Good morning from The Coffee Parliament. Today’s newsletter is a little different from usual: I wanted to discuss a few items that isn’t currently front-page news. These are two topics I’ve meant to write about on here but never found the time to do a standalone post on, and unfortunately this means we are a little behind the curve. However, they also haven’t really been picked up on by the English-language media, so I think would still be of interest to Coffee Parliament readers.
Reform of government scholarship conditions
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research, and Innovation (MHESI) Yodchanan Wongsawat has identified brain drain as a major vulnerability for Thailand. In particular, he has noted that government scholarships, which often require scholarship-holders to return to work for the government (and hence accept public salaries) for two times the duration of their study, as a major factor in reducing the attractiveness of government scholarships. He argued in a Facebook post on September 16:
We must acknowledge that how previous scholarships were structured required long-term commitments, especially scholarships given from high school. When considering the mandatory service, along with penalties of three times the amount in the event of breach of contract, these things make government scholarships unattractive compared to other options which are more flexible…We need to ask how we can make talented people who still have energy want to stay in the national research system without feeling like they are too bounded or restricted.
As a result, Yodchanan has proposed making major changes to the conditions that MHESI imposes on its scholarship-holders, including halving the duration in which a scholarship-holder must work for the government post-graduation (with a cap of ten years), allowing postdoctoral work to count towards this duration, and easing restrictions on transferring agencies.
Yodchanan’s proposals come in a context where government scholarships have long been a recurring point of controversy in Thai society. Earlier this year, a clip where a scholarship-holder discussed how he was required to work for the government for 22 years or otherwise must pay a penalty of 45 million baht went viral. There are, of course, many differing viewpoints on this topic, with some arguing that those who take government scholarships know very well what they are signing up for while others noting that the conditions are still too onerous. (It’s worth noting that many students do sign up for these terms at age 18 or less, which is really quite a young age to be making that kind of commitment). At the very least, if Yodchanan’s reforms come to fruition, they would make government research scholarships more attractive to ambitious young Thai would-be scholars than previously.
No more term limits for local office-holders
Back in August, a new law amending qualifications for holders of elected local offices was passed. Provincial Administrative Organization (PAO) and Subdistrict Administrative Organization (SAO) chairmen are no longer subject to term-limits. Previously, they were barred from serving more than two consecutive terms. In addition, the minimum age required to be eligible for these offices was reduced from 35 to 25, and the requirement for an undergraduate degree was abolished.
The two-term limit on local elected politicians is actually a relatively recent innovation, having come into existence only under Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. As Professor Wasan Luangprapat of Thammasat University noted, the intention behind this restriction had been to limit the ability of influential local families from monopolizing power. In practice, of course, there are many ways for local clans to get past this restriction, not least by running other members of the family! It is unsurprising indeed that Bhumjaithai, a party that has made much of its association with the baan yai, to support abolishing these term limits.
But it is not just Bhumjaithai that has favored abolishment of term-limits; this reform has tri-partisan support, with Bhumjaithai, Pheu Thai, and the People’s Party backing this legislation even before the change of government last year. Indeed, Pita Limjaroenrat made a pledge to abolish term limits for local officeholders during that brief window in 2023 when he was still aiming to become Thailand’s prime minister. In addition, reduction in the age requirement would actually appear to favor the People’s Party most, whose candidates generally skew younger.
At the same time, however, one also wonders whether the traditional baan yai also very much welcomed the move. If a family wants to transfer power over to the next generation, they no longer have to wait for their heirs to reach the age of 35. What we may have here is a rare example of a political reform that benefits both a new movement-based party like the People’s Party and a party composed of local clans like Bhumjaithai.