Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra assumes office after delivering a government policy statement to parliament last week in which she promised to increase economic opportunities and promote social equality.

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra delivering her policy statement to parliament on Thursday (12 September). 
(Photo from the National Assembly Radio and Television Broadcasting Station)

In her speech, she noted the numerous challenges facing Thailand: an ageing society; rising household debt; spreading cybercrime; increased economic competition from overseas; the impact of climate change; and ongoing political instability. To address these issues, she promised the immediate implementation of 10 policy solutions as well as the development of other medium- and long-term plans. Proposals included developing the automobile industry; promoting creative culture and Thai soft power; working towards carbon neutrality; amending the constitution; and promoting rule of law.

At the end of her speech, she also declared that her government will preserve the monarchy and publicise information about the royal family’s good works; promote religion to foster a moral and ethical society; and ensure the strict enforcement of laws to protect lives, property and the environment.

This sweeping policy statement drew criticism from both the opposition and civil society groups for failing to address political issues and establish priorities to meet the immediate needs of the public.

The government’s 10 urgent policies solutions

According to the policy statement, the government plans to immediately implement ten policies to boost the economy and solve other problems, as follows:

1. Restructuring the entire debt system to help both formal and informal debtors, while boosting financial literacy and promoting new forms of saving.
2. Empowering Thai SMEs and protecting them from unfair overseas competition, especially on online platforms, while solving SME debt problems with a ‘matching funds’ policy.
3. Reducing energy and utility costs, amending related laws and regulations, developing the country’s strategic petroleum reserve, promoting mass transit development, and introducing a single-price charge for mass transit in Bangkok.
4. Legalising informal and underground economic activities to increase state revenue for the education, public health, and public utilities.
5. Stimulating the economy to build confidence and boost spending, alleviate financial burdens and increase career opportunities, with a priority being given to vulnerable groups.
6. Promoting technologies to develop agriculture, fisheries, livestock, and other related professions to build food security; restoring a “Thai kitchen to the world” policy to meet global demand for food, and increasing the price of fruits and vegetables.
7. Promoting tourism and restructuring the visa system to facilitate applications for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibition (MICE) tourists and digital nomads. In a bid to attract tourists and increase revenues, the government plans to introduce new forms of tourism to see man-made destinations, entertainment complexes, concerts, festivals, and sport events.
8. Addressing drugs problem by collaborating with neighbouring countries to cut production at the source, suppressing smuggling, confiscating assets of dealers, and introducing a monitoring system to prevent drug users from going back into the cycle.
9. Combat crimes, especially cybercrimes, transnational crimes, and scammers.
10. Creating capacity building schemes and improving social welfare in line with a changing society, as well as creating opportunity and economic equality, especially among vulnerable groups like the elderly, people with disabilities, ethnic groups, and stateless persons.

What happens to the Digital Wallet scheme?

As part of its economy stimulation policy, the government said that it is pushing ahead with the Digital Wallet scheme.

However, during the parliamentary session on Thursday (12 September), People’s Party MP Sirikanya Tansakun, raising questions about the Paetongtarn government’s economic policies, noted that the policies were vague and did not clarify what the government was going to do.  She added that this was in marked contrast to the policy statement issued by former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Paetongtarn's aunt, which matched election campaign promises, set clear goals and a time frame.

Regarding the Digital Wallet scheme, Sirikanya noted that it still was not clear who would receive the money and whether it would come in the form of cash or digital currency.

Minister of Finance Pichai Chunhavajira replied that the scheme will launch on 25 September and that 14.2 million people belonging to vulnerable groups will receive the money, raising questions of whether money would ever reach the rest of the 30 million people who registered for the scheme. Noting that there was a limited budget, Pichai said the government would have to help the poorest before doing anything else.

People’s Party MP demands constitutional amendment

Responding to the Prime Minister’s declaration that the government will stand by the rule of law, People’s Party MP Phuthita Chaianun called for a new Constitution and justice for victims of the 2010 Red Shirt protests crackdown.

Criticising the government for leaving many issues out of its policy statement, she noted that amending the Constitution - a process Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai previously said would begin in the first quarter of 2024 - had now been reclassified as a medium- and long-term policy with no progress being made during the government of former PM Srettha Thavisin.  Instead, the Referendum Act was still being amended and the policy statement makes no mention of public participation in designing referendum questions and the constitutional amendments.

Phuthita also criticised the policy statement for linking the rule of law to revenue increase, explaining that rule of law, treating people as equal before the law and protecting their rights and liberties, should be treated as separate from making money.

She further said that, for political conflict to end, amends must be made with the victims of injustice, such as the victims of the 2010 Red Shirt crackdowns, political prisoners detained for political expression, and many who have gone into exile overseas - possibly with a blanket amnesty.

Government policies miss the mark, says P-Move

While parliament was discussing the new government’s policies last Friday, the civil society network People Movement for a Just Society (P-Move) held a public forum to present their own 10 policies. The event features representatives of several civil society networks who said that the policies issued by the Paetongtarn government do not meet the needs of people facing land or labour rights issues, or the demands of those campaigning for the right to resources, a good environment, and a new constitution.

They noted that, of the government’s 10 urgent policies, 6 were economic policies, 3 were about the society, and 1 involved natural resources. They added that the policies are mostly about economic development at the macro level, with little mention of communities and citizens and no concrete proposals for solving issues currently facing the country.

A representative from the activist network Act Lab also noted with irritation that the statement did not treat constitutional amendment as an urgent matter,  even though the government party claimed it was during the election, saying:

“How can we live with honour and dignity when the government never listens to what we propose, to what the people demand?”

Theeranet Chaisuwan, P-Move’s secretary-general, said that P-Move compiled a list of policies from issues being faced by people across the country and a decade of work pushing for public policies to benefit everyone, the principal consideration when formulating plans.

At the end of the event, P-Move issued its own policy statement with 10 proposed policies as follows:

1. Amend the entire Constitution by an elected Constituent Assembly and allowing public participation at every step,
2. Decentralisation to allow local communities to manage natural resources and budget, and allow provinces to elect their own governors,
3. Reform the justice system to make it fair for the marginalised, push for an amnesty bill for those affected by state policies, and reform the judicial process for cases relating to land rights and natural resources to be based on an inquisitorial system so people have the chance for a fair trial,
4. Push for land right distribution by a progressive land tax bill and a land bank bill, protect communities’ right to land and resources, and push for a law to protect agricultural land,
5. End the Forest Reclamation policy, revise the national forest policy to be in line with the way of life of communities and indigenous peoples, amend unfair forestry law, and revise the carbon credit policy which benefits only large companies,
6. Amend the 2007 Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Act so that local governments and communities play a main role in disaster management and promote a community-based disaster management system to reduce risk and build capacity for communities when facing disasters,
7. Push for legislation protecting indigenous way of life to allow indigenous communities to live according to their tradition and for their basic rights to be protected,
8. Make solving citizenship and statelessness issues a national agenda, and set up a committee with participation from the civil society and a fund to develop the quality of life and the health of stateless persons and members of ethnic groups,
9. Push for state welfare policies concerning children, education, healthcare, land and housing, employment, social security, pension, social rights, taxes, and budget to ensure that every Thai citizen has a good quality of life and is guarantee stability,
10. Push for the government to fairly distribute land to people to solve housing issues for low-income people and the urban poor, and revise the criteria for budget allocation.