Futility at finish line in race for governor

COMMENTARY

Futility at finish line in race for governor

Published: 17 Feb 2013 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

Baseless, directionless, clueless, senseless and hopeless is the Bangkok governorship.

The problem is the messy organisational structure of not just Bangkok, but Thailand as a whole, which fosters gross inefficiencies and allows for far too many hands in the cookie jar.

Proposals to solve traffic congestion comprise a major part of candidates' platforms, but the roads aren't even under the jurisdiction of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA). They belong to the Transport Ministry. Meanwhile, the police control the traffic, but the Royal Thai Police force answers directly to the prime minister. So who's actually in charge when it comes to traffic?

This article is older than 60 days, which we reserve for our premium members only.You can subscribe to our premium member subscription, here.

Forum

Your comments

HowIWish
Post : 141
Send message

Discussion 12 : 17 Feb 2013 at 11.5612
Post this to my Facebook
Disc #5 Rennaisance, you have explained the true story 100%. Unfortunately the reprter has mentioned decentralisation, this will never occur in Thailand as the powerful will lose power....don't expect any changes in the next 5 yrs.
Like dislike 15 people liked / 1 people disliked this comment
thailife69
Post : 106
Send message

Discussion 11 : 17 Feb 2013 at 11.4011
Post this to my Facebook
One extremely corrupt police force is more than enough, 78 of them would be unbearable!
Like dislike 21 people liked / 1 people disliked this comment
lungstib
Post : 502
Send message

Discussion 10 : 17 Feb 2013 at 11.3010
Post this to my Facebook
The chaos that is Bangkok. Pleased to say I will probably never see it again. Sometimes you get what you deserve.
Like dislike 13 people liked / 3 people disliked this comment
drsmith
Post : 1,576
Send message

Discussion 9 : 17 Feb 2013 at 11.299
Post this to my Facebook
Voranai, come on now. You are actually asking Thai people to do their jobs? No one is going to do a job where there is no money involved. 20 police at a checkpoint extorting money, zero for traffic enforcement. All the promises in the world by governor candidates cannot solve this problem as they concentrate 100% of their time on things that can make money for the boss. Thai people get what they vote for and time and time again politicians find a way to outsmart the masses and get elected. Racketeering roadblocks are more important than traffic congestion. Money rules!
Like dislike 31 people liked / 2 people disliked this comment
mutley
Post : 184
Send message

Discussion 8 : 17 Feb 2013 at 10.318
Post this to my Facebook
Very good article and oh so true. What will be done about it? Nothing. The whole Thai mentality has to change but that will be a long process if it happens at all. I remember reading in the BP a couple of years ago of a poll which showed that over 70% of Thais think that graft and corruption are an acceptable part of daily life. Over 70%! Unbelieveable. Change? I think not.
Like dislike 32 people liked / 1 people disliked this comment
Eggmeng
Post : 276
Send message

Discussion 7 : 17 Feb 2013 at 09.457
Post this to my Facebook
"The difference is the Romans knew how to organize; we don't."

Voranai, you obviously never heard this one.

Heaven is where the French are the chefs, the Italians the lovers, the British the police, the Germans the mechanics, and the Swiss make everything run on time

Hell is where the British are the chefs, the Swiss the lovers, the French the mechanics, and the Italians make everything run on time. And the Germans are the police.

Long live the stereotype!
Like dislike 45 people liked / 1 people disliked this comment
Ian
Post : 717
Send message

Discussion 6 : 17 Feb 2013 at 09.146
Post this to my Facebook
Yesterday I exited the National theatre and wanted to cross Phraya Pinklao, but first I has to do a complete circuit around Sanam Luang which was totally clogged with traffic. So a 10 minute walk became a 50 minute car journey. Weird!
Like dislike 29 people liked / 1 people disliked this comment
Renaissance
Post : 1,806
Send message

Discussion 5 : 17 Feb 2013 at 09.115
Post this to my Facebook
One should never believe the promises of a politician, especially during an election. They promise Paradise in order to get votes and their hands in the coffers of gold. Then they break their promises and blame their predecessor, and people believe them. Already the people of Bangkok are falling for the sweet calls of the Sirens of Greed. The politicians feel no shame.
Like dislike 46 people liked / 2 people disliked this comment
dao
Post : 4,666
Send message

Discussion 4 : 17 Feb 2013 at 08.544
Post this to my Facebook
A complete subway system and train would allow people to skip over all the taxi mafia and traffic with the incompetent traffic police .Trains in Phuket and Pattaya would eliminate this problem as well .We just need someone with some backbone to do it now .
Like dislike 48 people liked / 2 people disliked this comment
nitnoi
Post : 576
Send message

Discussion 3 : 17 Feb 2013 at 08.253
Post this to my Facebook
Too many hands in cookie jar or too many chiefs but no indians,The candidates can promise not just to cure the common cold, they can cure cancer of Thai society the corruption or they might end up be the disease themselves.
Like dislike 39 people liked / 1 people disliked this comment

First Previous 1 2 3 Next Last

Futility at finish line in race for governor | Bangkok Post: opinion