What has Thaksin really done for the poor?

[Flashermac]

Bangkok Post

31 Mar 2010

 

 

Letter to Mr Ed.

 

 

I have repeatedly asked those sympathising with Thaksin for examples of the good and benevolent deeds that Thaksin did for Thailand's poor. In a previous comment from Mr Dom Dunn, I got this example: "Thaksin has built a private university with his own money." Wow, that's great!

 

Having done a little research, I found that the cost of one year for undergraduates is at least 100,000 baht. I wonder how many poor families of Isan can afford this, even with available loans? And I utterly fail to see how this qualifies as doing something for the poor? Setting up a private university is no different than setting up any other kind of business, as the goal is to make a profit.

 

[color:red]Others have given the 30-baht health care scheme as an example, but it is only the name that can be attributed to Thaksin, as the groundwork for this was done by Chuan Leekpai.[/color]

 

The infamous "war on drugs"? Hmm... not really, eh? Killing low-ranking drug dealers only helps to protect the drug kingpins. Besides, innocent people were murdered in large numbers on that account, for reasons unknown.

 

As for Thaksin's uncompromising stance on the South? That only escalated the violence and hasn't brought stability any closer nor provided justice for the people there.

 

Giving the poor a voice without taking steps to address their plight equals nothing, it only proves claims of populism and is the habit of most self-serving politicians.

 

Therefore, again my question has to be: What did Thaksin do for the poor?

 

BANG MOD KEN

 

 

Rink

[Mentors]

Why not ask what all other PM really have done to the poor.

It would be more easy to answer....

:happyeaster:

[ThaiHome]

Why not ask what all other PM really have done to the poor.

It would be more easy to answer....

 

 

TH

[Old Hippie]

Never mind what ANY politician ever did for anyone other than them self. The real issue is how they are perceived by the masses...image is everything in many cases.

[Flashermac]

Try looking at what this fella did and then tell me how farking great bloody Mr T is.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pridi_Banomyong

 

 

 

[Old Hippie]

Link isn't opening...

[buffalo_bill]

Sir ,

 

I tend to agree with you that based on my limited knowledge there is nothing that would justify the feelings of the poor masses towards him . On the other hand : if I raise the issue with leading Thai politics analyst lovely Nok ( Korat ) she starts praising the man . If I further ask what he has done for her she explains " He do many thing " . Is it all propaganda ?

[clubsiam]

Dug this up on Wikipedia.

 

Policies of the Thaksin government;

Economic, health policies and Thaksinomics.

Thaksin's government designed its policies to appeal to the rural majority, initiating programs like village-managed microcredit development funds, low-interest agricultural loans, direct injections of cash into village development funds (the SML scheme), infrastructure development, and the One Tambon One Product (OTOP) rural small and medium enterprise development program.

Thaksinomics, Thaksin's economic policies, helped accelerate Thailand's economic recovery from the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis and substantially reduce poverty. GDP grew from 4.9 trillion baht at the end of 2001 to 7.1 trillion baht at the end of 2006. Thailand repaid its debts to the International Monetary Fund two years ahead of schedule.

Income in the Northeast, the poorest part of the country, had been stagnant from 1995 to 200 but rose dramatically by 46% from 2001 to 2006.[55] Nationwide poverty fell by half, from 21.3% to 11.3%, during the Thaksin years.[4] Thailand's Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, fell from .525 in 2000 to .499 in 2004 (it had risen from 1996 to 2000).[56] The Stock Exchange of Thailand outperformed other markets in the region. After facing fiscal deficits in 2001 and 2002, Thaksin balanced the national budget, producing comfortable fiscal surpluses for 2003 to 2005. Despite a massive program of infrastructure investments, a balanced budget was projected for 2007.[57] Public sector debt fell from 57 per cent of GDP in January 2001 to 41 per cent in September 2006.[58][59] Foreign exchange reserves doubled from US$30 billion in 2001 to US$64 billion in 2006.[60]

Critics say Thaksinomics is little more than a Keynesian-style economic stimulus policy re-branded. Economists from the Thailand Development Research Institute argue that other factors, such as a revival in export demand, were the primary cause behind the economy's recovery.[61] Others claimed that the policies got the rural poor "hooked on Thaksin's hand-outs."[62]

Thaksin helped bring part of Thailand's massive underground lottery system into the legal fold by operating a successful numbers game (Thai: หวย) run by the Government Lottery Office. Lottery sales of approx. 70 billion THB (2 billion USD) were used for social projects, including the "One District, One Scholarship" program. The Thaksin government also privatized MCOT, a large television and radio broadcaster.[63]

After the 2006 coup, many of Thaksin's economic policies were ended, the OTOP program was rebranded, the Government Lottery Office's program was deemed illegal, and the government nationalized several media outlets and energy companies.

 

Healthcare policies.

Thaksin initiated two key healthcare policies: subsidized universal health care and low-cost universal access to anti-retroviral HIV medication (ARVs). Thaksin's 30-baht/visit universal healthcare program won the applause of the general public, but was criticized by many doctors and officials.[64][65] Prior to the program's introduction, a large portion of the population had no health insurance and only limited access to healthcare. The program helped increase access to healthcare from 76% of the population to 96%.[66] The program also increased workloads for health care employees, and caused many doctors to change to higher paying careers. It has also been criticized for being underfunded by the government. The program caused some hospitals to seek alternative sources of income, leading to a boom in medical tourism, with 1.3 million foreign patients earning Thailand 33 billion THB (approx. 800 million USD) in 2005.[67][68]

Post-coup Public Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkhla called the 30-baht program a "marketing gimmick" and claimed that the government would "very soon" stop charging patients any fees for visits to state hospitals.[69]

During the Thaksin government, the number of people living with HIV/AIDS as well as the overall prevalence rate noticeably declined.[70] Although successful in expanding access to HIV medication, there have been concerns that a free trade agreement with the US could endanger Thailand's ability to produce generic HIV treatments.[71]

Thaksin allowed the estimated 2.3 million migrant workers in Thailand to register and seek health coverage under the Thai national healthcare system. They were also eligible for work permits at the end of the registration period, entitling them to full labor protection. Democrat Party Labour Group Committee Pongsak Plengsaeng criticized the move, claiming that it would lead to unemployment amongst Thais.

 

Education policies.

Thaksin implemented major educational reforms, chief among them school decentralization, as mandated by the 1997 Constitution. It was to delegate school management from the over-centralized and bureaucratized Ministry of Education to Tambon Administrative Organizations (TAOs) but met with massive widespread opposition from Thailand's 700,000 teachers, who would be deprived of their status as civil servants. There were also fears among teachers that TAOs lacked the ability to manage schools. In the face of massive teacher protests and several threats of school closure, Thaksin compromised and gave teachers whose schools were transferred to TAO management two years to transfer to other schools.[82]

Others included learning reform and related curricular decentralization, mostly through greater use of holistic education and less use of rote learning.[83]

To increase access to universities for lower income people, Thaksin initiated the Student Loan Fund (SLF) and Income Contingency Loan (ICL) programs. The ICL granted loans regardless of financial status, and required recipients to start repayments when their salaries reached 16,000 baht a month, with interest equivalent to inflation from the day the loan was granted. The SLF had an eligibility limit on family income but interest was 1 per cent starting a year after graduation. The programs were merged and the income limit modified after Thaksin's government was overthrown.[84]

Thaksin also initiated the controversial "One District, One Dream School" project, aimed at developing the quality of schools to ensure that every district had at least one high-quality school. It was criticized, with claims that the only beneficiaries were Thaksin and companies selling computers and educational equipment. Many schools also fell deeply into debt in implementing the project, receiving inadequate financial support from the central government.[85][86]

In addition, he altered the state university entrance system, which had relied exclusively on a nationally standardized exams. Thaksin pushed for greater weighting of senior high-school grades in the hope of focusing students on classroom learning rather than private entrance exam tutoring.

He initiated the Income Contingency Loan program to increase access to higher education, whereby needy students could secure a loan to support their studies from vocational to university levels. Thai banks had traditionally not given education loans. He made Thailand one of the first supporters of Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, with the Thai Ministry of Education committing to purchase 600,000 units.[87] The junta later cancelled the project.

[ThaiHome]

And that is exactly why the Thaksin and his supporters wants a election now, because if it does not happen for a 18 more months, the Democrats and other coalition partners can take credit for what happens during that time. Between the policies, such as eliminating the 30 baht co pay and the recently announced farmer debt relief program, in addition to what looks to be a very good improvement in the economy, the coalition is going to come out looking very good.

TH

 

[Wallenda]

And that is exactly why the Thaksin and his supporters wants a election now

 

WHen I found out that the ruling party is happy to have the election 9 months from now, and the reds are insisting it be in 3 months, I'm wondering "so all of this is over a 6 month difference in when the polls are held?"

 

So maybe this explains it.

 

Or on the other hand, maybe looking for reason amongst this is where I went wrong.