by Piyaporn Hawiset
Social investment programs, financed by the World Bank for upcountry development programs in Thailand, could be more harmful than good for weak communities, local intellectuals have said. They instead urged local people to mobilise funds by themselves.
Prof Dr Prawase Wasi, a social critic, said that strengthening of Thai communities through community networks is essential for sustainable economic development. When people organise their own groups, they can learn and exchange their experiences and this would strengthen the economy, politics and social development, he said.
Great efforts have been made since 1989 to build Thai society from the grassroots in a traditionally top-down government development organization. Promoters of this movement have succeeded in adding a people's dimension to the current economic and social development plan, which was left out from the 7th economic development plan, according to Prawase, who was attending a meeting in mid-May 1999 to review the implementation of the 8th plan. The previous economic and social plans' emphasis on fast economic growth caused social, cultural and environmental problems and also triggered the economic crisis in 1997, said Prawase. He warned that foreign funds are now flooding into Thailand and most of them are coming in for speculative purposes, and it is likely that it could create the next economic crisis.
Narong Chokwattana, managing director of the Pan Group, under the Sahapat family, said that funds extended by foreign creditors, including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, have raised Thailand's financial burden as it needs to sell scarce national resources to repay debts. He urged Thailand to form cooperative banks similar to those developed in Japan and Europe. The country lacks the legal framework to facilitate the setting up of cooperative banks. Participants at the review session agreed that the learning process is more important and more efficient in rendering strong communities than the availability of money.
Financial institutions owned by communities will give them the freedom to manage their own money efficiently and independently, Narong said. He also warned that the money lent by the World Bank and the ADB to support local communities may have an adverse impact, because people may be lured by money rather than by their eagerness and necessity to form groups or cooperatives.
Amporn Duangpan, local leader in Songhkla province in southern Thailand, said that local co-operatives in his province have served the communities better than the role played by government-owned banks, such as the Government Savings Bank and Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives.
At a separate press conference, Sathit Limponphan, Finance Ministry spokesman, said that the ministry would set up the so-called Oversight Support Units (OSU) to monitor the country's portfolio performance, with the World Bank providing technical support.
Currently, Thailand's borrowing from the World Bank has reached US$1.9 billion, which has been allocated largely to two main sectors -- the energy sector accounting for 36 percent and education 13 percent.