Royal call for self-reliance wins support

His Majesty the King's suggestion that Thailand needs to become more self-sufficient to help it through the economic crisis is being fully supported by the interior ministry.

Sanan Kachornprasart said yesterday that the ministry sees it as its duty to help rural communities become economically self-reliant.

Both the public and private sectors were responding to the King's idea that people should be helped to help themselves.

The King in a speech given on December 4, to mark his 70th birthday, said Thailand may have to take a step backwards before pressing forward in better shape.

Maj Gen Sanan announced at a seminar titled, "Rural Economy: The Self-Sufficiency Development Process" held at Chulalongkorn University, that the ministry would adjust its rural development strategies to heed the King's suggestions.

Reform advocate Prawase Wasi's earlier statement that the interior ministry's willingness to change from ruler to supporter of rural people was a good sign for future development in the countryside.

Economic researcher, Sangsit Piriyarangsan, said that a committee needed to be set up to translate His Majesty's ideas into action. Plans needed to be mapped out by the interior ministry, academics and non-governmental organisations.

They should focus on encouraging rural people to group together to make their own decisions regarding agricultural production and marketing.

The Eighth National Economic and Social Development Plan, Mr Sangsit said, would be adjusted to promote not only exporters but also self-sufficiency.

Brainstorming sessions would be held to gather opinions of all parties concerned, including academics, NGOs dealing with rural development, state agencies, provincial governors and rural scholars, on adjusting the Eighth Plan.

Mr Sangsit said a meeting would be held in Khon Kaen on January 25, followed by one in Chiang Mai a week later. Sessions would also be held in the South and the Central region. A meeting of rural scholars from across the country would follow.

Mr Sangist said several communities had already been successful at applying principles of self-sufficiency. If the concept was widely adopted, he thought Thailand could overcome its economic difficulties in five years and create "a new model for economic development" for the world.

Sumeth Tantivejjakul, former secretary-general to the National Economic and Social Development Board, said His Majesty had urged people to start building "grocery stores in their backyards".

"If the people have rice, chicken, meat and vegetables of their own, they can survive even though they do not own one baht," he added.

He said the King had set up "one-stop service centres" in six provinces - Chiang Mai, Sakon Nakhon, Chanthaburi, Chachoengsao, Cha-am and Narathiwat - which state agencies should use as examples for their rural development work.

The centres provided seeds and animal breeds to farmers and helped rural people to "learn by doing".

Senator Vibul Khemchalerm said people should turn the crisis into an opportunity.

Mr Vibul, who went bankrupt after practising extensive agriculture decades ago, discovered that self-sufficiency helped him survive.

He sold most of his property to settle debts and used less than 10 rai for integrated farming. He had not been disappointed.

He urged the interior ministry to promote food processing industries and other agro-industries and decentralise administrative power to rural areas.

State officials must also change their old ways of thinking about rural Thailand by recognising that the "popular wisdom" of rural people could solve economic problems.

Dr Prawase said he believed Thailand could chart a new course with the help of five factors: the King's ideas on self-sufficiency; the Eighth Plan; the new constitution; the Buddhist principles of working together and people depending on themselves; and the Thai way of life which encourages people to care for one another.