B10M Baht Compensation Is Worth It, If...

[Flashermac]

Opinion by Veera Prateepchaikul

 

 

If the families of the 92 victims of the violence in Bangkok in April and May last year were to each get 10 million baht for the sake of reconciliation, then shouldn't the families of the Tak Bai and Krue Se victims in the far South be given the same treatment for the same reason?

 

Surely, paying each of the families 10 million baht, as demanded by red-shirt core member and Pheu Thai list MP Jatuporn Prompan would be well worth the cost if it does bring reconciliation - even if many of the victims were rioters and, as such, do not deserve the compensation.

 

The total amount of compensation would amount to just 920 million baht – which is not a huge amount these days when we are talking about several billions of baht for each of the mega projects and populist policies announced by the Pheu Thai Party.

 

So, there should be no problem for the Yingluck Shinawatra government to make the payment.

 

As an extension to Mr Jatuporn’s generous proposition for the families of the April-May dead - which appears to be his own initiative because even red-shirt chairwoman Thida Thavornseth admitted she didn’t know where the 10 million baht figure came from - I suggest that reasonable compensation should also be paid to those who left crippled or otherwise disabled as a result of the violence during the rioting.

 

But the money issue alone, although crucial to families whose breadwinners were killed or disabled, is not the only key to reconciliation.

 

The other factor, which I think is far more important, is the truth about the traumatic events – the whole truth, which should include, for instance, who were responsible for orchestrating the violence – which must be fully investigated and revealed to the public.

 

And, finally, justice must be upheld – those responsible for the violence must be brought to justice.

 

Again, reconciliation efforts must not be limited to the colour-coded conflicts between the red-shirt people and the other coloured or non-coloured groups.

 

The effort should also be extended to the Malay Muslims in the far South, many of whom strongly feel that they are not being treated fairly by state agencies. Which means that further compensation should also be considered for the families of victims wrongfully killed or killed under suspicious circumstances by the security forces - such as the 85 victims of the Tak Bai massacre and the Krue Se victims.

 

Last Thursday (Aug 11), villagers in Tak Bai district of Narathiwat province held a ceremony to commemorate the dead victims of the Tak Bai tragedy seven years ago.

 

Obviously, many families of the victims remain bitter, angry with the state because they are still being denied justice.

 

All the military officers responsible for the crackdown and for the deaths of 78 people who died of suffocation while being trucked from the the protest scene to an army camp have been acquitted by the Songkhla provincial court.

 

Their hearts also need to be brought into the reconciliation process. Surely that's not too much to expect.

 

 

BP

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

So, a girl gets cut in half by a wanker in a porsche and her life is worth 300K, but people dying while burning down the city are worth 10M Baht?

 

Sanuk!

[Vintage_Kwai]

[ThaiHome]

There are a number of striking parallels between the May 12-19th 2011 Bangkok riots and the Krue Se Mosque incident. In both cases a group of people engaged the Army in what amounted to a planned battle with the use of deadly weapons. The Army reacted to such attacks as they are trained to do and there were causalities on both sides as well as bystanders that were too close to the action.

 

In both cases the Army has been heavily criticized by some as overreacting or using excessive force. Such criticism is, of course easy to do after the fact when not faced with having to make decisions under fire. Such is the world we live in today, when a group of people can initiate such violent actions and then get support for their complaints when they are dealt with in a forceful way.

 

Here is an interesting read about the Krue Se Mosque which has a timeline for the incident. Worth noting is the conclusions reached by the majority and minority of the investigating panel. Personally, I tend to agree with the minority, but that is because I have a real problem with rioters, particularly ones that have armed elements shooting at security forces, even if it only one person within a large group.

 

I have highlighted sections of the minority view that I particularly agree with that apply to the Bangkok riots.

 

Militants met to plan attack

The conclusions drawn by the majority

- l The Krue Se Mosque is situated far from the centre of town and thus away from crowds. Its location would have been conducive to lengthy negotiations to end the stand-off. A surrender by the militants might have helped the government’s investigation into unrest in the South.

- Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit had issued a standing order to end the incident by peaceful means, but anti-riot forces lacked the necessary training to manage the crisis and bring about a peaceful conclusion.

- The government should learn a lesson and try to prevent a repeat of the violent suppression.

- Anti-riot forces were operating under intense pressure on April 28 due to attacks at Krue Se Mosque and 11 other targets. The authorities concerned made a decision in good faith to raid the mosque. But the use of heavy weapons was excessive and did not correspond with the arms used by the militants.

- The bodies of the slain militants were not examined in accordance with judicial procedures.

 

The minority opinion, offering

additional observations that should not be construed as opposing the majority

- No conclusion should be drawn on whether anti-riot operations were excessive. Any such conclusion would be subjective.

- The April 28 attacks were planned, amounting to a battle carried out by enemies of the state.

- The risk of imminent danger should be factor in assessing the level of arms deployed in an anti-riot operation. The types of arms deployed failed to reflect the true situation when security forces had to decide on a course of action.

- The anti-riot forces were obliged to prevent casualties if attacks did not stop. Their action was critical when militants showed no sign of ending the killing rampage or having an inclination to negotiation.

- Anti-riot forces followed the rules of engagement in returning fire initiated by the militants.

- The anti-riot operations should not be judged by hindsight. “Fighters†and “spectators†often have different perspectives on a given incident. Responsible officials had to make decisions under the circumstances and they do not have information that was only uncovered later.

- The anti-riot operations were carried out in good faith to end an act of rebellion.

 

 

 

The idea that people should be paid for being killed or hurt while participating or even being anywhere close to such activity is ludicrous.

TH

[Hugh_Hoy]

Hi,

 

So, a girl gets cut in half by a wanker in a porsche and her life is worth 300K, but people dying while burning down the city are worth 10M Baht?

 

Sanuk!

 

OK..award the 10m baht...but give it to the shop owners who lost their businesses and their employees who lost their incomes.

 

HH

[dave32]

OK..award the 10m baht...but give it to the shop owners who lost their businesses and their employees who lost their incomes.

 

HH

 

I'm going to have to mark this day on my calendar. I agree 100% with HH.

 

Note - I support some (and I use that term loosely), of the red shirt values. But their being so obviously manipulated by Mr. T, and their willingness to run roughshod over Bangkok and go out specifically to provoke violence, fuck that.

 

I came back to BKK from Chiang Mai just after the Sala Daeng bombing. Had to change hotels and relocated to the Darjelling on Soi 18, and even there -- there was an exodus of folks frightened.

 

Things could've been a lot worse. Razor wire on Suk was an eye opener.

 

Anyway, will be interesting to see how things pan out with Yingluck. I'm no fan of Thaksin, but willing to detach from writing her off, hopefully having her in that role can bring the Thais to a less violent/combative state of coexistence, all other things aside.

[Flashermac]

Editorial in the Post today speculation that Takky has possibly learned his lesson. So far Lingyak has been trying to be conciliatoiry, rather than the "I am the boss" dictation from the top down her brother used. Of course, it could simply be part of Takky's plan to return from Elba.

[Flashermac]

<snip>

 

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Pracha Promnok said a committee will be set up to consider compensation for relatives of the 91 people killed in the violent political protests in April-May last year.

 

Pol Gen Pracha was commenting on the UDD's demand that the government pay compensation of 10 million baht to the families of each of those killed during the street protests.

 

It was still too early to say where members of the committee would be drawn from, he said.

 

In the initial stage, the Rights and Liberties Protection Department would draw up the criteria for the compensation payment in coordination with the Social Development and Human Security Ministry, he said.

 

A reliable source at the Justice Ministry said the committee would probably comprise representatives of the Office of the Attorney-General, the Office of the Judiciary, the Royal Thai Police Office, the military and human rights groups.

 

If the relatives of those who have died at the hands of the authorities in the restless far South also wanted compensation, their demands would also be taken for consideration.

 

Not all of those killed would get the same compensation, the source said.

 

Angkhana Neelapaichit, chair of a working group for justice and peace, said she would oppose any decision by the government to pay millions in compensation only to the families of those killed in the April-May 2010 protests.

 

She said relatives of two members of the yellow-shirt People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), particularly the family of Angkhana Radabpanyawut, and of the 79 men who died following a rally in front of the Tak Bai police station in Narathiwat province in 2005 should be paid the same compensation.

 

While the Tak Bai protesters were unarmed and killed by the military, the red-shirts used weapons against government authorities doing their duty, she said.

 

"The Rights and Liberties Protection Department has provided the red-shirts with lawyers and money to be placed as collateral for bail. The department sends its officials to take care of them in prisons.

 

"But, the department paid no attention to and gave no protection to the Thai Muslims killed in the Tak Bai and Krue Se incidents," Mrs Angkhana said.

 

 

BP

[Bangkoktraveler]

If I remember right, the Krue Se Mosque incident got fueled when some people went to get released from jail a person they thought was being detained illegally.

 

Then all hell broke out.

 

And some of those who were arrested were hauled off like cord wood and some of them suffocated to death.

 

Nice one Mr. T.

[ThaiHome]

If I remember right, the Krue Se Mosque incident got fueled when some people went to get released from jail a person they thought was being detained illegally.

 

Then all hell broke out.

 

And some of those who were arrested were hauled off like cord wood and some of them suffocated to death.

 

Nice one Mr. T.

 

No, that was the Tak Bai incident.

 

The Krue Se Mosque was part of a set of coordinated attack in against 10 police stations in Pattani, Yala and Songkhla. Most of the attackers in the other places were killed, but at Krue Se, they retreated into the Mosque and fought the Army and all were killed.

 

The set of attacks were all by mostly very lightly armed insurgents who attacked heavily armed positions. One could conclude the entire affair was planned to generate martyrs for the cause (all of the attackers were lightly trained in fighting, but heavily indoctrinated in Muslim martyrdom teachings).

TH