Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has called on all sides to stop the war of words over the rice-price crisis.
Government Spokesman Lt-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd quoted the PM as saying that anyone could say anything they like, but the government should refrain from reacting to those words. To ease the conflict, everyone should use reason and logic to explain the current situation, Prayut was quoted as saying.
Sansern said the PM insists that the government responded properly to the issue. It adopted sustainable approaches in dealing with it, both in the short and long term, he said.
The remark came after heavy criticism from Pheu Thai Party against the coup-installed government over its allegedly poor performance in dealing with the price of rice, which has fallen to Bt5 a kilogram.
Former Pheu Thai foreign minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said it was the prime minister’s job to cope with the problem and he should rush to do so.
He said the only thing the government could do now to help farmers was to seek a loan to subsidise the coming influx of rice supply and help find markets to distribute the rice.
Surapong blamed Prayut for alleging that the Thai Rice Millers Association and politicians were conspiring to suppress the rice price. The allegation resulted in the resignation of the association’s executive, which Surapong believed would worsen the situation because the association was essential in helping finding markets for rice growers.
Apart from that, the former foreign minister admired the Army for sending troops to help farmers harvest their crop. However, he said the forces should be deployed every year from now on or the military could be seen as just trying to project a good image by exploiting the poor fate of the farmers.
Another politician from Pheu Thai, Somkid Shuakong, expressed concern that the rice crop coming out soon would make the situation worse.
There would be six to seven million tonnes of rice coming from the Northeast alone. And he argued that subsidy policies would be best way to deal with the problem rather than the mortgage policy the government was pursuing.
Somkid doubted the barn-pledging scheme would work, saying there was a shortage of personnel at agricultural banks and rice growers did not have barns.
He also feared the government lacked knowledge and understanding of the situation.
The extra supply coming out would result in the rice price falling further, the politician believed.
Other comments from Pheu Thai included touching on how the coup-installed government was pursuing a mortgage scheme that was similar to its flagship policy, which caused the country to incur enormous losses.
Some politician also called on Prayut to resign if he was not ready to take care of the people.
Pheu Thai politician Sunisa Lertpakawat said the PM should not attack politicians who extend a hand to help farmers – and should stop blaming the previous government for everything that went wrong because his administration had been ruling for some time already.
Since news about the rice-price fall broke, many parties have offered to help farmers. Military personnel were deployed in many areas to help farmers mill their rice. And civil society groups are trying to set up a way for rice growers to distribute rice, such as via online channels in a bid to cut their dependence on millers and middlemen – to help them get more profit from their product.
Former PM Yingluck Shinawatra also appeared in Ubon Ratchathani in the Northeast, talking to farmers and buying rice. But some people said she was just trying to project a good image and not sincere in wanting to help rice growers.
Democrat Party politician Warong Detkitvikrom criticised Yingluck for holding an event at a shopping mall to sell rice she had bought from the provinces at a price lower than the market price.
He said the sale made it harder for others to sell the rice and urged the government to see through the trick.