Baton Rouge
14-01-07, 09:54 PM
The old adage that every arising problem is also an opportunity is much more true than most of us are ever prepared to really admit. This is a prime example of where the interim government and CNS need to act in a groundbreaking manner. You will note that many of the farmers are actually in a difficult situation precisely because Thaksin set up unrealistic projects that have gone wrong. Every government I have ever seen in Thailand has always dealt with such protestors in a highly uncivilised manner; and the Thaksin government was certainly no exception.
For once, General Saprang - for all his blustering ways - genuinely seems to realize that the government could actually benefit from handling this protest sympathetically.
I would suggest that the government actually goes to some expense to bus some of these groups into the capital and make sure that they get to meet everyone that they wish to meet. And that each person they meet is briefed adequately to ensure that no one even begins to deal with them in the normal highly-patronizing manner. I further suggest that this government really does make the rural economy one of its highest priorities, and that it puts the matter in the hands of proven professionals instead of the urbanite chancer rabble so loved by TRT.
This is an absolute sitting opportunity to sweep the rug out from under Thaksin's rural policies and showcase their very real weaknesses. Most Thaksin rural projects were actually conceived by a bunch of profit-seeking city-dwellers who have spent their entire lives living high off the backs of ordinary farmers. Such people don't even have the common decency to admit that the entire nation has actually benefitted immensely from its farmers; indeed the country has also benefitted from the cheap industrial labor of economically-displaced farmers. Such politicians have no understanding of rural matters, and should never be allowed to dictate rural policies.
The key to ridding the country of the corrosive effects of Thaksin's (poorly-conceived) popularist rural policies is to enable farmers to have a real hand in creating their own salvation. Easier said than done, of course. But we should remember that these problems grew worse as a result of being swept under the carpet by successive governments. In the short-term, this may well involve expensive compensation for such ill-thought out nonsense as the Million Cow & Million Cow Fodder projects. The last thing this government should do is to allow a bunch of penny-pinching urbanite technocrats and political chancers to punish farmers because they previously benefitted (very slightly) from Thaksin's patronizing crumbs of two-faced charity.
Some of the more frivilous megaprojects should undoubtedly be dropped, to ensure that solutions to the farmer problem aren't once again nickel & dimed to death!
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30024107Farmers are threatening to stage protest in Bangkok
Thousands of farmers from across the country are converging on the capital to demand that the government address their grievances, their representatives said Sunday at a press conference at the Bangkok office of the Campaign for Popular Democracy.
Veerapon Sopa, an adviser to the Network for Thai People, said that about 1,000 farmers from the Northeast were now on their way to Bangkok and hoped to arrive by Friday to ask the government for help.
"They will be joined by farmers from other regions," he said.
Network of Thais for Reconciliation spokesman Warin Attanak added that more than 40,000 grass growers were planning to dump their produce in front of Government House if their leaders' meeting with Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Thira Sutabutra on Wednesday does not yield satisfactory results.
Warin said these farmers had grown a variety of grass required for feed under the "One Million Cattle Project" launched by ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra that has since been abandoned.
"The grass growers want the government to buy the produce from them and they won't grow this variety of grass again," Warin said.
General Saprang Kalayanamitr, an assistant secretary to the Council for National Security, said the farmers would be invited to a meeting at a military compound in Saraburi.
Saprang also called on the government to solve the farmers' problems urgently or else more farmers would join the rallies.
"I know most farmers still like the Thaksin government," Saprang said.
The Nation
For once, General Saprang - for all his blustering ways - genuinely seems to realize that the government could actually benefit from handling this protest sympathetically.
I would suggest that the government actually goes to some expense to bus some of these groups into the capital and make sure that they get to meet everyone that they wish to meet. And that each person they meet is briefed adequately to ensure that no one even begins to deal with them in the normal highly-patronizing manner. I further suggest that this government really does make the rural economy one of its highest priorities, and that it puts the matter in the hands of proven professionals instead of the urbanite chancer rabble so loved by TRT.
This is an absolute sitting opportunity to sweep the rug out from under Thaksin's rural policies and showcase their very real weaknesses. Most Thaksin rural projects were actually conceived by a bunch of profit-seeking city-dwellers who have spent their entire lives living high off the backs of ordinary farmers. Such people don't even have the common decency to admit that the entire nation has actually benefitted immensely from its farmers; indeed the country has also benefitted from the cheap industrial labor of economically-displaced farmers. Such politicians have no understanding of rural matters, and should never be allowed to dictate rural policies.
The key to ridding the country of the corrosive effects of Thaksin's (poorly-conceived) popularist rural policies is to enable farmers to have a real hand in creating their own salvation. Easier said than done, of course. But we should remember that these problems grew worse as a result of being swept under the carpet by successive governments. In the short-term, this may well involve expensive compensation for such ill-thought out nonsense as the Million Cow & Million Cow Fodder projects. The last thing this government should do is to allow a bunch of penny-pinching urbanite technocrats and political chancers to punish farmers because they previously benefitted (very slightly) from Thaksin's patronizing crumbs of two-faced charity.
Some of the more frivilous megaprojects should undoubtedly be dropped, to ensure that solutions to the farmer problem aren't once again nickel & dimed to death!
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30024107Farmers are threatening to stage protest in Bangkok
Thousands of farmers from across the country are converging on the capital to demand that the government address their grievances, their representatives said Sunday at a press conference at the Bangkok office of the Campaign for Popular Democracy.
Veerapon Sopa, an adviser to the Network for Thai People, said that about 1,000 farmers from the Northeast were now on their way to Bangkok and hoped to arrive by Friday to ask the government for help.
"They will be joined by farmers from other regions," he said.
Network of Thais for Reconciliation spokesman Warin Attanak added that more than 40,000 grass growers were planning to dump their produce in front of Government House if their leaders' meeting with Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Thira Sutabutra on Wednesday does not yield satisfactory results.
Warin said these farmers had grown a variety of grass required for feed under the "One Million Cattle Project" launched by ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra that has since been abandoned.
"The grass growers want the government to buy the produce from them and they won't grow this variety of grass again," Warin said.
General Saprang Kalayanamitr, an assistant secretary to the Council for National Security, said the farmers would be invited to a meeting at a military compound in Saraburi.
Saprang also called on the government to solve the farmers' problems urgently or else more farmers would join the rallies.
"I know most farmers still like the Thaksin government," Saprang said.
The Nation