Stipend fiasco reveals flaws

Stipend fiasco reveals flaws

Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith made a timely move to intervene in cases of elderly people who are inadvertently indebted to the state for accepting monthly living allowances for years without being aware that they are ineligible. Such decisiveness is noteworthy.

The minister yesterday ordered state agencies to help solve these cases, and if the matter requires an amendment to regulations or laws, those agencies must send the details to the cabinet for approval.

His order was in response to the case of Buan Losuwan, an 89-year-old woman from Buri Ram's Chalerm Phrakiat district, who was told to return an elderly allowance totalling 84,000 baht after it found she had already received a special pension following the death of her army officer son in 2001. The government says those receiving a state pension or special pension are not eligible for the elderly allowance.

Ms Buan, who was told to make repayments by instalment for five years, promised to pay back the money even though some legal experts said she does not need to as she had no intention to hide the information or lie to authorities, and she had spent all the money.

After Ms Buan's case came to light, many other elderly people, most in their 80s and 90s, from several provinces, and their children came out to say they are facing the same plight as Ms Buan.

In one case, a woman had to pay back the debt to a local administrative organisation on behalf of her dead mother who had received the stipend for more than 10 years, while being paid a special pension after her son's death.

The slip-up shows the Thailand 4.0 digital era is not for real.

The episode has caused public uproar, as sympathy pours in for the old people.

However, government agencies insisted they have to take back the elderly allowance, or they may be guilty of violating Section 157 of the Criminal Code which concerns dereliction of duty.

Mr Arkhom said he believed that everyone who reaches 60 should be eligible for the elderly allowance.

In his opinion, the stipend, which is paid at a progressive rate due to age -- 600 baht for the sexagenarians, and 700 baht for those in their 70s -- should be separated from other benefits which people receive from the government.

In principle, the allowance is part of the state welfare scheme for the elderly.

The welfare scheme was initiated by the Chuan Leekpai government in 1992 and became fully effective during the Abhisit Vejjajiva government in 2010.

According to the regulations, allowance recipients must not receive other state benefits. But as Mr Arkhom mentioned, the allowance is a form of welfare and so should be separated from other state benefits, particularly the pension after retirement, and at the same time be made universal.

All procedures, including registration, must be designed to be user-friendly, not to add to the plight of old people.

What is more necessary is for state authorities to plug all loopholes that allow malfeasance and corruption, which are much bigger problems than the state paying out allowances in a small number of cases to those deemed ineligible after the event.

Editorial

Bangkok Post editorial column

These editorials represent Bangkok Post thoughts about current issues and situations.

Email : anchaleek@bangkokpost.co.th

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