In a last-ditch effort to salvage his political future, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has returned to his old ploy of offering populist schemes - like those which helped install him as government leader five years ago.

Academics, however, said yesterday that they believed the premier's "desperate" tactics would be politically useless.

"In my opinion, people have already made a firm decision on what they want and they want the premier to resign," Thailand Research Development Institute's distinguished scholar Ammar Siamwalla said.

He was speaking in response to the government's string of offerings recently. For example, a meeting of economic ministers will today consider raising the salaries of state-enterprise employees by 5 per cent. It will also consider a guarantee that poor people earn an income of Bt200 a day for a period of one year, and raising the tax-deductible allowance from Bt60,000 to Bt200,000.

The big rise in the tax-deductible amount looks aimed to please middle-income earners.

Other moves to be considered at today's meeting of ministers and business leaders are: Giving poor people coupons that can be used to purchase necessities at cheap prices, and lowering employees' and employers' monthly contributions to the social security fund without a reduction in the scheme's benefits.

The ministers will also consider a plan to reduce income-tax rates for small-scale vendors.

This month, the Cabinet has already approved pay rises for kamnans, village heads, assistant village heads, tambon doctors, village-head deputies. Kamnans' salaries were increased from Bt4,000 to Bt5,000 a month, village heads' salaries rose from Bt3,000 to Bt4,000, while other officials' salaries will jump from Bt2,000 to Bt2,500.

Yesterday, the National Health Security Office already announced that its universal healthcare scheme would from Wednesday also cover people suffering from leukaemia or malignant lymphoma.

Sangsit Piriyarangsan, director of Chandrakasem Rajabhat University's Good Governance Research Centre, said such generous offers at this juncture were a clear example of political corruption.

"He is attempting to use state hand-outs for his own political survival," Sangsit said.

The academic believed Thaksin may have two scenarios in mind: using state hand-outs to buy time in power, and using attractive offers to woo people to vote for him again in the event he has to dissolve the House and call a new election.

Chulalongkorn University lecturer Dr Narong Phetprasert said the government was clearly hoping to win supporters through its offers. "But I don't think this tactic will work because those who are moving against him know what he is up to anyway," the lecturer said.

He also expressed concern that if the government continued to roll out populist policies in a bid to woo political support, the country would suffer because the state budget could be depleted.

A source said that the proposal to guarantee poor people an income of Bt200 a day for a period of one year alone, would cost the government about Bt46 billion.

Midnight University rector Somkiat Tangmano described the news as a case of deja vu. "Again, the government is throwing out state funds to gain political support," he said.

Labour leaders have so far shown little warmth for the moves even though they recently pushed for a higher minimum daily wage.

"We will join Sunday's rally anyway," Wilaiwan sae Tia, president of the Thai Labour Reconciliation Committee, said. She said her group would embrace the government's move only if there was no hidden agenda.

The head of the State Enterprise Labour Relations Confederation of Thailand said his group would rally for the resignation of Thaksin because of his questionable integrity.

"His government's move to give us a pay  rise is a separate issue. They won't win our gratitude for this pay-rise plan," Somsak Kosaisuk said.

In a related development, a party source said Thai Rak Thai MPs have each been given Bt300,000 by the party to cover the costs of holding activities in their constituencies to engender a "good understanding" ahead of Sunday's anti-government rally.

Damrongpan Jaihao,

Chularat Saengpassa 

The Nation