A change in government can create a sense of renewal and excitement. New faces in the cabinet and new policies give the public hope for improved public administration and service.
Amid this, old policies are often put on ice, despite some of them already consuming a significant amount of tax revenue.
The previous Pheu Thai government had a “soft power” project, which focused on commodifying creativity, culture, and human potential, including sports and the arts. Former prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was a champion of such soft power initiatives.
Indeed, the Pheu Thai government established the National Soft Power Strategy Committee to promote 13 key industries: tourism, food, films, fashion, festivals, sports, music, art, design, gaming, literature, wellness, and the performing arts.
National committees, such as the Thailand Creative Culture Agency and its related subcommittees, were established to drive these initiatives.
And last year, the soft power scheme got a 5-billion-baht budget.
One of the flagship projects is One Family One Soft Power (Ofos), which sought to create 20 million jobs with a minimum annual salary of 200,000 baht.
The past government also allocated a budget to develop festivals and events, such as the Maha Songkran Water Festival, as part of its soft power initiative to attract tourists.
There were also promising initiatives, such as grants given to artists and filmmakers, as well as proposals to implement tax incentives for art collectors.
The big question is what successive governments will do with these schemes.
Last week, lawmakers also raised the question about soft power in a parliamentary session, with a list-MP from the People’s Party, Apisit Laistrooglai, even asking the government to inspect soft power budgets. He also claimed that some of the projects, such as Ofos, failed to meet their targets.
So far, the Auntin government has not revealed a clear policy about these soft power schemes.
The new tourism minister, Artthakorn Sirilatthayakorn, has not included soft power ideas such as local cuisines, Muay Thai, or Thai crafts as instruments to attract and promote tourism.
Sabeeda Thaised, the new culture minister, has yet to outline her policy on promoting Thai culture or what she will do with the numerous projects that her predecessor, Ms Paetongtarn, who was also the cultural minister, had initiated.
Needless to say, the parliament must review the budget spending.
Yet, such reviews must be fair and not driven by politics.
After all, soft power, initially known as the creative economy, if handled efficiently, can indeed create a new economy and a source of income and economic opportunities for Thais.
Of course, there are a number of concerns regarding the redundancy of these soft power schemes.
There are complaints about irregularities in bidding, and questions arise about whether these projects, financed by taxpayers’ money, have met their goals.
What government and lawmakers need to do is investigate irregularities and improve these schemes, rather than abandoning them simply because they belonged to a past government.