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Millennium Development Goals in Thailand

Thai children © Kris Herbst / Changemakers.net

Thanks to the strong performance of its economy during much of the 1990’s, Thailand has already achieved, or is on its way to achieving, most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The percentage of people living in poverty has been reduced from 38% in 1990 to 11% in 2004 and, with literacy rates at 96 percent for men and 91 percent for women and almost universal primary education enrolment, the country is now concentrating on improvement of secondary education. Whilst divisions of wealth between rich and poor, and between rural and urban communities are deepening, overall health indicators for child and maternal mortality are progressing well and the threat of malaria is limited to endemic regions and is under control. Thailand has also done unexpectedly well to achieve near universal access to safe water and sanitation due to well-financed government programs.

Karenni refugees in Thailand © Ng Yuina

The country has therefore set itself new targets, dubbed “MDG plus”, including the aim to further decrease its poverty level to 4% by 2009. Thailand has also produced regional MDG Reports for two provinces, a rare examination of the potential of decentralised MDG policymaking. As the MDG 2004 progress report on Thailand notes, people in the hills of the north and in the three Muslim majority provinces in the south bordering Malaysia tend to be marginalised - poverty in one southern province is as high as 23%. Further problems lie in MDG 7 (sustainable development) because of the damage the environment has suffered through the period of rapid economic growth over recent decades and in MDG 3 (gender equality) due to the exceptionally low number of women in politics and in government employment.

A most unusual feature of the generally positive progress towards the MDGs has been the influence of King Bhumibol, the world’s longest reigning monarch, through his advocacy of a “sufficiency economy”. Drawing on Buddhist philosophy, the concept seeks to overcome the downside of globalisation through priority for sufficiency of human needs rather than inequality and excess. The Thai King is held in high regard among his people and, while his authority is informal, he has traditionally played a stabilising role in Thai politics. His practical contribution to his people over 60 years was internationally recognized in 2006 by a unique UNDP human development award.

Politics in Thailand

Make Trade Fair, Thailand © Oxfam America

Following the Asian financial crisis in 1997, Thailand experienced a rise in populist movements in the political arena. In 2000, and again in 2005, the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party led by Thaksin Shinawatra won an overwhelming victory on a platform that emphasized redistribution of wealth. However, suspicions that Thaksin’s true priority lay in enriching the interests of an elite group of businessmen came to a head over criticism surrounding the $1.9 billion, tax-exempt sale of Shin Corporation, a telecoms giant owned by the Prime Minister’s family. Despite Thaksin’s popularity amongst the rural poor, his dissolution of Parliament in February 2006 and subsequent shambles of electoral stand-offs prompted the army to revive Thailand’s history of military coups, with the tacit support of the King.

The head of the army, a Muslim, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, took control in September 2006, while Thaksin attended a UN summit, by replacing all government institutions with martial law. He appointed a prime minister, the retired General Surayud Chulanont, to govern under an interim constitution which has virtually no democratic accountability and severely curtails rights enshrined in the 1997 “People’s Constitution.” A 25-person committee, selected by the military’s Council for National Security (CNS), drafted a new Constitution which was passed by a referendum held in August 2007 although the conduct of the exercise and the majority was far from convincing.

Thailand remains under severe fire from the international community. Critics allege that the new constitution is less democratic because members of the Senate, Thailand’s “upper house”, will be appointed officials rather than elected by popular vote. This may give the military, and other unelected elites, power to hire and fire government ministers. There is further unease that, whilst an arrest warrant has been issued for Thaksin and his wife, no case has been made for the most serious allegations which supposedly justified the coup.

New parliamentary elections for the House of Representatives are scheduled for December 23rd. The Thai Rak Thai party has been dissolved on the orders of the Constitutional Court and its leaders banned from politics for 5 years. Nevertheless, a new party appealing to a similar rural constituency has been formed to fight the election. The People Power Party is headed by Samak Sunderavej.

Thailand has an extensive civil society with NGOs and other groups working in areas from women’s rights to HIV/AIDS awareness, decentralization, and forest rights for communities. Some of these organizations are also affiliated with universities.
Conflict in Thailand

Violence in Thailand

Thailand has a history of avoiding conflict through careful negotiations and policies of accommodation. The fact that the country remained un-colonized in the era of British and French imperial rule provides a great source of national pride. Internal conflict, however, among Muslim separatists in the southernmost Muslim provinces of Thailand led Thaksin to declare martial law in the region in January 2004, giving the government authority to censor the media and detain individuals suspected of insurgent activities. Violence on both sides has claimed more than 1700 lives.

Treatment as second-class citizens by Buddhist-dominated governments may be a source of the conflict. The region is less prosperous than the rest of Thailand and has more cultural affinity with Malaysia – indeed the status of the province of Pattani has always been unsettled and a separatist group known as Mujahadeen Islam Pattani may have become more active; other speculation centres on Islamic fundamentalism, perhaps provoked by the fact that Thailand has allied itself with the United States over the ‘War on Terror’.

Interim Prime Minister Chulanont has however publicly apologised for the hardline tactics of the previous government in a gesture of reconciliation. Offers of talks have also been issued alongside willingness to consider the recommendations of a National Reconciliation Commission which had been brushed aside by Thaksin. However, the violence has continued with a disturbing pattern of attacks on government schools.
Human Rights in Thailand

The severity with which Thaksin's government enforced the state of emergency in the south attracted the attention of human rights organizations, concerned about the scale of the killings and the lack of independent reports permitted from the region. The same concern applied to that government’s “war on drugs” launched in February 2003. The measures led to the extra-judicial killing of nearly 2500 drug offenders.

Karenni refugees in Thailand © Ng Yuina

Thailand’s deteriorating human rights credentials were not helped by Thaksin Shinawatra’s efforts to improve ties with Burma’s military government, which has an abhorrent record. Thailand is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and has refused adequate protection for 160,000 Karen and Karenni ethnic minority refugees living in camps near the border. The UN Refugee Agency is currently implementing one of the world’s largest resettlement programmes, involving new lives for over 10,000 refugees since 2005, the majority settling in the US.

Any reduction in refugee numbers is however threatened by the most recent upheaval in Burma. Whilst Thailand has publicly condemned the crackdown on the monks’ peaceful protests against the regime, the Thai military has simultaneously detained and deported protestors from Burma who have fled into Thailand.
The Economy in Thailand

Maintaining a good relationship with Burma preserves billions of dollars of trade and investment to the benefit of both countries. Along with China and India, Thailand has largely turned a blind eye to the junta’s abuse of power. Thailand also relies on Burma as a source of natural gas for 20% of the nation’s electricity, with an annual price tag of $2 billion.

Tsunami impact in Thailand

The Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998 hit Thailand even harder than many of its neighbours and undercut some of the tremendous economic progress that the country has enjoyed. Another catastrophic blow was the devastating impact of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, resulting in about 8000 deaths of both Thai and foreign nationals and damage valued at over $350 million. With the assistance of relief funds, most of the resort areas re-opened for business just a few months after the tsunami and are attracting tourists once more. However, the instability of the current political situation has led to reduced foreign investment, lower consumer confidence, higher levels of inflation, and budget constraints.
Information and Media in Thailand

Thailand, harnessing globalization © MAG / Changemakers.net

Thai citizens face strong content-based restrictions on the websites they are allowed to access. The new military authority has been obsessive about criticism, rushing through the Computer Offences Act, which has enabled the closure of hundreds of sites deemed to offend - even access to YouTube was blocked for a period.

Mainstream media in Thailand already exercises a level of self-censorship concerning royalty, which is legally protected from criticism, and the military. The 1991 Constitution provided for freedom of the press; however, the government has taken increasing measures to restrict the media in recent years, particularly in the southern regions covered by the state of emergency. The National Police Department has the authority to revoke publishing licenses on grounds of national security. The government and military own and operate most of the television networks and several radio stations. The Thai Journalists Association and the Thai Broadcasters Association have complained of unfair treatment of journalists and outlets not in line with the government position. Thailand’s position in the Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders has dropped sharply since 2004.
HIV /AIDS in Thailand

Thailand’s experience with HIV/AIDS demonstrates that governments, civil society, and ordinary people can work in partnership to fight the pandemic. Following the heterosexual outbreak of AIDS in Thailand, the government responded quickly and aggressively. Former Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun made HIV a national priority in 1991, taking the issue out of the Ministry of Health and into his own office. He instructed all cabinet ministers to develop AIDS plans for their sectors. By 1996, the AIDS budget amounted to US$90 million.

Mechai Viravaidya

Thailand also launched a mass media campaign promoting condom use, especially among commercial sex workers. Rather than sanctioning brothels, which are widespread but technically illegal, the government chose to force them to make their patrons use condoms. Senator Mechai Viravaidya, nicknamed ‘Mr Condom,’ established the Population and Community Development Association (PDA), which implemented a system of educational networking and condom distribution to the rural population.

Thailand has brought down the adult HIV prevalence rate among the general population to 1.5 percent, with 600,000 people now living with HIV. Almost 90% of those in need of anti-retroviral drugs receive the treatment. This is possible because Thailand has been prepared to break patent laws favouring western pharmaceutical companies, instead using generic alternatives produced domestically.

Nevertheless there are worries that progress made thus far could be undermined. Risks have been identified in rising levels of labour migration, trafficking of children internally and across borders for the sex trade, and declining condom use among heterosexual couples.
The Environment in Thailand

Pak Mool Dam © Peter Charlesworth © People & the Planet

The tsunami cannot be blamed for the general environmental devastation experienced in Thailand. Indeed the prior clearance of about half of the natural protection of mangrove forests along the coastline may have intensified its impact. For the same reason there are concerns about the impact of climate change on Thailand's coastal region, as well as the low-lying capital city of Bangkok.

Commercial logging inland has also led to the destruction of precious rainforests. Thailand has acknowledged the loss of these natural resources as a national emergency. In the cities rising levels of air pollution are amongst the worst in the world. Poor quality of air in Bangkok cost the healthcare system an estimated $6.3 billion in the year 2001 alone. Government efforts to reduce air pollution include the construction of an above-ground rail system in the city. A National Committee on Long-term Global Environmental Issues has been established by the government in response to the rising levels of greenhouse gases.



Kavitha Nallathambi has obtained her MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics following an undergraduate degree from Emory University in International Studies and Journalism. Kavitha has interned for CNN Headline News and COXNet and has worked for The Carter Center in Atlanta, USA. She is currently working at the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, USA as project manager for the Joint Learning Initiative on Children and HIV/AIDS

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