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Published on February 2, 2008

What do you think about your work during the past 16 months?

I did my best. The country's gross domestic product (GDP) was up more than 5 per cent in the fourth quarter. The Board of Investment's net applications and approved projects last

year were the highest since 1997.

I also worked on many significant policies such as the eco-car project, upstream steel blast furnace, Southern seaboard, pollution reduction in Map Ta Phut, intellectual property and productivity model schemes.

I also accept that I spent 90 per cent of my time on community development or the Yoo Dee Mee Suk strategy.

If you read newspapers, most columnists criticised me, saying that I had no outstanding achievements, but what I just mentioned can be proved to you all.

I don't know why most newspapers wrote that I

did not work or I went to sleep. Honestly, I was not really upset, but when I

consider the past 16 months, I fail myself on two issues

- politics and public relations. I am not a professional in these areas and I really don't know how to do

them.

What is your opinion

on the new government's plan to revive populist policies?

I prefer not to say if it's better or worse. Their vision may be better than mine.

In my opinion, if they do

not mislead people, that's okay. I think the most

important thing is to teach people how to live self-

sufficiently as much as possible.

If the government injects a huge amount of money to grassroots areas, the middle-class people - the taxpayers - will not be pleased.

That's called "politics" and it will create a rift among them.

If you understand the

situation like me, you will realise the economic problems did not only result

from external factors such

as oil prices or the strong baht, but they were also generated from politics.

The government cannot solve this political problem if they have no strong community plan.

 

What's your future plan?

I will take a vacation for a while and write a book. Then, I think I'll go back to work at Bangkok Bank.

What kind of book will you write?

As I am an economist, I've seen some economic changes caused by globalisation. Therefore, I am interested in writing a book about that subject.

To explain it simply, globalisation is related to people's basic feelings and forces them to adapt all the time. Hence, one solution for one problem doesn't always work. They have to consider all dimensions.

Comparing the situation to the community development issue, the easiest solution is to distribute a lot of money to people, but in a globalised world, the most effective solution is to teach them how to create more income and to depend on themselves.

Chalida Ekvitthaya-vechnukul summarised his three-hour talk.

The Nation