Crackdown victims start to sign up for compensation
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After waiting for three years since her husband was killed during the military crackdown on redshirt demonstrators, 38yearold Amnart Charoen resident Boonsuay Chanha has finally been able to apply for government compensation.
Her husband Somsak Kaewsan, one of the 93 people killed during the AprilMay 2010 conflict, was shot in the chest during the deadly crackdown at Khok Wua intersection on April 10.
Boonsuay left her husband’s hometown in Bung Kan province with her three children on Wednesday night and arrived in Bangkok yesterday morning to join the 500 others waiting to register for compensation at the Department of Social Development and Welfare’s Rajvithi Child Welfare Home.
Yesterday was the first day that the government allowed victims of political unrest since 2005 to register for reimbursement.
The government will be paying those who lost their relatives or sustained injuries since late 2005, when the yellow shirts rallied against thenPM Thaksin Shinawatra, to May 2010 when the red shirts staged street protests against the government of Abhisit Vejjajiva.
The authorities estimate that the families of about 100 people killed and 2,000 injured will be eligible for compensation. The relatives of those killed will be granted Bt7.9 million.
“It’s not about the money, its about justice,” Boonsuay said. “I have three children to take care of.”
The mother of three helps cut down eucalyptus trees and can only earn about Bt500 every three days.
“When my husband was alive, I had enough money since he earned well as a taxi driver. Now nobody helps me,” she said holding her late husband’s photograph. “I cry when I look at his picture. It is difficult for me to get over his death even though it’s been three years.”
However, she said, the compensation was not as important as bringing those behind the crackdown to justice. “I will continue fighting against the previous government because I really want to know who ordered the attack,” she said.
Koonkij Suriyakaensai, whose husband Wasu sustained injuries to his right leg, said nursing charges cost her about Bt1,000 a day and that she can no longer afford it.
“I don’t want my husband to be disabled,” she lamented.
Pol Senior SgtMajor Supakorn Thongsrinuan, who was injured during the crackdown on yellow shirts on October 7, 2005, also put his name down for compensation yesterday. “The payoff is fair and good for me,” he said.
However, Naree Sanprasert, whose son Mana was shot dead while trying to help others, said the money could not cover her loss. She said she wanted her son back.
