More than 10,000 former communist insurgents from 20 provinces in the Northeast joined a peaceful gathering in Khon Kaen Monday to demand the government compensate them at a higher rate for their integration into mainstream society.
Peaceful gathering. (Photo by Chakrapan Natunri)
The group urged Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to speed up the payment to assist them under the so-called Prime Minister's Office order No. 66/23, a policy that put a political solution before military means to end the communist threat in the 1980s.
La-iad Rattanasri, chairman of Thailand Development Group, said the PM's order at that time agreed to provide communist insurgents with 15 rai of land, five cows and one house as well as a sum of money for them to take up a career and not get involved in creating problems for the country's administration.
He said after they agreed to follow the order, the government ignored them until the Abhisit Vejjajiva-led government issued an order to give them compensation of 225,000 baht each in 2011.
However, a large group of more than 50,000 former communist insurgents were omitted from the list so they want the current government to keep the promise.
But this time they have asked for 650,000 baht in compensation for each of those who are unpaid, reasoning that living costs today are higher.
From the proposal and the number of unpaid people, the total compensation demand will be at least 32.5 billion baht.