BY PENNAPA HONGTHONG

The Nation July 30, 2000

AS AN army marches on its stomach, in a way so do the troops of some 3,000 protesting villagers from the North and Northeast now camping in front of Government House. And the well-being of their stomachs (except for the 50 who have undertaken a hunger strike) depends on a "resources-allocation" team of women led by Charan Yeudpuak, 30, from Chaiyaphum.

Over the past few weeks in Bangkok, Charan and her assistants have awoken at 5am every morning to check on their stock of rice, fruit, fresh vegetables and other food donated to the Assembly of the Poor by various sympathetic citizen groups.

On the day The Nation visited, some 100 kilograms of longans had just been sent to them by a group of wholesale fruiterers at Mahanak Market in the middle of Bangkok's commercial district. Later in the afternoon a truckload of bananas arrived from Rayong.

Charan divides the stock into 12 piles, to be distributed to leaders of the 12 subgroups of villagers from different regions protesting under the umbrella of the assembly.

Formed in 1995, the Assembly of the Poor is a grouping of rural villagers who have fallen foul of government forestry policies and development projects. Charan, for example, came to voice her fear about the cracking of Lamkanchoo dam in Chaiyaphum. Many are from the Pak Mool, Sirindhorn and Huay Laha dam areas in Ubon Rachathani. Others are villagers from the North protesting against the eviction of their families from forest land.

Charan's allocation team is one of the nine departments in the assembly's structure. The others are reception, stage control, security, activities, finance, medicine, campaign and hygiene.

"Everybody here has their own duty," Charan explained. "It's not the first time we have come to rally in Bangkok. We all know well that good management and good structure of the protest are needed for survival and to win the fight."

The assembly has received nearly Bt400,000 in cash donations from individuals and business groups. The Friends from Business, led by Preeda Tiasuwan of Pranda Jewellery, this week gave Bt300,000.

Charan said her department along with reception and the financial department were directly responsible for donated foodstuffs and money.

All contributions are registered at the reception department. Raw materials for cooking are kept in a makeshift shelter, monitored by Charan herself, and donated money is transferred to bank accounts by the financial department.

Eighteen-year-old Saifon Klinseesook, responsible for the financial department, said her duty was to keep track of all protest expenses. She said the assembly committee had a meeting every morning to plan strategy with their advisors.

During the meeting the heads of all departments report to the committee on their work and the money they need to carry out their work for the day. When the committee approves, each department head submits a form asking for advance funds. Every evening, they must clear all expenses with vouchers and receipts. Even though the assembly's savings account bears the names of Watcharee Paoleangthong and Baramee Chairat, advisors to the assembly, they do not have the authority to withdraw money, "not even one baht", Saifon said.

Saifon said she kept the account book, adding that the two advisors simply went to the bank with her to sign the withdrawal form.

She said her duties were not too difficult, as she had some knowledge of accountancy from vocational school in Chaiyaphum, where she is from.

Saifon and Charan insisted that the system was run by the villagers. The advisors suggest ways to set up the system and gie them advice on managing all resources for high returns she said, but do not intervene at this stage, nor do they get involved in contributions.

As of July 25, about Bt150,000 of the Bt400,000 the assembly had received from contributors had been used. Most of the expenses go on security patrols and copying documents to distribute to the media and the public.

"Once I hoped to have a good job in a good company. But I have to work here for nothing just to help my family and other villagers. Some may think the villagers are stupid, but we are not. I can manage hundreds of thousands of baht, as you can see," said Saifon.