Private Sector, Academics Criticise Major Thai Parties' Plans

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NATION ROUNDTABLE

Private sector, academics criticise major parties' plans

By Sasithorn Ongdee,

Watchiranont Thongtep

The Nation

The two leading parties - Pheu Thai and the Democrats - are selling similar ideas to create a better environment to enhance national competitiveness while highlighting basic infrastructure plans and "populist" policies as they vie to win the election on July 3 and form the next government.

Representatives of the leading parties debated at a seminar last week held by Thai business daily Krungthep Turakij on "The Party's Policies vs Thailand's Competitiveness". Each outlined the policies of their parties to enhance national competitiveness.

Academics and representatives from the private sector criticised the policies of both parties, saying that they seldom touched on education reform or tourism or improving water transport. They also warned people who might be part of a new government they should be aware of some weak laws in regard to the special economic zones that have been proposed and policies to raise the minimum wage.

Enabling more Thai enterprises to invest abroad and focusing on connectivity between Thailand and countries to the west should be given more importance, they said. And a policy of "conciliation" should be emphasised.

Democrat Party - high-speed trains proposed

With the party's policy to increase national competitiveness, Democrat party-list candidate Kiat Sittheeamorn said his party had a policy to add more locomotives and to improve the speed of trains to 80-120 kilometres an hour with an investment budget of Bt300 billion. High-speed trains would travel on a 250km network across the country, which would eventually link from southern China to Padang Besar, a town on the border with Malaysia, via Nong Khai, which is on the Mekong opposite the Lao capital Vientiane.

The line would take nine years to complete (by 2020). Electric mass-transit trains in Bangkok would also be increase to 11 lines to boost the total network to 509km, up from 75km currently.

Kiat said the party also planned to build a harbour city in Laem Chabang with logistic facilities on the same site and to upgrade the deep-sea port to the same international standard as that in Singapore. Meanwhile, the deep-sea port proposed for Dawei in Burma would be supported to be the western gate of the East-West Economic Corridor from Burma to Vietnam via Thailand and Laos.

Meanwhile, Utapao Airport in Chon Buri province would be upgraded to be an international cargo airport while Suvarnabhumi Airport's phase II would be pursued to expand its terminal capacity.

In terms of trade policy, Kiat said the party would take care of international law to match with free-trade agreements. Negotiations between Thailand and Latin American countries such as Peru and Chile would continue, and there would be more work on connectivity to the Asean Economic Community (AEC). The private sector would be also encouraged to spend more on research and development (R&D).

In addition, the Democrats would focus on production, raw materials and processing of outputs for the country's main economic plants such as Jasmine rice, tapioca, sugar, cassava roots and para-rubber. "Now, we [government] have set up a zoning plan to be a special economic zone to process and produce these products in 50 provinces across the country," Kiat said. The party also had a policy to reduce production costs via a restructure of import tariffs and corporate tax.

Pheu Thai Party - grass roots to be supported

Kanawat Wasinsungworn, deputy leader of Pheu Thai Party, said if his party became the new government, it would focus on a 'knowledge-meets-fund' policy that would allow all level of people to access funds to equally upgrade their standard of living.

For example, they would bring back an income guarantee programme for farmers' crop output, plus offer a credit card for farmers. This agricultural credit could be used to buy important materials such as seeds, fertiliser and agricultural equipment. First-time homebuyers would be offered "soft" mortgage loans and first-time car buyers would receive tax incentives.

In addition, the party would inject another Bt1 million into the existing One Million Baht Village Fund programme and provide venture capital to each university, so academics could advise and support students who want to start businesses.

Education reform would also be a top priority. If elected, the party would launch a One-(Computer)-Tablet-Per-Child policy. Under this policy, schools in the country could access educational content via high-speed Wi-Fi and the Internet and every student would be given a free tablet computer.

He also said the party would invest in mega projects in order to create jobs and boost the country's competitiveness.

For example, an extra airport rail link was planned from Suvarnabhumi Airport to the Eastern Seaboard and Pattaya, to expand the capacity of ports there and enhance the logistics system.

Academics and people from the private sector said the lack of Thai businesses able to compete overseas was a major weakness.

Dr Vorapol Socatiyanurak, executive director of NIDA's Centre for Enhancing Competitiveness, criticised the weakness of the economy, saying the nation could not compete with its rivals, even with foreign investment in Thai firms. This weakness was shown in the world competitiveness rankings which usually had Thailand in the last quarter, ranking 47th or 48th out of 59 countries.

"The main reason we [Thai firms] cannot compete with other rivals is that we are not familiar in doing business internationally, as being have controlled for a long time," he said.

He noted that government efficiency also ranked near the bottom of such surveys. So, the country needed to amend unclear business-related laws such as the trade competition law, and the special economic zone law. These weaknesses were barriers to boosting national competitiveness.

"If the government can manage a special economic zone located along coastal areas, this will be used as a model 'city' for other possible zones in other provinces such as Ranong and Nakhon Si Thamarat," Dr Vorapol said.

Vallop Vitanakorn, vice chairman of Thai National Shippers' Council, suggested that Thai enterprises should be encouraged to invest internationally through supportive privileges.

Meanwhile, domestic manufacturers needed workers who had been trained [obtaining a vocational certificate, not a bachelor degree] to match with required jobs.

The country also needed a cluster of local logistics services providers to cut their empty "back-hauling". That could help cut transports cost by up to 70 per cent. The new government should also think about links with neighbouring countries and whether it should develop roads in Vietnam, for example, in a bid to facilitate a trade lane in the region.

Tanit Sorat, vice president of Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), said that the policies should focus more on goods transport, not just mass transit, and look to boost the speed of trains to 80-120 kmh an hour.

"Policies of both parties have not mentioned water or coastal transport development, even though the country has two sides with a long coastline," he said.

In terms of a harbour city, there had been no clear picture. No policies had been mentioned in regard to a landbridge in the South, a deep-sea port in Pak Bara in Satun, or how they may be developed.

Tourism, investment and environment policies were also not mentioned by either major party.

Tanit suggested that the value-added tax should be reduced, as this would largely affect lower-income earners, especially farmers.

"In regard to bringing in a property tax, if the next government does it, they should also do an inheritance tax," he said.

In regard to the Democrats' plan to raise the minimum wages by 25 per cent in two years, Tanit said this would disrupt Thai industry, especially small-and-medium sized enterprises, as Thailand was still an investment-based country. "This will hurt the country's competitiveness in the long run," Tanit said.

"Colours [indicating that people still support the anti-Thaksin yellow shirts or pro-Thaksin red shirts] still remain. So I also ask what those in the next government will do to help bring about reconciliation," he said.

-- The Nation 2011-06-06

[REM]

Hmmm, it sounds like they're both pandering, just to different groups of people. The dem's are pandering to the elite, and PTP to the poor. Both sets of objectives seem to be too much to achieve in a few short years, and both are too open to corruption. It would be nice to see a party just select one or two plans that they can do, and then lay the framework for the rest of the plans to be accomplished in the future. Would some foresight be too much to ask??

I think the education and revamping the business practices is a start. But I know asking for those two things in this country is asking a lot!!!!! But be clear, free tablets is not education reform, neither are free trade zones. Start at the sources with quality teachers and teaching materials, as well as some accountability measures for business leaders and poilticians.