Democrat party leader cites concerns over people’s well-being
Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva on Monday urged the junta government to revise its economic policies and plans in order to tackle a decline in people’s well-being.
He used a train metaphor to explain the current economic scene as he sees it.
“The government’s mindset seems to be that they focus on empowering people with rich resources to lead the economic system, like a train engine dragging along the rest of the bogies,” he said.
“In fact, however, the engine might not only be linked to the bogies, but also sucking power from those bogies,” the former prime minister went on. “So the engines alone are the fast runners, leaving the rest vulnerable.”
His metaphor also referred to several mega-projects invested in by the junta government.
“It may be necessary to move them [mega-projects] forward. However, don’t expect that they can raise the well-being of people on a large scale,” he said.
For instance, development projects in the Eastern Economic Corridor, while requiring a great deal of investment, will bear fruit only in some areas of the provinces covered by the plans, he added.
Thailand’s gross domestic product, which has increased yet ranks low at the regional level, does not reflect an improvement in people’s well-being, Abhisit stressed.
Source: Nation
