ความห่วงใยประเทศชาติจากคนไทยที่เป็นผู้ใหญ่ในต่างแดน
ความห่วงใยประเทศชาติจากคนไทยที่เป็นผู้ใหญ่ในต่างแดน
ผมได้รับ อีเมล์ จาก ศ. ดร. เมธี เวชารัตนา ดังต่อไปนี้
Dear Than Arjan Mhor Vicharn:
… I read several articles that you posted about the current situation in Thailand. Many thanks for your stance and truthfulness. It is sad to see many so-called educated people, politicians and government officials alike, to behave the way they are.
I call it a failure of our education system as our degrees that these people have are merely pieces of papers. I learned when I was young from Chinese literature that higher education is about understanding righteousness and people, nothing to do with greed, corruption and amassing money.
Every press conference that CAPO put out or Speaker of the Government gave to the press are some unbelievable make-up stories and lies. Many were beyond common sense, even though some video footages have clearly shown the barbaric acts and brutality of crowd-controlled policemen.
Does anyone at all on the government have any common sense and guilt for being a part of these nonsenses? This is unbelievable! These individuals have no shame of saying these untruthful stories in public. The presses have no judgment and courage to write about the truth and righteousness.
Like one of the recent headlines that newspaper disclosed the wealth of politicians who held office during the past one year. The richest politician is Dr. Plodprasob, who has, within one year, increased his asset by nearly 1 billion baht (about 950 million to be exact). The press only paid attention at the headline of being the richest, able to manage to get so much money in one year, but no one talked about how he got it.
In my recent talk at the "Dinner Talk 2014" on December 12, 2013, organized by the Alumni Association of Chula's Engineering School celebrating 100 years of the school, I discussed about the majority vote supporting the following leaders while they were in power: President Marcos of the Philippines (always won majority vote; his act of corruption set back the Philippines for 30 years); Suharto of Indonesia (also won majority vote in every election); So as Saadam Hussein of Iraq, Assad of Syria, Kardafi of Libya, and Mubarak of Egypt (who has amassed US$70 billion, making him quietly the richest man in the world and Egypt one of the poorest countries in the Middle East today). So,"Democracy" and claim of majority are merely a gimmick of dirty politicians all around the world.
During the past month, I have given some thoughts into the reform, if it were to happen in Thailand. One idea, besides the general concept of ridding of all forms of corruptions, is the "Debt Ceiling" of the government, States and Local alike. During the past 35 years that I lives in the U.S., I have seen many States and Municipalities file for bankruptcy. Recently, we saw the City of Detroit, Greece, etc.
So, what I am suggesting is Thailand should demand any future government to have a balance budget so they cannot just get the loan for any project they want.
Secondly, last year (2012) the State of New Jersey wanted to borrow US$750 million to support higher education in the State of New Jersey. The NJ Government under Governor Chris Christie has to put the proposal on the Ballot for vote by people of the State of New Jersey, asking whether they agreed to borrow the money for the project as the loan is the debt of every household in the State of New Jersey.
Thailand should do the same for any future mega loans, like the 2 trillion baht loan for the high speed train proposal or the 350 billion baht loan for the flood prevention project.
I did a quick calculation for the cost to each household in Thailand to pay back these two loans, and here are the numbers:
We have approximately 67 millions people (babies, young and working people, elders). I would say those who work to generate income are the young and working people of the family,estimating at 40-50% or sometimes just one in four of the total population or about 16-35 millions people. If we divide 2.35 trillion baht from the two projects with 67 million, each Thai will owe 35,000 baht. Per household, assuming 4 persons per household, each average small family will owe 140,000 baht from these two loans.
Since the Government creates this debt to the public, it needs the people to agree to the loan, and that is the reason why, in the U.S., they need to put the loan proposals for a vote.
…………..
Methi Wecharatana
ข้อเสนอของ ศ. ดร. เมธี คือ
- งบประมาณประจำปีของประเทศต้องเป็นงบประมาณสมดุล เพื่อป้องกันรัฐบาลที่ฉ้อฉลสร้างหนี้ให้แก่ประเทศ
- หากจะมีการกู้เงินสร้างหนี้ก้อนใหญ่ในระยะยาวให้แก่ประเทศ ต้องจัดให้ประชาชนลงมติว่าเห็นด้วยหรือไม่เห็นด้วย
ผมตอบดังต่อไปนี้
Dear Dr. Methi
Great to hear from you! As always, I learn a lot from our contact.
For the political crisis of our country, I think that it is a blessing in disguise. We have come to the tipping point that people will learn that the present political system is a very bad one. We, the Thai people, have to work for the real reform. The opportunity comes with the crisis. Everybody has to participate. I am very much impressed with the Thais in USA who help informing the truth to the world to correct biased news from some foreign reporters.
Would you agree if I put this e-mail of yours into my blog to communicate your ideas to the Thai general public? I think it is worth publicize.
Wishing you and your family a happy, prosperous and successful New Year as well.
Best regards,
Vicharn
และ ดร. เมธีตอบดังนี้
Dear Than Arjan Mhor Vicharn:
Please feel free to publicize it.
Personally, I agree wholeheartedly with you that this is the opportunity for Thai people to wake up and move in the right direction, i.e. get rid of corruption (the cancer of Thailand, Thai government, and Thai Politics), be competitive like Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc.
The only concern I have is how many lives we have to sacrifice. I have not seen any country in the world that goes through this changes without bloodshed. Hopefully, Thailand will be the first.
I often tell everyone that ATPAC has no color, but this is the first time I told ATPAC's Executive Board that they have to let Thai people know our stance, if we were to call ourselves "Educated and Responsible". It is not about choosing side, it is about righteousness, without which we are no different than any other spicy.
Thailand, as a country, and Thai people need direction. I have personally gone to the Democracy Monument to join the protest several times just to express my point and my responsibility when I visited Thailand during the past two months. By the way, to support the idea I wrote to you earlier, I just digged up an article on the wab and just about to send it to you. In short, I am very pleased to get a prompt reply from you. Hopefully, working together, we will get Thailand moving in the right direction.
Respectfully,
Methi
บทความที่ ดร. เมธีอ้างถึง อ่านได้ที่ Voters Approve More State Debt.docx
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๒๙ ธ.ค. ๕๖
ความเห็น (1)
นี่คือสิ่งที่ยากจะเข้าใจได้และน่าผิดหวังกับผู้คนนะคะ
"Does anyone at all on the government have any common sense and guilt for being a part of these nonsenses? This is unbelievable! These individuals have no shame of saying these untruthful stories in public. The presses have no judgment and courage to write about the truth and righteousness."