Spot the populist | 21.03.05
Pasuk Phongpaichit and Chris Baker, wife-and-husband authors of the oft-cited Thaksin: The Business of Politics in Thailand, wrote in the Asian Wall Street Journal (February 4-6, 2005):
The third and most important reason why Mr. Thaksin is in such a strong position ahead of Sunday’s polls is because of his populist policies, designed to appeal to people who have previously got little from the Thai government. Those who view the country from Bangkok’s financial district tend to forget that three-quarters of Thailand’s population consists of farmers, or the urban mass of vendors, the self-employed, workers in small enterprises, and other casual laborers.
Although the populist schemes he promised during the 2001 election were relatively modest, they were still far more than any previous government had offered. Recent surveys have shown that two of these schemes — the one million baht fund for every village and cheap universal health care — are immensely popular and a key reason why the TRT is expected to poll so strongly on Sunday. Capitalizing on this success, Mr. Thaksin’s promises for a second term are anything but modest.
I agree, these policies are quite radical (for Thailand, at least, and the third one for any non-communist country):
- Free education up to Matthayom 6;
- Address the debt problems faced by rural communities with work programmes;
- Guarantee jobs for new graduates;
- Offer added financial security for the underprivileged elderly with payments of 1,000 baht per month;
- Offer free, quality health care for all citizens.
Oops, sorry, I screwed up. That’s actually the platform of the Democrat Party, the rival of Thaksin’s TRT. Here’s the real “anything but modest” agenda that Phongpaichit and Baker were talking about, in their own words:
He has promised a supplementary village scheme, cheaper schooling, improved care for the aged, more rural loans, cheap housing and lower fares on Bangkok’s public-transport system. He has also promised to cut income and business taxes.
Judge for yourself who the populist is.
Update Actually the Thaksin government already cut both income and business taxes about four months prior to the couple’s op-ed. That didn’t keep the Democrat JPMorgan-president-turned-populist-demagogue Korn Chatikavanij from coming up with this claptrap:
พรรคข้องใจและกังวลใจว่าภาษีที่เก็บได้เพิ่มในช่วงที่อัตราการขยายตัวเศรษฐกิจชะลอตัวนั้น หมายถึงภาระของประชาชนผู้เสียภาษีที่มีมากขึ้น ในขณะที่รายได้อย่างเก่งคือคงที่
The party wonders and worries whether the tax receipts that rise while economic growth slows means a greater burden on the tax-payers, when income is constant at best.
For detailed debunking, see “ช้าก่อน กรณ์” (in Thai, apparently). The government has since cut more taxes for seniors.
PS For those who haven’t already done so, you may want to take a shot at spotting the nationalist, too.
Update See my definitive post: “Populism and nationalism in Thailand”.
Update II See also: Pasuk Phongpaichit, pretender of economics.
18:43 ▪ politics