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  1. #1
    The Pikey Hunter
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    Rice farmers to protest against government

    Rice farmers have threatened mass protests against the government for its repeated broken promises to pay them for the crops which were “pledged” with the government dating back to as long as last October.
    Mr Prasit Boonchoey, president of Thai Rice Farmers Association, said Tuesday that the association’s representatives who are farmers in various provinces have held discussions about the actions to be taken after the government has kept postponing the delayed payments originally from the end of last year to January 15, then January 25 and, lately, to January 31.

    The government’s repeated procrastination of the payments shows that it is not sincere with the farmers and has kept lying all the time, said Mr Prasit, adding that farmers have been suffering badly because they need the money to make a living, to pay their debts, to pay rentals to the landlords or to pay the school fees of their children.

    He indicated that the farmers had no choice but to “come out” to make their demand. He also dismissed the government’s claim that the delayed payments were caused by the protesters’ closure of the Finance Ministry, noting that the siege was over several weeks ago “and yet the government has no money to pay the farmers”.

    Prasit went on saying that rice farmers these days are not stupid and are fully aware of the situation.

    Farmers plan protests against the government for rice payments | Thai PBS English News
    You, sir, are a God among men....
    Short Men, who aren't terribly bright....
    More like dwarves with learning disabilities....
    You are a God among Dwarves With Learning Disabilities.

  2. #2
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    Good for him. Hope they get the money they are due.

  3. #3
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    If the Dem's weren't playing their stoopid games, they could be making some decent inroads out of this at the Polls.

  4. #4
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    ^My thoughts exactly, although rather than taking this and other obvious tacks toward discrediting Thaksin they obviously would prefer to use force to put the peasants in their place. Why compromise with someone you loathe and despise when you can just beat (or kill) them? They'll only ask for more later, so better put them in their place with a good smackdown- even if it hurts the country in the process (when it's your country and you own it you can damage it with impunity).
    “You can lead a horticulture but you can’t make her think.” Dorothy Parker

  5. #5
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    These image-producing protests do no good.

    What the good hard-working rice farming could do to better themselves [in the long-run] is to throw a Gandhi towards their suppressers.
    Live one's protest.

    Create broad independent collectives as a unified stake.
    Refuse to sell your cherished product to the rice mafias and seek your own free market.
    Grow for community subsistence only. [not a sound idea...but getting the point across]


    Rice, in particular, can be used a wedge for life [metaphorically and literally] - as it has the most influential political clout today still.

    Make your life your own.....not theirs.
    Last edited by Rural Surin; 14-01-2014 at 10:48 PM.

  6. #6
    Days Work Done! Norton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rural Surin
    Create broad independent collectives as a unified stake. Refuse to sell your cherished product to the rice mafias and seek your own free market.
    Works only if all do it. If done by a few, history teaches a life shortening endeavor.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Necron99 View Post
    Castle Thaksin......

    It would seem so..

    Outside chance?

    They've delayed till 31st, I reckon they'll bow out to the yellows before the 2nd and try to pass on the crippling debt owed to the farmers to the yellows.

    You can't pay money when the coffers are empty.

  8. #8
    The Pikey Hunter
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    Quote Originally Posted by Albert Shagnastier
    You can't pay money when the coffers are empty.
    yep, especially as the caretaker government is barred from borrowing any money.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Norton View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Rural Surin
    Create broad independent collectives as a unified stake. Refuse to sell your cherished product to the rice mafias and seek your own free market.
    Works only if all do it. If done by a few, history teaches a life shortening endeavor.
    Yes...
    Generally speaking, Thais aren't willing to deeply challenge any such system in-place. A few, perhaps.....but not in mass.

    Even as they continued to get butt-fvcked time and again.
    Go along to get along.

  10. #10
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    an update,.......

    The deputy finance minister admitted today that the government is unable to pay all farmers by today as earlier demanded by the rice farmers, citing complicated administrative procedure.

    Deputy Finance Minister Thanusak Lekuthai said the government has earlier promised to pay rice farmers by January 15 but now could not fulfill the promise to pay all by the time because of disruption by complicated administrative procedure.

    But he assured that the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives is now gradually paying farmers at a sum of three billion baht a day.

    He believed that with the resolutions of the BAAC board and the Cabinet, about 55 billion baht from the bank’s liquidity could be spared for use in the rice payment.

    He also said the additional fund that the caretaker government could use to pay farmers will derive from the money which it obtained from rice sales and partly from the bank’s liquidity.

    Earlier the bank union Prasit Pahome threatened to take the case to the National Anti Corruption Committee, the Election Commission, and the Constitutional Court if the bank’s board insisting on using the bank’s 180 billion baht liquidity to pay the rice as requested by the government.

    He said using the bank’s liquidity would undermine the financial stability of the bank and could wreck the confidence of depositors.

    He would also ask for cooperation from all state unions to oppose the government’s plan to use its liquidity for such purpose.

    He said the bank has to reserve 60 billion baht of its 180 billion baht liquidity as required by the central bank, and the rest for the bank’s operations, and refund due deposits.
    Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

  11. #11
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    I suppose the farmers could give poppies a try.

    No bank liquidity problems there.

  12. #12
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    Thai Leader Yingluck Under Pressure as Cash for Rice Farmers Dries Up

    Thailand's flagship rice subsidy is running out of cash and backfiring at a critical time for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whose political future hinges on support from farmers and other rural voters as her rivals intensify their campaign to remove her from office.

    The government has been buying up rice from farmers at about 50% above market prices to boost rural incomes since Ms. Yingluck's Pheu Thai Party took office in 2011. Now, it can't sell the rice fast enough to fund the subsidy. Rival exporters such as India and Vietnam have ramped up production, selling rice cheaper and knocking Thailand off its perch as the No. 1 exporter.

    "Farmers are very angry," said Nipon Poapongsakorn, a rural development specialist at Thailand Development Research Institute, a think tank. "It is the first time in our history that farmers didn't get money for the rice that they already sold to the government,''

    The state-owned bank tasked with funding the policy, the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, is seeking to raise 20 billion baht ($610 million) in a bond auction Thursday it hopes will make up the shortfall from a 75 billion baht auction in November, when only half of the issue was purchased.

    The funds will go toward paying rice farmers, some of whom haven't been paid in months. The government on Wednesday extend a deadline for the payment of October's harvest, while local media said that in one northern province, only a small fraction of its nearly 50,000 rice farmers received money from the government.

    Thailand's rural population comprises the political base for Ms. Yingluck and her elder brother Thaksin Shinawatra, a polarizing former premier who was ousted in a military coup in 2006. The subsidy is one of a raft of policies aimed at benefiting rural voters that has annoyed the mostly middle-class protesters in Bangkok whose taxes pay for it.

    Opponents of the Shinawatra political empire have turned out by the tens of thousands this week to demand Ms. Yingluck's resignation. The protesters say Ms. Yingluck and her brother's populist policies amount to vote-buying, while the government maintains its policy benefits farmers, who are among Thai society's poorest citizens.

    The expectations raised by the subsidy program have now become a liability for the government, which has also had to face down protests from rubber farmers and other groups demanding equal treatment.

    The delay in payments highlights how the subsidy program has left the agriculture bank—and the government—in a financially precarious situation. Analysts at CIMB Securities said the Thai state incurs costs of about 300 billion baht ($9.2 billion) a year to support rice prices, amounting to about 2.5% of GDP.

    Chookiat Ophaswongse, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said approximately 10 million tons of paddy—unprocessed rice—haven't been paid for by the government, worth about 170 billion baht.

    The bond auction Thursday may go some way to alleviating the pressure. Chut Trakoolngam, a dealer at Kasikornbank, said he would take part in the auction and was fairly optimistic the bond will sell because it offers an attractive yield of about 3.2%, but added that the agriculture bank's debt level is "not sustainable."

    The International Monetary Fund has warned that the debt has eroded the credibility of Thailand's public finances and recommended in November that the subsidies be scrapped. Some farmers have even turned out in Bangkok to join in the antigovernment protests. Wasana Yingphon, a 45-year-old rice farmer, drove from the ancient capital of Ayutthaya, a stronghold of support for Ms. Yingluck, to the capital in December to complain about missing payments.

    Ms. Wasana said many rice farmers are having to go to nonbank lenders and pay high interest rates so they can afford to plant new crops.

    With such large outstanding payments, Mr. Chookiat of the rice exporters association said he worries how the government will settle its bills long-term.

    "I suspect that the situation will get worse if the government delays their payments any further," he said.

  13. #13
    Thailand Expat
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    EC Commissioner Somchai insists govt cannot hold rice talk with China
    January 16, 2014

    Election Commissioner Somchai Srisuthiyakorn insisted Thursday that the EC had clearly informed the Commerce Ministry that its caretaker minister, Niwatthumrong Boonsongpaisan, cannot hold rice sale talk with China.

    Somchai said the Commerce Ministry's representatives were clearly informed that Niwatthumrong could not travel to China to hold rice deal negotiation.

    Somchai explained the EC prohibited the practice because the travelling would be done with the national budget and the talk would have commitment on the next government and the deal would have an impact on the election result.

    nationmultimedia.com

  14. #14
    Days Work Done! Norton's Avatar
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    The rice buying scheme as devised by the PTP was clearly ridiculous as designed. The same result at similar cost to government could have been done via subsidies as many other countries do.

    None the less we can't blame the farmers for wanting their payments. Shame the farmers demonstrations are occurring same time as the Bangkok sideshow. Otherwise the farmer demonstrations would be front page news.

  15. #15
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    Could someone please explain me why the government can't go to the farmers and explains them we can't pay you because the opposition blocks the money ? Which basically is true.

  16. #16
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    If the Amart and the middle class are anti Thaksin, and now the rice farmers are anti-Yingluck, who is left to support Dear Leader?

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Perota View Post
    Could someone please explain me why the government can't go to the farmers and explains them we can't pay you because the opposition blocks the money ? Which basically is true.

    they can't pay them because they can't unload 20 million tones of stale rice at a price that won't send them bankrupt...

  18. #18
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    edited

  19. #19
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    same story different source: EC rejects government’s 130-billion baht rice loans

    The Election Commission (EC) has rejected the caretaker government ‘s request to seek 130 billion baht loans to finance its rice-pledging scheme, and the government-to-government rice sales to China.

    EC commissioner Somchai Srisuthiyakor said that the government had made four-point request to the EC and ask whether it could go ahead with these schemes.

    The four schemes are the sale of packed rice, the use of bank’s liquidity for rice payment, the rice sales to China on G-to-G agreement, and the 130-billion baht rice loans.

    He said that the EC has already sent replies to request to the government but the Commerce Minister Niwatthamlong Boonsongpaisan has said the reply to the Chinese rice sale is ambiguous and wanted more explanation.

    The minister reasoned that the EC’s reply was alike the verdict of the International Court of Justice which could be interpreted because the EC wrote in the reply that the rice sale risks violation of law and need to be carry on with caution, the commissioner said.

    He said .that the Commerce Ministry has resent the request on the matter and the EC would raise this for discussion next week along with the request for the 130-billion baht rice loan sought by the Finance Minister.

    But he said that the EC has earlier told that all four schemes could not be carried on but is ready to hear more explanation from the caretaker ministers

    The EC commissioner said the EC has rejected the 130-billion baht rice loan scheme, and the using of 50 billion baht fund from the liquidity of the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives to pay rice farmers.

    But he said that he has learned that the government has already used the bank liquidity for rice payment, therefore the EC has warned that it has to take its own responsibility.

    He added that all the four requests could not be carried out under Section 181 of the Constitution if they commit to the new government, have impact on election, are government revenues, and use government facilities

  20. #20
    Days Work Done! Norton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Perota
    why the government can't go to the farmers and explains them we can't pay you because the opposition blocks the money ?
    They have. The farmers understand the situation but they still need their money. Like farmers worldwide, many borrowed money for planting cost. Naturally, the banks want their money as well. Farmers are between a rock and a hard place.

  21. #21
    I'm in Jail
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    Quote Originally Posted by Perota View Post
    edited
    good move, your post was another demonstration of your sad propagandist non-sense

    to answer your question,

    they can't pay because the scheme is bankrupted, that's why Y tried to borrow funds with the issuance of a bond a few months ago to finance that disaster with local and overseas investors money.

    Since that didn't work, and the government didn't budget additional funding for it, they can't pay. It's that simple. Nothing to do with demonstrators stopping the payment.

    God what a gullible nutter you make. You should join the demonstrators, you will fit their intelligence profile.
    Last edited by Butterfly; 16-01-2014 at 04:04 PM.

  22. #22
    Days Work Done! Norton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Butterfly
    Since that didn't work, and didn't budget additional funding for it, they can't pay. It's that simple. Nothing to do with demonstrators stopping the payment.
    True that. Doesn't stop Y from presenting it in such a way that lead the farmers to believe it's those nasty yellows fault again.

  23. #23
    Thailand Expat lom's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by S Landreth
    The bond auction Thursday may go some way to alleviating the pressure. Chut Trakoolngam, a dealer at Kasikornbank, said he would take part in the auction and was fairly optimistic the bond will sell because it offers an attractive yield of about 3.2%, but added that the agriculture bank's debt level is "not sustainable."
    The government will have to reimburse BAAC for the cost of borrowing money.
    The cost for the rice has grown and the governments loss will be higher..

    Quote Originally Posted by Perota
    Agree there are a number of reasons but all are linked to efforts by the opposition to embarrass the government.
    Take off those blinders, the only reason for this predicament is that the government has only been able to sell a small quantity of what they should had sold.
    There should had been money for the farmers at the same time as they delivered their rice to the mills 4 month ago.

  24. #24
    The Pikey Hunter
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    Quote Originally Posted by Norton View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Butterfly
    Since that didn't work, and didn't budget additional funding for it, they can't pay. It's that simple. Nothing to do with demonstrators stopping the payment.
    True that. Doesn't stop Y from presenting it in such a way that lead the farmers to believe it's those nasty yellows fault again.

    They already tried that. They told them they couldnt do it because the finance ministry was blockaded. The reply was "Bollocks. That was for one day and ended weeks ago. Give us our cash!"

  25. #25
    I'm in Jail
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    Quote Originally Posted by Norton View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Butterfly
    Since that didn't work, and didn't budget additional funding for it, they can't pay. It's that simple. Nothing to do with demonstrators stopping the payment.
    True that. Doesn't stop Y from presenting it in such a way that lead the farmers to believe it's those nasty yellows fault again.
    even as gullible as they are, I don't think they will fall for it this time

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