Dam protesters 'are not paid'
Published on Dec 18, 2002. The Nation
A Pak Mool Agricultural Cooperative official said yesterday that Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had been misinformed when he alleged that Pak
Mool villagers were paid to join their current anti-dam protest.
Phana Jaitrong said the majority of his cooperative's members were
protesters, and dividends of about Bt400 had been distributed to them in
August.
Other cooperative members who were not protesters had collected the
dividends, he said.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday accused Pak Mool Dam protesters
of having been paid to gather in front of his residence.
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) supporting the protesters, meanwhile,
demanded the Thaksin-led administration reveal the source of its accusation
that the arson attack at the Mae Moon Yang Yuen protest camp in Ubon
Ratchathani had been carried out by the protestors themselves.
"The government should not equivocate on the issue, causing
misunderstanding among the public, as it could lead to social
upheaval," said Wanida Tantiwitthayapitak, an advisor to the Assembly
of the Poor.
Four men have surrendered to police in connection with the Ubon Ratchathani
incident. But they said they had only demolished the temporary shelters and
not set fire to them.
A government source disclosed that Thaksin had told other Cabinet members
during their weekly meeting yesterday that the Pak Mool Cooperative had
exclusively distributed Bt1,000 dividends to members participants in the
protest.
The prime minister reportedly instructed Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin
Chidchob to investigate this.
"They treated their own people with double standards, and we have to
correct it," Thaksin was quoted as saying in the Cabinet meeting.
Phana said the cooperative had held its general meeting in August and that
as this year the cooperative had made a profit of Bt6 million members were
on average entitled to a Bt6,000 dividend.
However, some members had taken out cooperative loans and the remaining
debts were deducted from their dividends, he said, with the result that most
members received only between Bt300 and Bt400 in cash.
"It's not Bt1,000 as the prime minister has said," said Phana.
Regarding the government's accusation that the attack that destroyed the
protesters' camp on Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat)
property close to Pak Mool Dam in Ubon Ratchathani had been engineered by
certain NGOs, the chairwoman of the NGO Coordination Commission, Rewadi
Prasertcharoensuk, said the government should clarify its accusation.
"We had nothing to do with the incident. The government has to
investigate the matter. If any NGO members are found to be responsible for
the incident, the government should take immediate legal action against
them," she said.
Wanida said several political appointees in the Thaksin administration were
student activists during the attack on pro-democracy demonstrators in
October 1976, and she pointed out that there were parallels between the
government's evasion of social problems at that time and what the current
government was doing.
"Those who only want to win the fight with the villagers should be
aware of what may happen," she said. |
