No chance of fair land distribution here
Re: "Land tax reforms seem doomed", Letters, October 3.
Songdej Praditsmanont reckons that the excellent land tax proposals originally proposed by former finance minister Korn Chatikavanij stand little chance of becoming law because of the preponderance of large landowners in Yingluck’s Cabinet. I think he is right, but he is selective in his criticism. He omits to mention that this proposal sank without trace during the Abhisit government’s tenure, when it was first proposed. It would be safe to assume that this failure was caused by pressure from the same vested interests.
In 1952 the then British ambassador to Thailand stated to his bosses in London that “In Thailand, political theory counts for nothing and the course of political events depends almost entirely on the day-to-day personalities at the highest levels”. Sadly, the same statement could be made today. In a further reference to history, Pridi Phanomyong’s proposals for land nationalisation after the 1932 revolution got him into trouble, and this measure would of course be far too radical now, but it is a regrettable fact that, almost 80 years later, land ownership in Thailand continues to reflect an almost feudal inequality amongst the haves and have nots.
Robin Grant
Bangkok
