Thai government unveils "12 Thai Values" LINE stickers

BANGKOK, December 23 (TNA) - The government has launched free-download Line stickers to promote 12 core Thai values. Deputy Prime Minister Yongyuth Yuthavong, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Minister Pornchai Ruchiprapa, and Science and Technology Minister Pichet Durongkaveroj jointly unveiled the 7.1 million-baht project for users of the popular chat application on Monday. The project is Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha's policy, aimed to build a good society through the 12 core values. They include upholding the country’s three key pillars–-the nation, the religions and the monarchy--,honesty, sacrifice and endurance; grateful to the parents, guardians and teachers; eagerness in knowledge acquirement through direct and indirect means; treasuring the precious Thai tradition; maintaining moral, integrity, well-wishes upon others; understanding, learning the true essence of democratic ideals with His Majesty the King as the Head of State; maintaining discipline, respectful of laws and the elderly and seniority; being conscious and mindful of action in line with His Majesty’s the King’s statements; practicing the philosophy of Sufficiency Economy of His Majesty the King; saving money for time of need; being moderate with surplus used for sharing or expansion of business while having good immunity; maintaining both physical and mental health and unyielding to the dark force or desires, having sense of shame over guilt and sins in accordance with the religious principles; putting the public and national interest before personal interest. The new 12 stickers, one for each value, designed by an artist named "GPEN", will be available for free download for 30 days from 30 December, 2014. At the press conference, Yongyuth said the 12 core Thai values, compiled by the Thai prime minister, who is also Chief of the army-led National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), are for the public to follow, as they are easy to memorize and to be used in everyday life. Yongyuth noted that the project is a joint cooperation between the ICT Ministry, the Science and Technology Ministry and the Culture Ministry. The deputy prime minister said the government expects around 3-3.5 million downloads of the stickers. Meanwhile, Pornchai stated that Japan-based Line Cooperation has agreed to cut the cost of the project from 7.8 million baht to 7.1 million baht as a New Year gift for Thai people. (TNA)