After Apec highs, ganja haze and lottery lows, Thailand can go the extra mile in 2023

Amorn Wanichwiwatana

Special to the Nation

However, the illness of Her Royal Highness Princess Bajrakitiyabha, who is being treated at Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in Bangkok, weighed heavy on minds as Thais from all stations of life filed through the hospital reception hall daily to wish her well. We hope that her righteous royal duty to all Thais and her country will bless her and secure a swift recovery. Long live HRH the beloved Princess!

In November, Thailand won international praise for hosting the Apec summit, which tightened bonds while also boosting investment, especially from long-lost friend Saudi Arabia which bestowed new projects that promise a prosperous relationship. We need to cherish and cultivate this friendship and carefully overcome the troubled history between the two nations.

In Parliament, the fighting and political drama seemed to die down amid the countdown to a general election next year, but the wrangling over coalition partner Bhumjaithai’s populist move to legalise cannabis looks set to drag on until the end of this government. No matter how it will end, I must re-emphasise that I do not support freeing up the use of cannabis, which can now be found on almost every street corner in Bangkok. While I was filling up my tank at a petrol station recently, a European tourist came forward to ask me where he could buy weed. I managed to suppress my anger and forgive him as he was a foreigner and was only acting on information received elsewhere. The encounter confirmed that foreigners see Thailand as a place where ganja can be consumed freely and openly as a recreational drug. Who is looking after our children and our country's future?

This year, Thais have enjoyed the instant gratification of our digital consumer lifestyle, as people from all walks of life tap their phones to order meals and taxis, make purchases and share all sorts of information – sometimes endangering themselves and others in the process. Many YouTubers and TikTokers claimed to earn multimillions via live product-selling. Some went further by luring people to participate in murky businesses such as gambling, crypto trading, medicine other scams which in turn cost authorities huge amounts of time and manpower as the long arm of the law struggled to catch the cybercriminals. Several cases involving celebrities or influential individuals are still under painstaking investigation with no telling where they will end or how many big fish will be netted. Meanwhile, billionaire Red Bull scion Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya is still a fugitive from justice. Many other influential figures somehow managed to slip through the long arm of Thai justice in 2022 but Prasit Jeawkok was not so lucky. A fake moustache and quick change of clothes in the courtroom toilets almost did the trick, until the man accused of billion-baht fraud was recognised as he tried to flee.

Thailand still upheld its policy as land of the free in 2022. That’s why I question the Lottery Authority of Thailand’s decision to allow private businesses to use government products that should be securely controlled by the state to make a profit openly on their platform. I have no objection to the private sector doing the same business as the government. I consult law experts and scrutinise the law myself, and I know there is no prohibition for this. However, in reality, trade in certain goods and services must be closely supervised to ensure against monopolies and violations of anti-trust law. In other countries, the national lottery is organised solely by either the central or local government. The US and UK have set up a funding organisation to protect against gambling abuse because they are aware of the negative effects of so-called vice products. So I do not blame the private sector for jumping into the business legally and without bans imposed on their businesses. My question is why the government cannot do this business on its own and for the benefit of the whole nation.

Frankly, the GLO (Government Lottery Office) is a government agency administered by citizens’ tax payments. As a state body, the GLO needs to show it can provide fairness and share opportunities and benefits to everyone equally. Both in theory and practice, anyone who wants to buy lottery tickets to sell needs to contact the government itself or government agents! If the government wants to fix the selling price at 80 baht or protect disadvantaged sellers, they need to do it themselves. The government should not allow anyone to gain benefits due to its poor administration and ignore that failure as if nothing has happened. If there is no law, you need to create one. I do not wish to eradicate any business operator from a free and fair market. But if the GLO cannot guarantee that it can distribute or sell lottery tickets through the country despite its various channels, it must reconsider its functions and existence.

There was plenty to talk about this year, but Thailand still has a very bright future after spending trillions of baht fighting the pandemic and its impact on citizens. We now appear to be getting stronger and stronger. This shows we have high capacity and are no longer a poor nation. The government said all along that we are now beyond the poverty line. With less corruption and greed among politicians and the authorities, I am so sure that Thailand will move on and go the extra mile to becoming a world leader in any sphere she wants to pursue.

Amorn Wanichwiwatana, DPhil (Oxon), is a former member of the Constitution Drafting Commission and a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University.