The IT gap widens again

       It is not so much that Thailand ranked 47th in the world in the most recent Global Information Technology report compiled by the World Economic Forum (WEF). And it is not just that the rankings put Thailand 19 places behind Malaysia and not that far ahead of Vietnam. The part that should hurt was the WEF commentary, straight from the shoulder,that Thailand continues to lose ground in IT competition with the rest of the world. And the analysis put the full blame on the government.
       The Global Information Technology Report is a direct measure of each country's competitiveness. It is a "critical enabler of growth", in the words of Klaus Schwab, executive chairman of the WEF, and "is increasingly moving to the core of national competitiveness strategies around the world". But this is exactly the problem. Thai authorities have neither grasped nor encouraged IT development. And in the 21st century,through both perception and results, countries which fail to grasp the opportunity of information technology are letting their citizens down, if not directly dooming them to lack of development.
       Last year, Thailand ranked 40th in the world in the global report."Pursuing its downward slide in the ranking, Thailand plunges a further seven positions,"the report's editors wrote."Behind this negative trend is the continuous worsening of the country's performance in all the government-related indicators." That leaves little wriggle room for a government that has had nothing to brag about in the IT field anyhow. And there is plenty of blame to go around. The last two Puea Thai and People's Power administrations lacked in IT motivation and leadership as well.
       The current Democrat-led government, however,has proved the WEF's words to be true. When he was forming his coalition government early this year, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva made the ill-advised, ultimately harmful decision to turn the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology into one of the lowest political-payoff posts. The appointed minister, Ranongruk Suwunchwee, already had a double fault. She has no experience in the field of IT or in managing technology experts. Worse in some eyes, her husband Pairoj was banned from politics for five years in the Thai Rak Thai court decision, and she is widely seen as his surrogate and proxy.
       Mrs Ranongruk has managed to survive seven months as minister without making a public decision on IT.Staff of the state-owned telecommunications agencies TOT and CAT Telecom have publicly demonstrated against her lack of action. All levels of the IT industry have lost faith in the ICT Ministry to push information technology for the public good, whether in the schools,the markets, in business or even in government.
       Mrs Ranongruk has retreated behind her office door.Instead of pushing for IT development, she has enthusiastically taken on the role of official Thailand censor.She has banned more than 17,000 websites for real and imagined violations of her personal view of politics and national security. Recently, she has tried, often successfully, to block access to websites that are nothing but political argument, in gross violation of freedom of speech and the press.
       The WEF has got it exactly right. The government,through numerous sins of commission and omission,has harmed the development of IT and thus the country.Thailand needs an ICT minister able to send the message that IT is necessary for healthy economic growth. If the government fails to get behind such a push, Thailand will continue to drop in the competitive rankings.