Thailand News: Now free, PDRC leaders turn to Facebook; Rice farmers thankful for payments

– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community

PHUKET: Members of the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) freed on Monday from several days of military detention after acknowledging sedition charges are now telling the world of the experience on social media.

Taya Teepsuwan posted on her Facebook page on Monday evening about her detention.

She said she had now arrived home after four days in military custody. She posted that “life in the military camp” had been another valuable experience.

In the post she said she couldn’t take in any luggage except one lipstick. Soldiers supplied the detainees with soap, toothbrushes, and mosquito nets but forbade them to use any communication devices.

“It’s a body and mind training [exercise] to stay in a new place without prior notice,” Taya posted.

Other PDRC leaders were released from the military compound on Monday.

PDRC spokesman Akanat Promphan posted his family pictures on his Instagram: @akanat_promphan and Facebook page that “family is the most important [for] moral support. Thank you and miss the Great Mass of People’s family.”

Akanat’s mother Srisakul Promphan also posted her son’s picture on her Facebook page, saying she had not “seen King [Akanat’s nickname] smile like this [for a] long time. He also has a moustache maybe, the military house had no shaver.”

Taya’s husband Nataphol Teep-suwan also posted on his Facebook page that this was the first time he had returned home without contacting his children for four days.

Yesterday was also the 15th wedding anniversary of Taya and Nataphol, and she posted: “Happy anniversary to my lovely husband. I’m glad to be sharing my life with you na ja. Fifteen years have passed and many more loving, exciting and precious times [are] to come ja.”

Chitpas Kridakorn posted that she was missing all PDRC supporters. She posted on Instagram a picture of her hugging her mother after she arrived home.

Anchalee Paireerak told of her daily life after she had been freed from the military house. Her post included pictures of her having meals with her friends. Last Thursday, PDRC and red-shirt leaders, Pheu Thai and Democrat representatives and government representatives reported for a meeting chaired by General Prayuth Chan-ocha. They found themselves in the army’s custody after the coup was declared.

PHUKET: Rice farmers, happy to receive money overdue for their pledged rice, thanked the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) for taking care of them.

In Kalasin, 1,000 farmers went to City Hall to show their gratitude for the NCPO and its attempt to restore national peace. They submitted further requests for aid to the council via Kalasin Governor Suwit Subongkot.

In Udon Thani, farmers presented flowers to Army officials at Prajak Silpakhom Camp to thank them.

Some 500 farmers in Nakhon Si Thammarat thanked the NCPO via Fourth Army Region chief Lt-General Walit Rojanapakdee, who urged the farmers to regain the world No 1 title for rice export.

A Khon Kaen farmer, Sirinan Srimungkhun, after collecting her Bt92,000 at a Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) branch in Muang district, said she thanked the NCPO for giving importance to rice farmers and helping them.

A Kanchanaburi farmer, Jamnong Madthong, 61, who was given Bt100,000, said he was thankful to NCPO chief, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, for his speedy help to farmers.

In Ang Thong, farmers queued up to receive money for their pledged rice yesterday. One farmer said he was happy to receive Bt150,000 cash as it would help him repay the cash he borrowed to buy fertilisers and pesticides, and leave him some for the next crop.

In Pathum Thani, BAAC Lat Lum Kaew branch paid Bt20 million to 94 farmers yesterday and said the remaining Bt115 million would be paid to farmers by next Monday. June 2.

In Nakhon Ratchasima, provincial Governor Winai Buapradit affirmed that the rice farmers should be paid by June 20.

In Songkhla, farmers in five districts got payments from BAAC branches and said they planned to pay for their children’s education and invest in the next crop.

— Phuket Gazette Editors