Thai Group helping lese majeste detainees upset with media, govt | The Nation
Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nation on Sunday December 2, 2012
Nearly half a year ago, a group of family members affected by the
controversial lese majeste law decided to form The Network of Family
Members and Peoples Affected by Article 112.
This, they believed, was necessary as they felt not enough is being
done to guarantee justice for those detained under the law while
censorship and the curbs to freedom of expression are not adequately
raised and discussed in society.
When the network launched itself, only Thailand's two-English language
newspapers paid interest while the Thai-language papers ignored their
formation. It is symptomatic of how the media and society warily treat
the issue of lese majeste law, said 45-year-old Sukanya Prueksakasemsuk,
wife of lese majeste detainee Somyos Prueksakemsuk.
"There are more foreigners who pay attention to the formation of our
network," said the mild-speaking Sukanya, a private company employee,
who had to learn about political activism from scratch after the group
was formed to partly help her husband who has been behind bars for more
than a year without bail. Sukanya cited a German radio journalist
interviewing the group and a journalist from France. "Hardly any Thai
media," she added.
That hasn't stop the group, with 18 members, to meet once a month and
hold activities highlighting what they believe to be infringement of
basic legal rights such as the denial of bail to most lese majeste
detainees, and more.
One new member of the group knows this well; Surapak Phuchaisaeng was
released from prison just at the end of last month after the court threw
out his lese majeste case due to insufficient evidence. Surapak, 40, a
computer programmer, was denied bail eight times while fighting the
case.
He said that while he was in prison, the network visited him and other
prisoners of conscience twice or three times a week, offering food and
bringing news about the outside world as well as moral support that
sustained him and others. The support the network proved invaluable, he
said.
"I decided to join the network myself [after being released from jail]
because we share the same predicament," Surapak, who is still trying to
recover from life in jail, told The Nation on the phone from Buengkarn
province. Surapak criticised the recent decision by the Pheu
Thai-dominated Parliament to refuse to debate a proposed amendment of
the law as an act of "cowardice" and said people will probably have to
wait for a new parliament.
"What kind of system does this country have if Parliament dare not
discuss laws pertaining to the monarchy institution?" asked Surapak,
adding that in the future the network will seek
to identify political parties that will openly support the amendment of the law, which now
carries a maximum penalty of 15 years' imprisonment.
Sukanya said even if there's very little or no hope to see the law
amended, she and others hope that the seven prisoners of conscience,
including her husband, will have the right to get bail. She visited her
husband once a week and clung to the hope that Somyos will be found not
guilty when the court will hand the verdict on December 19, so she can
celebrate the New Year with him.
Showing posts with label Pheu Thai Party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pheu Thai Party. Show all posts
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Thailand's Ill-conceived Rice Subsidy | Asia Sentinel
Thailand's Ill-conceived Rice Subsidy | Asia Sentinel
Asia Sentinel's Correspondent, 24 October 2012
Bulging government warehouses must be emptied for new crop
Although Thailand appears to be veering closer to a major economic dilemma with its rice subsidy program, it appears likely the government will extend it at least through the current harvest season, with substantial consequences for the global rice market.
By fulfilling a campaign promise by the Pheu Thai Party to pay roughly 50 percent over global prices to rice farmers, the government now has somewhere between 11 million and 15 million tonnes of rice moldering in rice millers’ warehouses, and nowhere to sell it on global markets except at a big loss. With the arrival of the rice harvest season in November and December, the government must now clear warehouses of 4 million to 5 million tonnes by selling off the stored rice below cost.
“They have to sell it a low price, they can’t keep stocking it,” said Samerendu Mohanty, senior economist at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)in the Philippines. “They have to make space for the new crop. They have got themselves in quite a fix, they might have to sell four to five million tonnes to make space for incoming rice.”
The Pheu Thai government, whose rural constituency encompasses the country’s 3.7 million rice farming families, made the promise to pay well over global prices during the 2011 election that brought the party to power. However, as many Asian countries have learned to their sorrow, instituting a subsidy means climbing onto the tiger’s back.
Once put in place, subsidies are difficult if not virtually impossible to discontinue, as the Yudhoyono government learned earlier this year in Indonesia when it sought to discontinue fuel subsidies and reaped riots. Attempts to cease fuel subsidies played a part, along with discontent over corruption and other issues, in electoral losses for the government of former Premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in Malaysia. Badawi was driven from power after a revolt in his own party.
There are also questions how much the program benefits the farmers, other sources say. Although famers do undeniably benefit from higher prices, it is the middlemen who make out the most in the long run.
If the government puts the surplus onto world markets even at a loss, which is expected to be as much as US$200 per tonne, that is likely to drive down global rice prices, to the benefit of Indonesia and the Philippines, which are net purchasers, as well as several African countries, Mohanty told Asia Sentinel in a telephone interview.
Research-Works, a Shanghai-based financial research firm that specializes in commodities, said in its latest Commodities Monitor, which is delivered to private clients, that “The outlook for rice prices now seems more bearish given that Indian exports received the green light for 2012-2013. Thai government rice inventories continue to rise, up to 14.5 million tonnes of milled equivalent as of 17 October. Additional funding has been approved to purchase a further 1.39 million tonnes, taking the total 2012-2013 purchase target to 14.7mn tonnes. We are not sure when the saga will come to an end although 2013 now looks more likely. Watch this space closely.”
Thailand has been the world’s biggest rice exporter for nearly five decades, with export volumes increasing steadily from 1 million tonnes in 1974-75 to more than 10 million in 2010-11. Its share of the global market peaked at 43 percent in 1988-89, according to IRRI, and has since fluctuated by 25-30 as the global rice trade has tripled, from 11 to 33 million tonnes in the wake of trade liberalization.
Although Thailand remains the world’s premier producer, it’s questionable if they can remain that way, IRRI’s Mohanty said. Thai rice has traditionally been the world’s high-quality standard. But as Thai farmers figure out that the government will buy all the rice they can grow, the farmers can be expected to drive up yields any way they can, which risks damaging quality.
In the meantime, other countries are catching up to Thailand. Vietnam and India are both major producers and exporters. Myanmar may not be far behind. Prior to the country’s disastrous six-decade experiment with socialism and self-sufficiency, Burma, as it was then known, was known as the breadbasket of Asia. If it can get its act together, it could return to that position. The Philippines, which has spent decades as the world’s biggest rice buyer, has introduced programs to improve rural infrastructure and provide other aid to rice farmers, cutting substantially into the amount of rice the country must buy.
“If Thailand persists with the program, the emergence of new players in the export market will surely accelerate,” IRRI said in a report earlier this year. “The country may be displaced eventually as the largest exporter in the world. But, in the end, it all depends on how fast the global rice trade expands. If global rice trade volume follows the trend of the past two decades, it is possible to have enough maneuvering space for all exporters, including the new entrants. Hence, Thailand will continue to hold on to the top position.”
Asia Sentinel's Correspondent, 24 October 2012
Bulging government warehouses must be emptied for new crop
Although Thailand appears to be veering closer to a major economic dilemma with its rice subsidy program, it appears likely the government will extend it at least through the current harvest season, with substantial consequences for the global rice market.
By fulfilling a campaign promise by the Pheu Thai Party to pay roughly 50 percent over global prices to rice farmers, the government now has somewhere between 11 million and 15 million tonnes of rice moldering in rice millers’ warehouses, and nowhere to sell it on global markets except at a big loss. With the arrival of the rice harvest season in November and December, the government must now clear warehouses of 4 million to 5 million tonnes by selling off the stored rice below cost.
“They have to sell it a low price, they can’t keep stocking it,” said Samerendu Mohanty, senior economist at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)in the Philippines. “They have to make space for the new crop. They have got themselves in quite a fix, they might have to sell four to five million tonnes to make space for incoming rice.”
The Pheu Thai government, whose rural constituency encompasses the country’s 3.7 million rice farming families, made the promise to pay well over global prices during the 2011 election that brought the party to power. However, as many Asian countries have learned to their sorrow, instituting a subsidy means climbing onto the tiger’s back.
Once put in place, subsidies are difficult if not virtually impossible to discontinue, as the Yudhoyono government learned earlier this year in Indonesia when it sought to discontinue fuel subsidies and reaped riots. Attempts to cease fuel subsidies played a part, along with discontent over corruption and other issues, in electoral losses for the government of former Premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in Malaysia. Badawi was driven from power after a revolt in his own party.
There are also questions how much the program benefits the farmers, other sources say. Although famers do undeniably benefit from higher prices, it is the middlemen who make out the most in the long run.
If the government puts the surplus onto world markets even at a loss, which is expected to be as much as US$200 per tonne, that is likely to drive down global rice prices, to the benefit of Indonesia and the Philippines, which are net purchasers, as well as several African countries, Mohanty told Asia Sentinel in a telephone interview.
Research-Works, a Shanghai-based financial research firm that specializes in commodities, said in its latest Commodities Monitor, which is delivered to private clients, that “The outlook for rice prices now seems more bearish given that Indian exports received the green light for 2012-2013. Thai government rice inventories continue to rise, up to 14.5 million tonnes of milled equivalent as of 17 October. Additional funding has been approved to purchase a further 1.39 million tonnes, taking the total 2012-2013 purchase target to 14.7mn tonnes. We are not sure when the saga will come to an end although 2013 now looks more likely. Watch this space closely.”
Thailand has been the world’s biggest rice exporter for nearly five decades, with export volumes increasing steadily from 1 million tonnes in 1974-75 to more than 10 million in 2010-11. Its share of the global market peaked at 43 percent in 1988-89, according to IRRI, and has since fluctuated by 25-30 as the global rice trade has tripled, from 11 to 33 million tonnes in the wake of trade liberalization.
Although Thailand remains the world’s premier producer, it’s questionable if they can remain that way, IRRI’s Mohanty said. Thai rice has traditionally been the world’s high-quality standard. But as Thai farmers figure out that the government will buy all the rice they can grow, the farmers can be expected to drive up yields any way they can, which risks damaging quality.
In the meantime, other countries are catching up to Thailand. Vietnam and India are both major producers and exporters. Myanmar may not be far behind. Prior to the country’s disastrous six-decade experiment with socialism and self-sufficiency, Burma, as it was then known, was known as the breadbasket of Asia. If it can get its act together, it could return to that position. The Philippines, which has spent decades as the world’s biggest rice buyer, has introduced programs to improve rural infrastructure and provide other aid to rice farmers, cutting substantially into the amount of rice the country must buy.
“If Thailand persists with the program, the emergence of new players in the export market will surely accelerate,” IRRI said in a report earlier this year. “The country may be displaced eventually as the largest exporter in the world. But, in the end, it all depends on how fast the global rice trade expands. If global rice trade volume follows the trend of the past two decades, it is possible to have enough maneuvering space for all exporters, including the new entrants. Hence, Thailand will continue to hold on to the top position.”
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