Confusing end to rubber protest
Sometimes I wonder if the reporters of Bangkok Post read your own newspaper. On Friday, the newspaper reported that blockades had been suspended for a week in three provinces; today the newspaper reports with equal ease that the blockade in Cha-uat (Nakhon Si Thammarat) was broken yesterday.
The rubber farmers were under the impression that their representatives had reached an agreement after five hours of consultation with a government delegation, but the negotiators later said the government delegation mistakenly announced that they had agreed on a rubber price of 90 baht per kilo unsmoked rubber sheet. Not true, the farmers' representatives had only dropped from 100 to 95 baht.
Confusion everywhere and also with me, because the newspaper report does not excel in clarity. Point by point the most important facts [?]:
- Forty farmers' representatives held consultations with three ministers in Nakhon Si Thammarat. They dropped from 100 to 95 baht during the talk, but the government stuck to 90 baht.
- After the talks, Deputy Prime Minister Pracha Promnok gave a press conference, saying that an agreement had been reached on 90 baht. Farmer representatives were absent from that press conference.
- The farmers who had occupied Highway 41 in Cha-uat for twelve days broke the blockade. The blockade of the Ban Nong Dee intersection was also ended.
- Farmer representative Amnuay Yutitham, who participated in the talks, said rubber farmers in Tha Sala district will demonstrate on September 14 for a rubber price of 100 baht. “Due to the insincerity of the government, we are going back to the original demand of 100 baht. And we are discussing whether to expand the protest.' He said that Prime Minister Yingluck should sit at the table at a subsequent meeting.
- Kajbundit Rammak, a representative from Sonkhla, lashed out at the government team. "It is not true that the farmers are satisfied with 90 baht." He announced that they will block the immigration office in Sadao on September 14.
- Prime Minister Yingluck spoke to the private sector about the rubber industry yesterday. She said that zoning is necessary in the long term to ensure high production, good quality and cost control. When the cost of natural rubber can be reduced, it can compete with synthetic rubber and manufacturers will choose natural rubber.
(Source: Bangkok Post, Sept. 7, 2013)