Pakorn calls for more efficient civil service

Pakorn Nilprapunt, Deputy Prime Minister, has urged a comprehensive restructuring of Thailand's civil service, emphasizing efficiency over the phrase "bureaucratic reform". He criticized the notion that such reforms often result in plans without concrete action. The current budget allocation of approximately 73% to recurring expenses, such as civil service salaries, could potentially be reduced, freeing funds to boost development.

Economic pressures, including geopolitical tensions, climate change, and an ageing population, will exacerbate public sector demands. Pakorn suggested reducing the workforce, utilizing technology to replace human labor, and citing China's AI applications as a model. He recommended policy streamlining and elimination of redundancies while preserving or enhancing service quality.

The aim is to shift the budget share from 20% to 30% for investment and disaster preparedness. Despite Thailand's established bureaucratic development framework, including the Office of the Public Sector Development Commission, tangible changes have been elusive. He criticized the disproportionate expansion of policy-making roles while cutting operational staff, describing the bureaucracy as having "a big head and a thin body".

He proposed interconnected databases, machine-readable documents, and AI to bolster digital and open government without expanding the workforce. The government is currently reviewing about 7,600 laws and regulations to eliminate redundancies. Private sector input should be sought during regulation creation, and processing times should be cut by 20-30%.

Thailand employs around 415,000 civil servants in the central government, rising to approximately 1.7 million when including teachers, doctors, and nurses at state institutions.