Farmers welcome junta’s prompt remedial action plan

[Prbkk]

No, it's not wrong. Yingluck and the govt tried every measure to secure the release of funds to pay the farmers. They were blocked at every turn by forces opposed to the payment. That included Suthep who tried to bully and browbeat the banks into non-cooperation. Either you are ignorant of the facts or your memory is faulty...you choose

Yingluck was given a very fair crack of the whip plus the benefit of the doubt that she was not a puppet of her brother. However that all went out of the window when she pushed through the amended Amnesty Bill at 3.00 am.

That's what you are dealing with a liar and a thief. Who would this Bill benefit? Dr. Thaksin perhaps? No that couldn't be possible. I find your pro-Thaksin rhetoric deplorable. Stop spreading misguided propaganda on behalf of the Shins. They are scum and akin to the Marcos Family.

Wrong again. For some reason, you and others like to repeat the lie that the amnesty bill came as complete surprise at 3.00am. It is a lie. The prospect of an amnesty bill was canvassed by Yingluck during the election campaign before last.She gave interviews about it, it was reported in the press, discussed in this forum. She could make a legitimate claim that she had a mandate for it. And yet you and the other laptops go on and on with the same disingenuous BS about the bill. Get your facts straight. It's not hard.

In 2011 - Yingluck said "Yes, Thaksin's name was not in the proposed amnesty decree submitted by the government," she told reporters after chairing the cabinet meeting here today.She reiterated her government did not have a policy to work for any particular person's interest. See the link here. She lied.

2012 - Prompong said allegations the party would use its majority voice in Parliament to single-handedly pass an amnesty bill is false. See the link here. He lied.

July 2013 - The Worachai bill was presented by UDD. The public were told It did not benefit thaksin.

August 2013 - Questions started getting raised as to whether it would benefit thaksin on one key point. The definition of the word "Leader". Kokaew Pikulthong, who is also a red-shirt co-leader said "Thaksin is not a leader because he did not participate in the rallies. Leaders must be those who also joined the protests, such as myself." See the link here.

August 8th - Worachai bill passes first reading.

October 18th - Mr Prayuth Siripanich, a committee member and a Pheu Thai MP, proposed amendment to Article 3 of the amnesty bill initiated by Samart Kaewmeechai, a Pheu Thai MP. Link can be found here.

​October 19th - The house committee vote for 28-8 to amend the bill. What the panel did has confirmed an earlier concern of many that the amnesty bill would be rewritten to help "whitewash" the ex-leader of his wrongdoings while in power.

11 days later the bill passed against the wishes of the majority by a vote of 307-0 angering red shirts, Democrats, UDD.

"Any particular person" was happy though. Thaksin Shinawatra. The Prime Ministers brother.

So Prbkk back to your quint little post.

The prospect of an amnesty bill was canvassed by Yingluck during the election campaign. Agreed and as you can see from her statement above it was not going to include thaksin. Remember she said she would not work for any particular persons interests?

She could make a legitimate claim that she had a mandate for it. - No she can't because she mislead the voters. In other words she held them in contempt again.

I will finish on your next quote which I think is quite apt considering the circumstances.

Get your facts straight. It's not hard.

There is nothing new in your post or anything that contradicts mine. When asked many, many times about who would be included in the bill, she declined to name any names. She did NOT say, in any of the interviews I have seen, that Thaksin was EXCLUDED from it. Nor did she mention Abhisit or Suthep, both beneficiaries of the bill in its final from.

Rather she siad, repeatedly, that she was proposing reconciliation broadly. Thoise statement are in the printed press and included in her interviews with ABC ( Australia) and CNN. She wasn't hiding anything.

[Crushdepth]

No. Yingluck's mistake was believing that the EC would act ethically and permit the farmers to be paid..as per their legal entitlement under the elected govt's program.

wrong..as you well know 7 months they waited she should..have paid them on the due date...dont spread dis-information..lies.lies ..lies ..

No, it's not wrong. Yingluck and the govt tried every measure to secure the release of funds to pay the farmers. They were blocked at every turn by forces opposed to the payment. That included Suthep who tried to bully and browbeat the banks into non-cooperation. Either you are ignorant of the facts or your memory is faulty...you choose

No YOU are completely wrong - selective memory I think - if you recall, the government had not paid the farmers when the payment was due - which was before the protests even started.

One of the reasons for the protest was that the rice pledging scheme was not paying the farmers.

The payments to the farmers were due MONTHS before the protests, not after - so how did the protesters block the payments before they started protesting?

I hate to contradict but you sir, are wrong and have selective memory. PM Ying Luck did try everything in her power to pay the farmers and as the previous poster stated, Suthep blocked her at every step of the way.ignorant

Give it a rest. The government had many months to pay the farmers but did nothing. They could also have set the money aside before declaring an election and entering caretaker mode, but did not. Why?

What they *did* do was pump out a lot of propaganda.

[indyuk]

Prayuth's promise to pay the farmers in full within 20 days is a remarkable " coup " in and of itself. In one stroke he manages to alleviate the plight of the farmers, as well as strongly undercut Thaksin's core constituency. By this first legislative act, Prayuth takes the wind out of the sails of much of Pheu Thai and the UDD. It also is but the latest indication that things are going to be moving very swiftly.

Of course he can spend money out of treasury that a Prime Minister cannot. Payment for pledged rice had to be paid for under the legislated rice pledging scheme's revenue.

That is why PTP were investigating so many creative ways of borrowing the money to pay the farmers for the pledged rice. Every idea was rejected by Thailand's various institutions of Law.

Dictators are the same everywhere they plunder what they need to keep the people friendly until the treasury reaches a tipping point and enters into a liquidity crises. Thier country's Sovereign status becomes unmanageable and said dictator emigrates to the country where he has hidden the mega bucks that he skimmed off of the treasury.

This is why dictatorships are scorned by the United Nations and and the Democratic Members.

[ATF]

There is nothing new in your post or anything that contradicts mine. When asked many, many times about who would be included in the bill, she declined to name any names. She did NOT say, in any of the interviews I have seen, that Thaksin was EXCLUDED from it. Nor did she mention Abhisit or Suthep, both beneficiaries of the bill in its final from.

Rather she siad, repeatedly, that she was proposing reconciliation broadly. Thoise statement are in the printed press and included in her interviews with ABC ( Australia) and CNN. She wasn't hiding anything.

Are you dyslexic?

[darren84310]

How come now the money is suddenly here to pay the farmers?

Didnt they say that Yingluck and Thaksin stole it and thats why the farmers could not be paid?

Anyone that cant see what is going on is blind.

Maybe it's because they did steal the money and then the courts and banks and other authorities wouldn't allow them to steal any more, or to allow them to bail themselves out with Thailand's reserves.

Now you have a guy that has ordered them to use the reserves and they can't say no, not that they would want to anyway now that PTP are out the way.

Maybe you are blind?

[marinediscoking]

Yinglucks mistake was stepping down calling for elections, once that happened she was stopped from being able to pay them for it. I think the farmers are smart enough to see what really happened. All you yellow followers seemed to hate the scheme, now you think its brilliant because your hero non-corrupt coup leaders are doing it now.

I don't think the scheme is good. Never have. It was pure unsustainable populist vote buying, and mismanaged beyond belief at that.

I'm just happy the farmers are being paid for what they sold.

Yes I am glad you agree the money that should have been paid months ago was being held as a political hostage. Keep drinking the Yellow Kool-aid.

Most Governments around the world have subsidy programs for farmers, but because it is done by a political party you oppose it must be bad. Oh my.

Other countries have subsidies like the Rice Scheme, really?

Can you name me one country with a scheme whose premise is to attempt to drive all by itself the price of a globally available commodity by unilaterally withholding exports, that had to resort to secret G2G deals to "sell" the product, with no oversight, no transparency, the person responsible for the policy never chairing one single meeting about it, the instigator of such policy a man too much of a criminal to step on his own country and that, to top it off, only spent around 20% of the budget on the target population (poor farmers), completely ignored the poorest of them and resulted in leaving the suppossed benifeciaries of the police much worse than when it started?

I'll be waiting for your answer to that one.

That is one long sentence. First I never said "Subsidies exactly like the rice scheme". I said "subsidy programs for farmers", and yes they do influence the price of many commodities around the world. There are constant protests lodged in the UN over them, I mean really too many to post. I don't accept the rest of your unproven premise, but I would respond if you site a credible news link to your supposed facts.

[marinediscoking]

Yinglucks mistake was stepping down calling for elections, once that happened she was stopped from being able to pay them for it. I think the farmers are smart enough to see what really happened. All you yellow followers seemed to hate the scheme, now you think its brilliant because your hero non-corrupt coup leaders are doing it now.

I don't think the scheme is good. Never have. It was pure unsustainable populist vote buying, and mismanaged beyond belief at that.

I'm just happy the farmers are being paid for what they sold.

Yes I am glad you agree the money that should have been paid months ago was being held as a political hostage. Keep drinking the Yellow Kool-aid.

Most Governments around the world have subsidy programs for farmers, but because it is done by a political party you oppose it must be bad. Oh my.

Other countries have subsidies like the Rice Scheme, really?

Can you name me one country with a scheme whose premise is to attempt to drive all by itself the price of a globally available commodity by unilaterally withholding exports, that had to resort to secret G2G deals to "sell" the product, with no oversight, no transparency, the person responsible for the policy never chairing one single meeting about it, the instigator of such policy a man too much of a criminal to step on his own country and that, to top it off, only spent around 20% of the budget on the target population (poor farmers), completely ignored the poorest of them and resulted in leaving the suppossed benifeciaries of the police much worse than when it started?

I'll be waiting for your answer to that one.

That is one long sentence. First I never said "Subsidies exactly like the rice scheme". I said "subsidy programs for farmers", and yes they do influence the price of many commodities around the world. There are constant protests lodged in the UN over them, I mean really too many to post. I don't accept the rest of your unproven premise, but I would respond if you site a credible news link to your supposed facts.

[valvenus]

well done general 2 days in and your already more popular than yingluk..please stay until real reforms are carried out..then we can have that election.

Thaksin to form government in exile.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-24/former-thailand-pm-to-establish-government-in-exile-lawyer/5475648

Hahahaha... Great file photo that accompanies the article as it captures in one photo, the two men who were Thaksin's greatest backstabbers.

Priceless.

[djjamie]

Wrong again. For some reason, you and others like to repeat the lie that the amnesty bill came as complete surprise at 3.00am. It is a lie. The prospect of an amnesty bill was canvassed by Yingluck during the election campaign before last.She gave interviews about it, it was reported in the press, discussed in this forum. She could make a legitimate claim that she had a mandate for it. And yet you and the other laptops go on and on with the same disingenuous BS about the bill. Get your facts straight. It's not hard.

In 2011 - Yingluck said "Yes, Thaksin's name was not in the proposed amnesty decree submitted by the government," she told reporters after chairing the cabinet meeting here today.She reiterated her government did not have a policy to work for any particular person's interest. See the link here. She lied.

2012 - Prompong said allegations the party would use its majority voice in Parliament to single-handedly pass an amnesty bill is false. See the link here. He lied.

July 2013 - The Worachai bill was presented by UDD. The public were told It did not benefit thaksin.

August 2013 - Questions started getting raised as to whether it would benefit thaksin on one key point. The definition of the word "Leader". Kokaew Pikulthong, who is also a red-shirt co-leader said "Thaksin is not a leader because he did not participate in the rallies. Leaders must be those who also joined the protests, such as myself." See the link here.

August 8th - Worachai bill passes first reading.

October 18th - Mr Prayuth Siripanich, a committee member and a Pheu Thai MP, proposed amendment to Article 3 of the amnesty bill initiated by Samart Kaewmeechai, a Pheu Thai MP. Link can be found here.

​October 19th - The house committee vote for 28-8 to amend the bill. What the panel did has confirmed an earlier concern of many that the amnesty bill would be rewritten to help "whitewash" the ex-leader of his wrongdoings while in power.

11 days later the bill passed against the wishes of the majority by a vote of 307-0 angering red shirts, Democrats, UDD.

"Any particular person" was happy though. Thaksin Shinawatra. The Prime Ministers brother.

So Prbkk back to your quint little post.

The prospect of an amnesty bill was canvassed by Yingluck during the election campaign. Agreed and as you can see from her statement above it was not going to include thaksin. Remember she said she would not work for any particular persons interests?

She could make a legitimate claim that she had a mandate for it. - No she can't because she mislead the voters. In other words she held them in contempt again.

I will finish on your next quote which I think is quite apt considering the circumstances.

Get your facts straight. It's not hard.

There is nothing new in your post or anything that contradicts mine. When asked many, many times about who would be included in the bill, she declined to name any names. She did NOT say, in any of the interviews I have seen, that Thaksin was EXCLUDED from it. Nor did she mention Abhisit or Suthep, both beneficiaries of the bill in its final from.

Rather she siad, repeatedly, that she was proposing reconciliation broadly. Thoise statement are in the printed press and included in her interviews with ABC ( Australia) and CNN. She wasn't hiding anything.

So because the facts don;'t suit your agenda you ignore them? Seriously? You and Thida have more in common than I thought.

She declined to name names? Read the below. It is written above as well.

In 2011 - Yingluck said "Yes, Thaksin's name was not in the proposed amnesty decree submitted by the government," she told reporters after chairing the cabinet meeting here today.She reiterated her government did not have a policy to work for any particular person's interest.

Did she name names there? Is thaksins name in that statement? Hint - Look at the red underlined bit.

Do I seriously need to explain this to you? Did you seriously ignore it on purpose?

Edited May 24, 2014 by djjamie

[valvenus]

Good to see the farmers finally getting paid after all of Yingluck's broken promises.

[rametindallas]

Wonder what "the man in the sand" thinks about this step?

Time for another youtube Hitler parody

Thaksin reacts to 2013 protests in Bangkok (Hitler parody)

http://Thaksin reacts to 2013 protests in Bangkok (Hitler parody)

Suthep melts down after 2 months of protests (Hitler parody)

http://Suthep melts down after 2 months of protests (Hitler parody)

[philw]

Good to see the farmers finally getting paid after all of Yingluck's broken promises.

Yes, agreed.

Particularly "opportune" bit of populism.......

I trust the Yingluck haters of TV will now express the same criticisms of such renewed policies or will they accept it with their usual hypocrisy ???

No prizes for correct answer.

[chilizzz]

Good to see the farmers finally getting paid after all of Yingluck's broken promises.

Ever wonder why the money wasn't available under Yingluck and now 80 billion can be paid within a couple of weeks?

Didn't they say the money was gone because Yingluck and Thaksin stole it?

Why is it suddenly here now?

[jcb2001]

Wonder what "the man in the sand" thinks about this step?

Who cares what he thinks. The sooner Thailand moves on the better.

Before Thailand can move on, there is one more major step to be accomplished.

"Take away his Thai Diplomatic Passport"

This will cut him off at his knees and make it almost impossible for him to travel and cause trouble.

[phantomfiddler]

hardly going to say its a bad idea are they ?..... after a 6/7 months wait this will make the army guy a demi-god like Thaki

And why not ! It,s called decency, a trait that thaksin was never accused of

[kimamey]

Yinglucks mistake was stepping down calling for elections, once that happened she was stopped from being able to pay them for it. I think the farmers are smart enough to see what really happened. All you yellow followers seemed to hate the scheme, now you think its brilliant because your hero non-corrupt coup leaders are doing it now.

I don't think the scheme is good. Never have. It was pure unsustainable populist vote buying, and mismanaged beyond belief at that.

I'm just happy the farmers are being paid for what they sold.

Yes I am glad you agree the money that should have been paid months ago was being held as a political hostage. Keep drinking the Yellow Kool-aid.

Most Governments around the world have subsidy programs for farmers, but because it is done by a political party you oppose it must be bad. Oh my.

A lot of countries have subsidies and the Democrats had one as well although apparently they never did anything for the poor farmers. Subsidies are fine but they need to be at a sustainable level. if you can guarantee an affordable level over a number of years then I would think from a business point of view that would be better as it makes planning easier. The government did decide to cut the amount as they obviously realised it was too much but they had to back off when the farmers threatened protests.

The reason the money couldn't be paid after the election was called is really simple it's to do with the law on elections and nothing to do with being held as a political hostage although I'm sure the PDRC saw it as being to their advantage. If the government had been allowed to borrow the money it would have placed a burden on the following government and could be seen as benefiting the PTP during an election campaign. This also is something that many other governments have rules about.

I did think that maybe a compromise could have been arrived at between the political parties but Yingluck gave a speech about it which blamed everyone but the government so that made any deal unlikely. The EC did approve funding from the central fund as that's probably not considered borrowing but I don't know how much got to the farmers. Unfortunately we won't now get to see if the government would have paid the money back by the deadline.

Have a look at this and tell who you think has got the figures about right and who should be sacked but wasn't. It's quite a big difference.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/677428-rungson-vows-to-review-rice-scheme-loss/

[Stone Inscription 1]

Since the good general heads the Thai Military Bank as its director, this is easy for him to do.

[phantomfiddler]

It,s all very simple;

The redshirts of course have a legitimate gripe, ie lack of representation and corruption of local officials, so why earth did they choose (allow themselves to be manipulated by) the most corrupt family of all to champion their cause ! If they had enough sense to consider the facts, they would distance themselves as far as possible from the shinawatra clan, choose an intelligent and straight front man, and if they all voted for him they would be in like Flynn ! Strength of numbers ! true democracy, and and they would also have the backing of all rational people in the country as long as they did not take advantage of overwhelming support and realize that there are other people in the country whose views need to be understood and heeded Sooner or later the penny will drop, and this country will again be a wonderful place to live in.

[AleG]

Other countries have subsidies like the Rice Scheme, really?

Can you name me one country with a scheme whose premise is to attempt to drive all by itself the price of a globally available commodity by unilaterally withholding exports, that had to resort to secret G2G deals to "sell" the product, with no oversight, no transparency, the person responsible for the policy never chairing one single meeting about it, the instigator of such policy a man too much of a criminal to step on his own country and that, to top it off, only spent around 20% of the budget on the target population (poor farmers), completely ignored the poorest of them and resulted in leaving the suppossed benifeciaries of the police much worse than when it started?

I'll be waiting for your answer to that one.

That is one long sentence. First I never said "Subsidies exactly like the rice scheme". I said "subsidy programs for farmers", and yes they do influence the price of many commodities around the world. There are constant protests lodged in the UN over them, I mean really too many to post. I don't accept the rest of your unproven premise, but I would respond if you site a credible news link to your supposed facts.

Saying that other countries have subsidies as a defense for the Rice Scheme is attempting to drive an equivalence between them, you can't just say, they also have subsidies and that is that, either you compare them to see if they are relevant or you stop the disingenious argument.

What "supposed fact" do you want a cite for?

[Living in a cartoon]

Thailand has something on the order of $170B in foreign currency reserves. It appears they can go ahead with paying the farmers. Maybe I am uninformed. I am sure that that the farmers owed money need it. Pay them and figure it out later.

I hope Prayuth is a benevolent dictator.

[Redhawk]

Do you really wonder why the rice scheme was so demonized by Yinglucks opposition. Mostly it was how much money the "rice wholesalers" were to lose.

Back in the 90's I checked the jasmin rice wholesale selling price in america and then I asked my ex-wife how much her family sold the rice for that they produced. After proposing I was willing to buy all the rice that their village could produce at a higher price they were selling it for, the answer I got was "it would never make it out of Issian". All rice trucks are stopped and checked at various check points. Seemed getting a rice export permit would have made no difference. The profit I could have made would have been tremendous.

I later got the "talk" that a small group in bangkok control all the rice and set the price. Some years the price was set so low they did not want to sell as it was far to low. They could see how much a Kilo of rice was selling for in stores and how low they were paid for the same rice was often devastating to them.

Yes they have farm cooperatives but they often don't agree or trust them. Until Yinglucks scheme to "cut the wholesaler out" there was no other alternative, it seems many TV's posters want the "old ways" and "old guard" in control.

Glad to see some still see the wall behind the curtain. One could take any government of Thailand, none was not of failures and the next will not be better, it is only which is the best under this circumstances. Democracy is what? People dream of something that there not exist here to that definition. They will see that next is maybe their worst nightmare. It is a fight here of patriarchy to keep their assets. Thanks for the clearing words!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[peterquixote]

I am in New Zealand , the Thai girls came around to visit my wife and it was a celebration for Thailand.

A celebration for Thailand. I suppose now we can expect Prayuth to be PM or similar.

It is a good day here, they take that money from the evil Shinawatra and will pay the farmers

[Longtooth]

hardly going to say its a bad idea are they ?..... after a 6/7 months wait this will make the army guy a demi-god like Thaki

Wha' chu talkn' 'bout "demi-"??!! I think "full-on-" would be more like it!

[wabothai]

For the last 4 years i have been saying (when promised something) "I believe when i see".

[neverdie]

Wonder what "the man in the sand" thinks about this step?

Who cares what he thinks. The sooner Thailand moves on the better.

Before Thailand can move on, there is one more major step to be accomplished.

"Take away his Thai Diplomatic Passport"

This will cut him off at his knees and make it almost impossible for him to travel and cause trouble.

Good idea. I can think of a couple of other things that could be cut too, but is will just leave it at that

[Robby nz]

Where is the 80 billion coming from ?

If you red supporters were to try to keep up with the news you would see that the BAAC has said today they will make available 55 billion from the 3 funds they have set up to help pay the farmers and from their own reserves.

That leaves 25 billion to be found.

The Govt recently borrowed 20 billion from the central fund that was supposed to be paid to the farmers. I write 'supposed to' because there is doubt that the 20 billion ever got beyond interest bearing accounts with the interest and commissions being pocketed.

This they were to re-pay out of rice sales by the 31st of this month.

The caretaker minister of commerce said that money had already been given back. I have seen no confirmation of this.

It would seem very likely that the remaining 25 billion that has to be found to pay the farmers can again be sourced from central fund reserves.

As I posted elsewhere, the Government Audit Office has in the last few of days released a report saying that the total cost of the scheme has so far been 878 billion and the loss from the scheme is estimated at 500 billion.

The Audit Office is the organization from which the lady was recently sacked for telling the truth about the scheme.

Now PT has gone they are free to come out with the truth without threat of dismissal.

[ATF]

An excellent move. Of course he has to make it clear this payment OWED to them by the Government is the last we see of this scheme. It has distorted prices. It has removed Thailand from the world market. And in the end, the farmers did NOT GET ANY BETTER because of it.

What farmers need is co operatives. All the Government needs to give them is trucks, warehouses and help with promoting their own produce. That will indefinitely improve the plight of the farmers. And it won't cost whatever this crazy scheme has cost.

What they need is education and a basic understanding of finance. There have been Royal Projects too numerous to mention advising and assisting farmers how to maintain a self sufficient farm environment. But no they still keep on growing rice and trying to breed cattle oversupplying the market with low grade rice and beef.

[wolfmanjack]

Do you really wonder why the rice scheme was so demonized by Yinglucks opposition. Mostly it was how much money the "rice wholesalers" were to lose.

Back in the 90's I checked the jasmin rice wholesale selling price in america and then I asked my ex-wife how much her family sold the rice for that they produced. After proposing I was willing to buy all the rice that their village could produce at a higher price they were selling it for, the answer I got was "it would never make it out of Issian". All rice trucks are stopped and checked at various check points. Seemed getting a rice export permit would have made no difference. The profit I could have made would have been tremendous.

I later got the "talk" that a small group in bangkok control all the rice and set the price. Some years the price was set so low they did not want to sell as it was far to low. They could see how much a Kilo of rice was selling for in stores and how low they were paid for the same rice was often devastating to them.

Yes they have farm cooperatives but they often don't agree or trust them. Until Yinglucks scheme to "cut the wholesaler out" there was no other alternative, it seems many TV's posters want the "old ways" and "old guard" in control.

You will hear no arguments from the yellow supporters -- they are afraid of what you are saying.

Welcome to the sound of silence.....if there is one single lucid post from the wackos I will be amazed, and if it does rear its head it will be an attack against you or some vague references to "drivel...just drivel"...again proving they have nothing to say.

Cowards, liars, purblind sophomores. Wake up. It is not the good guys versus the bad guys. It is the bad guys versus the other bad guys, and everyone sides with the bad guy who helps them. One bad guy has helped more people than the others.....

In most countries it is illegal for a fisherman to sell to a restaurant. He has to sell to a middle man, who has no more labor involved than a truck and two helpers. In the US it is a felony for fisherman to sell direct. The middlemen take ALL the money, making even more than the sellers at the end, being supermarkets, restaurants, and concession sellers.

Wake up, sleepy heads, because no one is taking this lying down here.

Wah!

that is weird because I have a friend that is selling catfish directly to restaurants to supplement his Social security.

I would be willing to bet that what you are referring to is a local or state statute and not a federal one.

The same goes for produce.

[Katipo]

Yinglucks mistake was stepping down calling for elections, once that happened she was stopped from being able to pay them for it. I think the farmers are smart enough to see what really happened. All you yellow followers seemed to hate the scheme, now you think its brilliant because your hero non-corrupt coup leaders are doing it now.

I don't think the scheme is good. Never have. It was pure unsustainable populist vote buying, and mismanaged beyond belief at that.

I'm just happy the farmers are being paid for what they sold.

Yes I am glad you agree the money that should have been paid months ago was being held as a political hostage. Keep drinking the Yellow Kool-aid.

Most Governments around the world have subsidy programs for farmers, but because it is done by a political party you oppose it must be bad. Oh my.

I don't identify with either colour, but I know a poorly thought through and implemented policy when I see one.

Why weren't the farmers paid in September, October, November, or December (before parliament was dissolved)? I'll tell you why, because most of the rice hadn't been sold due to the artificially inflated price and massive mismanagement. Governments shouldn't be in the commodity markets (especially perishables). The money made from the rice that was sold, mostly disappeared into corrupt official pockets. The government ignored the problem until it was too late. They have no one to blame but themselves for this mess.

[tim armstrong]

I'm glad that sanity is returning to the rice debacle. This year will now be a better year for them, even if they continue to overproduce. But next year could be very different when El Nino kicks in