In Thailand, ahead of the next general election, the Peu Thai Party, a party of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s family, is drawing nine people every day and paying 1 million baht per person, sparking controversy.
Thai media, including the Bangkok Post, reported that Prime Minister-nominee Yotsan Wongsawat Pha Thai party announced a pledge to make nine millionaires a day at a campaign rally in Kuchiranay County, Kanasin Province. The pledge calls for drawing a total of nine people, including five daily consumption receipts and four farmers, the elderly, public volunteers and income tax reporters, to pay 1 million baht each. Candidate Yotsanan explained that the policy could promote citizens’ use of receipts, reducing the size of the informal economy and contributing to the expansion of tax sources. Thailand is known to have only about one-sixth of the population registered in the government tax system. The central bank of Thailand estimated that the informal economy is about 48.4% of the gross domestic product (GDP).
The pledge is a “feasible plan” that has completed a budget and legal review, the party said, arguing that 3240 new “million baht holders” will be born every year, and about 26,000 people will benefit from it over eight years if they take power for two consecutive years.
Political circles immediately criticize that the policy is populist. “If you pay 9 million baht a day, your annual spending exceeds 3 billion baht,” said former Prime Minister Apisit Wechachwa of the Democratic Party of Korea. “It is more reasonable to use the budget in a different way in terms of economic sustainability and fairness.” Prime Minister candidate Tanakmanousson of the People’s Love Party also criticized that policies that rely on luck or lottery undermine financial regulations and use taxpayers’ money as a means of promoting elections. Thailand will hold an early general election on May 8 to elect 500 parliamentarians. As former Prime Minister Patton Shinawatra, Thaksin’s daughter, was impeached last year, the Thai party has been reduced to an opposition party. The Thai party is seeking to regain power with Professor Yotchanan Mahidol University, Thaksin’s nephew, as its prime minister candidate. According to a Matichon poll released on the same day, the opposition People’s Party ranked first with 41.1 percent support, and the opposition People’s Party ranked second with 28 percent.
EJ SONG
US ASIA JOURNAL
