Drug abuse, the violence in the South and environmental decay are the major concerns for the new government to address, Her Majesty the Queen said in her birthday speech yesterday. She turns 79 today.
Her Majesty also mourned Her Royal Highness Princess Bejaratana Rajasuda, who died on July 27, while honouring all 16 people killed in| three Army helicopter crashes last month.
She outlined a plan to ereact a 32-metre-tall Buddha statue at a Kanchanaburi temple in memory of the giant Buddha statues destroyed in Afghanistan a few years ago.
Speaking at Dusitdalai Pavilion in Chitralada Palace before tens of thousands of officials and attendants, the Queen bestowed a motto for Mother's Day, which marks her birthday, calling on all Thais to unite as a nation for common prosperity, as expressed and encouraged in the national anthem.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, in her birthday and welcome speech, praised the Queen's dedication and many projects that improved people's lives, while emphasising the government's appreciation of her good deeds and its loyalty to her and the monarchy.
The Queen cited the numerous irrigation and agricultural projects initiated by His Majesty the King to increase crop yields, maintain soil fertility and neutralise soil conditions.
"The soil-conditioning project has turned more than 100,000 rai of acidic land [mostly in the South] into fertile areas or farmland," she said.
"The Royal Project has reached its 42nd anniversary and proved a success in encouraging hilltribe people to stop growing poppies and turn to planting fruits and plants that bring them income, while preventing their traditional mobile farming practices, which degraded soil fertility," she said.
The Queen called on anti-narcotics authorities to step up suppression efforts and urged the new government to continue with a project called "Mother of the Land Fund" from the previous government, which was promoting a no-drugs campaign at the community level in 12,189 villages.
"The manufacturers of the drugs, along with traders and dealers, are acting like murderers killing their own children. This is very worrying to me," she said.
The insurgent attacks on Buddhist monks in the South during morning alms walks were troubling, and a violation of the freedom of religious belief for Thai Buddhists, she said.
The Phra Phuttha Metta Prachathai Trailokkanart Khanthararat Anusorn Buddha statue would be installed on an 8-metre-high pedestal to be built at Thip Sukhontharam Temple in Kanchanaburi's Huay Krajao district, she said. This project, which will take about four years to complete, was launched by the late abbot of Chana Songkram Temple in Bangkok, Somdej Phra Maha Theerajarn.
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