Rent-free home least of PM's woes

Rent-free home least of PM's woes

'What's did I do wrong?" asked Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha recently in the wake of boisterous calls by opposition parties and anti-establishment protesters for him to step down.

Perhaps, the Constitutional Court may have an answer for him on Dec 2 over one unexpected oversight that may cost him his premiership, if the same legal standards former prime minister Samak Sundaravej was held to by the court are applied in the Prime Minister Prayut's case.

In Sept 2008, the charter court removed then prime minister Samak from the office for violating the constitution after the outspoken politician, while still sitting prime minister, accepted payments for hosting a cookery show on TV.

Opposition leader Sompong Amornvivat initiated the current case against Prime Minister Prayut when he accused him of violating Section 186 (first paragraph) and Section 184 (3) for illegally occupying the residence of the army commander-in-chief since his retirement from military service seven years ago without paying any rent to the army for the privilege.

The court debated the case and ruled that there is enough factual evidence for it to make a judgement, scheduled for Dec 2.

Unless there is a surprise, the prime minister may face the same fate as his predecessor, Samak, who left the office along with his entire cabinet.

If Prime Minister Prayut is to be forced out of office, it should have been for other serious failures during his six-year reign. He promised reforms and national reconciliation, but nothing substantial has taken root, be it police reform, bureaucratic reform, educational reform or reform of the economic structure to bridge the widening gap between rich and poor.

The gross mishandling of the Red Bull scion's hit and run case from the police all the way up to the public prosecutors speaks volumes of the urgent need for sweeping reform for those law enforcement agencies. Yet nothing has happened and the perpetrators are likely to get away with lenient punishment at most.

Corruption in the government bureaucracy is as widespread as it ever was, or worse even, if one bothers to ask businessmen vying for government contracts how much in under-the-table commissions that corrupt officials are demanding these days.

The fact that corruption cases are barely reported by the media does not mean that corruption is not still omnipresent as most media now prefers to report on social media trends -- a much easier and more pleasant task than digging for dirt in the government bureaucracy.

The government may pride itself on its achievements in improving the mass transit system such as the electric train service in Bangkok, the high-speed airport link and other infrastructure projects. But neither these megaprojects nor the Eastern Economic Corridor addresses the core economic problem, which is inequitable wealth distribution that tends to widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots.

What has the government done to modernise our outdated educational system to prepare our youth for a future when science and technology will be the key sectors and robots replace human labour in many roles?

Educational reform does not just mean affording students the right to dye or wear long hair, or the right not to wear uniforms, both of which barely scratch the surface of what's required. We need a visionary leader to chart a course for the educational system to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

As it stands now, whether Prime Minister Prayut remains in office or not is of far less consequence than the issue reforming the monarchy.

Khana Ratsadon's announcement that its 10-point manifesto demanding reform of the revered institution is an effort at compromise will nevertheless be met with fierce resistance from royalists, as it still amounts to an ultimatum with no room for constructive talks.

In any successful negotiations, there must be a win-win result for both parties. More importantly, Khana Ratsadon still does not have the force or numbers to dictate the outcome of the conflict as it wishes.

Veera Prateepchaikul is former editor, Bangkok Post.

Veera Prateepchaikul

Former Editor

Former Bangkok Post Editor, political commentator and a regular columnist at Post Publishing.

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