Did the now-dissolved Move Forward Party cause floods in Thailand by voting to cut the budget for weir construction projects? No, that's not true: Floods in August 2024 were caused by excessive rainfall from two monsoons passing through the country. Additionally, the cut for the weir construction project was a broader parliamentary decision, not an act of the MFP alone.
The claim appeared in a video that was posted on TikTok on August 26, 2024 (archived here).
It had the following caption (translated from Thai to English by Lead Stories staff):
Cutting weir construction budget. #Flooding2024 #TikTokNews #MoveForwardParty #WeirCollapsing #TheMask
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Sep 4 11:52:35 2024 UTC)
The video features footage of flooding with an overlay text saying, as translated, "Who is responsible?" and "Proud to have cut the weir construction budget but the people are in trouble." It also features Surachet Pravinvongvuth, a Bangkok member of Parliament from the former MFP, saying, as translated, that the party was proud to have proposed cutting this budget item because it saved the people's money.
The claim alluded to 1,255 million baht for the cement-core weir construction project by the Department of Local Administration under the Ministry of Interior that appeared in the proposal for the fiscal year 2025 budget earlier this year (archived here).
First, the severe flooding that hit Thailand in August 2024, was caused by excessive rainfall between August 14-21, 2024, according to the Thai Meteorological Department. The agency posted on its Facebook page (archived here) on August 25, 2024, that it was due to the influence of two monsoons, with strong power at times, that passed through Thailand in the north and northwest.
"This causes continuous rain almost every day with rainfall being heavy to very heavy in some days, especially in the mountainous areas," the agency wrote, as translated. "This results in a huge amount of water rapidly flowing into the main river basins."
On the weir construction project, while it was true the opposition MFP party proposed to reject it, other parties including the ruling Pheu Thai Party joined in voting it down, according to a Parliamentary meeting on March 21, 2024 (archived here) recorded by The National Assembly Radio and Television Broadcasting Station.
The 1,255-million-baht item was in Article 20 of the budget bill under the Ministry of Interior. The Ad-Hoc Committee on the Annual Appropriations Bill Budget recommended an amendment to take the item out, after the committee questioned its necessity and transparency, according to committee meeting minutes (archived here) from February 13, 2024.
In the Parliamentary meeting on March 21, 2024, the government and the opposition parties clashed over the rejection of the funding for the construction project. When a motion to adopt the committee's recommendations went before members for a vote, though, it passed with 427-1 votes, with two abstentions, according to voting records (archived here). This means every party voted in favor of cutting the budget for the weir construction project. Another motion to pass the Ministry of Interior's overall budget that included the cut, passed with 270-157 votes, with five abstentions, according to the same voting records.
Initially opposing the cut, Pheu Thai Party released a statement on Facebook (archived here) on March 22, 2024, after voting, instead, in favor of the cut, stating that the party rejected the cut in the committee meeting but lost to the majority, so it decided to "look at the big picture" and passed the amendment to speed up the budget process for the good of the people.
Additionally, Member of Parliament Karit Pannaim, an engineer who has a background in weir construction, said in an interview with The Reporters (archived here) on August 26, 2024, that the goal of constructing a weir is to save water for drought seasons, not to prevent floods because weirs are usually constructed lower than river banks.
