Comments by "annoyed aussie" (@annoyedaussie3942) on "Vaccines, acid blockers, mouth wash and mental health" video.

@tuck295q hey mate clearly you are not a fan of your government, however don't understate how well you have done. Despite the way politics works in Thailand and I have knowledge of this , the Thai public service is actually of quite a high standard and regardless of what government you have they do allow public servants to do their job. In January and up to February 21 Thailand like Australia my country , Japan , Taiwan etc. had found more cases individually than US and all European countries. We were ready and had border quarantine, US to this day doesn't have enforced border quarantine as is the case with most European countries. This act alone is considered controversial in US and European countries.
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@tuck295q you don't understand , look at the US if you want to see the difference. Why is the US public service so useless? Could it be because of the leadership. Currently Thailand is potentially on a knife edge if covid 19 breaks out in protests because would they stop protesting if required. People often don't appreciate what they have because it's not perfect or until it's gone. All government leaders said or did things that look stupid in retrospect regarding covid 19 with the possible exceptions of Taiwan and Vietnam. The government is in power and could have behaved like most European governments and US government did. I do understand the issues in Thailand regarding at what stage your democracy is at. Having things change slowly I would suggest is not a bad thing. Although there is certainly issues your current king doesn't really want to be involved with politics which is good but the change might be rocky. If what is happening now , happened 30 years ago in Thailand as you know bullets would already be flying. I hope this doesn't happen but it's not impossible. Transitioning from the previous kings idea to the likely path of the current king is uncomfortable for some. I know the biggest issues for many Thai is the current kings behaviour is not "king like" however in the scheme of things this isn't a big problem. I think in 10 or 20 years Thailand will have a constitutional democracy more similar to a country like England where the monarch and privy council are pretty much symbolic from.my understanding.
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@tuck295q I actually looked up USAID and what you are referring to was $4.2 million USD only, so a drop in the ocean, total aid was at $78 million of this the 2 main programs at about $10,000,000 each was for Burmese or Myanmar refugees and some military thing. I am not arguing Thailand is perfect or anything but just be a little more patient and don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Of course I hope things resolve peacefully and the constitution doesn't have the upper house controlled by the military anymore. As far as the institution of the palace , that's a hard one because while I might think it should be less involved do Thai people overall want that? Also what is your opinion on the Royal Projects which is funded by government but run independently of government. I did find out about probably the most contentious issue and that's the king having direct control over property such as palaces and in theory that he could actually sell them off or leave them to whoever he wanted to in his will. The amount the government is giving the monarchy does seem excessive but might not be and it lacks any transparency what it is for. As far as assets that could be considered private property it's sort of a mess and having finance ministers previously manage them is no different to now because either way conflicts of interest can be argued. However the tax now paid by the king on investments would be significant which is a plus I guess. Whether or not it's a good idea for the king to declare publically that income or not , I don't know and it has never been declared before under any king. Anyway best of luck and hope all goes well. I do have some money in the Thai stock market but haven't followed it for ages and my gf actually is in the military and fairly high rank , involved in the medical field. That's how I know some things. The difference between US and Thai government system is one is a Federation and one a central government, the overarching system in the US and Australia is the same, state governments deal with health and therefore the operational part of dealing with covid 19. Enjoy the end of your weekend. I hope both our countries stay covid 19 free.
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@tuck295q an interesting thing about foreign aid, according to Australia's DFAT Thailand is a net donor country actually, about ASEAN development. So you can be proud you help the poorer countries around you.
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