Hrh Speaks Out...

[ASIC]

Stunned govt tries to ease HM’s worries

Published on Mar 18, 2004

The government insisted yesterday that it was making its best effort to fight corruption, after being rocked by strong warnings from one of His Majesty the King’s most trusted aides, who said the Monarch was deeply concerned about rampant and “wholesale” graft in the country.

Government Spokesman Jakrapob Penkair said he did not believe Sumeth Tantivechakul, secretary of the King’s Chai Pattana Foundation, was criticising the Thaksin Cabinet when he spoke at a seminar on corruption on Tuesday.

“The government declared war on corruption on its first day in office, and the prime minister, who was a businessman, knows how detrimental graft can be to the country’s economic progress,” said Jakrapob.

The spokesman described Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s ties with the Royal Palace as warm.

Sumeth on Tuesday conveyed what he described as HM the King’s strongest ever public condemnation of corrupt officials when the Monarch spoke in front of a gathering of CEO governors last October.

On that occasion, the King, according to Sumeth, said: “Whoever is corrupt, even just a little, should be cursed. This may sound rude, but they must be cursed. Honest people, on the other hand, should be blessed. I wish they live for a hundred years in good health.”

“I have served the King for more than 20 years and I never heard stronger words from him,” Sumeth told the seminar, which was organised by the National Counter Corruption Commission. “This can only mean the problem in our country is reaching a dangerous and critical point. He even admitted he sounded rude. So for us, we just can’t keep on standing still.

“... His Majesty’s October 8 message was that the country will be ruined if corruption continues. This is not just His Majesty’s country, so all Thais must stand up to protect this land. We should all be united to rid our nation of this disease.”

Sumeth criticised the slow pace of corruption investigations and said the media must play an instrumental role in the fight against graft.

According to Sumeth, the King does not believe that rich people cannot be corrupt. “The wealthier you are, the more corrupt you become,” he quoted the Monarch as saying.

Sumeth compared the King’s call for an end to corruption within 10 years to Prime Minister Thaksin’s sixyear goal to stamp out poverty.

“His Majesty thinks over and over before he says anything. He wants to end corruption in 10 years, considerably longer than the prime minister’s sixyear timeframe for ending poverty. It may seem long but 10 years is in fact short,” Sumeth said.

Taking a swipe at the Thaksin government’s favourite buzzword, buranakarn – which refers to the integrated or wholesale public service that a “CEO” administrator is supposed to provide – Sumeth said Thais should stop emulating foreign ideas such as good governance and CEOstyle administration.

“We are now seeing corruption buranakarn (wholesale or comprehensive) style,” he said, also referring to scandals that led to the collapse of Enron and WorldCom in the United States.

Political activist Suriyasai Kantasila, meanwhile, said the government was losing public faith because the administration was strewn with conflicts of interest.

“The proclaimed war on corruption has given birth to many sophisticated ways of corruption nowadays and even expanded the network of corruption,” he said.

THE NATION 18-3-2004

[englishoak]

His Majesty the King is totally correct and perhaps the only one who has the influence and love to steer the people towards the right path.

" LONG LIVE THE KING "

[KevinN]

Right you are; But in a democratic Monarchy such as we live under here, Does the king have the power to set things right and clean up the corrupt and crooked politicos?, It seems not.

It appears to me that things are getting worse on a daily basis,some seem to be getting richer and some are getting poorer. But I see one that never seems to lose anything,but looks like a daily gain.

LONG LIVE THE KING..

[george]

Thanks for your input! I must close this thread becuase it has references to the Royal Family.

/Admin