Prayut takes well-trodden path to popular appeal
The recent deliberations on the 2020 budget bill, which saw an initial triumph on the part of the government, highlighted a sharp contrast between old and new politics. The Prayut Chan-o-cha government’s 3.2-trillion-baht budget bill sailed through its first reading at the end of last week, with 251 approval votes against 234 abstentions. The second reading is scheduled for January.
Before the three-day showdown, the coalition government’s razor-thin majority in the lower house was an issue of concern for political observers who speculated that the bill could be shot down and trigger the government’s early downfall. Yet, the government managed to exercise control over its members, including those from single-seat parties, and survived the crucial vote.
Critics saw quite a few flaws in the bill. They frowned upon the way the Prayut government plans to allocate an enormous chunk of money, over 500 billion baht, for the general budget. It is known that the disbursement of this portion of the budget can easily escape the opposition’s scrutiny. In addition, there were complaints about plans for a gigantic budget for defence and securities affairs that surpasses 480 billion baht in total. But the government argued that its proposed defence budget was a so-called “tied-over” budget with no new purchase planned.
The debate in parliament was evidence that those in the opposition bloc, especially the Future Forward Party, are now engaging in “new politics”, with them paying little, if any, attention to securing a slice of the budget cake for their respective constituencies.
On the contrary, the opposition MPs, which includes many new, young faces, were seriously committed to their political mission to bring about change in accordance with their ideologies. For this reason, the young opposition MPs concentrated on grilling the prime minister during the session without any interest in fighting for money they could grab to promote development in their areas.
They have gone to great efforts to raise political matters like charter amendment while ignoring the bread and butter issues in the provinces they represent. According to Thailand’s political tradition, failure to elicit significant sums for their areas could result in upset among their constituents.
This was a complete departure from conventional budget deliberations of the past in which politicians would employ every tactic possible to get money for their constituencies and in turn strengthen loyalty in their political strongholds.
There are quite a few veteran politicians who have been notorious for their skills when it came to budget bargaining. Among them, the late Chatichai Choonhavan was renowned for his ability to finesse huge sums to “develop” his political base in Nakhon Ratchasima and adjacent areas. So too were Chai Chidchob, the late Banharn Silpa-archa and Montri Pongpanich who pushed hard for development cash for Buri Ram, Suphan Buri and Ayutthaya, placing them among the top provinces in terms of budget allocation. No wonder, they became all-time favourites among voters in their respective home provinces.
Like it or not, Prime Minister Prayut, with a huge general budget in hand, is free to allocate money to the projects on his priority list. Many believe that the use of general budget gives Gen Prayut an advantage as, with no parliamentary scrutiny, he can cater to public wants, some in the name of populism, without limits. He, too, now has a chance to become another all-time favourite.