Red stronghold in Pathum Thani unchanged

[webfact]

Red stronghold in Pathum Thani unchanged
PRAVIT ROJANAPHRUK
NITIPOL KIRAVANICH
THE NATION
LAM LUK KA, PATHUM THANI


Rattatiya Yusingtoh, 44, right, and her husband Amnat Inbaan, 45, left still wear red T-shirts in staunchly redshirt district of Pianont Market, Lam Luk Ka district in Pathum Thani.

BANGKOK: -- RIGHT after staging a coup a year ago, the military went to this staunchly red-shirt province to host a concert and offer free food in a bid to ease the political divide and foster reconciliation.

However, a recent visit to the Pianont Market community in Pathum Thani's Lam Luk Ka district showed that reconciliation was still elusive and the political division very indissoluble.

Rice and coconut seller Rattatiya Yusingtoh, 44, and her husband Amnat Inbaan, 45, still wear red T-shirts while going about their business in the area. However, their red shirts carry no messages that will implicate them politically.

"We can't wear messages supporting [ex-PMs] Thaksin [shinawatra] or Yingluck. Our rights are being curtailed," lamented Rattatiya, adding that even the signals of a radio station run by a pro-red-shirt Buddhist monk were being tampered with by the military since the coup.

This was also the location of a high-profile red-shirt community radio station run by prominent red-shirt member Wuthipong "Ko Tee" Kottham-makhun, who is now a lese majeste fugitive in exile.

"Our rights and liberty are being affected, but can they dissolve our political identity? No. They can only stop us from wearing red," she said, adding that she and her husband still keep flags of the United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) at home, waiting for the day when they can freely fly them.

"I don't watch TV anymore, except for [red-shirt] Peace TV [online]," she said.

The military may no longer hold free concerts or offer free haircuts, food and drink in this community, but this couple and other residents say soldiers visit quite frequently.

Rattatiya and her husband have made no secret of their dislike of the junta and those "visitors in uniform" who show up in armoured vehicles to collect information and ensure everything is orderly. The couple says there can be no reconciliation as long as those on the other side of the divide are given preferential treatment.

Less than a 100-metres away, across the street, another couple runs a chicken-rice shop - and they are not red shirts, but die-hard anti-Thaksin and Yingluck yellow-shirt People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) members.

"We exist separately. I don't care," said Noi, who asked that her full name not be revealed. She added that as long as the red shirts in the community do not defame the monarchy, everybody can get on with their lives as normal.

Noi said people know each other's political stance, and most red-shirts simply don't patronise their stall.

However, this couple also agreed that moves to dissolve the colour-coded political divide and forge reconciliation after the coup have been unsuccessful.

Noi's husband Panlop Paingta said the red shirts have been generally keeping a low profile since the coup.

As for the situation, he reckons a generational change is required to end the political hatred and bring about reconciliation - a task that will take 10 to 20 years to complete.

Though there are no visible signs of the area being a red-shirt stronghold, Prathuang Pinyo, the owner of a photo-processing shop, insisted that many people still wear their political colour in their hearts. Prathuang was detained by the military without charge for a week after the coup.

"It's still in the hearts," he reiterated, without an iota of doubt.

As for the free concert and food, Prathuang has no memory of it. He was under detention at the time, saying that two of his computers and a mobile phone had been taken away by the military but they still haven't been returned. He said he eventually decided to file a police complaint about the missing items, and holding out the document, asked if we could pass the message on to the prime minister.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Red-stronghold-in-Pathum-Thani-unchanged-30260413.html


-- The Nation 2015-05-19

[Pimay1]

It is sad to see the people of this nation turn against each other at the behest of a narcissistic megalomaniac.

[Tatsujin]

It is sad to see the people of this nation turn against each other at the behest of a narcissistic megalomaniac.

Exactly. As I've said many times, Thaksin's a very clever guy, and this "divide" is exactly what he pushed for, paid for and got. There's no turning the clock back now.

[quandow]

One day as I was working as a Scuba Instructor on a boat in Pattaya, upon leaving for our day of diving, I sought my customers to see what we would be doing. I quickly found out that I had an Iranian "Discover Scuba" student, and he found out at the same time that his Instructor was American. Time stopped as we eye-balled each other. We slowly engaged in conversation, and soon found out that we were not evil monsters as our perspective governments would have us believe, and by the end of the day we both realized we all want the same things - Food, sex, secure homes, family etc.

Governments are run by psychopathic bankers who fund ALL sides of war for enormous profits and control the world's media to generate these emotional, illogical "motives" to pit people against each other. Those two set-jawed red shirts are no different from set-jawed yellow shirts. They are just told they NEED to believe the other side is wrong when it's the government that profits twofold from the unrest - not only financially, but by keeping people divided.

Governments the world over are very frightened of a united populace and will do everything they can to prevent that from happening.

[tonbridgebrit]

Credit to the Nation newspaper for printing this.

The people you see in the photo. They are not Chinese, they don't have a flash car, and they sell rice and coconuts. These people are the real Thai people, they make up the bulk of Thai society. Us foreigners should understand this before we start going on and on about Thailand.

[trogers]

One day as I was working as a Scuba Instructor on a boat in Pattaya, upon leaving for our day of diving, I sought my customers to see what we would be doing. I quickly found out that I had an Iranian "Discover Scuba" student, and he found out at the same time that his Instructor was American. Time stopped as we eye-balled each other. We slowly engaged in conversation, and soon found out that we were not evil monsters as our perspective governments would have us believe, and by the end of the day we both realized we all want the same things - Food, sex, secure homes, family etc.

Governments are run by psychopathic bankers who fund ALL sides of war for enormous profits and control the world's media to generate these emotional, illogical "motives" to pit people against each other. Those two set-jawed red shirts are no different from set-jawed yellow shirts. They are just told they NEED to believe the other side is wrong when it's the government that profits twofold from the unrest - not only financially, but by keeping people divided.

Governments the world over are very frightened of a united populace and will do everything they can to prevent that from happening.

And I had always been told elections lead to Democracy to a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

And now these governments are very frightened?

Edited May 19, 2015 by trogers

[waitforusalso]

It is sad to see the people of this nation turn against each other at the behest of a narcissistic megalomaniac.

Yes, the continuing insistence of the military to divide, conquer & control the country is deeply worrying.

Edited May 19, 2015 by waitforusalso

[MobileContent]

It is sad to see the people of this nation turn against each other at the behest of a narcissistic megalomaniac.

Exactly. As I've said many times, Thaksin's a very clever guy, and this "divide" is exactly what he pushed for, paid for and got. There's no turning the clock back now.

The Northern and Northeastern have been divided for the past 40 years and not only when Thaksin came to power. In the US you can't force a Democrat member to vote the Republicans or an Anwar supporter in Malaysia to start voting UMNO. The roots to the North and Northeast has always been voting against the Democrat Party and the Red Color only came out after the PAD which ordered all their members to use Yellow and then the Northern and Northeastern Thai's and as well the supporters in Central Thailand followed with the red shirts.

[quandow]

One day as I was working as a Scuba Instructor on a boat in Pattaya, upon leaving for our day of diving, I sought my customers to see what we would be doing. I quickly found out that I had an Iranian "Discover Scuba" student, and he found out at the same time that his Instructor was American. Time stopped as we eye-balled each other. We slowly engaged in conversation, and soon found out that we were not evil monsters as our perspective governments would have us believe, and by the end of the day we both realized we all want the same things - Food, sex, secure homes, family etc.

Governments are run by psychopathic bankers who fund ALL sides of war for enormous profits and control the world's media to generate these emotional, illogical "motives" to pit people against each other. Those two set-jawed red shirts are no different from set-jawed yellow shirts. They are just told they NEED to believe the other side is wrong when it's the government that profits twofold from the unrest - not only financially, but by keeping people divided.

Governments the world over are very frightened of a united populace and will do everything they can to prevent that from happening.

And I had always been told elections lead to Democracy to a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

And now these governments are very frightened?

There are no more fair elections. There are no "Democracies" (or truly honest republics). U.S. politicians are pre-selected by billionaires, all elected officials world-wide are beholden to the G8.

[Yunla]

These are good and hard-working people, all they wanted was a better life for themselves and their children, the exact same thing as every single person on Earth wants.

I hope that they will form new parties with new leaders, when the voting system is eventually restored. The ideal political leaders for representing farming or factory communities, are not media tycoons, but are former field and factory workers who understand the most critical issues in those communities, and who have a deep reciprocality with their people and the working environment. Societies traditionally find it easier to accept political parties that are led by honest working people, who have real and reasonable concerns and state those concerns in a clear and polite manner.

[trogers]

They would make ISIS proud...

Clueless comment, you are clearly NOT aware of the atrocities all over the Middle East committed by ISIS over their beliefs and goals!!

And the red militants were morally better?

A billion times better!!!

When the red militants start beheading those of different beliefs and faiths, who burn alive their captors enslave females and use them as sex slaves often getting raped dozens of times a day.

When they start executing in their thousands the armed forces personnel they capture and bury them in mass graves all whilst recording their actions.

When they start beheading the members of NGOs and press to get attention and elevate their brutal means.

When they begin to destroy the culture and heritage of artefacts as old as civilisation itself, then and only then would I see any comparison.

Having been at the forefront and the receiving ends of Islamic terrorism for the last 11 years, on a scale of 1-10 the UDD wouldn't even register.

Are they a threat, yes they are, are they in he same league as ISIS, not in a million years.!!!

Launching grenades into unarmed cowards killing women and children, setting fire to homes of those who disagree with your belief...

The same morals, just different in degree.

[trogers]

These are good and hard-working people, all they wanted was a better life for themselves and their children, the exact same thing as every single person on Earth wants.

I hope that they will form new parties with new leaders, when the voting system is eventually restored. The ideal political leaders for representing farming or factory communities, are not media tycoons, but are former field and factory workers who understand the most critical issues in those communities, and who have a deep reciprocality with their people and the working environment. Societies traditionally find it easier to accept political parties that are led by honest working people, who have real and reasonable concerns and state those concerns in a clear and polite manner.

And add this conditions - only those who are not living beyond their means and up to their eyeballs in debt...

[DLang]

It is sad to see the people of this nation turn against each other at the behest of a narcissistic megalomaniac.

Exactly. As I've said many times, Thaksin's a very clever guy

He was talking about Thaksin?

[Pimay1]

It is sad to see the people of this nation turn against each other at the behest of a narcissistic megalomaniac.

Exactly. As I've said many times, Thaksin's a very clever guy

He was talking about Thaksin?

Yes sir I was.

[DLang]

It is sad to see the people of this nation turn against each other at the behest of a narcissistic megalomaniac.

Exactly. As I've said many times, Thaksin's a very clever guy

He was talking about Thaksin?

Yes sir I was.

Strange.

That man has done more for the people of Thailand than any other.

A country awaking.

Pity the elite can't handle it.

[trogers]

It is sad to see the people of this nation turn against each other at the behest of a narcissistic megalomaniac.

Exactly. As I've said many times, Thaksin's a very clever guy

He was talking about Thaksin?

Yes sir I was.

Strange.

That man has done more for the people of Thailand than any other.

A country awaking.

Pity the elite can't handle it.

Yes, opening the state coffer and dole out 20% while keeping the 80%...

Robin Hood would have wept...

[rayongchelsea]

The rich treat the poor with contempt in this country..everything has a cause. It is singularly the worst thing I dislike about Thailand along with the education system.

[Fat Haggis]

Where are these war weapons ? Why hasn't the arms caches continued to be found sand searched for?

A few token finds after the coup was all that went on show, not enough to arm a company, never mind several brigades worth!!

Now you said the Reds proclaimed this, are you familiar with deception, jingoism, and sabre rattling?

[trogers]

Where are these war weapons ? Why hasn't the arms caches continued to be found sand searched for?

A few token finds after the coup was all that went on show, not enough to arm a company, never mind several brigades worth!!

Now you said the Reds proclaimed this, are you familiar with deception, jingoism, and sabre rattling?

Have they found the weapons down South that were stolen from the army? But we construe they are there because they were used to kill...

[Fat Haggis]

Thailands borders are porus, why not ask the PDRC popcorn gunman where his associates "aquired" his Tavor? Which was also "stolen" from the army?

Don't forget, arms dealer have no scruples they sell to The highest bidder regardless of politics ?

[trogers]

Thailands borders are porus, why not ask the PDRC popcorn gunman where his associates "aquired" his Tavor? Which was also "stolen" from the army?

Don't forget, arms dealer have no scruples they sell to The highest bidder regardless of politics ?

PDRC was in 2013. What was use in 2010? Water guns?

[metisdead]

Off topic posts and replies have been removed.

[Godders]

So much for reconciliation! Reading some of these postings from opposite sides of the fence is depressing to an old guy like me who lived through the war years and naively believed that afterwards we would be able to build a better world for all. Instead, there seems to be more conflict and intolerance around now than I can ever remember.

What hope have the mass of poorly educated and politically naive Thais got of sinking their differences and building a more equitable society when so many supposedly more sophisticated and worldly Westerners (not least those who contribute to Thai Visa) are able to generate such obvious loathing for anyone who doesn't happen to share their views?

Politicians in Thailand are little different from those anywhere else - and neither, unfortunately, are voters.

To be an MP has become a profitable career rather than a calling and many politician put their own interests, and those of their financial backers, before those of the electorate. Even if they have the time, working people generally seem to have little interest in looking beyond the the mass media for information and guidance. Apathy and ignorance leads to low voter turn-outs - and all too often a disappointing outcomes.

It is a truism that we get the awful governments we deserve. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Just look what happened in Scotland when the mass of ordinary people rallied behind politicians with the vision and integrity to pursue a controversial but necessary agenda for change. Against all odds and predictions, in an astonishing record turnout of over eighty per cent of the Scottish electorate, they won a landslide of seats - and at a stroke transformed the political landscape of the entire United Kingdom.

The moral of this story is too important to ignore. They (the tame politicians and their big-money vested-interest backers) are few and we, the people, many. Our votes do count, but it is vital that we know who and what we are voting for.

Instead of standing on the sidelines bickering among ourselves, we need to become better educated and informed about events and issues which shape our lives and the policies of the political parties we propel into power. Then - who knows? one day we might end up with a government we not only deserve but can also be proud of.

[DLang]

The rich treat the poor with contempt in this country..

And there in lies the problem.

Centuries of a society based on feudal slavery.

Jokingly called a democracy.

Then comes a man who treats this joke as if it is the truth, that Thailand is democratic, he gives the poor a voice, he gives them help, 4 democratic victories later, each one has been dismantled by the feudal lords.

The last year has been a massive step backwards for this country, the feudal masters have been purging, a society based on feudal slavery begins again.

[The Deerhunter]

One day as I was working as a Scuba Instructor on a boat in Pattaya, upon leaving for our day of diving, I sought my customers to see what we would be doing. I quickly found out that I had an Iranian "Discover Scuba" student, and he found out at the same time that his Instructor was American. Time stopped as we eye-balled each other. We slowly engaged in conversation, and soon found out that we were not evil monsters as our perspective governments would have us believe, and by the end of the day we both realized we all want the same things - Food, sex, secure homes, family etc.

Governments are run by psychopathic bankers who fund ALL sides of war for enormous profits and control the world's media to generate these emotional, illogical "motives" to pit people against each other. Those two set-jawed red shirts are no different from set-jawed yellow shirts. They are just told they NEED to believe the other side is wrong when it's the government that profits twofold from the unrest - not only financially, but by keeping people divided.

Governments the world over are very frightened of a united populace and will do everything they can to prevent that from happening.

And I had always been told elections lead to Democracy to a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

And now these governments are very frightened?

Let us clarify that such elections would need to be free and un-coerced.

[elgordo38]

One day as I was working as a Scuba Instructor on a boat in Pattaya, upon leaving for our day of diving, I sought my customers to see what we would be doing. I quickly found out that I had an Iranian "Discover Scuba" student, and he found out at the same time that his Instructor was American. Time stopped as we eye-balled each other. We slowly engaged in conversation, and soon found out that we were not evil monsters as our perspective governments would have us believe, and by the end of the day we both realized we all want the same things - Food, sex, secure homes, family etc.

Governments are run by psychopathic bankers who fund ALL sides of war for enormous profits and control the world's media to generate these emotional, illogical "motives" to pit people against each other. Those two set-jawed red shirts are no different from set-jawed yellow shirts. They are just told they NEED to believe the other side is wrong when it's the government that profits twofold from the unrest - not only financially, but by keeping people divided.

Governments the world over are very frightened of a united populace and will do everything they can to prevent that from happening.

And I had always been told elections lead to Democracy to a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

And now these governments are very frightened?

There are no more fair elections. There are no "Democracies" (or truly honest republics). U.S. politicians are pre-selected by billionaires, all elected officials world-wide are beholden to the G8.

why_wars.jpg

If you think things are bad now I would advise all TV readers to read the following books. Rise of the Robots by Martin Ford and Shadow Work (the unpaid unseen jobs that will fill your day) by Craig Lambert. Most of the old TV members will have nothing to worry about(we will be pushing up daisies) but our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren well that's another story. Wars are good for arms dealers, they are also a distraction created by politicians who can then pass bills to monitor us more closely. We are actually in cyber space chains now. Wars cost money and the Central bankers finance both the winning and loosing sides. They attack us in our retirement fudging the numbers so that big business and themselves can borrow money for next to nothing our money hard earned money we deposited in the bank over the years to help fund our retirement. The stock market is funded and driven up by this cheap money not by companies performance. Buying stocks on margin are at an all time high and if the market tanks you got to pay this money back or the bankers come looking for you. Hedge funds with their algorithum trading programs are raking in money hand over fist. The fix is in.

[trogers]

Thailands borders are porus, why not ask the PDRC popcorn gunman where his associates "aquired" his Tavor? Which was also "stolen" from the army?

Don't forget, arms dealer have no scruples they sell to The highest bidder regardless of politics ?

PDRC was in 2013. What was use in 2010? Water guns?

Try to remain constant with your questions you asked about weapons from the south being recovered yet? Which nobody has mentioned the south.

I merely stated that stolen armed weapons have been recovered from use of BOTH political factions.

You compared the people in the OP to ISIS and yet there is NO mention of them belonging to the UDD is there?

You you're either trolling or still clueless about any resemblance between red shirts and ISIS .

Look at the timing. The red militants started arming and using war weapons since 2010. They were suppressed by the military.

Why bring PDRC arming themselves in 2013 as an excuse? The militants in the South hid their weapons well. So has the red militants.

[metisdead]

Early on in this thread, a trolling post bringing ISIS into this discussion was removed as well as the subsequent replies. Now, some more posts attempting to continue the off topic discussion of ISIS have been removed. Let's stay on the topic of this thread which is not about ISIS.

[djjamie]

"Rattatiya Yusingtoh, 44, right, and her husband Amnat Inbaan, 45, left still wear red" and there is a great big pic of them in the OP.

"Noi, who asked that her full name not be revealed" and there is no photo.

This is very telling and highlights two things.

It shows the violence the red shirts perpetrated on people that have opposing views with the death being witnessed up to and including the 21st of May, 2014 is still fresh on the minds of the opposition supporters who have to hide behind anonymity to protect themselves and their families. It shows that violence has really been a good friend of the red shirts in making people cower and stay silent while the vocal minority purport to represent Thailand. Noi is obviously still scared of repercussions of her affliction and love for democracy. (Not a love for 1/15th of democracy)

It also shows that under the NCPO the red shirt supporters still have no fear of the Junta and as has been shown by the Junta that no fear has been warranted.

Lets hope Noi does not have to put up anti grenade netting around her house now that the OP has given a description of her location.

[halloween]

".....can they dissolve our political identity? No. They can only stop us from wearing red." said the woman in the red shirt.