Dear Mr Prime Minister,
It's been a while since we last communicated, and forgive me for bothering you because you have so much to do. I know, because you keep telling us how busy you've been and how ungrateful we are for your sacrifice.
But I just can't remain silent when I think about how you and your brain trust are using national resources — not to mention media space — to promote something that is not even worth promoting.
Elsewhere in Asia Focus you'll see a news report on the plan in question, for a string of special economic zones (SEZs). It lays out the facts, but here in this column I can offer an opinion, and here it is: the plan is pretty useless and I have to question the wisdom of the people who thought it up.
My dear General Prayut, I've pointed out before that as the most powerful leader Thailand has had in decades (the foreign media call you a dictator but what do they know?), you have an unprecedented opportunity to do big, bold things to propel the country into the future. Too bad you're taking us back into the past instead.
Your government is talking about developing SEZs in six border areas in the first phase of a much-touted economic development strategy. We're looking at 11 billion baht from state coffers for infrastructure this year and next. Then you have to acquire the land — 1.8 million rai in all. Even at a modest 100,000 baht per rai (next to impossible in the real world), the cost would be 180 billion baht. This would bring the total investment close to 200 billion baht.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but with Asean Economic Community (AEC) just 300-odd days away, what is the point of Thailand developing special zones for industries that rely on labour and resources from neighbouring countries that are also going to be part of this wonderful, integrated, seamless AEC?
Our poorer neighbours — Cambodia and Laos — already have their own SEZs to cater to the needs of the labour-intensive industries that rely on their cheap labour but our know-how. In Myanmar, work is under way on three SEZs, including one ostensibly backed by Thailand but now on life-support for many reasons including Thai politics. The Myanmar zones cater to different needs such as manufacturing and port services. Vietnam also has SEZs intended to meet mainly domestic needs, with help from foreign investors to help develop the country.
Malaysia and Singapore, meanwhile, have been developing the industrial zone of the future on 1.3 million rai at Iskandar. This $36-billion project showcases how two rival economies can work together for mutual gain.
But my dear general, your heavily hyped projects in Thailand are not taking the country any further than where we already are.
Ask your lieutenants to think about this: with a minimum investment of nearly 200 billion baht, all we get will be six areas that rely on cheap labour to make stuff, and even if the value of border trade rises to 1.5 trillion baht (from 900 billion currently), it would account for only about 10% of the country's overall trade with the world.
Meanwhile, labour-intensive industries across the world continue to look for cheaper and cheaper places to set up shop. For producers from India, China and a host of others, that means Africa.
As someone who sends you about a third of my hard-earned money in taxes each year, Dear Leader, I have a little request: Could you and the people advising you rethink what you're doing with my money, and the money of other taxpayers?
Do we really need to keep trying to shore up sunset industries that rely on cheap labour for their survival but are too cheap themselves to invest in places where they can get just that? Or do we want to develop a real knowledge economy to spur the growth of the country to new heights?
Would it not be much wiser to have one SEZ that is closer to Bangkok, where progressive ventures that underpin your heavily hyped "digital economy" could be undertaken, where incentives go to companies that will invest in the future of the country by focusing on knowledge and not labour?
Dear Leader, please spare the country from further deterioration. We've already have suffered enough from the misguided policies of many elected governments that have focused more on their vote bank than on economic sense. You, as the undisputed leader of an unelected government, can do all kinds of things that they couldn't. It's time you got started.