Thai junta makes long-delayed payments to rice farmers

Clifford Coonan in Bangkok

Thailand’s ruling junta has begun the process of making long-delayed payments to around 800,000 rice farmers still owed from the previous government’s rice-pledging scheme. It’s a move that could generate popular support for the junta.

Army Chief Prayuth Chan-Ocha seized power on May 22nd in Thailand’s 12th coup in eight decades, after months of anti-government protests that saw a court remove then-prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Gen Prayuth met both sides of the political divide but failed to resolve the stalemate that had left the country largely rudderless since December.

Bangkok remains under martial law, with a 10pm curfew.

During a military putsch, when information is strickly controlled, rumours fly around about all kinds of things. A commonly heard one is that the curfew will be lifted by the weekend, or at least extended until midnight.

The rice scheme was a populist measure introduced by Ms Yingluck, sister of ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who many see as still wielding a lot of power in Thailand.

As the government foundered, it was unable to raise cash to pay for the subsidies, causing anger and hardship among Thailand’s rice growers, who are owed 90 billion baht (€2.02 billion).

One of the first steps the army has done has been to invite banks to tender to provide 50 billion baht (€1.12 billion) in loans to fund the rice scheme.

Another 40 billion baht (€900 million) will be injected into the rural economy as the state-run Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Co-operatives starts to make payments from its reserves.

Air Chief Marshal Prajin Juntong, who is taking care of economic matters for the junta, said after meeting leading civil servants that the payout would stimulate the economy and add 0.2 percentage points to economic growth this year, on top of the current forecast of two per cent growth.

In an opinion piece in the Bangkok Post newspaper, Veera Prateepchaikul wrote how heartening it was "to see our brothers and sisters in the rice-growing community smile and laugh again".

“I agree that a coup is unconstitutional, bad for Thailand’s image and bad for the country if military rule lasts too long, because resistance will certainly escalate,” wrote Prateepchaikul.

However, he argued that the coup had brought an end to the shootings and bombings and had cleared the streets.

“Like a sick man who needs medication and rehabilitation, our house is in such a mess that it needs to be put in order first, and that may take time – but not too much time, I hope, or the occupants will become frustrated,” he wrote.

The tone of his editorial is similar to what many people are saying on the streets in Bangkok, how the coup is bad, but there was seemingly no way to bring the Red Shirts and the opposition together.

However, the coup is still far from popular. There was particular anger among young people at the news that the popular entertainer Taylor Swift had cancelled her Bangkok concert next month because of it.