Thailand Live Tuesday 15 October 2024

[webfact]

SPECIAL REPORT
Debate drags on over compensation payouts
Wasamon Audjarint
The Nation

Prayut govt's moves welcomed but seen by some as meagre

BANGKOK: -- Prachod Chuchait made his living as a wholesale distributor of shorts - until December 26, 2013, when a tear-gas cartridge hit him in the head while he was protesting with other members of the now-defunct yellow-shirt People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) in Din Daeng.

The blow resulted in nerve damage, leaving him partially paralysed for months. Though he can now walk a little thanks to intensive physical therapy, he still needs constant care from his wife and two daughters. Clearly, family life is not back to normal.

Along with Bt1 million in compensation from the PDRC in June 2014, Prachod's family also got Bt103,000 from the Justice Ministry earlier this year. This was all the compensation granted, until it was announced last week that the Cabinet has earmarked Bt120 million to help victims of the 2013-14 political unrest. Prachod should now get another B400,000.

However, his family says this is not sufficient, because even though his medical costs are waived, as he holds a special ID for disabled people, the bills are still high.

"We have to hire others to do his jobs," his wife Suporn said. "Also, we need to invest Bt50,000 in raw materials, not to mention monthly bills like electricity, rent, water and our daughters' expenses."

"I don't think we will ever find out who did this to me," Prachod lamented.

"We just want some proper help from the government. It doesn't have to be as much as Bt7.75 million, just Bt3 million would be enough," he said, referring to the compensation amount approved by the government of Yingluck Shinawatra.

However, for the wife of Pasu Suriyakankai - a red-shirt United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) protester who was badly assaulted in 2010 - no sum of money will ever be enough. After all, her husband has been left bed-ridden and completely dependent.

She was given Bt7 million in compensation by the last government, but said it was not enough to cover the medical bills and she eventually had to sell their property.

"I need to help people to tend to him, while I desperately look for every possible way to get him cured. If Bt7 million was not enough to cover the bills, what good will just Bt400,000 do?" she asked. "It costs more for a living person than a dead one."

Phayaw Akkahad, the mother of a nurse shot dead while tending to victims inside the compound of Wat Pathum Wannaram in Ratchaprasong district during the 2010 unrest, says nothing will ever make up for the loss of her daughter.

"I don't think that [bt400,000] can be considered compensation," Phayaw, who received Bt7.75 million from the previous government, said. "How can the cost of life be so low?"

She said she has already spent all the money given to her on helping other victims and on the justice process. "If the state cannot protect its citizens, then it has to take full responsibility for what has happened," she said.

Compensation rates

The recent compensation package approved by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's Cabinet is based on those extended by the Abhisit Vejjajiva administration in 2008, a source told The Nation.

Both packages are in line with a 2001 Finance Ministry regulation, which stipulates that compensation for those injured while working for the government should be based on the salary of a C3-level civil servant multiplied by a number symbolising their level of suffering.

This regulation is a clause in one of four acts that the government says was used to calculate the compensation. In the absence of a law specially designed for the cases in question, this legislation is considered the best mechanism to help victims. The 2008 Cabinet used the same regulation to cover compensation and faced no subsequent legal problems.

In contrast, compensation awards under the Yingluck government were made extra-judicially and are the focus of a National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) probe into possible financial crime. This is one reason why the current government chose not to follow Yingluck's calculation approach, a source said, adding that the government could provide further financial help if the NAAC delivers a not-guilty ruling.

The compensation figure approved by the Yingluck Cabinet was reportedly based on an initiative by the now-defunct Truth for Reconciliation Commission of Thailand (TRCT), which in 2012 proposed principles on standard reparations for political victims.

"To get to appropriate figures, we looked at international case studies like those in South Africa, Chile, the United States and Germany," former TRCT member Ronnachai Kongsakon explained. "We multiplied the average number of possible working years lost by a victim with the then-minimum wage, and the final figure was Bt3.24 million per person."

However, Ronnachai said the Yingluck Cabinet chose not to follow the proposed calculation and eventually came up with its own figure of Bt7.75 million.

"I'm glad this government has revisited the compensation issue," he added, suggesting that the prime minister could use his absolute authority under Article 44 of the interim charter to eventually issue a law specifically designed for such cases.

Political activists also shared their opinions on the matter.

Akanat Promphan, a secretary of the PDRC's successor, the People's Democratic Reform Foundation (PDRF), is satisfied with the recent rates and believes that victims are often seeking mental reparation rather than financial recompense.

The PDRC, he explained, had also provided compensation to protesters who suffered during political turmoil, with the highest award of Bt2 million going to children who lost parents to the unrest.

However, core-UDD leader Jatuporn Prompan expressed dissatisfaction with the recent figure, saying it was nothing compared to what was offered by Yingluck's government.

"All political victims should be treated equally," he said, adding that the UDD also helped the victims, but the compensation was limited to Bt50,000 per person due to budgetary constraints.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Debate-drags-on-over-compensation-payouts-30269209.html


-- The Nation 2015-09-21

[maidee]

protestors go there with the knowledge they might get hurt & should get 0 baht

[seajae]

while I sympathize with the lady who lost her daughter spending over 7 million baht on others and lawyers is her own problem, she had her compensation but chose to throw it away and is now bitching it isnt enough, problem seems to be hers. Compensation being paid to those injured while taking part in illegal gatherings should be recognized as generous, which the red payments were and far more than anyone else was given, should be grateful to get anything seeing they were illegal gatherings.