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The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume III - 2011 Udom Warotamasikkhadit and Kirk Person 31 Vejjajiva on 7 February 2010, and plans are being made for the strategic implementation of the policy. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the process by which the policy was drafted and explain the important language issues addressed by the policy. 2.0 çDoes Thailand Need a National Language Policy?é The question of whether Thailand needs a new national language policy (NLP) was raised during the First World Congress on the Power of Language 1 in discussions involving leading Thai scholars such as Dr. Prasert Na Nagara, Dr. Udom Warotamasikkhadit, Dr. Kanchana Naksakul, and Dr. Maneerat Sawasdiwat Na Ayutthaya, as well as international scholars such as Dr. Kimmo Kosonen, Dr. Susan Malone, and Dr. Dennis Malone. Dr. Udom observed that if a newly- formed country like Timor-Leste had a formal language policy, surely an ancient kingdom like Thailand ought to have one. Given the Royal Instituteûs role as the official authority in matters pertaining to the Thai language, it seemed natural that the Royal Institute should take a principal role in developing the NLP. Dr. Udom organized several meetings to further explore this idea. These included videoconferences held at the American Embassy in Bangkok with world renown language policy experts Dr. Bernard Spolsky and Dr. James W. Tollefson. 2 On the basis of these discussions, the Committee to Draft the National Language Policy (CDNLP) was established as one of the Academic Committees under the Academy of Arts of the Royal Institute, with Dr. Udom as committee chair. 1 This conference was held in Bangkok, 22-25 May 2006. 2 Dr. Bernand Spolsky later visited Thailand, meeting with the Royal Institute and speaking at the Royal Institute-sponsored çInternational Conference on National Language Policy: Language Diversity for National Unityé (2008). 29-44_mac9 4/26/12, 8:30 PM 31