Biz Buzz

MR Pridiyathorn Devakula, deputy prime minister in charge of economic affairs, was invited to give a closing speech at a seminar hosted by Thammasat University’s economics faculty last week. But he came early to hear three of his economic ministers outlining their plans and goals at the event. 

While vowing to tackle structural weaknesses of the nation without caring about “popularity votes”, “Mom Oui” – as Pridiyathorn is known – reminded the audience that “it is not only our team who have the power”.

“I’ll leave that to you to puzzle over,” Mom Oui said, refusing to explain what he really meant.

Then after outlining his visionary “digital economy” campaign, Mom Oui, 67, told the audience he now had more people advising him on policy. 

“I was known for having five ‘saints’ consulting with me on issues. Now I have a sixth ‘saint’ who is a very knowledgeable robotics expert,” he said.

BizBuzz was confirmed that the “sixth saint” is in fact Dr Djitt Laowattana, founder and director of the Institute of Field Robotics (FIBO). 

Mom Oui also commended Dr Amornwich Nakornthap, secretary to Deputy Education Minister Krissanapong Kirtikara, who joined the three economic ministers in the previous session.

“Today, I got to know a ‘diamond in the mire’. He is the brother of Dr Kurujit Nakornthap [deputy permanent secretary for energy]. What he thinks is all correct,” he said.

 

A reformist family

Actually, Amornwich Nakornthap was not in a “mire”, at least since this government seized power. Three members of the Nakornthap family have been appointed to the National Reform Council, perhaps the most of any family. Besides Amornwich and Dr Kurujit Nakornthap, who has also been appointed to the board of state-controlled energy giant PTT, their sister Dr Silaporn Buasai, deputy director of the Thailand Research Fund, is also sitting in the NRC. 

Amornwich, who is regarded as one of Thailand’s leading scholars, has suggested that the Education Ministry must be decentralised. There is a rumour, he said, that under the current system, a teacher has to spend Bt10,000 per kilometre to move to another school.

“There is a tale that one teacher who wanted to move back to her home [province] of Chiang Mai from her current school in Bangkok, could only go as far as Phitsanulok because she ran out of money,” said Amornwich, drawing a pause and laugh from the audience.

That’s 10,000 times the cost of the fuel used to drive an automobile, which usually cost less than Bt1 a kilometre. 

 

Minister needs more fans

Energy Minister Narongchai Akrasanee asked the organiser of the seminar if he could do some “advertising”. 

“I’m reporting on my Facebook [page] every day. Just typing my name in Thai,” said the minister.

Narongchai also vowed not to bend to pressure from interest groups or vie for popularity, since “I have no plan to run for election”.

Narongchai’s Facebook page is really good, with content apparently written by the minister himself. However, it obviously needs some advertisement, since he currently has just over 2,000 “likes”. In comparison, Rosana Tositrakul, an activist opposed to the energy authorities, has nearly 200,000 “likes”. 

 

Contributed by Pichaya Changsorn