Kardee criticizes 13B THB MDES budget over Cloud First flaws
MP Kardee Leeprakongsak criticizes the 13.625 billion THB MDES budget, arguing the Cloud First policy has bloated costs by over 50%.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- The MDES budget of 13.625 billion THB was cut by only 25.8 million THB, a mere 0.19%.
- The Cloud First policy caused total cloud spending to surge by over 50%, with GDCC up 120%.
- 45 agencies still rent separate cloud services while 40 plan separate data centers.
- Critics target a 550 million THB overlapping budget by the Thai Meteorological Department.
During the parliamentary debate on Section 16 regarding the budget of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES), set at 13.625 billion baht, list-MP Kardee Leeprakongsak from the Democrat Party delivered a sharp critique. She pointed out that the extraordinary committee had trimmed the ministry's budget by a mere 25.8 million baht, or just 0.19 percent, which is significantly lower than the average budget cuts seen across other ministries.
A core issue raised during her speech was the government's Cloud First policy, which she argued has created a paradoxical situation where centralization leads to administrative bloat. Although direct cloud rentals by individual agencies dropped by about 10 percent from 1.523 billion baht to 1.359 billion baht, combining this with the Government Data Center and Cloud Service (GDCC) budget of 4.980 billion baht pushed total cloud expenditures up by over 50 percent, with the GDCC budget alone spiking by a staggering 120 percent.
Furthermore, widespread redundancy remains a critical hurdle within national infrastructure. As many as 45 government agencies continue to rent separate cloud services totaling over a billion baht, while another 40 agencies have proposed setting up their own data centers worth nearly 1 billion baht. The primary reasons agencies refuse to adopt the central GDCC cloud are cumbersome data transition processes and lingering concerns over data security and confidentiality, even though the MDES should ideally act as the country's Chief Technology Officer to build absolute trust.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
"With cloud rental costs exceeding 1 billion baht in just two years, future projections could skyrocket to 50 billion baht. If the government relies solely on renting without establishing a robust technological foundation, it will shoulder massive recurring expenses without ever owning digital assets."
Kardee further noted that the vast majority of the budget has been funneled into infrastructure and system rentals, whereas investments in data platforms and software applications remain extremely low. Because this expenditure model relies on rentals rather than asset acquisition, short-term cloud leasing costs exceeding 1 billion baht over two years could eventually project up to 50 billion baht. Without building foundational tech assets, the state risks carrying heavy operational liabilities without possessing permanent digital assets.
This parliamentary debate highlights the structural challenges facing Thailand's digital government initiatives. While centralizing IT systems via a common cloud is a standard global strategy to eliminate redundancy and save long-term costs, a lack of seamless data migration integration and robust security reassurances will naturally cause operational agencies to hesitate. For the Cloud First policy to succeed, the MDES must provide top-tier security standards and smooth migration frameworks to prevent public funds from being drained by unsustainable short-term leasing models.
In her concluding remarks, Kardee highlighted redundant budget allocations within the Thai Meteorological Department, specifically pointing to a 492 million baht project for high-resolution weather forecasting upgrades and a 58 million baht allocation to renovate the weather forecasting war room and media systems. Totaling over 550 million baht, she argued this spending is unnecessary because Thailand already houses comprehensive satellite and weather data agencies such as GISTDA and NARIT under the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI). She urged parliament to cut these redundant budgets to optimize state spending for the public good.
Source: Matichon Politics
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