Rubber thefts sadden factory's owner

SURAT THANI : The owner of a factory in Phunphin district has thanked honest villagers who returned rubber blocks washed away by floods.

Rubber blocks retrieved by villagers are weighed after more than 700 tonnes of them were swept away by floods at a Japanese factory in Phunphin district in Surat Thani. Some villagers took blocks back to the factory but other people sold them. TAWATCHAI KEMGUMNERD

But Yoshio Amano has been saddened by the actions of some people who sold blocks after recovering them from floodwater.

YT Rubber Ltd, a Japanese-based firm supplying products to a tyre manufacturer in Japan, has so far managed to retrieve only about 20% of more than 700 tonnes of rubber products washed away by floods that have ravaged the district and southern Thailand.

Some villagers who collected rubber blocks from water are returning them to the company after it announced it owned the rubber and promised rewards to people who took them back.

"I have to applaud them," Mr Amano said. "They have very nice minds. Thank you very much."

However, he was less complimentary about those villagers who simply sold the floating rubber elsewhere for money.

"These people only think of money without caring about others' feelings," he said.

His company has lost rubber products and seen other facilities almost completely wrecked. Mr Amano said he cannot calculate the overall destruction because the factory is still under water.

A worker at the one-year-old company said his boss at first did not understand the dishonesty of some Thai people as in Japan nobody takes things that do not belong to them.

In Japan, where people are struggling with the devastation left by the recent earthquake, tsunami and nuclear leakage, many valuable things are vulnerable to theft but no one takes them, Mr Amano said.

He said the Thai government should fix the problem of these ill-minded people because "Thailand must change from what it is encountering".

Money is important but is not the most important thing in life, Mr Amano added. There are many other things that are more treasured, but some Thai people still give too much importance to money.

Company manager Pusit Suwanrat said some villagers in other areas who learned of the floating rubber saw it as an opportunity to reap profits and some even tried to encroach on the factory compound to take the products.

The company will not file charges against villagers who take the rubber back to the company, Mr Pusit said. Instead, they will be given some rewards, though the money is less than what they would make by selling the rubber.

Ban Bor Krang School will serve as a place where villagers can return the floating rubber to the company until Tuesday.

"The rewards can be viewed as a payment for villagers who collect the rubber blocks and take them back to the company," said farmer Wachara Yisoon, who was awarded 2,000 baht.

Villager Wimonrat Phuengsommut was given 13,700 baht after she returned more than 500 kilogrammes of rubber blocks.

She said she had never thought she would get such a large sum of money. She intended to use it to support the studies of her two daughters.

Mr Amano said his company is planning to provide better protection for its assets in case a severe flood hits the area again.

(Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/231086/rubber-thefts-sadden-factory-owner)