Sathien Jaiping has made the long journey to Government House almost every month since 2009, carrying a two-inch-thick spiral-bound stack of documents containing what he believes are the names of more than 2,000 former communist insurgents.
With each 1,400km round trip from Nan to Bangkok costing thousands of baht, Mr Sathien relies on money pooled together by other “ex-communists” who share a common goal: to claim what they were promised in 1980.
Back then, they were offered five rai of land, five cows and an unspecified sum of money in exchange for laying down their arms and abandoning their jungle strongholds. Thirty-five years later, Mr Sathien and his friends have received nothing, and are now asking for 225,000 baht each.
Since last year’s coup, Mr Sathien has travelled to Bangkok only once, along with about 50 of his comrades from the Northeast. The group submitted a petition on April 23 to Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwon, who is in charge of a new committee responsible for distributing the compensation.
“Governments [since 1980] have issued orders for compensation, but a large number of people remain unpaid,” said Mr Sathien, 53. “It’s like they have a prejudice against us, and they don’t want to help us.”
Mr Sathien is among the tens of thousands of people nationwide who claim they are former communist insurgents omitted from government compensation lists. Some are demanding payments of up to 650,000 baht.
Mr Sathien hopes that this time — the fourth time a committee has been set up to oversee payouts — the government will finally keep its word.
In the red zone: Ban Pa Suk village in Nan province once had links to communist activity.
RED REMNANTS
Mr Sathien was about seven or eight years old when a soldier came to his house and shot a fighting rooster in front of his eyes.
“They got whatever they wanted,” he said. “If they wanted to eat a pig or a chicken they would just shoot it.”
Mr Sathien is among the few residents of Ban Pa Suk, a tiny village in Nan province, who can speak central Thai; most speak only a northern dialect. With a population of just 500, Ban Pa Suk is located in the remote mountainous district of Bo Kluea, across the Mekong from Luang Prabang in Laos.
Remnants of the village’s communist past still linger today: a man wears a green cap bearing a five-pointed red star as he rides a motorcycle down one of its dusty streets.
In an upstairs room of his two-storey home, “Bomb”, a Grade 8 student at the district’s Bokluea School, looks for a book on communism that belongs to his grandfather, “Comrade Kong”, who retreated to the jungle with his family and remained there for 12 years before returning home in 1983.
Titled The Communist Party of Thailand and the Rule of Democracy, the 27-page book, published after 2010, outlines a history of the communist movement up until the end of the insurgency.
“I read only the main topics and the brutal bits,” Bomb said. “I kept thinking, ‘Why did they have to bully the students and hang them?’ ”
Intrigued, Bomb took the book to school and approached his teacher after a military-mandated civic duties class. “Who is the true rebel, the government or the communists?” he asked.
Shades of red: Weng Tojirakarn is sceptical of the motives of some of those claiming compensation. Inset, Dr Weng with wife Tida Tawornseth. Both were active Communist Party of Thailand members.
ENEMY OF THE STATE
“Comrade Pat” was the alias Mr Sathien used when his father took him and his eight siblings into the jungle in 1968. The poor living standards of Nan locals, especially those living on the hilltops, drove many to join the communist movement around that time.
“We believed in protecting our interests, resources and equal rights,” Mr Sathien said. “I felt like staying in our own house. We weren’t forced to do anything. They taught us politics and warfare, and we sang together.”
During his 19 years in the jungle, Mr Sathien became part of the armed insurgency and was taught how to use a variety of firearms including an AK47, RPG, M16 and Soviet-produced SKS carbine.
Government efforts to end the insurgency eventually led to an amnesty being offered on April 23, 1980, by the then prime minister, Gen Prem Tinsulanonda. It marked a shift in strategy from the government, which had long sought a military solution to the conflict.
Those who surrendered later became part of the Thailand Development Group, the name given to the group of former communists by the government.
While thousands of Nan locals left the jungle in 1983, the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) continued to operate until 1990. The decision to come out of the jungle was a difficult one for Mr Sathien, and he did not do so until 1987.
“The government was not sincere. Those who came out were asked to provide information [to the government], so some people decided to go back [to the jungle],” he said.
Compensation terms for surrendering communists were not immediately set by the Prem administration, but subsequent governments later offered five cows, five rai of land and an unspecified sum of money which could be set by future governments. In exchange, the former communists agreed to lay down their arms, begin a new career and steer clear of political activity.
LEFT OUT
At his two-storey home, Mr Sathien showed Spectrum the list of 2,142 ex-communists he compiled in 2008. All of them are from the northern region, with about 100 from Ban Pa Suk alone.
Mr Sathien claims that only 33 residents of Ban Pa Suk have received compensation.
According to documents from the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc), a total of 13,060 people nationwide have already been provided compensation. Progress has been slow though, and most of the payments have been made in the past decade.
Prior to 2002, the government provided eight to 15 rai of land per family to a total of just 806 people in the Northeast.
In 2002, a committee was set up under the Thaksin Shinawatra administration to oversee the allocation of the remaining compensation. During the Surayud Chulanont government in 2007, sums ranging from 50,000 to 125,000 baht were provided to 2,609 people in the Northeast, totalling 263 million baht.
Under the Abhisit Vejjajiva government in 2009, the payments increased significantly to 225,000 baht per person — the equivalent of five rai and five cows.
“It was during this time that ‘brokers’ emerged, who would recruit locals to apply for compensation,” said an army source, who is part of the current committee overseeing compensation but asked not to be named for security reasons. Most of those recruited were not former communists, but were lured into paying the brokers money with the promise of receiving a hefty government handout.
“Instead of directly asking for a commission fee, some of these brokers would ask locals to help pool together the money needed for transportation and other expenses,” the source said. Others would simply demand a direct commission.
The Abhisit administration paid compensation to a further 9,645 people nationwide, totalling 2.17 billion baht. Critics say the payments were politically motivated, designed to shore up support rather than compensate genuine fighters.
“You have a whole political base in the Northeast, how many voters would you gain?” asked the source. “As long as politics exist, this will be a never-ending problem.”
SO YOU WANT TO BE A COMMUNIST?
To be entitled to compensation, applicants must meet “eight qualifications and three conditions”, which have varied slightly from government to government but contain similar core elements.
Qualifications for beneficiaries in 2012, for instance, stipulated that armed insurgents must have been born before 1967, have a current salary of less than 60,000 baht per year, and must have obtained a certificate from the Karunyathep project, an “attitude adjustment” course all former communists had to attend when leaving the jungle.
If both a husband and wife were entitled to compensation, only one would receive benefits. Communist Party members who were not armed fighters are not entitled to compensation.
During the Yingluck Shinawatra government in 2012, a total of 6,019 names were approved under those conditions, but last year’s parliamentary dissolution prevented the money from being disbursed.
Some 120,000 people who claim to be ex-communists, however, submitted claims in 2012, demanding compensation of up to 650,000 baht each.
They also demanded that the government provide support to both a husband and wife, and include those who were born up to 1986 and those who were not armed fighters.
But with the total number of communist fighters estimated to be only in the tens of thousands, the huge surge in compensation applications fuelled fears that people were looking to cash in on the scheme.
The committee formed under the current government in February will hold its first meeting on June 15 at Government House. An army source who is part of the committee said a budget of 264.38 million baht would likely be approved to pay 225,000 baht to 1,175 people whose names have already been approved.
Most of those people approved in 2012 will be re-examined to determine if their claims are genuine.
‘ARE YOU NOT EMBARRASSED?’
Weng Tojirakarn, a former CPT member and now a key red-shirt leader, expressed concern that the amnesty order signed by Gen Prem in 1980 was being used as a political tool by governments looking to gain more votes.
“Governments concerned that the former insurgents would join the red-shirt movement would use canvassers or MPs to collect names of people who were on their side,” he said. In essence, people were being promised a slice of the compensation money in exchange for political support.
Meanwhile, some ex-communists who had already received compensation are claiming to have ties with army officials and acting as facilitators for locals in their area, said Dr Weng, who retreated to the jungle as “Comrade Kem” in Nan in 1975 to provide medical support to the communists.
Dr Weng estimated that a total of 10,000 communists had taken up arms, mostly in the Northeast, and most had already received compensation.
Most of them were in their thirties and forties at the time of the fighting, and less than 10% were under the age of 20.
Today, he estimates that less than half of the children of former communists still pay heed to their parents’ political beliefs.
Dr Weng argued that the purpose of the government’s amnesty offer was to help communists reintegrate into society, and those who are still demanding benefits should cease their efforts.
“While it is the government’s duty to help people, doing so needs to be based on reason,” he said. “To those claiming they are former communists — are you selling the communist ideology? Are you not embarrassed of yourself?”
FAILING THE TEST
Prem (not his real name) is a former communist insurgent who retreated to the jungle in 1976 and was part of a committee to assess benefit recipients during the Yingluck administration.
He estimates that in the Northeast alone, there are about 40 ex-communists who act as “brokers” by recruiting locals to enlist as members of the Thailand Development Group at a cost of at least 1,000 baht.
“Some were even prepared to pay 2,000 baht as a commission, and the brokers would get a massive amount of money from this practice,” said Prem, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution.
The brokers sell four- or five-page “cheat sheets” for 50-120 baht, containing lists of potential questions that applicants are likely to face in interviews to determine whether they are eligible for compensation. The topics include the Communist Party’s code of conduct and facts about different types of weapons.
The interview committee which Prem sat on consisted of about 20 people, including three former communist insurgents, provincial Isoc officials and local administrators.
As part of the interview team, Prem spent almost a month interviewing 300-400 people a day. The questions he asked included: What was the alias you used? What does it mean to be a member of the CPT? Which area were you based in? What was your leader’s name? What gun did you use? What are the differences or similarities between the AK-47 and AK-54 rifles?
Of the 8,000 people he interviewed, only 15 passed the test.
“If there had been more than 50,000 active communist insurgents, they would have been successful in organising a revolution,” he said.
BROADENING DEFINITIONS
Although former communists are now part of the Thailand Development Group that emerged from the amnesty order, the organisation is fractured, and sub-groups are scattered throughout the country.
Bai Srisai, 60, one of the group’s leaders in the Northeast, claims he is responsible for seeking compensation for more than 7,000 locals.
Also known as “Comrade Cheep”, Mr Bai is urging the government to provide benefits to all former communists, regardless of the role they held in the political movement.
“We want them to help everyone, including people who assumed supportive roles sending rice and fish to combat units,” he said.
Mr Bai claimed he spent 20 years in the jungle as an armed insurgent from 1967, but only his wife received compensation during the Abhisit administration. At that time, Mr Bai was vice-chairman of a compensation screening committee in the Northeast. He denied that he had accepted “fees” in exchange for including people on the list of beneficiaries.
Sunet Keawkamhan, also known as “Comrade Chat”, has been one of the main players involved in the calls for compensation since the Thaksin administration. He is on the list of Isoc’s five core ex-communist leaders in the Northeast who are “seeking benefits from the job”.
Mr Sunet received compensation during the Abhisit administration, but he is now helping 6,000-7,000 people who retreated to the jungle but have not been paid.
“The reason why these people are left out is because the selection committees lack justice and knowledge,” he said. “They do not understand that those who entered the jungle played different roles, not just as fighters.”
Mr Sunet acknowledged the emergence of a large number of “brokers” during the Abhisit government, and the role they played in the selection committee. He alleged that some who were part of the committee refused to give approval to those who did not pay a “fee”.
He is also critical of what he believes are false claims, and added that the 650,000 baht demand during the Yingluck administration was outrageous.
“The Pheu Thai MPs at that time told red-shirt ex-communists who were canvassers that 650,000 was possible. That was the start of the never-ending demands,” he said. “But I am fighting for the real ones to receive their benefits. I hope it is the last time.”
MOVING FORWARD
Mr Sathien’s name was approved by the screening committee under the Yingluck administration, but he is still fighting for the rights of other northerners who he claims are “true comrades”.
“Some people think this is a scam, but they [those on the list I prepared] all share communist beliefs,” he said. “Unlike in the Northeast and South, people in the North would bring their whole families into the jungle.”
Since the military took over last year, the villagers of Ban Pa Suk have felt the weight of the junta’s land encroachment crackdown, as the area overlaps with a national park. Tougher law enforcement meant that many locals were not able to work in their fields, Mr Sathien said.
“In our country, there are issues regarding land rights. Capitalists own hundreds, sometimes thousands of rai of land, while villagers own nothing. It’s a problem of justice,” he said. “If we had land deeds, at least we would feel relieved to have something to hold on to.”
Meanwhile, the list of ex-communists still awaiting compensation sits on a desk at Mr Sathien’s house along with a stack of files related to his group’s movement, ready to be picked up again when the time comes to make another trip to Government House.
“I suppose I’ll have to continue doing it until we receive justice,” he said. “If the government was sincere, everything would end.” n