Pressure has eased on the Chao Phraya Dam in Chai Nat province, which regulates the flow of the channel as it sweeps across the plains to Bangkok and into the sea in Samut Prakan province.

However, the RID added that, since a depression was forecast, it would not be lowering its guard by cutting the rate of discharge from the dam. That rate stands at nearly 2,300 cubic metres of water per second, which gives the RID drainage capacity to handle increased upstream flow in the coming days. However, it also means that people living in low-lying areas downstream will continue to endure flooding that has inundated their communities for nearly a month now.

These include at least seven districts in Chai Nat running south to Ayutthaya, where thousands of residents are living amid floods.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha revealed the Cabinet had approved a proposal from the Agricultural and Cooperatives Ministry to compensate flood-affected farmers at a rate of Bt3,000 per household.

More interesting was his mention of consideration of aid for residents living in areas of “sacrifice” – low-lying places surrendered up to the rising waters so that downstream areas could be saved.

Prayut pleaded for understanding over the government’s flood-compensation scheme, pointing out it could not cover every victim everywhere.

He went on to explain the need for “sacrifice”:

“If [low-lying area] need to be sacrificed, then sacrifice. … We need to have an understanding about this, otherwise how can we get enough money to compensate [victims] as wished?”

Prayut‘s words were blunt, but the message was in keeping with the public’s general view of flood-susceptible lowlands and their residents. However, that perception is too static and fails to take into account how changes in land use and lifestyle – many of them a result of government policy – have increased the risk of flooding for many Thais.

The low-lying plains that sweep from Chai Nat down to Rangsit, above Bangkok, have long been the country’s rice bowl and enjoy the most sophisticated irrigation system. As a result, farmers here have invested heavily in growing huge volumes of rice for export, which means that water is trapped in fields and no longer flows freely through the province as it did in the past. Meanwhile their villages have turned into towns of concrete and modern housing, making them as prone to flood damage as Bangkok.

The idea that these areas are low-lying and so should naturally suffer the brunt of flooding is apparently a false discourse invented as a false justification to continue such unfair treatment for the self-preservation of those living downstream. It allows us to explain away the tears and suffering of low-income farmers as inevitable.

If some people have to sacrifice in the name of others’ interests, they really deserve much better treatment than what offered with such indifference and fault justification like it is now.

For the past few weeks has faced criticism over the actions of his younger brother General Preecha Chan-o-cha and of Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan.

As Defence Ministry permanent secretary, Preecha was linked with the appointment of his son as an Army officer and also the use of an Air Force plane to transport his wife and entourage to the opening ceremony for a dyke in Chiang Mai that had been named after her.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission and the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) concluded that no wrongdoing had occurred in either case. Meanwhile investigations into the Defence Ministry’s funding of the dyke and the Third Army Area’s awarding of construction contracts to Preecha’s other son are still ongoing.

Prawit has been dogged by criticism over the Bt21-million bill for his chartered flight to Hawaii for an unofficial meeting between US Defence Secretary Ash Carter and his counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). The OAG is among several government agencies that have declared there were no irregularities in chartering a THAI Boeing 747 for a delegation of just 38 people.

However, despite assurances from officialdom and even some independent organisations, widespread suspicion lingers that power has been abused in these cases. The critics are reluctant to place their trust in people who destroyed the normal scrutinising mechanisms when they seized power.

Supporters of the post-coup government seem to place Prayut above the controversies, insisting he remains untainted by association.

The controversies include the scandal over alleged kickbacks in the construction of the military’s Rajabhakti Park in Hua Hin, for which then-Army chief Udomdej Sitabutr took all the blame.

Meanwhile Prawit was also caught up in alleged irregularities in the War Veterans Organisation when his name was cited by people demanding rake-offs from contractors. The controversies involving Preecha focused exclusively on him and his family members.

All have denied committing any wrongdoing. And Prayut has made it clear that he is not keen in finding fault with any of them.

Supporters have called on Prayut, in his capacity as prime minister and head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), to be decisive and remove problematic figures from his government. The PM’s admirers suggest he should “replace players in order to protect the team”. They seem to remain convinced that Prayut himself is an honest leader with integrity.

They need to be reminded that the PM requires the help of those around him. A large group of people, both civilians and military, aided him in seizing power in 2014. And he still needs those people to help run the government. As such, he cannot afford to take action that risks upsetting this group and undermining his regime’s stability. We cannot expect him to punish the very people he relies on for power.

The leader cannot be viewed separately from his team. The truth is they are all in this together.

Ma says small and medium-sized enterprises have the potential to dominate the global economy in the 21st century. Over the past decades, globalisation and new technology have mainly benefited big companies.

Now it’s time to harness these tools for the benefit of a younger generation that has the potential to create new and innovative businesses to drive the global economy.

Ma also cited the revival of the ancient Silk Road trade route as the equivalent of forging a new “E-Road” for small businesses.

Over the next three decades, digital and other technologies will be further mobilised to create new trading, manufacturing, financial and other ventures capitalising on the availability of so-called Big Data, which Ma identifies as an invaluable resource for nations.

Over the past 15 years, China’s e-commerce has grown by leaps and bounds, surpassing the combined value of business handled by major e-commerce sites in the United States, where traditional retail outlets still take up considerable market space. In contrast Chinese consumption growth is more and more being driven by online transactions.

To follow China’s example in this evolution, Ma said that other countries must lay down a competitive infrastructure for the digital economy as well as an effective funding ecosystem for entrepreneurs.

In the case of China, Ma’s Alibaba has played a leading role as a facilitator of banking and funding services for SMEs. To date, the financial and lending units of Alibaba have served more than three million small Chinese firms with business loans worth a combined US$60 billion.

Internet technology is a great enabler in this case, allowing each online loan transaction to be completed within three minutes.

As the Thai government has launched its digital economy and society initiative, Ma suggests that citizens under 30 years of age and companies with fewer than 30 employees need to embrace the technology in a big way while national education needs to highlight creativity as well as innovation to stay relevant in the new global economy.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who hosted a meeting with Ma, asked the Chinese billionaire to consider Thailand as a global trading centre for its vast e-commerce and online business empire.

The Prayut government is also launching the Prompt Pay service to kick-start Thailand’s electronic payment system, which will initially support the government’s payment of welfare and other funds.

The Prompt Pay infrastructure, which works along with commercial banks’ e-payment and mobile banking services, will serve as a springboard to support the country’s emerging e-commerce and online transactions as businesses move towards a combination of offline and online channels.

According to the Bank of Thailand, the numbers of Internet and mobile banking accounts have grown rapidly in the past years and today total nearly 30 million nationwide, thanks to Thailand’s high adoption rate of smartphones.

Overall, our nation has much to learn from other countries’ experience, with that of China’s Alibaba among the most notable.