Thailand ready for big summit (1)<\/p>\n
By Vitit Muntarbhorn<\/p>\n
This is the first of a two-part articles on social development
\nissues in Thailand.<\/p>\n
BANGKOK: One of the key international events of 1995 will be
\nthe World Summit on Social Development due to take place in
\nCopenhagen in March. It will focus on three themes, namely
\npoverty alleviation, employment expansion, and social
\nintegration. Thailand will be a full participant at this seminal
\nevents, and a national report is now being prepared under the
\nleadership of Khunying Ambhorn Meesook.<\/p>\n
The summit has been preceded by both national and regional
\npreparations. Significantly, Asia-Pacific countries gathered in
\nManila last year to adopt the Manila Declaration on Social
\nDevelopment. It adopted an array of targets and indicators on
\npoverty alleviation, particularly the commitment of participating
\ncountries, including Thailand, to eradicate absolute poverty by the
\nyear 2010. Will Thailand be able to attain this goal?<\/p>\n
In retrospect, although Thailand's economic progress in recent
\ndecades has been impressive, the scenario of social development,
\nespecially poverty alleviation, leaves much to be desired. While the
\ncountry has enjoyed a consistently high rate of macro-economic
\ngrowth, there remain a number of impediments in the field of
\nsocial development which undermine the national development
\nprocess. Unless these are addressed officially, the benefits of
\ngrowth are likely to be illusory in the long run.<\/p>\n
Key analysts agree that absolute poverty in Thailand has
\ndeclined in the past decade, but a substantial proportion of the
\npopulation are still faced with livelihood needs. This is closely
\nrelated to the fact that wealth tends to be concentrated in the
\nhands of an elite in principally urban areas. By contrast, the
\nmajority of the population live in rural areas, and their basic
\noccupation is still agriculture, despite the national quantum
\njump towards industrialization.<\/p>\n
It is this group of people who are affected, first and
\nforemost, by the pervasiveness of poverty in various parts of the
\ncountry. This has been compounded by continuing migration of the
\nrural population to urban areas, often resulting in social
\nfragmentation and additional pressures posed by the spread of
\nslum communities. It has been aggravated by environmental
\ndegradation in both rural and urban areas which takes its toll in
\nthe quality of life of the people at large.<\/p>\n
A key concern is comprehensive action for poverty alleviation.
\nThe Thai government has been conscious of the need to address
\nthis issue during the past few decades. Its policies in this
\nrespect are found in its five-year National Economic and Social
\nDevelopment Plans. Anti-poverty strategies have been a key
\ncomponent of the national planning process since the Fifth
\nNational Economic and Social Development Plan (1982-1986).
\nCurrently, it is the Seventh National Economic and Social
\nDevelopment Plan (1992-1996) which is being implemented. Partly
\ndue to these plans and due to pressure from the non-governmental
\nsector, there is now greater emphasis on rural development and on
\nresponses to basic needs, such as access to education, health
\nservices and income generation.<\/p>\n
Under the present government, which came into power in 1992,
\nland reform has been promoted as an essential component of this
\nprocess; it is targeted at redistributing land to those in need
\nand at converting denuded national forest land to land for
\ngeneral habitation. There has also been an increase in medical
\nallowances to help the poorer strata of society. This has been
\ncoupled with an orientation towards decentralizing power and
\nresources to localities so that people living in rural areas can
\nparticipate more in decisionmaking, implementing and evaluating
\nprograms affecting their daily lives. Income-generation and the
\ncreation of new employment and occupational opportunities are
\npart and parcel of current action to counter poverty.<\/p>\n
Yet, there remain various discrepancies which are
\ndisconcerting. The most glaring discrepancy is the widening
\nincome disparity between the rich and the poor and the increasing
\naccumulation of land and other resources in the hands of the
\nhaves rather than the have-nots. Paradoxically, while absolute
\npoverty is on the decline in the country, income disparity is on
\nthe rise as a testament to social injustices. Such is the
\nanomalous law of inverse proportionality!<\/p>\n
This is a repercussion of the lack of equity, namely lack of a
\nfair share of wealth, power and resources between all strata of
\nsociety, which has negative consequences for social development.
\nAction to counter the lack of equity has not been as forthcoming as
\ndesired. For example, there is no wealth tax in the country. To
\ndate, the tax base has not yet been used as an effective instrument
\nfor distributing income and other resources in the country.
\nHowever, currently the authorities are moving towards using
\nvarious types of taxation for example local and municipal taxes,
\nto help develop targeted areas.<\/p>\n
Other discrepancies including the following:<\/p>\n
* Disparity between urban and rural areas, and continuing
\nmassive out-migration of rural people to urban settings;<\/p>\n
* Inadequate satisfaction of basic needs among the poorer
\npopulation;<\/p>\n
* Family disintegration, evidenced by family breakup and
\nbreakdown on many fronts, especially the shift from extended
\nfamilies to nuclear families; from the family as a social safety
\nnet for its members to dislocated individuals requiring other
\nforms of social assistance;<\/p>\n
* A seizable number of children who fail to complete their
\nsix years of compulsory primary education and inadequate access
\nto secondary and tertiary education, despite near-universal
\naccess to primary education;<\/p>\n
* Depletion of natural resources, pollution and other
\nenvironmental problems which point to a lack of sustainability in
\nthe development process;<\/p>\n
* Lacunae in land reform, thereby resulting in malpractices
\ndue to vested interests which have profiteered from the
\nredistribution of land originally intended for the benefit of the
\npoor;<\/p>\n
* Inadequate \"social development incentives\" as contra-
\ndistinguished from \"economic investment incentives\", and
\ninsufficient stimulus for the non-governmental sector to assist
\ncommunities in poverty alleviation programs;<\/p>\n
* Limited budgetary allocations for poverty alleviation
\nprograms at the national and local levels, compounded by
\ncentralization of power, resources and decisionmaking in Bangkok;<\/p>\n
* Decline of spiritual development and concomitant moral
\ndilemmas.<\/p>",
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