Red shirts better off fighting for own causes

Now – 11 years on – do you still believe in your cause? Is your life significantly better off than in the past? Do you still have faith in Thaksin after what happened to your co-leader Jatuporn Prompan? For three consecutive cabinet shuffles, he was left behind without any post. As a warrior with scars from political battles, he got nothing but lost his pride.    

Even your leader – Thida Tawornseth – was given an insignificant post on a sub-committee at the Office of the Education Council. She rightly rejected the offer.

How do you feel when Thaksin recently said the red-shirts had “delivered him ashore”, and he would carry his journey “by land” without your help any longer? Has it occurred to you that to Thaksin you are disposable? That in this chess game you are mere pawn pieces first to go to battles and be injured or killed? That exactly was what happened in 2010.

Let me be frank. You owe Thaksin and his party nothing. Not anymore. Without you, his party wouldn’t have won. While you work hard on behalf of Thaksin’s government, few of you are rewarded generously. Take the rice-pledging scheme as an example. Are you really getting the 15,000 baht per tonne of white rice paddy? From my account, it’s much lesser than that. And due to the drought now, you no longer have rice to pledge. Is the government hearing your pain?

To be sure, continue to fight for your cause. Instead of loading yourself onto a bus to Bangkok to protest (with the alledged cash in hands) at the calling of your village head, demand something more substantial and long-lasting. Demand the government that you want a school with skilled teachers in your area; demand that there be great universities and technical colleges in your province; demand jobs; demand access to free and effective health-care; demand better infrastructure and transportations; demand that your children won’t be exploited by human traffickers; demand that your children have the right to live in a safe environment free from drugs and local mafias. 

Don’t fight for the government’s interest or any political parties’ interest for that matter. Fight for your interest - for your cause in non-violent ways. That’s worth fighting for.

Edward Kitlertsirivatana

Bangkok