[Thailand] Thaksin visits Klong Toey to fight poverty

from The Bangkok Post

AMPA SANTIMATANEEDOL

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday made a surprise visit to the Klong Toey slum community to help tackle urban poverty _ just one day ahead of the anti-Thaksin rally at Royal Plaza. In a visit full of emotional verbal attacks against his opponents, Mr Thaksin said he was there to get first-hand information about the problems faced by the urban poor.

''I come here today to see the problems of the urban poor. The problems are much worse [than for the rural poor], '' he told a crowd of 1,000 people who waved banners in support of the prime minister.

The Klong Toey community is the constituency of Thai Rak Thai spokesman Sita Divari. Mr Thaksin said that he believed problems for the urban poor concerned mainly housing and job opportunities. The prime minister was told about a wide range of problems, from housing to healthcare to drug abuse.

The residents also submitted a letter asking for the scrapping of a cabinet resolution issued in May 2002 that approved a budget of 25 million baht for the construction of a health facility for people affected by the 1991 Klong Toey chemical fire. They wanted the money to be split among the people who were affected by the disaster. Mr Thaksin promised to build a long-lease condominium for the community members within six months.

Officials from the Social Development and Human Security Ministry would make a field visit to the area and coordinate with community leaders. Mr Thaksin also stressed the benefits of the 30-baht healthcare scheme, saying it would continue as long as he was in power.

He was accompanied by a number of cabinet ministers including Public Health Minister Phinij Jarusombat, Agriculture Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan and Social Development and Human Security Minister Watana Muangsook.

The prime minister did not shed his trade-mark generosity _ he bought the whole community lunch, which cost 3,000 baht. The visit followed Mr Thaksin's recent five-day poverty eradication trip to Roi Et's At Samat district.