Democrat Party Urges Government to Verify Economic Claims
The Democrat Party criticized the government for relying on positive ratings and urged officials to leave their offices and ask ordinary citizens whether the economy is truly improving. Party economist Trierat Sirichantoropas said many Thais still feel the pinch of high living costs and stagnant incomes, warning that structural weaknesses could undermine long‑term competitiveness. He called on the government to ensure that new investments in data centres and AI benefit the broader population and create quality jobs.
On October 14, 2026, Trierat Sirichantoropas of the Democrat Party’s economic team responded to a rebuttal from a government spokesperson, saying the administration should listen more to opposing views instead of defending its own image and should not view every critique as a political matter.
He urged the government to turn to small‑scale entrepreneurs, farmers, and workers nationwide and ask whether the Thai economy has genuinely improved as claimed, whether people’s incomes have risen, and how the quality of life for middle‑class and low‑income citizens has changed.
Trierat said that if the spokesperson left the air‑conditioned office and spoke with real people, they would find many Thais still do not feel the economy is better, facing high living costs, stagnant incomes, and weakening purchasing power.
He added that the party’s criticism is not an accusation that Thailand is heading into a 1997‑style crisis, but a warning about growing structural fragility and the risk of losing long‑term competitiveness if old economic policies continue.
The government should not fixate solely on rising investment figures, especially from data‑centre and AI ventures, without asking how widely those funds benefit the grassroots economy, how many quality jobs they create for Thais, and whether they truly raise the incomes of the majority.
Trierat noted that the real concern is not just low economic‑growth numbers but the absence of a new economic engine that could generate work, income, and opportunities for large numbers of Thais.
He cited Korn Chatikavanij’s reference to the 1991 boom, when growth reached about 8% a year, yet hidden fragility led to the Tom Yum Goong crisis, urging today’s leaders to avoid repeating the mistake and to ask what hidden risks could harm the country in the next four to five years, where growth will come from, and how incomes will rise.
Trierat warned that Thailand risks being labelled the “sick man of Asia” by foreign critics if growth remains below potential, and that if the government stays satisfied with investment figures without tackling structural problems, the public will bear the cost of lost opportunities.
He concluded that the question the government must answer is not how many investors have arrived today, but whether in five years Thais will have better jobs, higher incomes, and a brighter future.
