Conflict, Legitimacy and Government Reform: Equitable Allocation of ...

72 KPI Congress XI
The second way of how public policies in Thailand are formed is
through pressure (gently but with stern face) of interest groups backed by
capitalist groups and businesses, including numerous business
associations, brokers of the stock market, stock exchange board, major
stock investors, some university scholars who have some shared interests
with the above groups. Moreover, the stuff considered academic in
Thailand merely rests on secular views of the above groups. So, no matter
whether academics are a hired shooter or not a hired shooter, most of
them will shoot in the same directions or their shots will be cluttered
together.
This pressure may be considered forceful. Despite the fact that this
pressure may not be based on a comprehensive study, shining “scholar’s
aura” is there. Thus, it has a great influence on media and audiences, let
alone financial connection between these groups and politicians in every
party. So, this pressure becomes the most vital factor in the formulation
of public policies. At the least, if these policies are not opposed by these
groups, they will likely be implemented.
The third way of how public policies are formed is through the
monarchy. Due to a special status of this institution in the Thai society,
the king’s opinions greatly influence the formulation of public policies.
(That’s all I want to write about this because that’s all the courage I have)
The fourth way of how public policies are formed is through
middle-class people, who are the most important customers of all types
of media because of high purchasing power that can make the media
profitable. Actually, these people don’t have much shared interests, except
some basic necessities. So, this is the group of people that have power to
influence public policies to a certain extent. Since politicians typically
seek popularity among voters, there is a tendency that they will propose
policies to appease middle classes, for example, capping cooking gas
price, taking money from benzene to subsidize diesel prices, reducing bus
fare, building expressway, reducing expressway toll fee, increasing
deductibles for personal income tax and so forth.