Chonburi Provincial officials present
“career development” payments to former Communist Party of Thailand
members.
Chonburi Public
Relation Department
Ten former Communist Party of Thailand separatists
received financial support from Chonburi Province under a program began
30 years ago to dismantle the movement.
Deputy Gov. Pakarathon Tienthai presented the “career
development” payments at a May 3 ceremony, marking what likely is the
final chapter in the province’s role in a decades-long effort to rid
Thailand of any organized communist movement.
Founded in 1942, the Communist Party of Thailand grew
in popularity throughout the Cold War and reached its zenith in 1976
after the Thai military’s killing of university students in Bangkok. At
one point the CPT effectively became a “state within a state,” governed
by a 7-member politburo and protected by an army of nearly 14,000 around
strongholds in Northern, Northeast and Southern Thailand.
In 1979, China dropped its backing of the CPT,
preferring to pursue closer economic ties with the Thai government to
offset the influence of Soviet-backed Vietnam. In 1980, the Thai
government began offering amnesty and incentives to any CPT defectors
and CPT hotspots, including Bar Thong in a jungle-rich area of Chonburi,
began to crumble.
The Thai government continued to sweeten the pot for
CPT defectors, offering “development” funds for those that chose to
rejoin mainstream society.
Little of the CPT population remains today with many
having rejoined society as poor farmers. But the government has
continued to support the former separatists and the latest grants were
made in an effort to ensure they can survive in society.
The development grants included 5 rai of land and five cows.
