Let me be a bit more specific. Some politician that is part of a major party here in Thailand recently decided that it would be a good idea to cancel the use of 1000 and 500 Baht notes nationwide and the reason for doing so is not to force some sort of digital ID or social credit system or even to be able to track all the transactions that everyone does - which we all know the real reason is - but so that high ranking government officials can't accept bribes.
SURE!
I am not a fan of everything being digital. I am one of those people that if I go into a restaurant and the only menu is a QR code, I leave. I am the kind of person that if I see a restaurant or coffee shop that doesn't accept cash, I do not shop there. I often pay using digital means as well. To me, it isn't about whether or not this sort of payment is convenient or not, because we all know that it is, it is about being FORCED to take part in a nanny-state sort of environment where every fucking little thing that you do is tracked and recorded and sold and used to advertise to you or even worse, to cut you off from making certain purchases in the future.
With the elimination of cash the government could one day enforce "green initiatives" where you can no longer buy gasoline and force you to buy an electric vehicle. Obviously this wouldn't apply to you if you are wealthy.
The politician hasn't mentioned any of these things though, all he does is pull on people's heartstrings and say that the ONLY reason for attempting to enact this would be to crack down on government corruption. The same government that he currently is a leader in.
His name is Warong Dechgitvigrom, and good luck pronouncing that and remembering it, and he is the leader of the Thai Pakdee Party, and I am probably getting this translation wrong but one of the things that Pakdee can mean is "good mouth" or perhaps it means "honest." I have no idea.
Anyway, the idea is damn stupid and the method that he is using to try to get this done assumes that the population are all idiots and unfortunately, he is probably correct in that assumption.
I'm paraphrasing here but he said something along the lines of "it is not uncommon for politician's homes to contain secret rooms used to store large amounts of cash" and he sites ONE example where a former highway department director's house had hundreds of boxes of 1000 baht notes. Is this even true? I don't know, but it isn't a good enough reason to force every single person in the country to have to use their phone and banking app in order to buy anything that they need.
He does go on to say that old people might suffer from this but the use of 10, 20, 50, and 100 Baht notes would be sufficient. Has this guy ever been shopping before? a 100 Baht note, which is the highest his party is thinking of continuing to allow, is around $3. I don't know about your grandma, but she tends to buy more than $3 worth of stuff at a time.
In the same sentences this same politican proposed the death penalty for people found guilty of embezzling more than 100 million Baht... and wait! it gets better... The execution has to take place within 15 days and there is no eligibility for a royal pardon.
Wow...
The public reaction, the media stated anyway, was "mixed" but if they say that it probably means that everyone is opposed to it but they can't say that because it would defame the government and that is also an unwritten crime in this country that could get your media outlet raided and shut down in a hurry. It depends on who is in power.
This country depends quite heavily on tourism as well and not everyone has the means to make electronic transfers here and in many cases they choose not to because they don't want to pay the 3-10% that their bank will charge them for doing so. Therefore, they go to a money exchange and use cash.
This is a wildly stupid idea and it is just so politician of the guy to attempt to brand this as a way of reforming the government when in my mind and the mind of almost everyone else I talk to, it is clearly a method of population control.
I hope this gets shut down immediately and that his political party takes a massive hit for even suggesting it.