Perceptions of COVID-19 Policies in Thailand

Abstract: This thesis seeks to uncover the Thai public perception of COVID-19 policies. These policies include lockdown, curfew and social security. Thailand is a country that has been praised by the World Health Organisation for their control over the pandemic. One might wonder what regulations were implemented, for the Thai government to be able to control it so well; and how did people respond to this? Therefore the aim of this thesis is to investigate how the Thai public perceived the pandemic and its repercussions. Furthermore, this thesis explores these policies using a qualitative content analysis method, where data was gathered from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data consists of 8 face-to-face online interviews and the secondary data consists of online documents. There were two hypotheses formed according to the theoretical framework, evidently when tested, the hypotheses were confirmed. Vulnerable people in Thai society are more likely to have a negative perception of the policies and are less likely to abide by the policies. One of the main findings from the analysis revealed how significant it was to be protected by Thai Social Security during the pandemic. Those who did not qualify for government support were left behind. This thesis finds that negative perceptions of the government play a role in their perception of the policies and determines whether or not they will follow the policies.