Better Uses of Scarce Funds
Burma recently announced that it would purchase 20 Mig-29 from Russia to add to the dozen its air force already had. Vietnam followed with an announcement that it was buying a few submarines from the same source, presumably to counter the Chinese threat. Normally, such announcements would trigger some sort of response from the Thai armed forces. This time, however, there has been no report of an immediate reaction from the Thai air force. The Thai navy, on the other hand, said it would recommend that the government purchase 3-4 submarines at the cost of some 20 billion baht each, with one billion baht to be spent immediately on an old submarine for training purposes.
The different stances taken by the two branches of the Thai armed forces probably reflect the differences between their chiefs, with one being more deliberate and dovish than the other. Or perhaps, the air force chief knows better that the government is in no position to waste large sums of money on arms purchases while the economy remains in dire straights and the country is already in need of borrowing large sums from abroad. Or maybe, the top brass in the navy are looking for a way to get a customary commission that they have not been able to enjoy since the navy has not made a big purchase for a while. Whatever the real reasons may be, there is no need for the government to go along with any recommendations for weapons purchases at this time.
Fundamentally, an arms purchase made in response to a similar action undertaken by a neighboring country is tantamount to participating in an arm race, real or perceived. Such a race is not only futile but also contrary to making ASEAN a stronger regional block. More importantly, there are much better uses for the scarce funds. Besides being economically non-productive, such a purchase will be made abroad, which will not be helpful in stimulating the local economy which likely will be in need of further stimulation for a while longer. Furthermore, Thailand needs to make large investments urgently in basic infrastructure, particularly in rail transport and in new towns to relieve congestions in Bangkok.
Thailand’s transport infrastructure compares reasonably well with those of countries in a similar stage of economic development, except in the railway sub-sector. Government after government continues to be under the thumb of various interest groups and as a result has failed to make rail transport an effective component of the transportation sector. It is high time that the government made a genuine commitment to address the issue and back it up with necessary funding.
Regarding building new towns, the idea has been discussed for many decades. So far only the Taksin administration made a serious attempt to do something about it. It was regrettable that with an eye towards enriching the prime minister’s relatives and cronies, that government’s approach was seriously flawed. As a result, the momentum towards building such new towns has stalled.
Instead of trying to find a better approach, the present government has abandoned the idea altogether and has focused on sinking more funds into building a system of rapid transits, elevated highways and overpasses in and around Bangkok. This approach will be more and more wasteful, for it will not be able to keep up with the growth of the city, which continues to attract more people from other parts of the country, partly by the very investments aimed at alleviating congestions. With the sea continuing to rise as a result of global warming, more parts of Bangkok will be flooded during storm surges and more expenditure will be needed to alleviate the problem of flooding. There has been talk of trying to protect the city with a huge storm surge barrier similar to the Maeslantkering in the Netherlands. Construction of such a costly barrier will likely add more waste as its value remains doubtful during a particularly serious surge. All it may do would be to further line the pockets of influential politicians and their cronies. Building new towns is a more viable alternative and as it will take quite a while to accomplish, the time to start is now.
Sawai Boonma
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