Sufficiency scam | Political prisoners in Thailand

PPT was curious to hear what Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa had to say during the 79th session of the UN.

So far, the ministry has not posted the full speech (as far as we can tell), but there is a summary. And The Nation had a summary that appears to be a copy-paste of the ministry summary.

The summary states:

The minister expressed hope for a promising future in which everyone will be protected and can flourish. This requires political will to address common global challenges. In this context, the Minister highlighted issues of importance to Thailand, such as the philosophy of the Sufficiency Economy as a way forward for sustainable development, the fight against illicit drugs, transnational crime and cybercrime, the reform of the United Nations, including the Security Council.to reflect a global architecture that takes into account the interests of developing countries and the empowerment of youth to shape their desired future.

That may be a poor summary, but as it stands it seems a remarkable and ridiculous extension of the idea of ​​the subsistence economy attributed to the dead king.

But does the ritualistic talk of royal ideas actually mean anything? We suppose it is an ideological reinforcement of conservative royalism and a huge waste of taxpayers’ money on “projects” that reinforce that ideology. But what else does political practice tell us about the subsistence economy?

The official announcement of the minister’s trip to New York states:

From Recycle Coach

Thailand is committed to contributing to key global agenda-setting and supporting United Nations efforts to work with all stakeholders to address current and future global challenges such as climate change and natural disasters, transnational cybercrime, drugs and digital transformation.

How seriously is climate change being taken, especially as part of the self-sufficient economy? Not at all, it seems. On the same day it is reported that:

During the first Thailand-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue held today (September 23), the Thai team called on Australia to phase in carbon emissions measures as they impact millions of Thai workers in the auto industry.

Protecting workers in a dying sector (due to the combustion configuration) may seem like a reasonable excuse to throw principles overboard, but in this case it seems to us that a self-sufficient economy means abandoning environmental goals in favour of profit and protecting the capitalists who own this dying sector.