Policy Announcement*

Mr. President,

Persuant to His Majesty the King's gracious appointment of myself as Prime Minister, per Royal Command dated 20 April 1976, and the subsequent appointment of the Council of Ministers, per Royal Command dated 21 April 1976.

At this auspicious moment, the government would like to present the formal policies, according to Code 184 of the democratic Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand, to the Parliament and obtain its kind approval, as follows:

Regarding the national political, economic and social disorders, the Thai people has been rendered insecure of the future and national security, especially farmers, planters, and laborers, poverty-stricken. Therefore, the urgent resolution to the problem is needed as for remaining the national stability and peace. The policies The governmentre set in 2 phases, which are the urgent and long-term policy.

Urgent Policy

The main problem of the population, which needs the urgently resolution, is to provide the assistance to the agriculturists, fix the cost of living, preserve the legal solemity, maintain the national peace, subjugate the corruption, distribute the administration to the provinces, and expand the local electricity network.

1. Provide the Assistance to the Agriculturists

Eighty per cent of the national population has been rendered poor and of little economic opportunity. Thus, the government shall intend to lift up the economic status of farmers and suppress the poverty, following these steps:

(1)	Implement the urgent land reform and distribute the cultivating land to the general public, commencing the year 1977, approximately to 40,000 - 50,000 families.
(2)	Relocate the agricultural loan from the private financial institutions to the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, as to prevent the loss of land ownerships.
(3)	Promote the fair price of agricultural products and abolish the premium and export taxes, especially for rice, in order to promote the competitiveness amongst international markets.
(4)	Improve and popularize the cooperative network, as for the efficiency in the production, modification and distribution.
(5)	Enhance the irrigation system, land development, low-priced cropping, herbicides, and fertilizers.

2. Fix the Cost of Living

The government shall maintain the price of basic and essential commodities, in particular, rice, set the efficient measures, as for reasonable price, and reduce the economic monopoly, as for the price reason.

3. Preserve the Legal Solemnity and National Security

The government shall preserve the legal solemnity and national security, by means of the reduced crime rate, fair punishment for all, police administration, and investigation facilitation, and enhance the role of kamnans and village headmen.

4. Subjugate the Corruption

The government shall seriously prevent and suppress the corruption, be it in the government and state administration, and not let the related Act regulated for granted. In addition, the government shall decree the Act of Ministerial Property Transparency, in order that the Cabinet, Representatives, civil servants and state officers shall declare the pre-office financial status, and draft the laws concerning the Parliament Auditor-General, according to the Constitution.

5. Distribute the Administration to the Provinces

The government shall decree all-level local administration laws, in order that the local administration shall be duly established, according to the Constitution, and the local election shall be held. The local shall also implement their own policy freely.

6. Expand the Local Electricity Network

The government shall construct the nationwide electricity infrastructures.

The political, economical, social and administrative long-term policies are as follows:

Long-Term Policy

Political Policy

1.	The government shall uphold the democratic administration, with King as Head of State, operate the political activities with honesty and justice, and respect the rights and liberties of the public, according to the provision of Constitution, preserve the Nation, Religion, and King as the center of national unity and sovereigniy.
2.	The government shall maintain the royal army, according to the current situation and national economic situation, especially that involved with the protection of the royal throne, independence, security and national benefits, promote the better military welfare, efficiency, and morale, and encourage the military participation in the national developments.
3.	The government shall run international policies freely, as for the sake of the national benefits, not interfering in internal affairs of any country, befriend the friendly nations, in spite of the ideological and economic differences, upon the equality, integrity, and sovereignty basis, and restore the close diplomatic ties with other asian countries.

The government shall deploy the diplomatic missions, in order to resolve the regional problems and restore the regional peace, especially in indochinese countries, establish close diplomatic relations with other sovereign nations, most notably ASEAN member countries, in order to support the peace, liberty, and neutrality proposal, collaborate with other third-world nations, in order to achieve the mutual benefits.

The government shall respect the international treaties, follow the United Nations' Charters, upon the equality and justice, install the world peace and security. In addition, the government shall prevent the international interference in the national administration, and expatriate the foreign force base in Thailand.

Economic Policy

The government shall implement the national economic reform, in order to achieve the social justice and national stability, by respecting the personal property ownership and promoting the private economy, and revise the economic regulations, following these steps:

1.	Reduce the economic gap, by means of the taxation, budget, and other relevant measures, and provide the fair income distribution.
2.	Implement the new taxation system, i.e., establish the direct tax collection, by means of the improved tariffs, tax types, and efficient tax administration, and run the national expenditures, in parallel to the tax collection and savings policy, in order to evade the inflation. Also, let the private financial institution play a key role, as to provide an assistance to agriculturists.
3.	Monopolize the national infrastructure and large-scale industries, which shall provide the greatest benefits to the Thai people, and outlaw the unjust and negative concessions.
4.	Promote the just industrial investment, be it of Thai or foreigner, in order to establish the social justice, confidence, and ease, support the national-agricultural-product-based, export-oriented, and tourism-inspired industries, establish the tax-free industrial estates, standardize the industrial regulations, as for the laboral health and safety and environmental detoxification, and provide the regional industrial distributions.
5.	Sanction the fair laboral wages, support the labor union, as for the reasonable negotiation between the employer and employee, and, for this matter, establish the Ministry of Labour, as for the up-to-date action.
6.	Enlarge the national and international trade, in terms of volume and precedence. As for the national trade, the government shall observe and protect the consumer's right. As for the international trade, the government shall enlarge the trade relationship with foreign countries and tightly control the exports and necessary imports, as for the national trade account balance.
7.	Furnish the nationwide small-scale irrigation systems and expand the water channel networks, as for the draught-stricken Northeastern.
8.	Support the fishery and animal domestication, as for the exporting purposes, and promote the high-quality rubber plants, instead of local ones.
9.	Pretect the national forests, enforce the forest preservation measures, revive the degraded forests, and nourish the water sources.
10.	Expand and improve the national transportation system, according to the topography, standard of living, and the economic distribution, as to meet the economic and social policies, focusing on the construction and development of the provincial transportation routes, improve the bus routes and railways, as for the sake of the people, as to provide the convenient, safe, cheap, and worthwhile means of transports, enpand the mass transit system, develop the telephone and telecommunicaton network, as seen appropriate, improve the ship wharfs and maritime commerce, and develop the existing airports, as to become international airport, as viewed necessary, and become the regional aviation hub.
11.	Subsidize the Provincial Administration Organization and foster the local developments.

Social Policy

1.	The government shall implement the appropriate educational reform, in accordance with the economic and social situations, provide the fair educational opportunity, according to the intellectual aptitude, grant the education scholarships, expand the adult and vocational education with the focus on the agriculturel and industry, in mandatory education, extend the national compulsory education to six years, within 4 years, and provide the equipment, i.e., notebook, textbook, stationary, also uniform for inferior students, free of charge, establish the local high schools for all districts within 4 years, establish the public university, as much as possible, exphasizing on the theory, and provide the education for the students in the region.
2.	The government shall provide the adequate integral health care system; prevention, protection, cure, to the regions and provinces, provide the free health education, establish the distrital hospitals and municipal health care centers, in all districts within 4 years, enlarge the mobile medical unit system, as to provide the cure to the remote patients, and recruit new medical officers, as to meet the increasing needs of the people.
3.	The government shall provide the social welfare, be it private or public, and heed the special care to the underprivileged in the degraded areas.
4.	The government shall implement the housing estate construction projects, as for the general public, military, and low-level police officers. Each department shall pay to the National Housing Authority annually, after the construction.
5.	The government shall reduce the national birth rate, by campaigning the family planning and promoting the laboral welfare.
6.	The government shall pass the Act of Women Right, according to the Constitution.

Administrative Policy

1.	The government shall respect the freedom of the royal judges, facilitate the court procedures, and reform the practice of the justice officers, as for the sake of the people.
2.	The government shall implement the administrative reform, in both practice and personel, in order to achieve the high efficiency of the civil servants, encourage the civil servants to serve the public truly, reach the grass root level, without the priviledge, promote the living welfare, as for accommodation and goods from state enterprises.

The government shall intend to run the state administration, in accordance with the aforementioned policies, as to establish the national well-being. In this respect, the government hopes the Parliament shall cooperate with us, by granting us the kind approval, in order that the government shall continue with the said projects.

Thank you.

*Parliament Assembly Report of 3/1976, 30 April 1976, Pages 143-151