Plenty of reasons for a good New Year... fingers crossed

I started the New Year by joining another volunteer project, piling donations to Nation Group that were left over from the flood crisis onto a truck. With some co-workers and friends, I filled up the truck with milk bottles, liquid soap, detergent, diapers, shirts and hygienic masks.
Then, we went to homes for the underprivileged in Pak Kret, Nonthaburi. They were pleased with the donations, including some money raised from selling year-end gifts to our editorial desk.
At a home for abandoned children, aged up to six, more donations are welcome since the home receives some Bt10 million as its annual budget, or about Bt70 daily for each of some 300 babies and children. The cost covers all expenses, from food and clothes to maintenance.
It was heartening to know that our donations would somewhat help the babies, and that each year, the home receives donations worth as much as the annual budget.
Some may choose to spice up their lives with a fight against evil. To those who name former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as the biggest enemy of the nation, they would certainly fight to the end against the Pheu Thai Party’s efforts to bring the man back home.
Let them do that if it could give them a purpose for living, and we should pray that this fighting will be peacefully and righteously launched so that no negative side-effect spill over to others.
Some spice up their lives by believing that a year of peace is here, particularly when the government committee on national reconciliation is considering handing out Bt3 million-Bt5 million compensation to each of the families of those killed in the most recent political unrest.
Yes to paying them all with our tax money, if that can end the widening rift. Let’s hope that the money, estimated to be about Bt2 billion, will completely seal the rift influenced by discontent over structural problems. Families of the anti-Thaksin movement should smile. Families of the red shirts, who complained about so many issues, should also smile. No need to fix the structural loopholes allowing politicians to twist them for their own causes. Hmm, a peaceful world is at hand. Such a happy thought, indeed.
I am happy for all workers, as their minimum wage will rise this year. Hopefully, they have concrete spending plans, as that would help boost the ailing economy. Hopefully, another hike is imminent, or high prices will limit their spending ability.
I am also happy for the top brass, who feel good about the Army’s hard work during the floods. It must be nice to win public admiration,
particularly after the foreign press criticised past actions, including the parading of tanks into the city years ago.
As a citizen with a say in national elections but nothing to do with the Army’s operations, I’m also happy that they are employing their resources purely for public benefit.
I’m also happy to learn that the Deposit Protection Agency, set up in 2008, has amassed nearly Bt200 billion. If anything happens to financial institutions and jeopardises our deposits at those institutions, that amount should be enough.
Regardless of the hardships experienced now by European banks, any foreseeable crisis here should not be as grave as when the Financial Institutions Development Fund (FIDF) had to spend over Bt1.2 trillion on the rescue in 1997.
My joy would multiply if banks agree this week to help the Bank of Thailand clear the FIDF debt. They should realise that their help would allow the nation to borrow more to finance water-management investment. The government would be pleased to get more borrowing room, despite admitting that no matter how much room it has, it can’t borrow much as principal and interest each year is capped at 15 per cent of annual expenditures.
Everyone has reasons to be happy, and few are concerned about how long the happiness will stay. We the fools deserve to convince ourselves that things seem to be going in a positive direction for all Thais.
Happy New Year, again.