Jon Ungphakorn's 2008 agenda
for social reform in Thailand:
Part II
By Jon Fernquest |
Jon Ungphakorn, former senator, NGO leader, 2005 Ramon Magsaysay Award winner for government service, and columnist at the Bangkok Post, presented the second part of his agenda for social reform in Thailand yesterday in his weekly column. [Read the first part of the agenda presented last week]
The first part of the agenda consisted of six points:
1) Strict adherence to the rule of law.
2) Semi-autonomy for the southern Muslim majority provinces.
3) Respect for community rights.
4) Respect for media freedom and independence.
5) Repeal or amendment of all laws that violate democratic principles.
6) No free trade agreement with the US on present negotiating terms.
The second part of the agenda consists of another six points:
7) Tax reforms for social justice
8) A guaranteed quality of life for all
9) Empowerment of workers
10) Thai nationality for stateless persons
11) A new policy on Burma
12) Reform of the military
Jon Ungphakorn is not too optimistic that his agenda will be adopted any time soon:
"While I don't have any expectations of seeing meaningful social reforms being initiated by this coalition government of power-hungry politicians, I have nevertheless compiled a 12-point agenda for social reform policy to serve as a marker for the kinds of changes in social policy that I hope civil society movements will strenuously push for during the coming years."
Here's the second part of the agenda:
7) Tax reforms for social justice: It is widely recognised that the present tax system is unjust, inefficient and full of loopholes. Income tax fraud and evasion are widespread, particularly among businesses and in the agriculture and informal sectors. Yet no government has been willing to carry out the kinds of tax reforms necessary to reduce income disparities and to fund a comprehensive welfare state system.The new government would be right to reduce value-added tax (VAT), which affects the poor more than the rich. But at the same time, income tax rates need to be raised and made more progressive.
In addition, we need to introduce wealth tax, inheritance tax, and land tax for land speculators and big landowners. Ways to drastically reduce income tax fraud and evasion have to be found.
8) A guaranteed quality of life for all: As I stated in a previous column, Thailand has sufficient resources to guarantee the basic needs of the population in terms of quality of life, and indeed this should be the first priority of any government.We need to create a comprehensive welfare state system in which, in addition to our present universal health services, everyone has guaranteed access to education, from kindergarten to vocational college or university, through a system of universal scholarships.
Universal pensions are also necessary, as well as housing grants and social security support for the unemployed.
9) Empowerment of workers: During decades of military dictatorship and anti-communism, labour unions in Thailand were suppressed and tightly controlled. In recent years the situation has not changed very much. Unions are banned in the government sector and in schools and universities.Organising unions is extremely difficult, and present laws and regulations prevent the Thai labour movement from becoming strong, despite the rapid development of the industrial and service sectors.
Policy and legal reforms are needed to support the rights of employees in all sectors to form labour unions according to their own desired structures, without official red tape and harassment from employers. This applies to government and state enterprise employees, industrial and service sector workers, small farmers, agricultural workers, and fishing crew.
Migrant workers must be allowed to join existing unions or to establish their own."
10) Thai nationality for stateless persons: "Over the years, Thailand has been the home of hundreds of thousands of people who have been denied Thai nationality, despite the fact that they have settled in Thailand on a permanent basis and have no other recognised nationality.Indeed, many were born in Thailand or are members of indigenous nomadic communities.
This situation has developed as a result of misguided nationalist policies and paranoid concerns for "national security." It has caused untold hardship to affected families. Their movements and employment opportunities are restricted. Their children cannot get educational certificates or degrees. Even driving licences are denied to them.
The most immediate step that needs to be taken is to remove all restrictions on travel, employment and education affecting the communities. Then a fast-track citizenship programme should be implemented."
[Comment: There are so many Tai Lue and Tai Khuen who live in northern provinces like Chiang Rai, Nan, or Chiang Kham, who were either born in Thailand or who have lived here for 30 years or more, and who are loyal Thai citizens. I hav Tai Lue friends in Chiang Rai who fly the Thai flag outside their homes, proudly wear a yellow shirts, and dearly love the monarchy as evidenced by all the photos on and around the family altar. Why do these people never seem to get to become Thai citizens, despite the fact that they love Thailand so much? They are definitely not a security risk.]
11) A new policy on Burma: "Successive Burmese military regimes have transformed Burma into one of the poorest countries in the world, brutally suppressed all democratic movements, neglected the health, education and welfare needs of the population, utilised forced labour and child conscripts, and driven millions of Burmese to seek sanctuary in Thailand as refugees or as migrant workers.Despite the gross abuses of human and democratic rights in Burma and the influx of refugees into Thailand, recent Thai governments have continued to maintain friendly relations with the Burmese generals so as to exploit the natural resources of Burma and trade with the regime.
A radical policy shift on Burma is well overdue. The Thai government needs to strongly support transition to democracy in Burma, condemn abuses of human rights, and push for suspension of Burma's membership of Asean until there is meaningful progress towards democracy.
All economic ties with the regime should also be suspended, while humanitarian aid should be provided to populations living along and across the border."
12) Reform of the military: "This is, of course, the most impossible but very necessary reform task. The Thai military has remained the most powerful state institution for over 70 years, more or less immune from investigations of corruption or abuses of power.The military generally gets its own way regarding military spending; it owns half of the radio and television stations, and has huge financial resources.
Reforming the military to make it accountable to the public will be a daunting task. Prime Minister Samak is actually quite right to insist on a civilian minister of defence, even if it is himself!"
[Comment: A professional army that doesn't intervene in politics, South Korea managed to achieve it, so it is possible, no matter how difficult it may seem.]
(Source: Bangkok Post, op-ed section, 06-02-08, temp-link)
Vocabulary:
Ramon Magsaysay Award - every year prizes are presented to Asian individuals and organizations in recognition for achieving excellence in their respective fields: Government Service, Public Service, Community Leadership, Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts, Peace and International Understanding, and Emergent Leadership (See Wikipedia and website)
reforms - improvements
social justice - when even the poor and powerless in society receive justice [Thai: Yuthitham]
guaranteed - will get for sure, no matter what
quality of life - overall whether a person's life is enjoyable to live or not (other factors besides income are often important, for example traffic jams in Bangkok or long work hours can lower the quality of life)
empowerment - working so that people who do not have power, have some power to defend their rights with (for example, in some countries all the laws favour the husband at teh expense of the wife, in which case some women's rights advocates may work to empower womwn in that country)
stateless persons - people who have no country (for example, the Akha "hilltribe" group used to move between several countries including China, Thailand, Burma, and Laos, so they were "stateless people")
nationality - a citizen of a country, either born in the country or migrated to the country
civil society - difficult to define precisely, but here is a selection of definitions: the arena of uncoerced collective action around shared interests, purposes and values, the name used to encompass a wide and self-selected variety of interest groups, worldwide. It does not include for-profit businesses, government, and government organizations, whereas it does include most NGOs, encompasses both the wide range of organisations outside of the state and the family. These include cultural and religious bodies, voluntary organisations of all kinds and organisations arising out of economic entities, such as professional or industry organisations. ...(See Google's definitions of Civil society on the Web)
movements, social movements, civil society movements - a group of people who share the same beliefs who are trying to cahnge the way society works
strenuously push for - try very hard to get something to happen
loopholes - an imperfection in a law that provides people an opportunity to avoid the law and go around it
fraud - the crime of gaining money by trikcing people or lying
evasion - avoiding something (for example, tax evasioni is avoiding the paying of taxes)
disparities - differences
reduce income disparities - make the differences in income between different people in society less
value-added tax (VAT) - a tax that is added to the price of goods sold in stores
progressive, progressive tax - the more money you earn, the higher the rate at which you are taxed
inheritance - the money that people receive from their parents or grandparents after they die
land speculators - people who buy land only hoping to resell it for a profit (don't use the land to live on or run a business on)
first priority - the most important thing you have to do
comprehensive - includes everything that is needed
welfare state - A set of government programs that attempts to provide economic security for the population by providing for people when they are unemployed, ill, or have other problems
universal - rule that applies in all cases, applies to everyone
universal health services - all health services that people need, for everyone
vocational college - schools that teach you the practical skills needed for jobs (for example, welder, baker, automobile mechanic, etc)
scholarships - financial support for a student to attend school
a grant - giving a sum of money to someone (not a loan)
housing grants - giving a sum of money to someone for their housing needs
social security - insurance that pays support for people when they lose their work, are disabled, or to their family when they die
the labour movement - people working to improve wages and work conditions in a society
labour unions - an organization that supports workers in negotiating for wages and benefits (e.g. health insurance)
official red tape - official rules and procedures that cause delay and that often seem unnecessary
harassment - when someone tries to make trouble and problems for another person
state enterprise - a company run by the government
fishing crew - people who work on fishing boats
migrant workers - people who move from another country like Laos or Burma to find work (or from another part of the country like Isan)
nomadic - moving from place to place to live, with no fixed home
misguided - the wrong plan to solve a problem
nationalist - one who loves their country (sometimes used negatively for extreme cases which also hate other countries)
paranoid - extremely suspicious and afraid of other people
national security -
hardship, untold hardship - when life is very difficult (usually because you lack enough money)
fast-track - a quick and efficient system
citizenship - being officially a part or member of a country
successive - happening one after another
brutally suppressed - what they were doign was stopped with great violence
conscripts - people are required to serve in the army, drafted into the army, not volunteers
seek sanctuary - try to find a safe place to stay when you are in danger
gross - extreme
abuses - treating people cruelly and harming them
refugee - people who have been forced to leave their homes and country because of a war or because of their beliefs
influx of refugees - when are forced from another country into your country, perhaps because of a war
exploit natural resources - (for example, cut all the trees down without planting new trees)
condemn - say that something is very bad and unacceptable
immune - not affected by, exempt and able to escape from any negative consequences of one's actions
accountable to the public - must do what they say they are going to do for the public (if they don't then the public can decide what to do with them)
a daunting task - a task that you fear because it is so difficult
