EDITORIAL
"Road show" will be an uphill battle
The Nation

No matter how hard the government tries to sell its controversial plans, its opponents will still see them as benefiting only the government and its supporters

BANGKOK: -- Politicians sell false hopes for their own survival. Optimists, sometimes at least, see politicians as dream merchants. What is the Bt2-trillion borrowing scheme, exactly? A dream too big, as sympathetic critics proclaim, or a massive political deceit, as charged the government's political rivals? The Yingluck administration has kick-started a "road show" to put forward its views, but opinions will remain divided.

If Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is selling a dream, her performance earlier this week did not match the price tag of the proposed transport infrastructure revamp. Never an eloquent public speaker, she did what she could do - read a prepared speech in the usual unconvincing manner. It would have been all right if she had been defending an annual budget bill. It was anything but reassuring when what she tried to justify was the need to borrow Bt2 trillion outside the government's normal budgetary channels.

Even her big brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, admitted in a recent interview that the staggering amount of money could be obtained through conventional budgetary means. But he, like other defenders of the unorthodox borrowing programme, pointed out that the other option would subject infrastructure development to political uncertainties. New governments often put the projects of their rivals on the backburner, say advocates of the Bt2-trillion loan programme.

The government's road show is being held amid looming legal trouble. Critics have pointed at a possible breach of constitutional responsibilities and rules on how to acquire and spend funds. Since the government has made it clear that this borrowing is a top priority, a constitutional setback could have major repercussions. The government, moreover, has gone too far to backtrack now, and, like much other controversial legislation, the future of the loan lies not within the assembly hall, but in the Constitutional Court.

The simple question is, can we go step by step? In her speech, Yingluck cited competitiveness, wellbeing and the need for a solid "backbone" for Thailand so that smaller parts of the body can function in a more organised and healthy manner. We can hardly argue with that, but the key issue was left largely untouched. And that issue is whether we can do this in a more organised and healthy manner.

People, including governments, take leaps of faith. There's a fine line, however, between a leap of faith and reckless borrowing with both known and unknown risks. The possible dangers involve lack of transparency, since much would be done outside the normal parliamentary channels, and the threats that financial institutions would face.

The borrowing programme would make the rice price-pledging scheme pale in comparison. And yet, despite repeated government assurances, a great deal has gone wrong in the rice project. It's encouraged widespread corruption and nepotism and put a heavy financial burden on the government. This is not to mention the political trouble that is still boiling.

The road show will do nothing to pacify critics. And it's not necessary as far as the government's supporters are concerned, because they've already embraced the loan programme, regardless of what Yingluck says about it. As long as the government fails to seriously address the possibility of a safer way to create functional infrastructure, the road show will be just like its controversial legislation. It will serve only to reinforce political stubbornness that carries with it sizeable risk.


-- The Nation 2013-09-28

The 2 trillion would be well spent on an infrastructure plan that has objectives, goals and costed budgets and forecasts. Something that is transparent for all to be able to judge it through its various stages. Sweet f... all of that has been done and is in place. The 2 trillion is just a slush fund for Pheu Thai to just siphon off to where they see fit with no or incompetent and corrupt accountability...like to cover the huge financial losses on their idiot schemes so that they win the next elections with the Isaan brought block vote. The Shinawatra mafia are going to financially cripple Thailand and its lower social economic classes for a long time to come. That is to some what of a slightly lesser degree than what they have received to date. This lot however are raising the bar for incompetent and corruption on a level not seen to date or for some what has been able to be hidden in the past. And the Isaan Khwai will bow to the new Amart and be sprinkled with a few Baht the same as they have for hundreds of years of what came before. And the dumb asses with their lack of education will never know any different. All hail Lord Thaksin.

The constitutional constraints on huge projects such as this are there for a reason.

Where are the studies and coatings for this project? Where are the financial forecasts and future expense of the borrowing to be seen? Where is there any transparency in this proposal at all.

There is none so far as I can see beyond the rhetoric and most general washy washy reasons, or to some excuses, for the borrowing. Why the need to steamroller the bill through parliament? To most who oppose the method, never mind the stated objective, it appears the reason for the lack of forethought is that no forethought is needed to dream up a scheme for corruption sine the money will be siphoned off before the scheme is completed so any consultations become rather a moot point.

I think this is a terrible bill for Thailand and there is a large risk of it ending up being a vehicle to fund electoral fraud with the corrupt money siphoned to buy votes for another PTP term, financial ruin of the country and a path to the sort of democracy that Cambodia has had for nearly half a century except it won't be the warlord Hun Sen at the helm but someone quite akin and friends with him as well as with family ties.

Watch out Thailand, you are heading into terribly dangerous waters.

Watch out Thailand, you are heading into terribly dangerous waters.

Don't worry though the pirate crew of the P.T.P. will be safely away before the storm breaks as is and will be their treasure chests too.