13
published by the Foreign Office, Public Relations Department of the Office
of the Prime Minister, which so nicely dwells on the His Majesty’s concept
of “New Theory, Sufficiency Economy” revealed to the public for the first
time by His Majesty The King in the Royal Speech on the eve of his
birthday anniversary on 4
th
December, 1992.
In 1997, when Thailand encountered a severe financial crisis, His
Majesty the King again clarified his “Sufficiency Economy” theory and
mentioned a remedial process in his royal speech on the eve of his
birthday anniversary on 4
th
December, 1977
“Recently, so many projects have been implemented, so many
factories have been built, that it was thought Thailand would become a
little tiger and then a big tiger. People were crazy about becoming a tiger.
Being a tiger is not important. The important thing for us is to have a
sufficient economy, A sufficient economy means to have enough to
support ourselves.
A careful backward step must be taken. A return to less
sophisticated methods must be made with less advanced instruments.
However, it is a step backward in order to make further progress.”
His Majesty the King further clarified the “Sufficiency Economy” in
the royal speech on 4
th
December, 1998:
“This ‘Sufficiency’ means a ‘sufficiency economy’. It is satisfactory
if each individual has enough to live on, but it is even better if the entire
country has enough to live on……….”
His Majesty also explained that Sufficiency Economy differs from
the English term “self-sufficiency”:
“Self-sufficiency means producing enough for one’s own need,
without having to borrow anything from others or as they say, standing on
one’s own feet. But the Sufficiency Economy concept is much broader
than that. Sufficiency is moderation. If one moderate in one’s desires, one
will take less advantage of others………..