Thaksin Tells Opposition Red Shirts: ‘Play Dead’… For Now
From self-imposed exile, the influential leader of Thailand’s rural ‘red shirt’ opposition movement has delivered a message to followers angry at the military junta’s iron rule: lay low for now, don’t panic, “play dead.”
Thailand’s former prime minister-in-exile Thaksin Shinawatra (Photo: Nemanja Seslija)
From self-imposed exile, the influential leader of Thailand’s rural ‘red shirt’ opposition movement has delivered a message to followers angry at the military junta’s iron rule: lay low for now, don’t panic, “play dead.”
Billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the long-time political leader of the north’s disenfranchised electorate, has told a key supporter he is watching events closely and has urged patience from those who want to see a return to power.
“When I spoke to Thaksin, he told me to pretend to be dead a little longer,” red shirt leader Kwanchai Praipana, a popular pro-Thaksin leader in the north-eastern province of Udon Thani, said.
“He told me to … wait until the next election. That will be the moment that we will win.
“The only question is whether an election will ever take place.”
Mr Kwanchai said he spoke to Thaksin a month ago, though he did not specify how they communicated.
Thaksin, who lives abroad to avoid a jail sentence for corruption, was ousted in a coup in 2006 but remains a major figure in Thai politics.
While the military has kept a firm grip on power since it felled the remnants of the government of Thaksin’s sister Yingluck in another coup last year, he and his allies have won every election since 2001 and anger is mounting among farmers and political opponents.
I’m not that happy at the moment because agricultural prices for us have not been good at all. – Farmer Samrong Pongthai
The military government has slashed rural subsidies, and coup leader and prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said this month the next election would not be held until “around” July, 2017, the latest delay to Thailand’s return to democracy.
Mr Prayuth staged the coup and banned political activity after months of sometimes deadly street clashes, saying he had to reconcile a dangerously divided society.
Many Thais, especially Bangkok’s middle class and urban elite, backed the intervention.
But sharp divisions remain and the Shinawatras continue to retain their popularity in northern strongholds.
Photo: Farmers have been pleading with authorities to do more for them. (Reuters: Jorge Silva)
Farmers plead for more help
A draft constitution that critics said was an attempt by Mr Prayuth to prevent a comeback by the Shinawatras was rejected by a military-appointed reform council, rather than taken to a national referendum that may have become a public test of the junta’s popularity.
Hundreds of activists on Saturday defied a ban on protests and marched in Bangkok in a rare rally against the military to mark the ninth anniversary of the coup against Thaksin.
Compared with the Shinawatra clan, Mr Prayuth has done little for Thailand’s farmers.
He ended subsidy schemes that funnelled billions of dollars to agricultural communities.
Sooner or later this pot will boil over. You can’t suppress it for long if you don’t solve the problems. – Khon Kaen mayor Teerasak Teecayuphan
The populist schemes were fiercely criticised as vote buying by opponents of the Shinawatras.
Without the subsidies, rice farmers have seen their income per kilogram of rice fall by about a third and are struggling to pay down debt they took on when times were good.
“I’m not that happy at the moment because agricultural prices for us have not been good at all,” farmer Samrong Pongthai said from lush rice fields outside Udon Thani.
“The government won’t increase the price. It’s been a struggle really. You make a loss if you sell it these days.”
Mr Prayuth’s government is considering asking farmers to not plant an off-season crop next year after drought left many reservoirs low.
It has also tried to encourage rubber farmers to cut down trees to reduce oversupply.
Both measures will only add to farmers’ resentment said Teerasak Teecayuphan, the mayor of Khon Kaen.
“If that is all the government can come up with there is little hope of restoring political faith,” he said.
“Sooner or later this pot will boil over. You can’t suppress it for long if you don’t solve the problems.”
Reuters
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