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News > Local News
Isan red-shirts grumble: We're being ignoredl
Government supporters in red-shirt villages in the Northeast have voiced their grievances about the higher cost of living and complain none of the benefits of the populist policies have come their way yet.
Tai Tippachorn (Photos by Achara Ashayagachat)
Tai Tippachorn, 44, chairwoman of the red-shirt Ban Kok Klang Village Committee in Sakhon Nakhon's Tao Ngoi, said the people there felt abandoned and neglected. They were waiting for the trickled-down effects of the Yingluck Shinawatra government's populism policies that for some reason had not reached the grassroots people yet.
"All the remedies and hand-outs are for the urbanites, while the rural people do not get anything.
"We are disheartened. I myself used to stand firm against the folks in the villages who challenged us (hardcore red-shirts) and asked why Prime Minister Poo (Yingluck's nickname) did not come to help us as she promised in the campaign.
"Now the flood is over, there is no excuse to neglect the problems of rural people," said Mrs Tai.
She was fretting now about she could sell all of her 100 tonne cassava crop.
"Last month, I could not sell any cassava because there was no quota slot available. The flour mill in nearby Kalasin has now told me that on May 15 I can get a quota of 20 tonnes only. What about the rest?" Mrs Tai said.
Mrs Tai, who spearheaded the red-shirt village in Tao Ngoi, some 60 kilometres from Sakhon Nakhon, late last year, said farmers could get a guaranteed price only from designated mills, while the previous government had paid a subsidiy for at least half of the crop sold to any mill.
"The flour mills in Sakhon set the price at 1.75 baht per kilogramme while the guaranteed price is 1.95 baht per kilogram. During the Abhisit Vejjajiva government, the guaranteed price was three baht, and we could sell anywhere.
"Now, if we want the guaranteed price, we have to go to the designated mills and they limit our quotas," the red-shirt supporter said.
Sriprapai Setrit, vice chair of the red-shirt Ban Kok Klang Village Committee, said the populism pay-outs were given to those in the big cities, but the higher cost of living was felt throughout the country.
"Our morale is falling. We have galvanised support for Pheu Thai and put up banners portraying Thaksin Shinawatra with love, but we are now biting the bullet with no hands reaching out to us," said Mrs Sriprapai.
In February, the committee sent an appeal letter to Pheu Thai MP Niyom Wetchakama about the low tapioca price and with a request for a telecommunications mast so that the villagers could have full access to mobile phone signals.
The two women said they had made their problems and their pleas known to all sides -- including the district chief, the chair of the tambon administrative organisation, the local MP and representatives of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD). No one seemed to respond.
They both said they were very frustrated. On television they saw parliamentarians discussing issues that did not cast any real impact on the ground. They somehow felt lost and disappointed.
"They have to be more specific and sincere to solve the grass-root problems. Tao Ngoi villagers mostly have to buy rice, we don't have rice fields. if we cannot sell our cassava, we do not have the money to pay our bills," said Mrs Sriprapai.
Sriprapai Setrit
The two villagers had no problem with the government's push towards national reconciliation, but said they voted for the Pheu Thai government in the expectation it would give priority to solving the problems of rural households.
"Of course, we want all sides to reconcile and to forgive, so that no more people are killed. Those who lost their loved ones should get compensation so we can move forward," said Mrs Tai.
"But the prime reason we voted them into power is to deliver their pledged policies."
They said the villagers have sent proposals to tap financial support from the SML and the women's fund sprojects, but again there had been no response.
Jon Srijumphol, 56, from Udon Thani had a more hopeful outlook, but still shared the same concerns about farm costs and commodity prices.
Mrs Jon said rural people fortunately did not face pressing daily troubles like people in the capital or other big cities, as most of them did not have to pay rent or buy rice.
But the cost of fertilisers and fuel were among the things beyond farmers' control said Mrs Jon, a red-shirt core leader from Srithat district, about 80 kilometres from Udon Thani township.
"Children have to pay more when traveling to school because the cost of fuel has been rising. The continued downward economy seems to linger on.
"The serious problem for us is low commodity prices, which we cannot survive on," she said.
Mrs Jon was a staunch red-shirt supporter and joined a million others in signing the royal appeal in August 2009 seeking amnesty for fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
A common concern for Mrs Jon from Udon Thani and Mrs Tai and Mrs Sriprapai from Sakhon Nakhon is the price of cassava, which is below the 3,000 baht per tonne of previous years.
"Rice cannot fetch a good price, but cassava is even lower. In Srithat district the guaranteed price is 2,070 baht but the real price that we can sell at is 2,000 baht per tonne. It's getting worrisome, as daily wages for workers have also increased to 250 baht and fuel costs are also up," she said.
Yet, as a loyal supporter to the government, she believed this government was resolving the grass-root problems.
"They have to deal with waves of economic problems one by one. After the flood, comes the drought, and then the workers. In Udon Thani, those who were flooded out got government compensation 2,222 baht per rai. I think, the government is trying to solve our problems," said Mrs Jon.
Bunsita Pengthong, 41, a shop owner in Khon Kaen's Muang district, said although the economy has yet to boom as it did during the Thaksin government, she realised the situation now was reflecting the lacklustre global and regional economy.
The mother of two children said red-shirt members had to understand the current context so as to be able to adjust to the higher cost of living.
"This government has a variety of policies that address different types of people--- the urban poor, the workers, the farmers, the children. So everyone has to wait their turn - for example the free school tablet computers, the free internet and so on," said Mrs Bunsita.
Bunsita's mother, Suntaree Suanduenchai, 74, was even more loyal to the Pheu Thai government. Grandma Suntaree said at least the cost of living is better than the eggs-by-the kilogramme era under the Abhisit administration.
At the final months of the Abhisit government, the authorities allowed the sales of eggs, a widely-perceived basic indicator of the cost of living, by the kilogramme. The common practice has long been to set a price per egg, or per dozen. The change, although not compulsory, drew heavy criticism from housewives and vendors nationwide. http://www.bangko...iving-cost
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