Southern victims deserve same payouts as Thai–Cambodian border conflict - Chuan

Democrat Party MP Chuan Leekpai yesterday called on the government to review the allocation of compensation for victims of violence in the southern border provinces, to be on par with that for victims of the Thai–Cambodian conflicts.

Chuan, a former prime minister and former leader of the Democrat Party, noted that under the cabinet resolution following Thai-Cambodian conflict, state officials such as soldiers, paramilitary rangers, and border patrol police who are killed or disabled are entitled to 10 million baht.

Those seriously wounded receive 1 million baht, and those moderately injured receive 500,000 baht.

Civilians who are killed or disabled receive 8 million baht, those seriously injured get 800,000 baht, and those moderately injured get 400,000 baht.

Speaking during a budget debate in parliament yesterday, Chuan said the amounts may be 10 million, 20 million, or even 100 million, but compared to the lives lost, they can never truly match.

“I have repeatedly said in this chamber that while the country may lose hundreds of billions from economic policy mistakes, it can never compare to the lives lost due to security policy failures in the South,” Chuan said.

The South was once a stronghold of the Democrat Party for a long time, and Chuan has been an MP for Trang province for 17 terms. However, the party lost its base in the South in the last general elections.

Chuan said that since the policy introduced on April 8, 2001, violence in the South has claimed more than 8,000 lives and left over 10,000 injured or disabled — a stark reflection of the massive losses resulting from flawed security policies.

He stressed that officials and civilians in the South face risks no different from those at the Thai–Cambodian border but receive less compensation. This, he said, has created feelings of inequality and resentment.

He added that whenever he visits injured victims in the South, they unanimously say that increased compensation would greatly benefit their families.

He called on the government to adjust the compensation rates to be on par with those for the Thai–Cambodian border, or at least raise them to a fair level, to reduce feelings of injustice and foster national unity.

“The government calls for unity, but unity will only happen when we do not discriminate against those who face the same risks,” Chuan said.

Meanwhile, speaking in the parliamentary session, Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat said the cabinet had approved more than 300 million baht from the central budget to compensate victims of the Thai–Cambodian border incidents.

Concerning Chuan’s call, Julapun said he would take note of the suggestion and raise it in the cabinet meeting, as he could not give a clear answer at this time.