Dr. Warong promotes the idea of limiting personal assistants for MPs and Senators from eight down to three, highlighting that this could save the national budget 540 million baht annually. He also calls to end lunch provisions for MPs and Senators as well as MPs' pensions.
At 13:30 on 25 Mar 2026 GMT+7 at the Parliament building, Dr. Warong Dechkitvikrom, a party-list MP and leader of the Thai Pakdee Party, held a press conference calling for three measures: first, for Parliament to cancel unnecessary benefits for MPs and Senators, including stopping meals provided to MPs. He noted that today's cooperation from both opposition and government members reflects public demand and is a positive sign that meals for MPs may soon be abolished, which would save about 72 million baht annually and nearly 300 million baht per parliamentary session.
Dr. Warong stated the second point: currently, MPs appoint eight assistants—seven earn 15,000 baht monthly and one earns 20,000 baht—resulting in a monthly tax cost of 154,800 baht. He proposed reforming the parliamentary budget by limiting assistants to only three per MP, which would save over 540 million baht annually, or more than 2 billion baht over four years. This focuses on transparency and taxpayer value. He himself plans to appoint only three assistants, which he considers sufficient for effective parliamentary work.
Third, regarding MPs' pensions, which come from a fund established in 2014 to 2026 using taxpayers' money to support politicians' welfare. MPs who have served at least one year receive lifelong pensions of about 21,300 baht monthly, increasing with length of service to a maximum of 42,700 baht. If Parliament is dissolved before an MP completes one year, they receive a pension multiplied by four times their service length—for example, 10 months of service yields about 40 months of pension at 21,300 baht monthly. Beyond pensions, MPs receive four additional benefits:
1) Medical treatment or annual health check-up expenses up to 130,000 baht.
2) Education expenses for up to two children under 25 years old.
3) Disability benefits of an additional 15,000 baht monthly.
4) In case of death, a compensation payment of 200,000 baht.
These benefits are excessive and burden taxpayers by supporting politicians who volunteered for public service yet rely on public funds. Therefore, he calls on MPs and Senators to limit assistants to three, end lunch provisions, and abolish MPs' pensions.