PM to Opposition: Health Budget Bigger Than Defense One

[webfact]

 

BANGKOK, May 31 (TNA) - Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha told the opposition leader that budgets for public health were actually bigger than those for defense.

 

Gen Prayut directed his message to opposition leader Sompong Amornwiwat during a parliament session on the 2022 Budget Bill. Mr Sompong earlier questioned if it was appropriate for the government to cut the budget of the Public Health Ministry amid COVID-19 outbreaks but not to reduce significantly the budget of the Defense Ministry.

 

Gen Prayut who is also the defense minister told the parliament that actually overall budgets for public health were higher than defense budgets when three funds under the Public Health Ministry were included.

 

Full story: https://tna.mcot.net/english-news-707290

 

-- © Copyright TNA 2021-06-01

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

 

[Fex Bluse]

Good luck getting these Sino Thais to allocate budget properly.

 

They care only about how big their budgets are and how much they can siphon off the top.

 

They live for this moment.

 

Vaccines and public health be damned!

 

[RichardColeman]

First war they have is against covid and they want more money for things useless against it

[ThailandRyan]

"Oh ye have little faith, I have provided billions for your own pockets and yet you have the audacity to be sanctimonious with me over my defense budget, Do you know who I am....."

 

Yes General Tu we do.....

[mtls2005]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Gen Prayut who is also the defense minister told the parliament that actually overall budgets for public health were higher than defense budgets when three funds under the Public Health Ministry were included.

 

 

Brilliant debating skills sir.

 

Sounds like some third-grader.

 

 

[WineOh]

Just what the people need during an economic crisis, more tanks.

 

But always remember TIT.

 

Where Tanks and subs come before food and health.

[jollyhangmon]

 

... Jesus Horace Christ, we're actually trapped in some 3rd rate comedy sitcom where a milli-vanilli PM says let it be known that 'them apples are bigger than the oranges!'

 

Up make it you can't   (Master Yoda)

 

[spidermike007]

Easy to make an argument that the health budget should be far larger than the defense budget, during a pandemic. 

 

And while we are at it Prayuth, you have never really answered our questions about what the army and military actually do here, besides defend the coup and make sure you maintain your control over the nation.

 

It is not as if Burma, Cambodia, Malaysia and Laos are attempting to take over the nation, as was the case in centuries past. So, why such a huge military, anyway? In this day and age, can this be justified on any rational level? Maybe time for reform? 

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, WineOh said:

Just what the people need during an economic crisis, more tanks.

 

But always remember TIT.

 

Where Tanks and subs come before food and health.

Submarines saves lives.... vaccine comes later.

[Tarteso]

1 hour ago, jollyhangmon said:

where a milli-vanilli PM says

Interesting comparison ????

[unblocktheplanet]

Defence against whom, we might ask?

[Henryford]

In most western countries isn't the spending on health 10%? 5 times greater than that on defence @2%.

[herfiehandbag]

9 minutes ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Defence against whom, we might ask?

Matayom 3 is getting a bit restless on Facebook!

[Jimbo2014]

In related news, the health ministry is purchasing 2 new submarines and a bunch of helicopters for emergency rescue purposes. ????

[nausea]

Doesn't really mean much without figures for comparison, nearly every country in the world spends significantly more on health than defense, even the US, China, and Russia.. Anyway, just stating the health budget is larger as a justification is a pretty nonsensical argument, it'd be weird if it wasn't, Thailand is no Israel (which does spend more on defense) in terms of perceived threats.

[grandpa]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha told the opposition leader that budgets for public health were actually bigger than those for defense.

I should jolly well hope so!  In most countries Public Health and Welfare takes very much more than defence, unless of course there is a threat of war!  The Public Health budget benefits the whole poulation, whereas the defence budget is only relevant to a few thousand people in the Armed Forces!

[Artisi]

2 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Submarines saves lives.... vaccine comes later.

There's a very good chance that any Thai sub. will probably take more lives than they will ever save, unless of course they stay tethered to the wharf as is the plane-less aircraft carrier - a proven way to stay out of trouble. 

[spidermike007]

My question is this. If the extremely toxic and dangerously timid army are unwilling to take any risks whatsoever, with regard to Covid, why are they spending 22 billion baht on submarines? Obviously there is some risk in operating subs, and even more risk if as they say, they are purposed to protect against terrorist threats and any threat in the South China Sea. The real budget is more like 13 billion baht for the first 

S26T Yuan Class sub, due in 2013. And the real cost for the subsequent two? 

 

Thai naval forces have not operated submarines for over 60 years now, while neighboring countries, particularly those with a major dispute at sea with Thailand, such as Vietnam, are all equipped with modern submarines. 

 

Looks like they are willing to take a huge risk with the treasury. Why so timid with Covid?

 

This government is a whirlpool of conflicting loyalties and interests. It's leader has to manage those interests, and effectively buy the loyalties of the various parts of the armed forces. The submarines are the price he has to pay for the navy supporting him. They will end up unusable and unaffordable, as did the aircraft carrier

 

There is no strategic justification for the submarines. There is really no military threat to Thailand, none of the countries with which it shares a land border have the capacity for anything other than the occasional cross border firefight. If you look carefully at all the military procurement of recent years, they are all to support ambitions, and thus buy the support of the various rival groups within the armed forces. They simply do not add up to any sort of a coherent modernisation or re-equipment of what remains a largely obsolete, immobile and under trained force, able only to undertake the most mundane of garrison duties, whilst it's bloated leadership occupies itself with playing politics or their own largely unregulated business ventures.

 

The government however (or more realistically those to whom it reports) must rely upon the military to keep it in power. It was put into power for one core function; to prevent the nascent political, social and economic liberalisation of Thai society which arose with the arrival of new technologies and communications, which have allowed a (younger) population which has long been kept ill educated and dependent for any advancement on its elders and sponsors, to communicate, educate themselves and develop business independent of those elders and sponsors. The Covid crisis is in a dimension beyond that, and it's timid, chaotic "rabbit in the headlights" response to the challenges it brings are simply because it does not know how to react, other than to use some of the opportunities to exercise power, in pursuit of that core function, which the social and political restrictions they argue the disease has necessitated give them.

[bangon04]

Surely the easy answer is to subcontract the defence to the CCP cousins.  Let them provide the necessary facilities. Thailand can always pay later if they need to use it.