The content in this page ("Payback Time" by Harrison George) is not produced by Prachatai staff. Prachatai merely provides a platform, and the opinions stated here do not necessarily reflect those of Prachatai.

Payback Time

 The scene: Pheu Thai Party headquarters a few days after the election results have been announced.

‘Just like I said, an overall majority. So we can tell that clown from Buriram to go back to running his football team.’

‘Yes, but we have to keep our eyes open. We’re getting reports of something going on in the camps in Lopburi and Prachin.’

‘They wouldn’t dare. Not with the world’s media doing fashion spreads on the new PM.’

‘I dunno. Winning the election could be just the start of our troubles.’

‘What’s that noise outside?’

‘Well judging from the placards they’re waving, it looks like graduates wanting 15 thousand a month.’

‘But we’ve only just got here. They can’t expect to walk straight into jobs.’

‘Er, they’re not walking into jobs; they’re being thrown out of them. It seems that employers have decided to fire all the university graduates they already have rather than pay them 15,000. They’re hiring high school kids instead. They say the quality of university education is so dire in this country, there’s no appreciable drop in quality.’

‘You mean our policy to make graduates better off …’

‘… only loses them jobs. It’s bound to happen if you think the government can set rates of pay in the private sector.’

‘Is that noise getting louder?’

‘It is. A few more thousand more have joined in, about the minimum wage this time.’

‘But we signed the executive order this morning. 300 baht a day, effective immediately. Don’t they know that?’

‘I think they do, because they’ve also been thrown out of work. Hear that whistling sound?’

‘Eerie. What is it?’

‘That is the sound of factories moving to Cambodia and Bangladesh and anywhere else where labour costs are cheaper.’

‘But, that’s, that’s just unpatriotic. Don’t Thai businesses realize that we’re trying to help them? We’ve lowered corporate tax like we promised.’

‘But raised their labour costs by far more than that.’

‘So what are we going to do with these millions of unemployed?’

‘Nothing. With all these give-aways, we don’t have any money to do anything anyway. And while you’re here, could you sign these contracts?’

‘What contracts?’

‘Well this is for the mega-dyke to stop Bangkok flooding and this one’s for the construction of the land bridge down south and …’

‘Whoa, look at all those zeroes. But don’t we need feasibility studies and tenders and bidding and all that?’

‘Well, not if the Cabinet says they are urgent, which they will, because that’s what we said in the campaign.’

‘I don’t know. They can’t be as urgent as the new rail lines in Bangkok. That really got the voters excited. Why don’t we build those first?’

‘Well, because no one wants to build them.’

‘Why not?’

‘Well, we did also promise a flat fare of 20 baht. The skytrain and the underground both charge more than that and they haven’t been able to turn a profit for years. So there’s almost no interest in it.’

‘Almost no interest?’

‘Well, there is one company showing an interest. A certain Oak Solutions, no track record, no experience in construction work of any kind, no paid up capital, and it looks like it’s just a scheme to get its hands on property on where the lines will go and make a killing that way.’

‘But how do they know that? It hasn’t been decided yet.’

‘Well, it is called Oak and there is a sort of family connection.’

‘This is hopeless. It looks as if implementing our manifesto will chase away business, cause mass unemployment, wreck the nation’s finances for years to come and keep us at the bottom of the corruption league table.’

‘Well if you put it like that, you won’t be upset at the latest news.’

‘Which is?’

‘The Army is advancing on Bangkok. Looks like they want to re-arrange the election results.’

‘Hmm. You know, I think we’ll just let them. The other lot’s promises were as half-baked as ours. Let them ruin the economy.’

Since 2007, Prachatai English has been covering underreported issues in Thailand, especially about democratization and human rights, despite the risk and pressure from the law and the authorities. However, with only 2 full-time reporters and increasing annual operating costs, keeping our work going is a challenge. Your support will ensure we stay a professional media source and be able to expand our team to meet the challenges and deliver timely and in-depth reporting.

• Simple steps to support Prachatai English

1. Bank transfer to account “โครงการหนังสือพิมพ์อินเทอร์เน็ต ประชาไท” or “Prachatai Online Newspaper” 091-0-21689-4, Krungthai Bank

2. Or, Transfer money via Paypal, to e-mail address: [email protected], please leave a comment on the transaction as “For Prachatai English”