Fashion panel of soft power committee quits, citing time constraints
The entire fashion subcommittee of the National Soft Power Strategy Committee (NSPSC) resigned on Thursday night, citing difficulties in achieving the policy goals set by the ruling Pheu Thai Party and a need to attend to their own businesses.
The resignation letter was signed by the subcommittee’s president, Kamonnart Ongwandee, who is also a sustainable fashion activist.
The working group stated that the demands of project management would exceed their capabilities and the time commitment would take them away from their personal businesses.
Two weeks before the resignation, Kammonart had criticised the NSPSC and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) over plans to host a Guinness World Record challenge, spanning seven days at Siam Paragon.
Kamonnart said that the challenge had “nothing to do with the fashion subcommittee”, as she shared a satirical depiction of the Guinness World Record challenge onto her Facebook page.
Meanwhile, Surapong Suebwonglee, secretary-general of the NSPSC, thanked Kamonnart for her work and said that he would nominate new members to the Fashion subcommittee at the next NSPSC meeting on February 9.
“Ms Kamonnart had notified me about her time constraints back in December,” said Surapong, adding that he had contacted others in the fashion industry to take on this task.
The fashion panel was one of 11 subcommittees set up by the NSPSC. The “festivals'' subcommittee received almost 20% of the NSPSC’s 5.3-billion-baht budget. The food industry received a similar share while tourism was in third place, with just under 750 million baht. The fashion subcommittee received 268 million baht, or just over 5%.
