Cambodia Expats Online: Forum | News | Information | Blog

I have a freind who is from Issan. Lower middle class. He and his friends, including some policemen, are strong redshirt supporters though they do not go to demonstrations. They are also strong yellowshirt opponents, viewing them as corrupt and selfish.

I noted that among his friends are also 2 middle aged lower ranking members of the army. They both certainly seemed to be other than ardent supporters of the coup.

Many of the lower-ranked young soldiers are also Issan. I think they could be relied on the suppress urban coup opponents such as university students. But could they be relied on to go against redshirts in Issan? I think this potential weakness will compel the coupsters to continue in some form the Taksin populist Issan assistance programs opposed by the yellowshisrts.

Thanks for your feedback.

Thai army conscripts are taken from all over the country. I imagine if anti-coup bloodshed was occurring in the Northeast, the military would be smart enough to send troops who hail from the other regions to quell any uprising. The conscripts from Isaan (or Esarn) would probably be sent down South to avoid such conflicts of interest.

But according to one poster on here, 70% of the Thai population supports the coup so there should be no such conflicts.

The good news is we're not sending you to Isaan, the bad news is you're off to Pattani.

hey Pattani is not that bad, was down there last week

ON the road from Betong to Yala see some soldiers BUT not as many of them or checkpoints as when i went thru in March
One thing;

they all look so dam young, i wonder how they would react in a real firefight

Re conscripts, do the upper and arrived middle class Bangkok type Thai's kids get conscripted in equal percentages to others or do they find discrete ways not to go?

last i heard going price to get out is 50,000 baht
( thats what my friend paid to get his son out up country)

Good thing the military isn't corruptible and able to be bought with bribes!

phuketrichard wrote:hey Pattani is not that bad, was down there last week

ON the road from Betong to Yala see some soldiers BUT not as many of them or checkpoints as when i went thru in March
One thing;

they all look so dam young, i wonder how they would react in a real firefight

Sorry O/T but a quick one.

How safe is it as a farang to travel through that area now Richard. I'm planning a round country road trip in 3 months going east, up north and then potentially heading south. Krabi was about as far south as I was contemplating. I did travel through the Pattani area 20 years ago but had ruled it out now purely on safety grounds.

as safe as anywhere.
IN the past 10 months i have been in and out of the area alot,
been thru Satun, Wang Prachan border
Sadao of course
Betong- Yala
Kota Baharu- Sungai Kolak
Kota Baharu - Tak Bai ( via the ferry)

plus across the top of Malaysia from west to east coast. Malaysia no police/army presence.

South Thailand is nice, there are of course check points on all the roads but I was only stopped once ( an once he saw i was white was waved on), Seems they do stop Thai pickups and heading south from Yala or Pattani appears to be more searches than heading north.
Its a beautiful part of Thailand, I really like Betong and Yala, nice towns and the drive between the two is fantastic, great deals on hotels and really good food
Have spent the nights in Pattani, Narathiwat, Satun, Hat Yai, Songkhla, Betong and Yala

Westerners have not been targeted at all and i never felt unsafe at any time but have spoken to many locals and they advised me not to walk around late at night but the towns are shut down by 10 pm ( except Songkhla an Hat Yai) with soldiers patrolling. At night i think driving would be a mistake. All of the army posts, schools hospitals etc have razor wire on the fences and when school lets out the Army is patrolling on foot around the entrances

Of course there are at the least weekly bombs/killings in the area and if your in the wrong place at the wrong time....

I found traveling along the Thai Burmese same with checkpoints an roads checks. ( from Tak to Mae Sot there were like 5 checks and lots up north of Fang) One place northwest of Fang we were stopped for about 30 minutes while they checked our passports ( was traveling with my Cambodian gf) During that time saw 4 or 5 Thai motorcyclist stopped and they were all searched and all their bags were gone thru, yet they did ask us to open my trunk and questioned what we were doing up there.

If you travel up north before Oct you will love it as its pre tourist season.