuse to pay back the public-borrowing which has part-financed the rice-scheme & whatever flood-control work actually did get done, the Thai taxpayer can only give thanks that they didn't also get saddled with a 2.2-trillion Baht loan plus-interest over 50-years as well !

And looking past the short-term relatively-minor problem of the existing defaults, the farmers should be worrying also about the long-term damage done to their industry, lost export-markets and slowly-decaying rice whose eventual sale/dumping will inevitably cause further damage to the reputation of the rice they produce, all this down to Thaksin and his sister's PTP-government.

The Shin-elite may wriggle and twist, and try to blame current & future problems on Suthep's short-term anti-government protests, but the truth is that Thai rice-farmers are in for several years of pain, and its all down to the Big Boss, thinking he could use public money to rig world-markets in their produce. Now that really is "100% for sure" !

Edited February 21, 2014 by Ricardo

LomSak27 · February 21, 2014

No but that court case might - the do not touch peaceful protestors - hmm little bit different than how you deal with Red protestors but they were not as important. The New York Times has another great article on it by Outside journos who have a much better grasp on the situation than the local Nation porpaganda.

You really should look it up, they thought that if the court case holds that will be the beginning of the end for Yingluck. I trust their judgement far more than any of the local yokels. Looks to be another heavy hot season. Now how do I transfer funds out of the country again //

Bender · February 21, 2014

in a short answer: NO.

(mostly because the real farmer will never put in power the democrats)

BigBadGeordie · February 21, 2014

Aha those pesky "fake farmers" at it again LOL

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

tezzainoz · February 21, 2014

yes only one thing is 100% sure

you live in the past and all the future of Thailand depends on your ability to see the future

Please Note:

When I first met my Thai wife she was a Taskin lover

Now she is protesting against him

The Farmers where the main force behind Yingluck getting to be PM

Now they want her blood

how do you explain these things in you great wisdom that the past tells you what the future holds

Edited February 21, 2014 by tezzainoz

tezzainoz · February 21, 2014

Take them with you when you leave

kratiam · February 21, 2014

Utter rubbish........

Bender · February 21, 2014

"When I first met my Thai wife she was a Tasking lover

Now she is protesting against him"

freudian slip

lostmebike · February 21, 2014

IMO, YL and the red clowns could probably handle Suthep and the protesters and still manage another term as let's face it, they really are just a middle class minority. However, it would now seem that with the majority of the farmers (rice and rubber) against them, PT's time is hopefully doomed!

'inability to pay the 130 billion Baht to farmers' I wonder if big bruv will attempt another pay-off? Somehow, I think not. It really does look like that finally, the tide is turning.

Crushdepth · February 21, 2014

I don't recall the opposition taking farmers crops and declining to pay them for six months (so far).

Look at the rice scheme for what it is: A pit of lies, mismanagement and corruption. The PM is still lying about it, do you support THAT?

Sent from somewhere in the Pacific

MaxLee · February 21, 2014

They better bring her down to earth, I mean really hard down to earth!!!

Robby nz · February 21, 2014

I see the thousands of rai of paddy around me here that is close to harvest and wonder what will happen to the rice when it is harvested, where will the farmers sell it ?

The pledging scheme has is finished now and even if it were still in place how could the farmers expect to get paid when so many have not been paid for previous crops.

That leaves selling privately, as they did in the past, but even if they could get a fair market price which is doubtful given the world oversupply and the Govt as their market competitor they would still be in the poo.

And where to then for them, plant another rice crop ? Not so easy to change to another crop as it is to say it.

Yes problems are only just starting for the farmers and for the politicians for what can they do from here on in ?

It will be even worse for the farm workers who are right at the bottom of the heap, no work for them means no money and they have nowhere to go.

fab4 · February 21, 2014

Oh yes the "fire bombs" that were used extensively? in 2010 that resulted in Bangkok being twinned with Dresden, is that what you mean?

(Caution : sarcasm alert)

Patpending · February 21, 2014

They seem to be settling for Ayudhya at the moment and waiting for Gov to meet them there or report to them.. Gestrures are one thing, but a whole week on an E-tann starts to wear thin. Lets see

I bet they never let them line those tractors up again making it easy for us to count them.

10,000 farmers is 100 per tractor

steven100 · February 21, 2014

Will the farmers who put Yingluck in power bring her down?

Yes ...... tic ...tok ...tic ...tok

seminomadic · February 21, 2014

A pit of lies not so different from what Prince Mark and his puppetmaster Suthep supported when they were plunked into the country's leadership from 2007-2010. They just got voted out of office before their very derivative policy could run out of money.

No doubt there's been mismanagement and corruption re: the rice pledging. However, Snig's point is, what's going to happen if the Democrats are again plunked into power? Are there going to be financial resources that appear seemingly out of nowhere to pay the farmers? Or are they going to give the farmers the big old shoulder shrug too?

Edited February 21, 2014 by seminomadic

Centrum · February 21, 2014

I would imagine they will do as other unhappy groups have done in the past and set up protest sites out front of Central World!

spirit47 · February 21, 2014

What kind of human-being your are, multiple cells or not?

farang000999 · February 21, 2014

So the farmers are going to vote Democrat now?

almafudd · February 21, 2014

in a short answer: YES.

(because I say so...)

geriatrickid · February 21, 2014

Will the farmers who put Yingluck in power bring her down?

No.

scorecard · February 21, 2014

You can continue the deliberate hate messages against the dems, that's your choice. There is clear evidence that the red 'democracy schools' in the rural NE etc., villages were just deliberate hate the dems lectures with deliberate reruns of doctored audio and video tapes, etc. But perhaps you support such actions?

There is of course another view, there have been many reports in these threads over many years, from farmers, saying that the dems rice policy was good, and it's also been said many times that the corruption level in their scheme was tiny compared to the current rape of the common wealth of all Thais. (Note even tiny corruption is still not OK!)

ginjag · February 21, 2014

A well thought out answer, so who will ??? I do not suppose you will say she will do that herself automatically, self destruct, coalition partners breaking their support. or the few thousand MINORITY that have no chance ?? My best guess the reason could be a sudden faked illness, all feeling sorry/how sad etc. save face, love to carry on to help the Thai people ???

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