New-Year Gift For Thailand's Grass Roots

[webfact]

New-year gift for grass roots

By Nophakhun Limsamarnphun

The Nation

Government's populist 'Pracha Wiwat' policy will alleviate cost of living problem of the poor

The government will unveil its action plan for the new "Pracha Wiwat" populist policy on January 7 - aimed at winning the hearts and minds of grass-roots voters.

The action plan will include measures to ease the cost of living for the poor and help hundreds of thousands of workers in the informal economy join the social security system and get cheap loans from state-owned banks.

Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said yesterday that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva would announce these measures as a New Year's gift to the people.

These measures will be the product of a new management style aimed at overcoming cross-ministerial challenges in order to solve complex socio-economic problems affecting the grass-roots population, Korn said.

According to recent government surveys, pressing issues include a lack of farmland, the rising cost of living, lack of a safety net and reasonable credit for informal-sector labour, corruption and rising crime rate. Korn said senior officials from more than 30 government agencies had worked full-time at the new government office complex on Chaeng Wattana Road for five weeks to come up with ideas to tackle these issues.

Officials also invited more than 1,000 farmers, street vendors and motorcycle taxi and cab drivers to join the brainstorming sessions before finalising proposals for the government.

"Previously, our problem was a lack of effective intra-agency coordination, lack of a uniform database and lack of common goals and vision.

"Therefore, the prime minister asked all ministries concerned to send their representatives with the authority to act to work at the government complex for five weeks, [starting around mid-November].

"The premier himself came here a few times to chair the sessions. The national police chief and the Bangkok governor also came here to join some of the sessions as we also have to deal with corruption, crime, street vendors and other issues related to police and local government jurisdiction.

"Basically, we encouraged all to think and act outside the box under this Pracha Wiwat policy," he said.

Such a populist policy is expected to lead to new measures to manage the prices of basic food items, especially eggs, pork and chicken, and energy prices, especially for diesel, LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) and household electricity.

All these items are listed as top priority for the government to tackle, according to surveys.

Regarding diesel, a Bt5-billion subsidy is being planned to cap the price below Bt30 per litre, while LPG used for households and transportation would be further subsidised, but LPG used by industry would be subject to the world market price.

Regarding electricity, households consuming less than 90 units per month will continue to get power free of charge.

The government will help workers in the informal economy to enjoy social security benefits so that they have some form of a safety net.

These include motorcycle taxi drivers, street vendors and cab drivers in Bangkok and major provinces who do not have long-term savings or access to bank credit.

Dr Sangsit Piriyarangsan, a government adviser on the Pracha Wiwat policy, said workers in the informal economy have to rely on loan sharks when they need to urgently borrow Bt10,000-Bt20,000.

"Basically, we have to compete against illegal loan providers in convenience and speed. One solution is to set up a system with the Government Savings Bank to pre-register these workers for a certain credit line.

"When they need money, they can get cash relatively quickly, possibly within a few days, if they already have the credit line.

"In the future, this will be a new form of social enterprise," he said.

Sangsit also proposed that the government turn to electronic distribution of state lottery tickets to solve the price-gouging problem.

For years, most state lottery tickets have been sold at higher than their official price largely due to various powerful interest-groups.

The government should sell the tickets directly to buyers via electronic dispensers without going through the middlemen who jack up the price, he added.

-- The Nation 2010-12-17

[hyperdimension]

I wonder what the reaction from Pheu Thai and UDD will be. Here are some possibilities:

1. Claim "they're just trying to get votes"

2. Claim "they're just copying the kind of thing Thaksin did" (maybe together with 1... which would then be an admission that Thaksin's populist policies were just to get votes)

3. Conjure up some crazy unsustainable and ill-researched policies to attempt to compete

4. Stick with "Bring back Thaksin" as their primary policy as pushed by Chalerm.

5. Support these policies, as helping the people of Thailand, as Pheu Thai and UDD may proclaim, is what they are supposedly also trying to achieve.

Edited December 17, 2010 by hyperdimension

[housepainter]

The grand idea then is to have the people with no money borrow the money they need. That's called debt. The reason they have no money is because they have no income. The answer is to give them debt on top of no income. Dig a bit deeper in the hole then.

The introduction of Social Security for the poor is fine but they have to pay in to it otherwise the rest of society is made poorer by way of subsidy. But as yet there is no answer as to how to raise incomes. There is only an establishing of debt by way of loaning money.

The poorest people are the homeless and the landless. We are told that farmland is too costly. Consider this; Thais can not afford the extortionate prices charged for land. If there is road access or frontage the price rockets. Those who own land but can't make it economic can't sell it off. Thy ask some ridiculous price that no-one locally can afford because they are all in the same boat. Poor.

The bank owns the deeds, the debt makes the price astronomic, the land can not be sold. Farming remains largely a subsistence existence as investment is beyond the means of those struggling to raise a crop.

Finally, the light of reality begins to reach those souls locked into room 101 for 5 weeks. They come to item 37 on the agenda: corruption and crime. Unfortunately, they remain focussed on loans and social security while not tackling the local influential mafia figures whose families run much of the Central Plains and North East, sucking the life blood from the poor souls who subsist there.

The evidence of this criminality is abundant. The roads remain unrepaired as delegated budgets are raped and plundered. The schools stand in a state of disrepair, local infrastructure is collapsing due to neglect, flooding is unmanageable, power outs common and the locals are chained to a system that is feudal and they remain powerless.

But the real issues of crime and corruption, of dishonest local politicians, of unusual unexplained wealth is simply ignored. How can you have brain storming in a society that is hierarchical and defferential? If you have employment you are taught form the cradle to know your place, to accept the instruction from every superior based upon their age, to cow-tow, to remain compliant, not to question, suggest or challenge. Simply to obey. For brain storming read brain washing.

Talking about the price of diesel is as good as talking about the cost of a new Rolex for someone who can't tell the time. These people, the poor, do not drive the pick-ups and saloons or ten wheelers that are seen on the roads. These people, the poor, whole families whose accumulated wealth may manage an Itan, a farm truck , or an Itak - the small farm tractor. In the grand scheme of a mouth to mouth survival, the cost of diesel is not ranked very highly because they don't need it. Putting food on pauper plates is not about running the tractor into the fields.

And for those of you who wrongly think that an indicator of poverty is in fact a shiny pick-up, think again. A loan, a debt acquired enabled the ownership of that vehicle. So we are back to what was Thaksin's original premise that the way to help the poor is to allow more debt. More debt to allow more growth.

Except we've just seen that with the sub-prime, and now the banking collapse, the interest rate collapse, the financial collapse of: Iceland, Portugal, Greece, Ireland, almost Spain, that debt actually equals ruin.

As there is no panacea there is only misery and continued poverty until some one actually grasps the nettle and redistributes wealth. Handing a man in a hole a spade is not the answer. But when corruption and crime were discussed they ducked the issue of going after the unusual usual-suspects at the wealthy end of the scale. The reason being they remain the rich and powerful.

What was a new watch to Thaksin? It would make number 95 in the collection. There is an example of the need to re-distribute the wealth. Those locked up in Chiang Wattana are an example of the moral cowardice that failed to deal with it. Hence, more spades for more holes.

Travel to this mysterious land of the poor far from Chiang Wattana and you find long empty roads free from traffic. It's not because the roads are so isolated as some think. It is because the people don't have cars, vehicles, transport. Those who do can't afford the cost of diesel anyway. But lets not forget we are talking about the poor. The number one poor and they sit hitching a ride in a farm truck, share a motorbike, ride a push bike or walk.

What you will see on the road is a nippy 150 CBR. Two men wearing helmets and one has a shoulder bag slung around his torso. A common sight. As many as 3 such bikes at any time on any stretch of road. They are the lcoal travelling loan sharks providing the hand to mouth existence that the think tank - the brain stormers - wish to replace with .......... a bank loan.

A bank loan or a bag stuffed full of money. Same difference.

They want to compete on the grounds of speed - a CBR flying along at 100 klicks - and convenience - they bring it to your wooden shack down the farm lane. Good luck getting your government SUV out from the bank's car park and through the suburban traffic on the way to Esan's back lanes. Especially, if they head out from Chiang Wattana road.

Well that should work then. Don't loan from him when you can loan from her. Have a debt with us but not a debt with them. I've got a nose blead but I wish I'd cut my lip.

Let's be correct. Get rid of the loan sharks says the think tank and replace it with a Government 'credit line'. So that means no debt then? Sounds better. I got rid of that terrible 20 grand debt I had with those nasty loan sharks. Now I've got a Goivernment 20 grand credit line. I'm sleeping much better now thanks.

I won't draw too much attention to the board room jargon, the acronyms, the surveys or committees, prioritising, brain storming, thinking outside the box, action planning, measures, subsidies, informal economy, social enterprise or safety nets that are seen as the answer.

Other than to say that any safety net has holes in it. This one has great big ones. The poor will free-fall right down to the bottom where you'll always find them. This report is full of hyperbole, rhetoric, goodwill and intention that delivers all the hot air needed to float the 'Pracha Wichit' balloon until it floats away never to be seen again.

Next.

[Bagwan]

I am a tad mystified about what it is that the Government mean to do. If people have no access to bank loans or long term savings doesn't that mean that they are living hand to mouth?  If people do not have the wherewithal or personal discipline to  put cash by for a rainy day how are they going to pay back their borrowings? What is the point of making farmland available? Where is the money for farm equipment and fertilisers going to come from? The farmers will need reasonable market prices for their produce and even then only the really efficient will make money.

I take the proposal to automate the sale of lottery tickets as a bad joke. Impoverished people shelling out for nil return? Seems to me that that will only exacerbate the problems. Lottery tickets are for those without brains and some disposable income after the essentials have been paid for.

Nobody doubts that what Thailand needs is a massive dose of education but I suggest that this goes way beyond the younger generation. For example, I bought a dozen young chicks as seeding for a small chicken farming element on our farms. Returning three months later in the expectation that I would have to acquire a cockerel but found the premises fowl free. The family had eaten them all! My anger at their stupidity was fairly muted, by my standards anyway, but I made my disappointment clear. If they had nothing else to eat I could have understood it but this was wasteful insanity. Instead of the large family re-union and lunch together at the village shop/restaurant, my wife and I went alone. The message was made clear - they had made a colossal cock up. On returning from what turned out to be a working lunch, my wife and I explained again the concept of developing a critical mass of say 25 birds and that this must be maintained at all times. When they had, say thirty, then they could eat or sell some to neighbours. Thus they had a perpetual self supplying source of food and income. Smiles all round at what a marvellous concept when really it was just the application of common sense. Who is going to undertake the mammoth task of getting these poor people to think things through and plan for their futures? Who is going to get them away from the concept of 'Buddha will take care'? Who is going to convince them that the odds of the Lottery coming to their rescue are minuscule? The King's stricture that people must learn to be self sufficient  needs to be hammered home and ways and means of them so doing explained. Without a massive upgrading of awareness and mental faculty in the rural communities then any remedial action is doomed to failure.

At the moment what little accurate information is available lends to me feel that this Government announcement is yet more proof that this is a nation of 14 year olds led by 16 year olds.

[hanuman1]

I wonder what the reaction from Pheu Thai and UDD will be. Here are some possibilities:

1. Claim "they're just trying to get votes"

2. Claim "they're just copying the kind of thing Thaksin did" (maybe together with 1... which would then be an admission that Thaksin's populist policies were just to get votes)

3. Conjure up some crazy unsustainable and ill-researched policies to attempt to compete

4. Stick with "Bring back Thaksin" as their primary policy as pushed by Chalerm.

5. Support these policies, as helping the people of Thailand, as Pheu Thai and UDD may proclaim, is what they are supposedly also trying to achieve.

I hardly think any party would announce a policy which they thought wouldn't win them votes.

That said, I would wish any government good luck in successfully implementing a policy intended to help the poor and dissaffected, whatever the political stakes surrounding it are.

Edited December 17, 2010 by hanuman1

[housepainter]

But, and I liked your post, but the Finance Minister shown in the photo was recognised by his International peers as being 'outstanding.' Furthermore, Abhisit, an Etonian English educated graduated is highly capable. These are people not short on brains or on ability.

So how do you square the quite pathetic rationale for helping the poor. Is it simply that being swamped by corruption they know there is no tangible way of changing anything? Surrounded by un-educated sons of dynasty members whose forefathers have occupied the seats of power since Budhha was a lad, they seem incapable of negating them.

So we go through the motions. Good word that. As we all know just what is produced.

More of the same then just a different day.

[hanuman1]

But, and I liked your post, but the Finance Minister shown in the photo was recognised by his International peers as being 'outstanding.' Furthermore, Abhisit, an Etonian English educated graduated is highly capable. These are people not short on brains or on ability.

So how do you square the quite pathetic rationale for helping the poor. Is it simply that being swamped by corruption they know there is no tangible way of changing anything? Surrounded by un-educated sons of dynasty members whose forefathers have occupied the seats of power since Budhha was a lad, they seem incapable of negating them.

So we go through the motions. Good word that. As we all know just what is produced.

More of the same then just a different day.

The danger for the poor is that now there is a widely promoted policy the government says is aimed at improving their lives, they will be expected to be satisfied whatever the outcome. If the policy fails to make an impact on the quality of their lives or makes it even worse, they run the risk of being seen as 'ungrateful' by those who will readily believe that the government's stated intention equated to actually delivering the goods.

I'm all for the outcome that the government says it would like to see as a result of this policy. However, if they get it wrong they should not expect mercy at the polls.

[Emptyset]

I wonder what the reaction from Pheu Thai and UDD will be. Here are some possibilities:

1. Claim "they're just trying to get votes"

2. Claim "they're just copying the kind of thing Thaksin did" (maybe together with 1... which would then be an admission that Thaksin's populist policies were just to get votes)

3. Conjure up some crazy unsustainable and ill-researched policies to attempt to compete

4. Stick with "Bring back Thaksin" as their primary policy as pushed by Chalerm.

5. Support these policies, as helping the people of Thailand, as Pheu Thai and UDD may proclaim, is what they are supposedly also trying to achieve.

I imagine it'll be similar to the Democrat attacks on Thaksin's policies, which was to attack them for being 'populist' and an attempt to buy votes and then put very similar policies in their manifesto. There's a populist consensus in Thailand right now, so it's likely the next government will continue any successful policies of the previous government even if they attacked them whilst in opposition. PT have already announced their three core policies, 300 baht minimum wage, 15,000 a month minimum wage for graduates and a much higher fixed rice price. I think focusing on the core issues, wages and food prices for farmers is a good idea for them since obviously they affect most people whilst the Dem policies could be more hit & miss and complicated. But if any work, you can bet Thaksin/PT will copy them. Anyway, changing the law is easier than enforcing the policies and paying for them, especially when it comes to things like minimum wage. Neither party to my knowledge has said how they're going to pay for this stuff and public debt is already set to rise to 58-59 percent of GDP by 2012, that's before these policies have been taken into account.

Obviously the "Bring back Thaksin" campaign suggested by Chalerm doesn't seem to work very well (judging by recent by-election) except in areas when PT are already very strong. So a lot depends on new policies and who they bring in as leader imo. No one in PT is strong enough for the role, they'll need to bring in someone from the outside, going with Chalerm, Chavalit or Mingkwan is a recipe for disaster. As the Nation pointed out recently, neither Chavalit or Chalerm have good records when it comes to election success, so Thaksin probably needs to bring in some better strategists too.

It's not the opposition's role to support everything the government does, y'know. They're supposed to oppose, pick holes in & scrutinize the government's policies. Although it'd be nice if they actually supported the policies that they think are good instead of opposing them for petty political points scoring opportunities. But most opposition parties in the world are much the same, nothing particularly special about PT playing the political game.

[Bagwan]

I wouldn't say that being an Old Etonian is a plus for Abhisit. I don't think that the academic record of that bastion of privilege is outstanding. Many British politicians claim to have attended Eton - enough said? Prince Charles attended and he certainly isn't the sharpest tool in the box.

Too many politicians and people of influence (certainly Thailand) are present or past academics who tend to live in their own cosseted little world. My preference is for people who have at sometime had a real job.

Edited December 18, 2010 by Bagwan

[housepainter]

I wouldn't say that being an Old Etonian is a plus for Abhisit. I don't think that the academic record of that bastion of privilege is outstanding. Many British politicians claim to have attended Eton - enough said? Prince Charles attended and he certainly isn't the sharpest tool in the box.

Too many politicians and people of influence (certainly Thailand) are present or past academics who tend to live in their own cosseted little world. My preference is for people who have at sometime had a real job.

I don't know what you base its academic record on. Eton ranks amongst the highest one percent of School's public or private in the entire country. Fact.

The fact is that students pass 'A' levels and go to the finest Universities; Oxford, Cambridge and the LSE. They get that first choice based upon passing not 3 but 5 'A' levels and also the Examination Board's syllabus they sit is one of the most academically challenging. The Universities know they are getting quality due to the difficulty of exams taken. Fact.

Many British politicians have attended Eton. It is a fact and you seem to cast some aspertion by way of describing it as a claim. Currently, Cameron the PM is an old Etonian. Fact. Whatever your Politics he is a decent, honest indivdual dedicating himself to public service. He doesn't need to. He is one of the priviledged classes and is elitist. Fact. Wasn't his father a Lord? However, there is no abuse of wealth or power.

In a democratic system he like John Major, whose Father was a circus performer, has risen to be Prime Minister. One was qualified to do so; Cameron. The other got there through nothing other than hard work, as Major was without qualification leaving school with nothing other than a handful of 'O' levels.

Somewhere, some one can claim to be the sharpest tool in the box. A bit like Usain Bolt being the fastest man on the planet. So what does that make the rest of us? You can't possibly assess Prince Charles as most often the media distort the man; present an image, and as you well know, Royalty ignore it. They do not re-visit that place. Either way it's a snide remark and merely an opinion held.

You miss the point entirely. A democratic system allows anyone to rise, to fulfil their potential. The former Thai political systems did not. They were exclusive clubs. Democracy, when it is allowed to flourish, is a fair system. Abhisit is a product of that fair system abroad and he seeks to change the face of Thai politics by way of applying the Western understanding of how democracy should work.

Newcastle is hardly a cosstted world. Neither is life at a British University. As for Prince Charles, the students from British universities just attacked him in his car. A cossetted little world; a man attacked in his car by students. Who is cossetted there? The man being attacked or the students rioting on the streets?

You have your opinion and it is without basis in fact or any supporting evidence. Phrases such as 'too many' are based upon what? Tools in the box assessments?

Thailand has a wonderfully bright future. That is if it can retain democracy without ever allowing a single authoritarian figure, the most recent was Thaksin, to abuse it.

The red shirts can protest. Anyone can. Provided it is a civil liberties exercise that remains peaceful. But if the renegades from the army use it as a smoke screen to murder, or violent civilian groups ape that behaviour then the state should step in to restore order and avert anarchy. Again that is healthy functioning democracy.

Some may see anachy as a full time job. Aong with murder, bombing, the drugs trade and money laundering. We know they've worked as MPs while holding down such day jobs.

Is it these such persons you favour over a dry old academic or a sharp young gifted intellect? Sorry Khun Abhisit, too much time reading in the library - you never murdered anyone.

Your choice.