The Palang Pracharat Party which supports Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha’s return as prime minister today unveiled its ambitious so-called “7-7-7” policies that seek to, among others, carry on and expand the incumbent government’s various populist schemes ranging from welfare for the poor, and cheap housing to debt reliefs for laborers and farmers.
Palang Pracharat leader Uttama Savanayana announced that the party will take a lead in overcoming the political divide and to restore democracy for all Thais regardless of their political differences.
He said that the “7-7-7” policies are based on three major missions covering seven issues on welfare aspect, seven issues on social aspect and seven others on economic aspect.
Uttama insisted that all the party’s policies are not just pipe-dream, but realistic, practical and sustainable.
Deputy leader Suvit Maesincee said that the party’s policies are not “old wine in a new bottle”, but policies that will respond to the aspirations of the people and will put Thailand onto the world’s stage with dignity.
He explained that the seven Pracharat welfare issues would be an extension of the incumbent government’s welfare card scheme to cover four other groups of people namely the elderly, the disabled, women and laborers.
He said the Pracharat welfare scheme would seek to free laborers, farmers, government officials, students, teachers and state enterprise workers from indebtedness, with farmers and laborers given the priority.
On social policies, Suvit said the party believes that democratic society could take root in Thailand through decentralization, distribution of opportunities and prosperity, citing the Eastern Economic Corridor and Thailand 4.0 projects.
On the economy, Suvit said the party’s main challenge is to increase the capability of the people through ambitious projects to create up to five million start-up SMEs, one million smart farmers, one million munufacturers and one million retailing stores in communities.
He stated that the party did not dream up these economic policies, but drew them up from solid information gleaned from field inspections and talks with people in the field.
Uttama said even though the party supports Gen Prayut to return as prime minister, it still has not yet made a formal approach for him to be on its ticket as a candidate for the premiership.
