Published on December 19, 2005

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday promised to implement a number of grassroots projects and mega-projects aimed at restoring public faith in the party. A large number of the plans are designed for Bangkok, where the ruling Thai Rak Thai Party is suffering a serious popularity crisis.

Thaksin pledged that Bangkok residents would get a large-scale mass transit system, only have to pay a flat rate of Bt10 for air-conditioned public buses and that there would be more seats at prestigious schools, among other things.

The Thai Rak Thai leader also attempted to boost his party’s morale by insisting that its popularity remained at a satisfactory level despite claims to contrary by the opposition and critics.

Speaking to party members at the Thai Rak Thai’s annual seminar, Thaksin downplayed anti-government sentiment in Bangkok and dismissed the adage that provincial people build a government, while people in the capital topple it.

“This statement cannot apply to this government,” he said.

He denied that the party had decided to organise the seminar in the capital and press the party’s human resources into campaigning in Bangkok to woo back city voters. He insisted that the party’s popularity had not slipped below the level it had reached during the gubernatorial election.

“When they said we were on the decline during the gubernatorial election, our popularity was 40 at per cent and today our popularity is over 40 per cent,” he said.

Thaksin said that 20 per cent of voters swing between the government and the opposition and that the government would win back their hearts by working hard.

“If you think that no one can win over poverty, I ask you if you love the people or not. If you have the people in your heart, you will succeed. Miracles happen. There is nothing beyond our brains and our hearts. I will prove it to you at At Samat District in Roi Et,” he said.

Thaksin was referring to the anti-poverty workshop to be held in Roi Et from January 16 to 21 during which he will sleep among villagers in tents.

Thaksin boasted that GDP this year reached 4.5 per cent even though the country has been hit hard by bird flu, rising oil prices and violence in the South.

He said his strategy to fight poverty adhered to the principles of self-sufficiency. Thaksin added that he had instructed permanent officials to conduct surveys of every family so that he could analyse their problems. He pledged to win the war against poverty in three years.

In order to build a strong society, he pledged to strengthen families, religion and schools and crack down on pornography, alcohol, and cigarettes.

Thaksin vowed to provide people in Bangkok with a better mass transit system and said he would use barter trading to finance the project. The government would pay for the system using agricultural products, he said.

“The mass transit system is urgent and if we wait, Bangkok will be paralysed definitely. We would rather invest in this to save energy and time. Families can spend time with each other rather than being on the road,” he said.

At the same time, he vowed to be financially disciplined by ensuring that public debts did not exceed certain limits.

“The Bank of Thailand has warned that next year we might have a current account deficit, but if we use this method, investors will bring us the money,” he said.

He also promised to invest more in education, saying the government would use video-conferencing via high-speed Internet and television to improve education standards.

“Students across the country can learn from the best Thai and foreign teachers,” he said.

The government will allocate Bt3.2 billion to buy laptop computers for 800,000 students per year starting next year.

“This is cheaper than the free-milk project in which students got to drink rotten milk. Students will carry laptops and not books to schools,” he said.

Student loans and the Ban Ua Arthorn project would continue and Bangkok would not have any slums, he added.

In addition, the government will buy new buses running on NGV gas for the Bangkok Metropolitan Transit Authority and the agency would be made to turn itself into a profit-making operation, he said.

Bangkok’s air-conditioned buses would charge a flat rate of Bt10 regardless of the route. This project would be complete in one year, Thaksin said, speaking at the party’s headquarters on New Petchburi Road.

“Old buses will be discarded. NGV-fuelled gas buses are clean for the environment and save energy,” he said.

To ease traffic congestion, the government will ask famous schools in Bangkok such as Triam Udom Suksa, Suan Kulap and Bodin Decha to open branches throughout Bangkok.

To reduce drug abuse among youth, the government will build more sports fields, museums, parks, creative-design centres, Thai-knowledge parks, and ICT learning centres, he said.

Thaksin promised to his party that he would not dissolve the House and that the next general election would be held in 2009.

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