Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha has to be on the defensive because there is a lot of criticism among Thai about the plan to buy submarines, while he says he has no money for health care for poor Thai people.
According to Prayut, these are two different cases, both of which will be carefully assessed by the government.
Criticism increased after Prayut announced that the health insurance budget for poor Thais is running low and may therefore be cut. This cut is at odds with the Thai government's intention to allocate 36 billion baht for the purchase of Chinese submarines. According to Navy Commander Admiral Kraisorn Chansuwanich, the purchase of the submarines has already been decided.
Experts, including doctors, point out that the current health care system needs to be adjusted because it is too expensive and puts a heavy burden on the budget.
Pheu Thai politician Watana Muangsook was angry about this and said: 'The government has no money for the care of the poor, but can free up budget to buy expensive submarines'. He believes that the Prayut government does little for the poor. Apparently there is money for the (military) friends of the government: 'There is no money to help the farmers who have run into problems due to the persistent drought. Despite this, there is a budget of more than 100 billion baht available for the army, which has been instrumental in last year's military coup.
Watana expresses his surprise that the Prayut government has no money for universal health care, which has been specially created to help the poor: "Then, from where will the 36 billion baht for the submarines come?" Wattana, who served as commerce minister in the former government of Thaksin Shinawatra.
Democrat Tavorn Senneam also disagrees with the government's plans to buy the submarines because there is no maritime threat whatsoever. According to him, that money could be better spent on poor farmers to help them with the crop losses due to the persistent drought.
Source: The Nation – http://goo.gl/4LIIq4
He could also get serious about taxing the wealthy of Thailand.
There is enough to get.
Yet there are still naive people who believe in the good intentions of the man, never in history has anything good come from a junta, he replaces the corrupt officials with friends. The jet ski mafia continues to run its course unhindered, the same with corrupt officers .Nothing good will come of it, he is there and will want to stay despite all the wonderful promises
This Watana Muangsook would be much better off keeping quiet, because his party has a lot to worry about. Has he forgotten that under the previous government, rural doctors demonstrated en masse against the corruption that left hospitals without the money to buy the necessary medicines? while in the large hospitals the overpriced purchased medicines were resold.
Many doctors and nurses in public hospitals were not paid for months, hence the exodus of medical staff.
One of the largest private hospitals is owned by its owner. So here goes the old proverb “when the fox preaches passion, the farmer watches your chickens”
so this hospital is owned by the man in Dubai
http://www.praram9.com/eng/content.php?parent_id=51&page_id=157
Doesn't mean I don't have serious reservations about purchasing totally useless submersibles, but that this man over there wants to get some political benefit from spinning, blows my mind.
I agree with your last paragraph. But to say that Thaksin is Watana's "boss", just because he was minister of trade in his cabinet years ago, is going too far. Do you have proof of that? As a person, is Watana financially sponsored by Thaksin?
I cannot judge whether the hospital you mentioned is owned by Thaksin Shinawatra. Of this also I say, do you have proof of that? And if so, does that matter? Searching for the name on that hospital's website yields no hits.
I think on this subject it is irrelevant who puts the finger on the sore spot. It is in the interest of the people and a democracy that policy is examined critically. Especially the policy of a person who has absolute power. Even the king is subservient to this man. This power is not derived from authority, but only from weapons.
Those submarines are really needed. Underestimate the maritime
threat from Cambodia! They have rowboats.
Unfortunately, the sea here is not deep enough for diving
(LOL)
Dontejo.
Dear Dontejo.
That is why they also buy submarines that are made in China .
Everyone knows that almost everything that is made in China is of poor quality.
If one or more of those Chinese-made submarines sink in a year, not a single man will be overboard, as the waters are shallow around Thailand.
And the bottom of the submarine will touch the bottom of the sea , and the tower of the submarine will still be far above the surface of the water .
Yes , the maritime threat around Thailand is increasing day by day .
I see it every day at the high water level in the Ping River where I live near , you can even drive or sail through it on a motorbike now .
Jan Beute.
Those submarines from China are apparently so “good” that China itself (!!!!) orders submarines from Russia.
Perhaps Thailand will buy/get China's cast-offs.
And if they sink, it will hopefully happen close to the Thai coast. Do you immediately have a nice tourist attraction.
Am a diver.Hopefully then I can dive to a real submarine.Never done it.What an attraction.
First get rid of all corruption, then get rid of waste, then general elections and the military in their “baracks”.
Moderator: Please keep the discussion to Thailand.
It is again very difficult for the prime minister to defend his policy. Will start throwing banana peels again or invoke article 44!!!
The why, and where he thinks the threat could come from to justify a $36 billion acquisition, certainly falls under the category of tough questions.
As he has stated for several weeks, he has banned journalists from asking awkward questions.
If such acquisitions had been made under Thaksin's government, this would again have been worthy of at least a demonstration for the opposition.
He is of course concerned about climate change and with it the rise in sea levels!