Tak Bai villagers don’t want to be reminded of the tragic incident 11 years ago
Eleven years on since the Tak Bai massacre on October 25, 2004, Mrs Yaena Salamae has wanted to forget that traumatic incident but cannot as she and her neighbours are occasionally reminded of the incident by members of the security force.
She told Isranews that everytime a suspect in Tak Bai district was detained for questioning, the first question he would be asked by the military was that was he involved in the riot at Tak Bai.
And if it was found out that he was involved, then it was likely that he would be detained up to one month under the emergency law instead of just seven days under the martial law, said Mrs Yaema, adding that those who were not involved in the riot were normally held for questioning for one day.
“So who actually have not forgotten the Tak Bai incident, the villagers of the officials?” she asked. She said that there was no need for the officials to keep reminding them of the incident and if they really want to put an end to the incident they should stop asking the question and stop accusing the protesters of being militants.
However, Mrs Yaema admitted that the livelihood of most families of the dead victims from the incident have improved satisfactorily after they were given compensation from the state and have jobs to do.
Seven protesters were shot dead and 78 others died of suffocation after they were crammed onto trucks and made to lie face down from the protest site to Ingkayuth camp in Pattani’s NongChik district which is 180 kilometres away.
Altogether 700 million baht in compensation were paid to families of the dead victims and the disabled and the injured. Each family of the dead victim was paid 7.5 million baht.
Besides the dead victims from the incident, 58 others were arrested and prosecuted for involvement in the riot. However, the cases against them were eventually dropped by the prosecution at the order of then General Surayud Chulanont government.
Maleekee Doloh who was disabled from the incident admitted that his livelihood has improved somewhat and he didn’t want to mention the incident again.
Koriyoh Jehkorma said he could still remember the shooting incident which took place at the children’s playground opposite the old police station. The children’s playground is still there but is most of the time deserted.
Taki Bai has changed during the past 11 years. The wooden bridge to Ban Koh Yao which was called 100 years bridge has been replaced with a concrete bridge and there is a floating market every weekend. But there are still people who have not forgotten the tragic incident, said Koriyoh.
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Captions :
1 Tak Bai police station
2 Mrs Yaena Salamae