Do nothing: that’s your department now

Do nothing: that’s your department now

Lt Gen Paradorn Pattanatabut had all the right credentials when he became the deputy secretary-general of the National Security Council in 2008. He graduated from the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School, attended several military and defence courses overseas and worked in top positions at the Defence Ministry.

But he admits all senior government positions also demand trust. Back then, he had the trust of Samak Sundaravej's administration, who was accused of being a proxy for the exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. “In politics, it is necessary for politicians to choose people who they can trust to come up with policies,” he said.

So when he was transferred during the Abhisit Vejjajiva administration to be an adviser attached to the Prime Minister's Office, widely seen as an inactive post, he was not surprised.

“Soldiers usually respect the orders of their commanders, so we need to be always prepared to be transferred,” he said.

Lt Gen Paradorn’s advisory role consisted of providing suggestions related to security issues to the prime minister. “But the prime minister didn’t really assign me to do anything, and I didn’t give him any advice,” he said.

He didn’t have as many subordinates as he had during his previous position, and despite the significantly reduced workload, he received the same salary and benefits.

Lt Gen Paradorn later became NSC chief during the Yingluck administration, but was again transferred to an inactive post, owing to the coup. He has since retired.

Some of those caught up in transfers are not so willing to accept the decision, and have filed complaints regarding their mistreatment. But society has been largely silent on the military junta’s mass re-assignment of hundreds of civil servants.

OFFICE OF INACTIVE POSTS

Surachai Srisaracam was the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology’s permanent secretary when he was among the first high-ranking civil servants to be transferred to the PM’s Office in a military order last year.

Mr Surachai was provided a new office in the PM’s Office along with 15 other transferred officials, but he soon tired of travelling to work every day, because his house in Nakhon Nayok province is 100km from Bangkok.

In principle, he was required to provide suggestions to the prime minister regarding IT-related issues, but the advice was rarely followed.

FOLLOWING ORDERS: Lt Gen Paradorn Pattanatabut was sent to an inactive post during the Abhisit Vejjajiva administration. He later became NSC chief, but was transferred again after the coup.

“I felt downgraded. I wanted so much to work, but they didn’t give me anything to do,” Mr Surachai said. “It was an easy job — getting paid for sitting at the desk all day doing nothing. So after several months I left and told them to call me if they needed anything.”

Until his retirement in September he went to work only once a month. Since, he has become an adviser at the Interior Ministry, where he worked for decades prior to his position at the MICT. With 36 years of experience as a civil servant, Mr Surachai is recognised as the IT brain who developed the 13-digit national ID number for Thais. His project won the Computer World Smithsonian Award 1990 in the category of government and not-for-profit organisations.

He was also deputy governor of several provinces until he was appointed governor of Nakhon Nayok, when his plan to turn the province into the country’s “Silicon Valley” caught the interest of then-prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who appointed him as MICT permanent secretary in 2013.

The unexpected promotion led to a public outcry, and despite Mr Surachai’s reasoning that it was due to his knowledge and abilities, the yellow-shirt People’s Democratic Reform Committee criticised the government during one of its protests with accusations of favouritism.

The junta’s move last year to remove him from his post, however, did not surprise him, because he realised he was an automatic target due to his alleged close ties with the former government.

“I did nothing wrong. The only thing was that I was appointed by the previous administration, which they [the NCPO] dislike and overthrew,” Mr Surachai said. “They must have thought that I was on the same side [as the Yingluck administration] when in fact I was on everyone’s side because I am a professional.”

Although he considers his case unfair treatment, Mr Surachai accepted his fate as part of the normal process that occurs during a power shift. “How can they work with someone they dislike?” he asked.

'DOUBLE STANDARDS'

In what appears to be a record, more than 200 government officials have been suspended or transferred since the military-led National Council for Peace and Order came to power following last year’s coup.

In what they say is an attempt to purge graft, provide efficiency, and often simply citing “appropriateness”, the moves were carried out under several orders issued by the NCPO, then the de facto state, and later under Section 44 of the interim constitution.

Section 44 gives Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, in his capacity as NCPO chairman, the unfettered right to exercise the powers of the executive, legislative and judicial branches for security and in the national interest.

In May, the NCPO issued an order to set up 100 temporary positions at the PM’s Office to accommodate government officials under investigation for corruption.

The PM's Office was not available for comment on the issue.

Prajak Kongkirati, a lecturer at Thammasat University’s faculty of political science, said the NCPO’s mass transfers reflect the current system of military-bureaucratic authoritarianism — with bureaucrats running the country while limiting the role of political parties and civil society.

FORCED OUT: Surachai Srisaracam was the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology’s permanent secretary when he was transferred to an inactive post at the PM’s Office last year.

This kind of authoritarianism has already lost its appeal as a form of governance in the rest of the world, he said, adding that while trust is essential to good relations between politicians and civil servants, countries with elected governments would not dare to transfer so many officials, for fear of public outcry.

“Even when Ms Yingluck was removed from her post for transferring only one government official, society was furious that the government intervened in the bureaucratic system,” he said.

While the military’s interference has resulted in some discontent among government officials — colleagues of House of Representatives secretary-general Jarae Panprueng vowed to wear black when he was transferred last month to be an adviser at the PM’s Office — society was largely silent on the issue.

Mr Prajak questioned whether the military use of Section 44 to transfer government officials was less about combating graft or increasing efficiency and more to do with the abuse of power, patronage, nepotism and creating a power base for military rule.

“Problems are not addressed and are swept under the carpet. There is no rule of law, but rather a return to the rule of men,” he said. “The Thai middle class dislike elected governments due to corruption and abuse of power. But the lack of good governance is even worse than before, and they are keeping quiet.”

THE SHIFT THAT LED TO THE FALL

Thawil Pliensri was promoted to lead the NSC during the Abhisit administration in 2009 and was transferred to become a prime ministerial adviser shortly after the Yingluck government took charge in August 2011.

In 2012, Mr Thawil filed a complaint to the Merit System Protection Commission, an agency under the Office of the Civil Service Commission, regarding his removal, arguing it had nothing to do with his ability or any shortcomings.

He was replaced by Pol Gen Vichien Pojposri, the then national police chief, who was replaced by Pol Gen Priewpan Damapong, a brother of Thaksin Shinawatra's ex-wife Khunying Potjaman na Pombejra, and finally by Lt Gen Paradorn.

Ms Yingluck claimed that as head of the government she had the authority to transfer officials to ensure national administration was in line with the government's policy manifesto.

While the MSPC panel ruled that Mr Thawil’s petition against Ms Yingluck’s transfer order had no grounds, his removal was later ruled unfair and unlawful by the Administrative Court, a judgement confirmed by the Supreme Administrative Court in March last year.

A month later, it would lead to Ms Yingluck’s disqualification from the premiership by the Constitutional Court for abuse of power and conflict of interest.

While Lt Gen Paradorn acknowledges connections played a role in his promotion, he said his success was also based on merit.

“It is undeniable that apart from the basic qualifications, there needs to be trust involved. For security-related issues, the number one priority is trust,” he said. “When you’re a government official, you have to be prepared [to be transferred at any moment].”

THE MERIT SYSTEM

Generally speaking, the 2008 Civil Service Act requires that government appointments are made under a system based on merit, taking into account the knowledge and competence of the candidate, equality, fairness and the interests of the government service.

Civil servants who believe they were treated unfairly can file a complaint with the MSPC, which has the power to amend or repeal an order, and to award damages to the complainant.

The MSPC receives around 200 complaints each year regarding civil servant appointments, dismissals, reinstatements and transfers, but they only have the authority to rule on cases resulting from decisions made by the prime minister, ministers and permanent secretaries, or the equivalent C11 ranks.

In the fiscal year from Oct 2014 to Sept 2015, 64 complaints regarding civil servant appointments were filed to the MSPC. Of the total, 12 were related to transfers.

Since the military coup last year, no complaints have been filed regarding the junta's transfer of civil servants.

The Office of the Civil Service Commission’s Merit Protection Bureau says the MSPC does not have the authority to consider complaints authorised under Section 44, which is considered as “sovereign power”.

There is no official count of the number of inactive posts because the term is loosely defined and differently applied across government agencies, making it impossible to know how many officials are being paid a full salary for little to no work, and how much this actually costs taxpayers.

Charuaypon Torranin, a former MSPC commissioner, said inactive posts are largely taken up by government officials holding C10 or C11 ranks — the highest status in a ministry — who are then transferred to advisory roles at the PM’s Office.

“When you have the highest-ranking official at a ministry removed from his or her post and with nowhere to go, they have to be transferred to the PM’s Office in order to pave the way for a replacement,” she said.

The law gives the power to ministers to appoint permanent secretaries or equivalent positions of C11 ranks, which will then be approved by the cabinet.

While human resource management is supposed to be politically impartial, in practice, politicians usually justify their decisions to transfer government officials by citing the need to maintain the efficiency of the organisation concerned.

In Mr Thawil’s case, the MSPC decision was split, with three of the seven-member committee ruling that the transfer was politically motivated.

“Since the transfer took place, [Mr Thawil’s successor] was never assigned work, which contradicted [the prime minister’s claims] that he is a good and capable person,” Ms Charuaypon said.

The Office of the Civil Service Commission declined to comment for this article.

NO CHOICE

For some, like Rangsan Maneelek, filing a complaint regarding what he says was an unfair transfer is not an option.

On June 25, the deputy secretary-general of the Office of the Basic Education Commission was among the 70 senior civil servants and elected local administrators to be relegated to an inactive post at the Education Ministry.

“I was surprised because I didn’t do anything wrong,” Mr Rangsan said.

While his previous position as deputy secretary-general involved overseeing one-third of all the bureaus at Obec, he is now tasked with providing the minister with policy suggestions about improving the quality of science and maths studies, and boosting education standards at the provincial level.

These suggestions are supposed to be made on a quarterly basis.

“Basically, I don’t do anything,” said Mr Rangsan, who has worked at the ministry for 30 years. “During my time at the ministry, I have however always tried to stop those who wanted to benefit from Obec’s funds.”

Although he retained his previous salary, he lost his position allowance and other fringe benefits.

The low workload has prompted Mr Rangsan to seek other preoccupations, and in September he was criticised for attending a panel discussion hosted by the ministry's Bureau of Policy and Planning, according to an internal memo seen by Spectrum.

The memo instructed him to be physically present at the ministry at all times.

Four months have passed since the NCPO order in June and Mr Rangsan still has not been informed of why he was transferred.

“Since the order was under Section 44, I can’t do anything,” he said.

Colleagues say Mr Rangsan has a good working relationship with teachers, eagerly participates in meetings and is one of the very few senior officers at the Education Ministry who are capable of understanding the importance of research in shaping the right education policies.

“His predicament took people in education circles by surprise,” said a ministry source, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution.

“Right now, the situation doesn’t look good for the Education Ministry, where education reform is truly needed and one of the very few capable senior officers is being sidelined.”

Instead of setting up an investigative panel into the matter, the ministry on Oct 21 requested Mr Rangsan be transferred to the PM’s Office, citing the NCPO order in May that resulted in the establishment of 100 new prime ministerial advisers.

Since the move would distance him further from the education circle, Mr Rangsan is working out if there is any way he can appeal.

“I wouldn’t be able to work in a way that would be beneficial. It would be a waste of a government salary,” he said.

MUSICAL CHAIRS: Thawil Pliensri at a Supreme Administrative Court hearing in 2013 over his removal as head of the National Security Council by former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

getting plenty of advice: Prayut Chan-o-cha with officials from the Prime Minister’s Office, where many people are moved to become ‘advisers’.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT (10)