We're all being taken for a ride, so it's time to wise up

We're all being taken for a ride, so it's time to wise up

Sadly, we might have to accept the fact that most of the information from the government that has made the news is simply untrue.

This ugly fact was underscored once again when Moody's Investors Service announced that Thailand's credit rating is under threat from the rice-pledging scheme, since the losses could rise to 260 billion baht.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was immediately jolted into action. She ordered the Commerce Ministry to give her the figures right away. In defence of the prime minister, government economic affairs spokesman Wim Rungwattanajinda said the Commerce Ministry have never reported the total amount of rice pledged under the scheme, the total amount of rice released from stockpiles, or the money spent to finance the scheme to the government.

But excuse me. When the prime minister, finance minister and commerce minister defended the rice-pledging scheme in parliament, they were all armed with figures. Where did those numbers come from then? Can we believe them or not?

It is difficult not to feel cheated. Local academics, politicians and the private sector must have felt bad too. During the past two years, they have been trying to caution the government about the financial disaster lying ahead for the rice-pledging scheme. They have also tried to make the government reveal the figures. The government has remained stubbornly secretive throughout, saying that rice figures are trade secrets that cannot be revealed.

Yet, it took only one statement from Moody's to get the government to act.

Another ongoing farce is the luxury car tax evasion scam. It all began when four luxury cars caught fire while being transported from Bangkok to be registered in Si Sa Ket province in the Northeast. They were all imported cars, but they were to be registered as locally assembled cars to evade high taxes.

Why do I say this is a farce? These luxury cars stand out from the rest of us earthlings' passenger cars. The number of these illegal luxury cars on the road is on the rise and most of them are illegal. Yet none of the authorities involved appeared to see what was going on.

Had it not been for the fire, they could have continued to pretend to be as blind to the problem as before.

Once the scandal broke, however, every agency involved is now all over the case. For instance, the Customs Department. Customs officials rushed to confiscate the cars. Without any documents for those cars, however, they were powerless when police said they couldn't.

"The Customs Department has the authority to deal with illegally imported cars. That's true. But the police have not concluded yet if these luxury cars are illegal or not. Also, they don't have any papers. How could they possibly know if the cars are illegal," a police officer working on the case said.

A few days later, police in the Northeast held a press conference to show that they had rounded up 13 illegal luxury cars in the region. Wow! How efficient! These cars zoomed on to the road every day, yet the police did not see them until the luxury car scandal broke.

Enter the Department of Special Investigation (DSI).

It started off by saying it has more than 5,000 illegal luxury cars on its blacklist. Then it announced it would raid a suspected target - three days in advance of the raid. Is it surprising that the DSI found nothing there?

I can tell you right now how this scandalous luxury car saga will end: No one will be arrested. Not the big fish, anyway. This illegal luxury car network casts a wide net over big names with intertwined connections and political patronage. Everyone knows just about everyone. So don't expect any action.

This is the same reason why many problems in Thailand persist. Gambling dens, for example. How can gambling dens disappear when men in uniform - soldiers and police officers along with politicians - are themselves behind the underground business?

Threats of lawsuits - and death threats - are the order of the day for reporters who want to expose them. Meanwhile, many in the mass media follow the if-you-can't-beat-them-join-them tenet. Sad but true.

When what the authorities tell you is often an effort to hide the truth, and when what gets reported does not tell the whole story, readers must be on their toes to avoid being the victims of spin masters.


Onnucha Hutasingh is assistant news editor, Bangkok Post.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT (2)