The current caretaker administration’s change of ministerial regulations, regarding the welfare subsidy for all Thai citizens aged 60 and over, to only people who do not have an income or who do not have sufficient income has come under fierce attack by politicians from various parties.

The new regulation came into force on August 12th, after its publication in the Royal Gazette.

Under the old Interior Ministry regulation, all Thai nationals aged 60 and over, who are not government officials or state enterprise workers, were entitled to a state subsidy, amounting to between 600 and 1,000 baht per month, depending on their age.

Thai Sang Thai party leader Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan said in her Facebook post today (Monday) that the change amounts to discrimination against pensioners and denies the principle that all pensioners should be entitled to state support.

She said that the change is proof that the Prayut administration is broke and unable to pay the subsidies, adding that her Thai Sang Thai party would increase the subsidy for elderly people to 3,000 baht per month.

Pheu Thai MP Anusorn Iamsa-ard said that the Prayut administration’s decision to change the regulation seriously affects a basic right of the people.

He said that the caretaker government should let the new government, which is yet to be formed, decide on this issue. “This is why we cannot wait for ten more months for the new government to be formed,” he said.

Move Forward secretary-general Chaithawat Tulathon said that every Thai senior citizen must be eligible for welfare support.

Democrat spokesman Ramet Rattanachaweng demanded that Interior Minister Anupong Paochinda reviews the new regulation immediately.

Democrat MP Chaichana Detdecho said that, under the new regulation, the elderly are only entitled to the subsidies if they can prove that they do not have an income or do not have sufficient income.

The Freedom Rider Union, an informal union of food platform delivery riders in Thailand, decried the government’s decision as impacting human dignity, by making elderly Thai people declare themselves poor so they can receive no more than 1,000 baht per month.

Deputy government spokesperson Rachada Dhnadirek, meanwhile, has offered an assurance that senior citizens who already receive the monthly welfare will not be affected by the change in the regulation.

She explained that the change is intended to maintain financial sustainability in the long-term, by targeting the welfare subsidy on those who are in need of financial support, not those who are already wealthy.

As Thailand is becoming as aging society, she said that the annual budget for the subsidy, which was originally set at about 50 billion baht, has now ballooned to 90 billion baht for the 2024 fiscal year.

She dismissed a suggestion that the government is broke, saying that state revenues for the 2023 fiscal year have increased by 6.5% over the same period last year, or 11.10% above target.