webfact Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 Thai people ‘must work towards a welfare state’ By CHULARAT SAENGPASSA THE NATION Representatives from several political parties talk ... Move needed to ensure security for all, says thinker. A PROMINENT thinker has urged people to push for a welfare state, which he believes does not contradict the benefits of capitalism-driven development. “Capitalism develops when it has a quality workforce in regards to education and health,” Internet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw) executive director Jon Ungphakorn said yesterday. He was speaking at a forum held by the People’s Network for Welfare State. Jon said comprehensive universal welfare should be introduced in place of the provision of state welfare to the desperate. “The latter is discriminatory in nature and hurts the human dignity of people being described as destitute,” he said. He said state welfare for the destitute was also poor in quality because those receiving the help have had little opportunity to voice their needs. “Such state help can also be seen as causing inequality among people,” he said, “It should also be noted that some types of help are redundant because of inefficient management.” Jon added that when taxpayers have not personally benefited from state welfare, they do not support the provision of state help for others. “Besides, state help for the destitute won’t help reduce economic inequalities,” he said. Jon insisted that a welfare state should be implemented so as to provide all people with security throughout their lives. “They should get access to healthcare, education, income and other social services to maintain a quality of life from birth,” he said. Jon lamented the fact that at present, Thailand still lacked sufficient experts on the welfare state to push for a move in that direction and to design tax structures that would efficiently support the idea. “In Thailand, there is also no party like Britain’s Labour Party,” he said. Representatives from several political parties listened to Jon at yesterday’s event. Nimit Tien-udom, who represents the People’s Network for Welfare State, then urged the representatives of various parties to express their viewpoints and plans related to a welfare state. Pheu Thai Party’s spokeswoman Ladawan Wongsriwong expressed confidence that her party would do well in regards to efforts towards creating comprehensive welfare for citizens. “We were the Thai Rak Thai Party, which introduced the universal healthcare scheme and the village-fund project,” she said, “and we will do more.” Democrat Party’s former MP Atavit Suwannapakdee said his party was a key player behind the National Savings Fund Act. “We have also now had a plan to ensure that all Thais have an annual income of at least Bt120,000. For those who earn less, the government will provide the difference,” he said. He added that the Democrat Party also had also considered providing crop subsidies. Grain Party’s founder Sombat Boonngamanong said he really hoped that Thailand would become a welfare state and was determined to work towards that. “The poor finds life is difficult. They work more than the rich but they earn less. So, we need to look at obstacles the poor face and try to remove them. All at the same time, we must create opportunities for their development in regard to education, jobs and more,” he said. Lertsak Khamkongsak, the leader of the Commoners’ Party, said the government should be able to find sufficient money in the budget to support welfare-state measures. While the People’s Network for Welfare State has pushed the idea of a pension for all at the rate of Bt3,000 a month, Lertsak said the country could provide up to Bt5,000 monthly. Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30361875 -- © Copyright The Nation 2019-01-09 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesofa Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 5 minutes ago, webfact said: A PROMINENT thinker has urged people to push for a welfare state, which he believes does not contradict the benefits of capitalism-driven development. I'd tend to agree with that, only isn't that surely the job of a responsible Thai government? Oh hang on, "responsible Thai government" that's an oxymoron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotYourBusiness Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 We need to remember that a welfare state doesn't keep people from falling into poverty. It just keeps you alive once you get there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faraday Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 20 minutes ago, NotYourBusiness said: We need to remember that a welfare state doesn't keep people from falling into poverty. It just keeps you alive once you get there. Hmmm...yes...many European countries have a welfare state. Is that a bad thing? I like his comment about the Labour Party... doubt he knows much about Blair though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YetAnother Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 1 hour ago, webfact said: said the government should be able to find sufficient money in the budget to support welfare-state measures. it isn't about socialism, it is about thai's ruling class, the elites, having the environment just the way they want it, they make the rules and nothing will change Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doremifasol Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 Wow...... a whooping Bt3,000 a month. It is indeed worth working hard all your life for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonhia Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 Would such a move work within such a corrupt administration / environment? A certain high ranking official wearing expensive watches, plus the outcome of having them, spring to my mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eligius Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 Makes me laugh the way this guy is called 'a thinker': it suggests that being 'a thinker' is so very, very rare in Thailand! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InsertNameHere Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 2 hours ago, bluesofa said: I'd tend to agree with that, only isn't that surely the job of a responsible Thai government? Oh hang on, "responsible Thai government" that's an oxymoron. Exactly, and it is the governments job of any country to care for it's citizens since we all report to a form of government ???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruitman Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 51 minutes ago, doremifasol said: Wow...... a whooping Bt3,000 a month. It is indeed worth working hard all your life for it. Do the monks also work hard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesofa Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 3 minutes ago, fruitman said: Do the monks also work hard? Well they do prey hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kannot Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 4 minutes ago, bluesofa said: Well they do prey hard. if the amount of money Thais threw at the temples went into healthcare instead theyd all live longer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KhunFred Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 Finally, someone who "gets it". Fear of welfare states and true equality is what holds Thailand back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KhunFred Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 Ungphakorn seems not to have noticed that people who suggest welfare states for Thailand, tend to either disappear or end up being exiled from the country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ossy Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 3 hours ago, webfact said: a quality workforce in regards to education and health Quality personnel in education? . . . dream on, Jon. Health, maybe, where there's still a sense of vocation and a desire to use their special skills. As for teaching, that is now seen as the easiest route to nothingness, as far as career objectives are concerned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebell Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 What about making Thai males with no paternity gene pay for their abandoned children, that way it would cut down the number of mums working in unsavoury jobs to pay for schooling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seajae Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 problem is welfare is paid for by using taxes, unfortunately in Thailand many dont pay tax, it is a cash society. This takes a lot of money out of govt coffers making it even harder to actually start a welfare system and I doubt those that are not paying tax now will agree to start doing so. I know one seller that makes around a million plus baht a year and its all cash, no tax at all, this is happening a lot in Thailand and until a govt actually starts to make these people pay their taxes nothing will change Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terek Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 taxes are theft and wellfare state is scam, I am against it, if it's obligatory enforced, people please do whatever you want but with your own money Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roobaa01 Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 higher wages, higher social welfare etc.. means higher inflation through wage price spiral, welfare state means socialism for loser like venezuela, cuba, nicaragua, south africa, zimbabwe etc... for example us rep ocasia cortez is such a socialist loser with fairy tale ideas free health care for etc costing trillions and even not materialising with her silly 70 % tax plan, which was dismissed with a 5555 by credible alan greenspan. wbr roobaa01 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarryP Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 4 hours ago, bluesofa said: Well they do prey hard. Noted the deliberate use of "prey" there. A lot of them certainly do prey on the gullible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Lawrence Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 Its a safety net for all. Plus it gives the elite something to gripe about to hide their shortcomings or a smoke screen when they are under attack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadbury Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 7 hours ago, webfact said: Thai people ‘must work towards a welfare state Only to find corrupt, cunning and thieving civil servants steal the welfare as was exampled in the money stolen from the destitute and disabled. Unsurprisingly all that's gone quiet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerojero Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 People push for welfare state? Ya right. Takes a genuine caring GOV'T tjat wants that state for all its citizens. Certainly not the Elites, current and past, who are bent on holding power over the Thai masses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Lawrence Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 Its a safety net for all. Plus it gives the elite something to gripe about to hide their shortcomings or a smoke screen when they are under attack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marko kok prong Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 Agree with Seajae, not a large enough tax base for this kind of western style welfare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ossy Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 . . . work towards a welfare state . . . uh-uh, I've smelt this smell before . . . Dick Turpin had this simple socio-maths issue sorted, 300 years ago. Why can't the exchequer bite the bullet and rob those flaming rich twaits (oops) who can earn a thousand times more than an equally-hard working poor guy. And then, if there's work to be done in any of the thousands of rural villages that still present a picture of life as it was 200 years ago, embark on a programme of work-creation. For goodness sake, let's not listen to anyone trying to pin the blame on 'the lazy poor'. I see these types every day and when provided with a work task will set out to do it good enough and fast enough to ensure they're first in the queue for the next work. If there's an attitude problem in this country, it lies deeply buried, up there, amongst the godlike monied elite (for the oxymoron lovers amongst you). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stud858 Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 Cannot happen nowadays, the switch from greedy rich, mine mine mine to lets share doesnt fit in with modern mindset. Australia has a good welfare system but if it was reversed and had to happen again i think it would not produce the same system that it has now. The rich are paranoid about losing a dollar. Natural survival of the fittest result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrTuner Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 In the meanwhile, welfare states up to their eyeballs in debt are trying to figure out how to get their citizens off their <deleted>...imagine somchai the sloth getting checks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcusarelus Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 9 minutes ago, DrTuner said: In the meanwhile, welfare states up to their eyeballs in debt are trying to figure out how to get their citizens off their <deleted>...imagine somchai the sloth getting checks. 60% of Thai GDP is industrial. Companies like PTT and Samsung and Ford and Mercedes and BMW. Those folks work hard and get paid well. Do you live in the middle of a rice field that you don't know that Thailand is no longer an agrarian economy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KMartinHandyman Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 Honestly I thought it already was a welfare state. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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