Paying people to protest is nothing new in Thailand

Having stated that the 14 detained students from Khon Kaen accepted money to stage their protest, thus implying that they were nothing more than paid stooges, JC Wilcox takes a markedly different line with last year’s PDRC protesters, claiming that they were motivated by a desire for “true democracy” and were prepared to leave their homes across the country and sacrifice a lot by camping out on the streets of Bangkok.

Far be it from me to question the motives of these protesters, but it is clear that many came from southern provinces (no surprise there), and were transported to Bangkok free of charge. Whilst in the city, they were provided with plentiful food and water and no doubt other essentials too, although the word on the street was that the food on offer at the red-shirt protest sites was of better 

quality.

Shortly after the coup, Suthep Thaugsuban made a number of claims, including the revealing one that Bt1.4 billion had been spent on the protests, with Bt400 million coming from protest leaders and their families and the rest from donations from supporters. In other words, much like the red-shirt protests. Things are not good in Thailand at the moment, but Wilcox’s letters never fail to inject some colour and interest in the Letters page. Keep them coming!

Robin Grant