UDON THANI province, once the colourful red-shirt capital during the rise of the Pheu Thai Party, has gone completely quiet since the 2014 coup. Underneath the silence, however, people’s hearts are accumulating hatred for dictatorship and crying out for an election day.

Since the coup, there has not been any sign of red-shirt movements in Isaan villages. Red flags, banners displaying village names, large pictures of their two beloved former prime ministers, ThaksinShinawatra and his sister Yingluck, and symbolic decorations of red-shirt villages – all have been removed and hidden.

The military crackdown on red-shirt supporters has left Isaan villages wilting.

Some village and community heads who are former red-shirt supporters have turned into junta supporters since the coup. Some have even become mouthpieces for the state campaigning for the charter draft, which will be tested in the August 7 referendum.

Kongchai Chaikung, head of Ban Nong Hu Ling village of Udon Thani’s Muang district, told The Nation the military had approached him a few months before the coup. Dozens of red-shirt village heads in the province including Kongchai were summoned and asked to stop politically mobilising. The village head was wearing a white shirt symbolising his new political point of view.

“So, the coup was successful as the military could control political leaders at the lowest level – villages and communities,” he said.

Kongchai is now a “Kru Kor”, or Teacher C, volunteer trained to explain the draft to villagers.

Ban Nong Hu Ling is known as the country’s first red-shirt village, which was officially referred to as the “red-shirt village for democracy” founded in late 2010. During that time, hundreds of red-shirt villages mushroomed across Udon Thani, which was widely perceived as the red-shirt capital.

Shades of 2010

The pilot village was founded in answer to red-shirt supporters’ wrath following the 2010 Bangkok bloodshed when red-shirt protesters staged large-scale rallies in Bangkok against the then Democrat-led government. The military crackdown on protesters resulted in at least 90 deaths and many injuries.

A resident of Ban Nong Hu Ling, who asked not to be named, said she had been scared after witnessing the bloodshed and hated the authorities for their heavy-handed response to protests.

Following the demonstrations, the largest number of people affected came from Ban Nong Hu Ling, Kongchai said. The founding of the village as a red-shirt bastion was initiated by Udon Thani red-shirt secretary-general Arnon Sannan and supported by Kamonsin Singhaanurak, the group’s leader, to serve as a symbolic movement for democracy. Some former Pheu Thai MPs also supported the move.

Following the founding, hundreds of red-shirt villages were set up across the country, which became strong supporters of the Pheu Thai Party resulting in its landslide victory in 2011 and the subsequent Yingluck government.

Since the 2014 coup, however, red-shirt villagers have turned blue as the military regime utilised state administration bodies to help suppress red-shirt movements at the community level. The move proved effective.

Kongchai said district chiefs approached village heads across Udon Thani, plying them with “sweet words”. The district officials “politely” asked headmen to cooperate and to stop causing political unrest and staging political activities as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) was trying to keep the country peaceful, he said.

Some former red-shirt supporters felt they had been abandoned by Pheu Thai, while some had no hope their leaders would return to power. Village leaders believed they had no choice or power to bargain so they dismantled their “red-shirt villages” and took down the flags, banners and symbols referring to colour-coded politics.

The Royal Thai Army Division 24 based in Udon Thani also played an important role in suppressing red-shirt activity. Kongchai said the Army division chief’s rank is comparable to that of the provincial governor but the division head is clearly more powerful than the governor.

Military authorities have exerted a dominating force over red-shirt leaders in the province ever since.

According to a source, who asked to remain unnamed, a prominent red-shirt village leader in Udon Thani has been detained at a military camp during the day several times this week. Authorities were worried the red-shirt leader would hold a celebration for Thaksin on his birthday on Tuesday, the source said, adding that the military had closely monitored the man since the coup and forced him to collaborate.

The climate of fear created by the military has replaced the joyful atmosphere that was evident during the rise of the red-shirt villages and previous elections, Kongchai said.

Foreign and Thai visitors and media now refrain from visiting Udon Thani villages, Kongchai said.

Before the coup, visitors had frequently come to villages to observe the red-shirt support, which indicated a new political awareness at the grassroots level, he said, adding that villagers sometimes would welcome visitors over the course of an entire day. Now, Kongchai said, villagers just farm all day and refrain from talking about politics.

Another villager in Ban Nong Hu Ling who asked to remain unnamed said people in the area are still monitoring the junta’s performance, but she added that she does not discuss politics anymore. She said most people believed the economy had drastically declined under the military regime, particularly as some farm produce prices have dropped by half.

“Some villagers are not impressed by the military regime. They argue when I try to explain and ask them to cast ballots in the referendum. Not all people agree with the junta’s roadmap. They are looking forward to the next election,” Kongchai said, adding that some had already made up their minds to vote against the charter draft.

Many residents have a dark view of the village’s future and prospects for red-shirt leaders, but they still hope there will be a light at the end of the tunnel after the referendum.