The military ordered six rubber farmers to be detained in a military camp for ‘attitude adjustment’ after they campaigned for a rubber price subsidy.

According to the Post Today Online, Maj Gen Kueakun Innachak, Surat Thani Army Chief, summoned Pairot Ruekdi, coordinator of the Rubber Farmers’ Federation of Bang Song Sub-district of Wiang Sa District in the southern province of Surat Thani, and five other leading members to report to a military camp on Tuesday.

Earlier, Pairot and the five urged the junta to intervene in the price of raw rubber sheets.  

He urged the government to buy rubber sheets at 80 baht (about 2.5 USD) per kilogramme, while the current price is 51.25 baht (1.6 USD) per kilogramme.  

After a three-hour discussion with the military, military personnel declared that they understood the intention of the group and that the group campaign for the rubber farmers was not illegal under martial law. However, the military has decided to send them to an ‘attitude adjustment’ camp.

Nonetheless, Pairot, who is a lawyer, and the other five, who are members of the municipal council, said that they were not available and negotiated a postponement of their participation at the ‘attitude adjustment camp’ until February 2015.

At the meeting the group also submitted a petition with the following recommendations to the junta:

• The movement of rubber farmers is to press the government to prioritize boosting the falling price of raw rubber sheets;
• The direct solution is to provide a satisfactory subsidized price for rubber farmers and the government should not make claims about the global market price;
• The rubber farmer movement is well-intentioned and for the interest of the public.

Pairot added that the group also submitted a complaint to Prayut Chan-o-cha, the head of the junta, on the abuses of middlemen.

After the activities of rubber farmers in recent weeks, Supawachara Sakda, Deputy Governor of Surat Thani Province, called a meeting with the Provincial Office of Agriculture and Cooperatives to give out state loans to small and medium size rubber farm operators.

The state loan programme is a part of the national programme planned by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives. It aims to assist about 100,000 rubber farmers by giving out low-interest loans.