• 
• 

Published on November 26, 2007

At a round-table discussion on "Business Leaders' Sugges-tions to the New Government" held recently by Krungthep Turakij newspaper, many business executives urged the political parties to focus on policies which promoted sustainable growth in the long term rather than just short-term populist gimmicks to win votes.

"Populist campaigns are not bad things, as people are important, and they have to be taken care of. However, the political parties need to consider whether what they promise the people is practical in reality," said Boonchai Chokwatana, president of Sahapathanapibul, one of the largest local trading and manufacturing conglomerates.

"The political parties need

to give their attention to

transparency as well as ethical and moral issues. The parties should seek good people to join their management and to become election candidates," said Boonchai, adding that being honest was the first criterion for candidates who could be elected to join the new government, followed by being capable. They have to have experience and in-depth knowledge to manage the country in a more effective way, he said.

"The continuous increase in oil prices will be the most worrying factor next year as it will affect business costs and raise product prices. Concrete measures will be required from the new government to discover the best solution to fix this problem," said Boonchai. He added that the collection of oil-fund contributions as well as any excise should be a buffer to stabilise oil prices.

Toyota Motor Thailand vice chairman Ninnart Chaitheerapinyo said the new government should focus on a short-term strategy of rehabilitating the country's economy with transparency and honesty. This can be achieved through such economic stimulus campaigns as the launch of mega-projects and the creation of satellite cities designed to distribute wealth to the regions, he said.

However, in the long term the new government should concentrate on development of the local education system, which should be balanced and available to all people equally, he said. Ninnart last week attended the Apec Forum, which identified people as being the most important asset that would allow business to win or loose the competition.

"In order to boost the economy, the government should encourage four major driving factors: domestic consumption, investment, government spending and exports," said Ninnart.

"I still believe in the good foundation Thailand has as an interesting venue for foreign investment, with good local infrastructure, plenty of raw materials and support industries," he said, adding that the new government should create business regulations which were fair, liberal and international.

Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, chairwoman of Toshiba Thailand, said that politicians and political parties were not the final answer for the country, but all people had their own duty to succeed as well as to develop themselves.

"The development of people is most significant and is the grass roots of everything. The new government, the private sector and the general public should work together in the same direction to raise the standard of education in the country. We need to invest in the local education system, particularly the quality of teachers. Education should not be limited to those of school age; it should be for a lifetime. All business organisations should give their primary concern to providing education for their staff at all levels," said Kobkarn.

She added that the government should analyse the strength of Thailand and create a strategy from the top down, such as which particular areas could be promoted to be the centre of Asean, and in areas of one-stop-shop logistics as well as East-West/North-South corridors.

Wicharn Sirichai-Ekawat, vice chairman of the fisheries and allied business sector at the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said many political parties had launched their own populist campaigns which seemed to be impractical in reality, and many questions had been raised such as the source of the income to fund such populist measures and whether such campaigns would destroy or unbalance mechanisms in society.

"I myself believe in His Majesty the King's philosophy of the Sufficiency Economy, which will promote a strong foundation for the country. The philosophy encourages all people to rely on themselves," said Wicharn.

Atip Bijanonda, president of the Thai Condominium Association, said the new government should set a priority of looking after the country's financial stability, particularly in matters of inflation, interest rates and currency exchange.

"If the government lets those financial factors float according to market mechanisms, inflation will tend to be high due to the increase in oil prices," said Atip, who is also director and deputy managing director of Supalai.

"The new government needs to create jobs and lift household incomes. It should expand the tax base to increase its revenue," he added.

Atip said that jobs should be created by the government through its mega-projects as well as certain incentives to business people who helped the country's economy, for instance by making new investments, expanding production or increasing jobs.

He gave the example of the double tax-deduction incentive given to private companies which donated to charity or local education institutions.

Surasak Sunpituksaree, secretary-general of the Federation of National Film Associations of Thailand, said the new government should look at local service industries such as film production as an alternative sector which could encourage growth of the country's economy in the long term.

"The government and local authorities should rethink regulations related to the film industry, moving away from control and regulation towards monitoring and support," said Surasak.

He gave the example of censorship of local films, which he said should be changed to a rating system according to the age of viewers.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation