Few see anything positive, constructive in politics

Nothing constructive happened in politics last year, or so say more than 54 per cent of the respondents to a recent Abac poll.

The year-end public-opinion poll was conducted on 2,189 people above the age of 18 in more than 17 provinces, including Phetchaburi, Nakhon Pathom, Uttaradit, Lampang, Yala, Buri Ram, Songkhla and Bangkok.

Noppadol Kannika, director of the Abac poll, said 19.1 per cent of the respondents said the only constructive thing that happened in 2012 was the joint stance taken by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Opposition Leader Abhisit Vejjajiva to fight corruption. Another 10.5 per cent said Yingluck's courtesy call to Privy Council President Prem Tinsulanonda was the most constructive news of the year.

A little over 9 per cent found the joint effort by the government and the opposition to tackle violence in the deep South the most positive political news of the year, while 7.2 per cent believed it was the friendly soccer match between the two sides.

As for economic news, 36.2 per cent of the respondents said news about Thailand preparing to become part of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) was the biggest economic news of 2012, while 17.9 per cent said it was raising the minimum daily wage to Bt300 and setting Bt15,000 as the monthly wage for those with undergraduate degrees.

Meanwhile, 14.7 per cent said the visits by US and Chinese leaders aimed at expanding investment were the biggest news items.

As for the top social event of last year, 65.1 per cent said it was when His Majesty the King granted an audience to his subjects on his birthday. This was followed by 15.4 per cent of the respondents saying it was the news of the good Samaritan taxi driver who returned money left in his cab by a foreign tourist, which tied with news of an elderly beggar donating a large sum of money to a temple.

Taking third place, with votes from 7.3 per cent of the respondents, was the government setting up a shelter called Baan Un Jai to help drug addicts, followed by 4.8 per cent saying that aid given to people in the deep South was the biggest social news.

Among television news hosts, Sorrayuth Suthassanachinda topped the list with 63.8 per cent of the votes, followed by Kitti Singhapad with 11.2 per cent.

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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2013/01/01/few-see-anything-positive-constructive-in-politics/