Forum seeks true reflection of problems

The meeting, the eleventh forum of its kind, was organised by NOW 26 TV channel and Bangkok Biz News newspaper, both part of the Nation Multimedia Group (NMG).
Forum participants were treated to audio-visual presentations from citizens from the 10 provinces, their ideas and input from previous forums.
Suthichai Yoon, NMG chairman, said the meeting was the culmination and crystallization of eight months of citizens’ ideas on national reform.
He said the effort had nothing to do with the bid for national reform pushed by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) as the NMG initiative was launched earlier in 2014 with an aim of truly reflecting people’s aspirations.
Suthichai said the priority was on how to get the nation reformed in order to solve various problems.
“Today, people must find conclusions from the brainstorming [forums] and when the findings are forwarded to the National Reform Council [NRC] or measures announced, the reform process won’t be over as reform must take place in every era. There will be hope for Thailand when citizens converge,” said Suthichai.

More intense than usual
Thepchai Yong, NMG Group Editor-in-Chief, said the forums proved people had aspirations and predicted that the current reform bid would be more intense than usual. He reminded them the country belonged to everyone.
Calls by participants sought solutions for problems like poverty among farmers - adjusting the structure of rice farming and trade, greater utilisation of knowledge and technological knowhow in solving agricultural problems.
On income disparity, Permsak Mokrapirom from Mahidol University’s Centre for Peace and Development Studies said, with 60 to 70 per cent of land being rented, most people lacked access to resources. Permsak said if farmers couldn’t make ends meet it would affect the whole of society. Consequently, land reform was necessary.
General Ekkachai Srivilas, deputy chairman of the Committee for National Reform of the National Reform Council (NRC), warned that social and economic disparities would lead to disunity and the country needed to be restructured to benefit the poor. Ekkachai said although one-fifth of the national budget was spent on education, it had yet to be improved.
The NRC member also called for the creation of a Citizens’ Council that would scrutinise public affairs and make recommendations.
Amornvit Nakornthap, another NRC member, expressed a similar view, saying major education reform was needed and it would require greater local participation in managing education.