There is no question that the road and train blockade in Nakhon Si Thammarat's Cha-uat district by protesting rubber planters is unacceptable, unjustified and disruptive. It is unnecessarily causing hardship to tens of thousands of innocent motorists and commuters who have to use the routes for travelling.
There is little doubt, too, that the protest has been politicised by both the government and the opposition Democrat Party.
The Democrats have accused the government of double standards for refusing to help the rubber planters, simply because most of the rubber plantation fields are in the South, which is the opposition's traditional political stronghold.
Meanwhile, the government suspects the protesters are being used by the Democrats to score political points.
However, the real problem has nothing to do with politics. It's all about the rubber price and the protesting rubber planters want the government to guarantee the price at 120 baht per kilogramme for smoked rubber sheets _ a demand that the government has rejected. Instead, the government has proposed 80 baht/kg, which the protesters have declined.
The protesting rubber planters have raised one valid point which the government has not been able to answer to their satisfaction. That is, why can the government dig deep into state coffers to buy rice from farmers at about 40% more than the market price but cannot do likewise for rubber, which has a market price of about 72 baht/kg? Hence, the accusation of double standards, because most rice farmers are in the North, Northeast and the Central Plains which are regarded as the government's political strongholds.
Ironically though, on the same day that negotiations broke down over the price issue between the government and the protesters in Nakhon Si Thammarat, the National Rice Policy Committee decided to ask the cabinet for 270 billion baht to support the rice-pledging scheme for the 2012-13 crops. The pledging price is maintained at 15,000 baht per tonne of paddy for the main crop and 13,000 baht/tonne for the second crop with the maximum amount of purchase from each farming household lowered to 350,000 baht from 500,000 baht.
Love Thailand Party leader Chuwit Kamolvisit hit the nail right on the head when he posted a message on his Facebook page recently saying the government is unwilling to help rubber planters because they are considered supporters of the opposition party.
At stake is not a political issue but an economic one which is affecting rubber planters across the country although they constitute a minority compared to rice farmers. Every government in the past decade has promoted rubber cultivation as a means to increase revenue in the agricultural sector especially the Thaksin government with its "one million rai of rubber plantation" project in 2004.
The government's approval of a 20-billion-baht fund to cover low-interest loans and a machine modernisation programme for rubber farmers is a welcome move, but it does not solve the farmers' immediate woes.
The government should change its biased attitude towards the protesters and try to address their demands with more sincerity, open-mindedness and understanding.
Meanwhile, the protesters should avoid resorting to disruptive means to press their demands. They, too, should be more realistic and acknowledge that the boom days for rubber are over.