"The Threat of communism is possibly the best thing that has ever happened to the people of North-east Thailand. Not that communism is necessarily a good thing, but the threat of it has forced the Thai Government to sit up and take some notice of the North-east."

This is the opinion of John Harlow, Victoria University student, who spent three months working as a free-lance correspondent in South-east Asia this year.

Mr. Harlow, who spent most of his time in Thailand and South Vietnam, says that conditions in the north-east provinces of Thailand seemed to be very similar to those which prevailed in South Vietnam 10 years ago.

Today, he says, the North-east is a potential hotbed of communism and could well become a second Vietnam unless the government moves quickly to rectify its short comings of the past.

He says that for centuries the people of the North-east have been neglected by the government and left to try to find enough to eat in a land of limited resources.

"Now there is every possibility that the communists would take over the North-east by either subversion or invasion and that the local population would give at least tacit support to such a takeover," says Mr. Harlow.

Separate nature

He explains that the North-east provinces are geographically separate from the rest of Thailand The people have a tendency to look towards Laos rather than to Bangkok.

"There are many people on either side of the Mekong River who have no concept of any difference between Thailand and Laos They often have no sense of nationalism, and instead regard themselves simply as 'Pathet Lao' (a term which means Lao people)

"Communist agents are trying to encourage a separatist movement in the North-cast by showing the people that they are not Thai but Lao. The agents point out that people in the North-east speak Lao rather than Thai; that they eat 'sticky rice,' a hard lumpy form of rice,' while the Thais eat white rice; and that the Thai Government has shown no interest in the North-east."

Commenting on reports of communist terrorism in the Northeast, Mr. Harlow says that police encounters with communists tend to be overdramatised by the somewhat sensational Thai press and the communists often get the blame for the work of ordinary bandits.

Terrorism

"At this stage actual terrorism is playing only a secondary role to propaganda in the communist effort. In areas where the communists are strong they are holding regular village meetings to tell the peasants that the government is doing nothing for them and that the communists will give them tractors, good jobs and low interest loans 'when the revolution comes.'

"In other areas the communists get their message across through clandestine radio broadcasts.

"Generally speaking, the communists are not looking for a fight although they will fight if they have to. At this stage they appear to be more concerned with recruitment and propaganda, and with building up a base of support that they can rely on 'when the revolution comes.'

Straws in wind

"The peasants in Thailand, like those in Vietnam, are like straws in the wind," says Mr. Harlow. He suggests that they will support whichever side (government or communist) looks likely to win, and which will punish them more severely for having supported the other.

"Most of them have no interest in politics. All they are concerned with is getting enough to eat. Their political allegience is usually a matter of pure expediency."

Mr. Harlow says that the Thai government is now trying to counter communism by economic development. This includes new dams and irrigation projects, development in rural roading, and the extension of education and health services to most of the villages in the North-east.

"The Thai government and its allies have done a lot in a very short time to try to raise living standards in the North-east, but they still have a long way to go," concluded Mr. Harlow.