Photo Essay: New Generation of Politicians

Young representatives from nine political parties were speaking at Matichon’s seminar last week.

There was a discussion between the representatives of the party and a questionnaire on numerous issues.

Here is a summary of some of the interesting policies for the youth that were presented and answers that were provided by the new generation of politicians:

Policy Promotion Round

Party spokeswoman Tidarat Yingcharoen / Thai Sang Thai Party

Restructure educational debts
Free education until the end of a graduate degree
Shorten the education period to mitigate the shortage of workers from the aging society

Samut Prakan MP Candidate Phanida Mongkolsawat / Move Forward Party (MFP)

Rewrite the junta-drafted charter
Abolish mandatory military conscription

Suphan Buri MP Candidate Samerkan Thiengtham / Chart Thai Pattana Party

Rewrite the charter based on the 1997 Constitution

List-MP Candidate Yaowapa Boorapolchai / Chart Pattana Kla Party

Generates five trillion baht worth of income with job creation in tourism, soft power, untaxed entertainment and LGBT+ activities
Use technology to provide transparency within government services to reduce time and personnel requirements and provide easier access to resources
Lower electricity bills

List-MP Candidate Issaraporn Burana-at / Bhumjai Thai Party (BJT)

Lower public transportation fares
Lower electricity bills via free solar rooftops for 22 million households
Free chemotherapy and kidney dialysis
Replace public buses with electric ones

Roi-Et MP Candidate Jiraporn Sinthuprai / Pheu Thai Party

Empowering Thai passport
Rewrite the junta-drafted charter with a fully-elected charter drafting committee
Increase the daily minimum wage to 600 baht
Increase the minimum monthly wage for new graduates to 25,000 baht
Abolish mandatory military conscription and replace it with a voluntary system
Create 20 million soft power jobs
Free tablets for teachers and students
Free Wi-Fi for all villages
A digital wallet program to promote local products

Bangkok MP Candidate Bunnada Supiyaphan / Phalang Pracharath Party (PPRP)

End social conflict

Bangkok MP Candidate Pongpol Yodmuangcharoen / Ruam Thai Sang Chart Party

Affordable apartments
Abolish the law against e-cigarette and alcohol buying time (have not been mentioned by the party before)
Coding subject in schools
Insurance for freelance workers (have not been mentioned by the party before)
Free education until the end of a graduate degree
Increase welfare benefits for soldiers
Lower military conscription number by 70% (have not been mentioned by the party before)
Lower land and building tax rate

Bangkok MP Candidate Pongsakorn Kwanmuang / Democrat Party

Free education until the end of a graduate degree
Paid working programs with one million jobs available for students
Lower public transportation fares
Expand internet access points to one million points throughout the country
Set up an SME fund worth 300 billion baht to support new SMEs and entrepreneurship

Question Round

Smog

MFP’s Phanida = Push for the clean air bill, electric busses in all provinces, negotiate with neighboring countries and imposing new laws on polluters that are operating outside the country

Education

Chart Pattana Kla’s Yaowapa = Three Languages Policy to push for more English usage and coding class in schools

Social Development

Thai Sang Thai’s Thidarat = Promote digital economy industries, urgently pursue the Sustainable Development Goals and push for policies that will take care of a person from toddler years to elderly
Chart Thai Pattana’s Samerkan = Introduce the transaction of carbon credits

Corruption

Chart Thai Pattana’s Samerkan = Revamp anti-corruption laws

Lese-Majeste Law and Military

MFP’s Panida = Amend the lese-majeste law, enact laws to prevent future coups, get rid of orders made by the previous junta, reform the military and abolish mandatory military conscription to get rid of military from politics

Outsider Influence

Pheu Thai’s Jiraporn = Pheu Thai does not belong to one family and the party’s PM candidate, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, has to follow the party’s regulations like everyone else at the party

Prime Minister Candidate

PPRP’s Bunnada = Party Leader General Prawit Wonsuwan is the most suitable because Prawit is a neutrally good person who is willing to listen and work with anyone to overcome conflict

Sex Worker and Toy