His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej has talked about the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy since 1974. Since then the idea has been one of the most mentioned topics in the society and integrated into operational guidelines of most institutions. The National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) however has found that the society do not really understand the concept.
According to NESDB Deputy Secretary General Thanin Paem, the concept seemed to affect the level of national savings, as mentioned in the first part of this special report. Another major impediment is that although Thai people have awareness about the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy, they do not have thorough understanding, especially in the meaning of being economical.
Although the private sector has been implementing the Sufficiency Economy principle in corporate operation, the concrete and constructive usage remains limited since entrepreneurs lack thorough understanding and are not certain if the principle will be efficient for their operation.
On the part of the public sector, the implementation of the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy is not continuous due to frequent changes of government and lack of political stability. The difference in understanding of the concept makes the policy implementation, integration, cooperation and follow-up mission aimless and inefficient while the supportive budget is inadequate.
After the above-mentioned evaluation, the NESDB suggested that the government should educate and promote the understanding of the society on Sufficiency Economy while community economy should be strengthened as each community should have a learning network and a planning institute of its own.
In addition, the private sector should be encouraged to use the Sufficiency Economy principle widely to support the operation of the public sector. Strategies on how to spearhead the Sufficiency Economy with participation of all sides should be mapped out. Researches should be conducted on how to apply the concept with the agricultural and industrial sectors.
In conclusion, it is easy to encourage people to apply the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy in their lives; however, it is indeed a lot more difficult to achieve if people still do not understand how they can live sufficiently amid the current poverty and materialism in which money is the most important for people in all walks of lives.
