Abhisit Insists He Did His Best To Tackle Problem Of Corruption

[webfact]

Abhisit insists he did his best to tackle problem of corruption

By THE NATION

PM admits on his Facebook page that many people were probably disappointed with him on some issues

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva insisted yesterday he had not tolerated corruption among his Cabinet members, saying he had tried his best to fight graft.

In his second open letter to the public, posted on his Facebook page on Thursday morning, Abhisit admitted he could not stop some corruption from taking place.

"I'll never betray the people's trust towards me. I admit that I could not prevent corruption 100 per cent but I can assure the people that I have never ignored corruption problems. I always tackled the problems," he wrote. "You can rest assured that all of my decisions were based on the public interest and were not based on any ulterior motive."

Abhisit said he realised from the first Cabinet meeting that it was not easy to work in a coalition government "because negotiations always happen".

"But I drew a clear-cut line that projects that benefit the people and do not violate the law must proceed. We cannot halt the country's development just because of fear of corruption," Abhisit wrote.

Abhisit said he knew the public had high expectations of his government after they had witnessed the previous governments of the People Power Party run the country in the interests of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

"I realise that such a situation prompted Thais to have expectations of me, and many people were disappointed with me on several issues," Abhisit wrote.

"They thought I was not strong and that I ignored corruption problems. But it was not true. Instead, I have been fighting to protect the national interest."

As coalition leader, instead of breaking with his partners he resorted to talking internally, he said.

"I declined to announce publicly that I was against several projects. Instead, I used internal talk and discussion, giving reasons," he said.

"I treated coalition partners with respect and I declined to use someone's weak points to shore up my popularity. I believe that as coalition partners, we must share responsibility," the Democrat leader wrote.

Abhisit said he issued nine iron rules for his Cabinet members to comply with to prevent corruption.

He said he always ensured that his Cabinet members complied with the rules, even ministers from other coalition parties.

Abhisit cited the case of Withoon Nambutr, former social development and human security minister, as an example of a minister who was forced to comply with the rules.

Abhisit said Withoon resigned to take responsibility when it turned out that there were irregularities in the distribution of aid to flood victims.

As another example, Witthaya Kaewparadai had to resign as public health minister due to suspicion of corruption in procurement at the ministry.

Abhisit said the only minister who caused a problem was former deputy public health minister Manit Nopamornbodi of the Bhum Jai Thai Party.

Abhisit said Manit initially refused to resign for fear that his resignation would be tantamount to admitting that he had done something wrong.

But Abhisit explained to Manit that his resignation did not mean he had committed wrongdoing but that the iron rule had to be complied with. Even though Manit was not a Democrat, he eventually resigned.

Abhisit said he might have made the mistake of not using marketing to lead politics.

"Instead, I left the truth to be proved by action. This has become a weak point that allowed opponents to distort the facts about my work constantly during the past two years," he said.

"They did it by using certain newspapers to make people falsely believe that I always allowed coalition partners to take advantage and benefits just to keep my power as prime minister," Abhisit wrote.

Abhisit ended by saying he had done his best to fight corruption without fearing the political consequences.

"If the people give me and the Democrats another chance, the people's power will give me the strength to fight to rebuild our country to become stronger."

-- The Nation 2011-06-10

[random]

If he did his best to fight corruption amongst his cabinet, why did he appoint Suthep as deputy pm, the man that had to stand down as an mp due to conflict of interest?

More waffle from the soon to be ex pm that should never have held that position anyway, your tenure has been a complete failure and I look forward to the day you are facing a court,

[timekeeper]

If he did his best to fight corruption amongst his cabinet, why did he appoint Suthep as deputy pm, the man that had to stand down as an mp due to conflict of interest?

More waffle from the soon to be ex pm that should never have held that position anyway, your tenure has been a complete failure and I look forward to the day you are facing a court,

a complete failure?

so as PM he has not done anything good at all for the country or for anyone in your opinion?

[Ricardo]

If he did his best to fight corruption amongst his cabinet, why did he appoint Suthep as deputy pm, the man that had to stand down as an mp due to conflict of interest?

More waffle from the soon to be ex pm that should never have held that position anyway, your tenure has been a complete failure and I look forward to the day you are facing a court,

So you too do not support Yingluck's amnesty for politicians ? Good ... yet another convert ! And neither does PM-Abhisit, yet another positive sign, that things can change here.

[whybother]

If he did his best to fight corruption amongst his cabinet, why did he appoint Suthep as deputy pm, the man that had to stand down as an mp due to conflict of interest?

More waffle from the soon to be ex pm that should never have held that position anyway, your tenure has been a complete failure and I look forward to the day you are facing a court,

But it will be OK for Abhisit. The team that you support will be letting him off with their blanket amnesty. You should be happy with that.

[random]

ah the usual mob, I thought it was quiet

Give me an A, give me a B

to clarify, I do not agree with a blanket amnesty for anyone and I have never said i agree with that, also maybe the poster would like to clarify what good abhisit has actually done for the country, sure he made a lot of noise about doing things but what exactly has he achieved? the slaughter of unarmed people on the streets, border skirmishes with Cambodia, a too strong baht ruining exports, the needs of the majority only given lip service, the continuation of corruption, in fact an increase of it at his own admittance, and admittance that there was a deal with the army to put him in power, the misinformation about his nationality etc etc etc.

the hilarious thing is how all his cheerleaders on here behave when he loses his ill gotten power and is rightly investigated and put before the courts, I imagine at that point he will be begging for an amnesty.

I wonder how many of you will cry when your poster boy goes back to where he belongs, in the opposition hopefully followed by prison, along with suthep.

[whybother]

<snip>

a too strong baht ruining exports,

<snip>

I suppose it's Abhisit's fault for all the other currencies strengthening against the $US too.

[Who, me ?]

Random, you are such an entertainer. But where you during last year red shirts occupation of the city? What did you see of the slaughter you refer to? Unarmed people? Get your facts right , other than using the red propaganda that we are fed with for too long.

[Buchholz]

But Abhisit explained to Manit that his resignation did not mean he had committed wrongdoing but that the iron rule had to be complied with.

If Thaksin had used the same criteria of Cabinet ministers resigning their post with just allegations, it would have resulted in even a greater number of his already unprecedented number of Cabinet shufflings as he used an opposite criteria of fight tooth and nail to remain in your post irregardless of the clarity of corruption against you.

[Pib]

Until the investigative/police/judicial agencies in the government get serious about stopping corruption no real improvement will occur. And the police may be the most corrupt agency, so getting them to clean their own house so they can effectively investigate corruption in other agencies may be a lost cause.

[timekeeper]

ah the usual mob, I thought it was quiet

Give me an A, give me a B

to clarify, I do not agree with a blanket amnesty for anyone and I have never said i agree with that, also maybe the poster would like to clarify what good abhisit has actually done for the country, sure he made a lot of noise about doing things but what exactly has he achieved? the slaughter of unarmed people on the streets, border skirmishes with Cambodia, a too strong baht ruining exports, the needs of the majority only given lip service, the continuation of corruption, in fact an increase of it at his own admittance, and admittance that there was a deal with the army to put him in power, the misinformation about his nationality etc etc etc.

the hilarious thing is how all his cheerleaders on here behave when he loses his ill gotten power and is rightly investigated and put before the courts, I imagine at that point he will be begging for an amnesty.

I wonder how many of you will cry when your poster boy goes back to where he belongs, in the opposition hopefully followed by prison, along with suthep.

there you are

give me a P, give me an R, give me an I, give me a ........

i did not see an answer to my question, just the usual anti Abhsist rhetoric and the smartass digs at other posters who do not share your rather narrow opinion

so i will ask you again:

you say Abhisit is '''a complete failure?''

so as PM he has not done anything good at all for the country or for anyone in your opinion?

[LomSak27]

Ya start putting out press flashes about Yingying ducking the big questions and it will come back at you.

Now poor Mr Abhisit has to defend his record of doing little or nothing about those "big questions". Life just isn't fair for this Oxford grad.

[jonclark]

.......when he loses his ill gotten power and is rightly investigated and put before the courts, I imagine at that point he will be begging for an amnesty.

I wonder how many of you will cry when your poster boy goes back to where he belongs, in the opposition hopefully followed by prison, along with suthep.

......and taksin, no double standards

[FOODLOVER]

If he did his best to fight corruption amongst his cabinet, why did he appoint Suthep as deputy pm, the man that had to stand down as an mp due to conflict of interest?

More waffle from the soon to be ex pm that should never have held that position anyway, your tenure has been a complete failure and I look forward to the day you are facing a court,

Er isn't a certain fellow supposed to be in jail right now and your calling for the current PM to go to court. Tell me what you think would have happened had Thaksin remained in power. You want him back right?

[KKvampire]

All this Talk about "Amnesty" As if that is ever going to deal with Corruption, Wipe the the board clean and start again with more of the same.

In my experience in Thailand Thais are not generally concerned about cleaning up all the corrupt deals, more interested in how they can "get in on it"

And the only reason many International companies are here is because of'Cheap Labour"

[EvilDrSomkid]

If there would ever come a PM into power that would be able to actually stop or severely curtail corruption in this country he would not live long.

It is completely unrealistic to expect a PM who has been in office for 2 years to get rid of it.

Corruption is a top down affair. One man effectively fighting a culture of corruption? Nah, not happening.

A change of (Thai) culture is needed for that. People here want corruption, except when it works against them.

People in charge of large projects only know massive bribes and kickbacks. They cannot get their heads around the concept of doing things without it.

But &lt;deleted&gt; do I know? I am farang, I don't understand Thai culture.

[metisdead]

One post has been removed as the poster made his reply inside the quote tags making it difficult to determine who said what.

[FOODLOVER]

If there would ever come a PM into power that would be able to actually stop or severely curtail corruption in this country he would not live long.

It is completely unrealistic to expect a PM who has been in office for 2 years to get rid of it.

Corruption is a top down affair. One man effectively fighting a culture of corruption? Nah, not happening.

A change of (Thai) culture is needed for that. People here want corruption, except when it works against them.

People in charge of large projects only know massive bribes and kickbacks. They cannot get their heads around the concept of doing things without it.

But &lt;deleted&gt; do I know? I am farang, I don't understand Thai culture.

Great point, but your only farang so never mind.

[Livinginexile]

Well...

I guess his best just wasn't good enough!

To me this statements translates to "I failed".

[random]

<br />Random, you are such an entertainer. But where you during last year red shirts occupation of the city? What did you see of the slaughter you refer to? Unarmed people? Get your facts right , other than using the red propaganda that we are fed with for too long.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

i was in Bangkok, I have lived her 6 years, where were you?

I guess all those dead bodies just upped and died out of boredom, I guess the army were not randomly shooting unarmed people (such as medics and photographers who were clearly no direct threat), I guess the images of the army shooting at people laying on the ground and unarmed are doctored, and the soldier that shot his colleague on Viphawadee Road was not just shooting randomly, I mean he must have had a grudge agaisnt his colleague to do that, right?? I guess the independent press reports about the temple murders were also not true???

Open your eyes, open your mind, however much you want to deny this based on your hatred for Thaksin, the fact is your poster boy abhisit either:

a. ordered this mass slaughter

b. had no control over the country

c. or had is ordered disobeyed by the army

but whichever is true of the above he has still been complicit in the failure to investigate or in a cover up, do you deny this?

[slapout]

Most people are brought up to do the best they can, with what they have to work with. You can use all the excuses you want for the present day and past leaders/government/corruption in Thailand, as well as proposed fixes. The truth of the matter is the country is corrupt from the top to the lowest economic level, on a scale which should be frightening to the general public. If you start at the top to eliminate corruption, who do you replace the corrupt individuals with? If you start at the lower level, how do get the honest into the top positions? When you form a government with individuals are for the most part corrupt, how do you have honest/unbiased legislation/laws?

To make this point clear, who was responsible for a law which gives immunity to MP's? Why was it put on the books? Who proposed wiping the criminal slate clean for politicians? Who have been banned from polotics and are still accepted as the force behind various groups?

Abhisit at least admits that he has not been successful to the point, people and he himself would like, but if the people of Thailand cannot see and propose fixes for these many problems, via the ballot box, they and the country are hopelessly lost.

If the voters do not have the intelligence to open their eyes when the light is turned on at midnight, I can not think of a printable adequate description for them.

[geriatrickid]

PM Abhisit's frustration is palpable. He knows he could have done more on the corruption front, perhaps bringing charges against some of the ministers implicated. His reality is that had he done so, his government would have collapsed as coaliton partners deserted him. He was between a rock and a hard place. I sense that he is making excuses now because he can read the tea leaves and at this time it is looking gloomy for the Dems. If he received a decisive majority I do believe that he would tackle the corruption issue, perhaps even go after the worst offenders and make an example of them. However, he covets power and will have to trade off the stance on corruption if he wants to stay in office. I'm not blaming him for his predicament either as Mme. Yingluck will face the same situation should she try to put together a coalition. I have the feeling, he PM is fed up with everyone and everything and may even regret his time as PM.

[jonclark]

<br />Random, you are such an entertainer. But where you during last year red shirts occupation of the city? What did you see of the slaughter you refer to? Unarmed people? Get your facts right , other than using the red propaganda that we are fed with for too long.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

i was in Bangkok, I have lived her 6 years, where were you?

I guess all those dead bodies just upped and died out of boredom, I guess the army were not randomly shooting unarmed people (such as medics and photographers who were clearly no direct threat), I guess the images of the army shooting at people laying on the ground and unarmed are doctored, and the soldier that shot his colleague on Viphawadee Road was not just shooting randomly, I mean he must have had a grudge agaisnt his colleague to do that, right?? I guess the independent press reports about the temple murders were also not true???

Open your eyes, open your mind, however much you want to deny this based on your hatred for Thaksin, the fact is your poster boy abhisit either:

a. ordered this mass slaughter

b. had no control over the country

c. or had is ordered disobeyed by the army

but whichever is true of the above he has still been complicit in the failure to investigate or in a cover up, do you deny this?

Or

d. the army were acting in self defense after the murder of their collegues at the intersection on 10th April. Or did Col Romklow also die of boredom?,

e. all of the above is pure speculation and the truth of the matter is when people and guns mix, death is usually the outcome.

Random FYI i spent two days at the Klong Toei intersection watching events unfold - the people present, and there were thousands,some of whom were armed, wanted to kill / injure / maime / capture soldiers and get their hands on their weapons.

&lt;deleted&gt; do you expect soldiers / the government to do in that situation. The people didn't deserve to die, but they had made their point and were given every opportunity to negotiate, and walk away in peace. They knew what was coming, but called the governments bluff and unfortunately that bluff resulted in extreme actions and the deaths of innocents. If the UDD had disbanded the protest before the army action would these deaths and the scale of the deaths have happened?

Random - open YOUR eyes and mind

[Who, me ?]

<br />Random, you are such an entertainer. But where you during last year red shirts occupation of the city? What did you see of the slaughter you refer to? Unarmed people? Get your facts right , other than using the red propaganda that we are fed with for too long.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

i was in Bangkok, I have lived her 6 years, where were you?

I guess all those dead bodies just upped and died out of boredom, I guess the army were not randomly shooting unarmed people (such as medics and photographers who were clearly no direct threat), I guess the images of the army shooting at people laying on the ground and unarmed are doctored, and the soldier that shot his colleague on Viphawadee Road was not just shooting randomly, I mean he must have had a grudge agaisnt his colleague to do that, right?? I guess the independent press reports about the temple murders were also not true???

Open your eyes, open your mind, however much you want to deny this based on your hatred for Thaksin, the fact is your poster boy abhisit either:

a. ordered this mass slaughter

b. had no control over the country

c. or had is ordered disobeyed by the army

but whichever is true of the above he has still been complicit in the failure to investigate or in a cover up, do you deny this?

I was in Langsuan area every day. And I saw all the things that happened here around. I had to pass through all blockades set up by your dear friends. I saw the army backing off to avoid clashes . i saw your dear friends constantly looking for confrontations. I saw guns, knives, spears, and all kinds of funny stuff that the reds used there. Unarmed innocent protesters? You hot to be real biased. Anyway, whatever you think or say or write does not matter to me. I side with no one, i hate no one, I just saw and heard. And believe, i was in the heart of it since the reds arrived at Ratchprasong.

Edited June 10, 2011 by metisdead
Fixed the reply.

[wolfmanjack]

PM Abhisit's frustration is palpable. He knows he could have done more on the corruption front, perhaps bringing charges against some of the ministers implicated. His reality is that had he done so, his government would have collapsed as coaliton partners deserted him. He was between a rock and a hard place. I sense that he is making excuses now because he can read the tea leaves and at this time it is looking gloomy for the Dems. If he received a decisive majority I do believe that he would tackle the corruption issue, perhaps even go after the worst offenders and make an example of them. However, he covets power and will have to trade off the stance on corruption if he wants to stay in office. I'm not blaming him for his predicament either as Mme. Yingluck will face the same situation should she try to put together a coalition. I have the feeling, he PM is fed up with everyone and everything and may even regret his time as PM.

She won't see it as a problem though. Just business as usual.

[Payboy]

Well...

I guess his best just wasn't good enough!

To me this statements translates to "I failed".

Nah, please dont use the "f' word. In democrat speak, immortalized by the chocolate god; it's just a "permanent lack of success".

[animatic]

Keeping Newin in check on several items was no small feat, and still keep the coalition together. Same with the police heads attempts to run their own house opaquely like they wished, the computer graft case was shot up and others. Some got away, you have to pick the win-able fights with limited resources.

And of course letting the coalition fail, would be and invitation to allowing even greater graft to win the day.

No one 'realistically' expected a total rolling back of all graft and corruption in any case. Small doable steps. A complete waste, not hardly. A total success, not hardly either, but at least graft was not the full reason to be in office and control the coffers for ALL of this government's people.

It would be unrealistic to expect 100% success, since that does not exist anywhere in the world.

In Thailand any success stopping or minimizing of graft, and having some Dems, like Apirak, fall on their sword for the ideal was very positive change, and a change in expectations of those in office IS a win.

Edited June 10, 2011 by animatic

[rixalex]

If there would ever come a PM into power that would be able to actually stop or severely curtail corruption in this country he would not live long.

It is completely unrealistic to expect a PM who has been in office for 2 years to get rid of it.

Absolutely true.

Abhisit might not have been able to make a drastic impact on corruption, but he has moved things in the right direction, not least by being a PM who has served his time without using it to enrich himself - at least as far as we know, obviously in the course of time, scandals may yet be revealed, but as it stands at the moment, he is clean, and even his most fervent of bashers have struggled to pin anything on him in terms of corruption - proof of that being the way the reds tried to whip up a storm about his nationality - i mean, come on, surely there must have been some juicier corruption story out there for them to bring him down on? It seems not.

Another move forward in terms of tackling corruption has been his honesty on the subject. Whilst other PMs would no doubt be on the BS offensive telling us what strides they had made, here we have a PM admitting his own disappointment on not having been able to do more. Refreshingly candid.

[caribbeanman]

ah the usual mob, I thought it was quiet

Give me an A, give me a B

to clarify, I do not agree with a blanket amnesty for anyone and I have never said i agree with that, also maybe the poster would like to clarify what good abhisit has actually done for the country, sure he made a lot of noise about doing things but what exactly has he achieved? the slaughter of unarmed people on the streets, border skirmishes with Cambodia, a too strong baht ruining exports, the needs of the majority only given lip service, the continuation of corruption, in fact an increase of it at his own admittance, and admittance that there was a deal with the army to put him in power, the misinformation about his nationality etc etc etc.

the hilarious thing is how all his cheerleaders on here behave when he loses his ill gotten power and is rightly investigated and put before the courts, I imagine at that point he will be begging for an amnesty.

I wonder how many of you will cry when your poster boy goes back to where he belongs, in the opposition hopefully followed by prison, along with suthep.

well said!

[rixalex]

to clarify, I do not agree with a blanket amnesty for anyone and I have never said i agree with that,

Do you oppose amnesties altogether? Let me guess, you would be ready to make some exceptions?