Former Thai PM Anand questions sincerity to fight graft

[webfact]

Anand questions sincerity to fight graft
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Former prime minister Anand Panyarachun yesterday questioned the government's sincerity in tackling corruption following rumours of a deal between the military rulers and the old power clique.

He said the people in power should clearly reject the report if it is untrue, as it could damage the government's credibility.

"What I am worried about most is the government's sincerity in solving the corruption problem. There have been so many rumours, although I don't think it's true. It's rumoured that a deal has been reached. I don't know if this is true. If it's true, we can't [do much] about it. But if it's untrue, the government should explain it," he said.

Anand, who himself led a post-coup government in 1991, was speaking during a panel discussion on "Thailand's economic society: challenges and reform", organised by the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) to mark its 30th anniversary.

He said that six months after the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) staged the coup on May 22, he had seen things that had pleased him and those that have frustrated him.

"Initially, many people including myself were happy that the conflict was stopped. But later when the new government took over, it seemed there were other dimensions than stopping the conflict," Anand said.

For him, achieving national reconciliation and reform did not mean sparing people who broke the law. "These things must be clearly separated. We should not try to reach reconciliation by exchanging the benefits between both sides," he said.

Anand noted that many other countries experienced worse division than Thailand, but they could leave conflict behind and reach reconciliation.

He said that a big challenge for Thailand's reform effort was to decentralise power so that the underprivileged obtained greater opportunities.

"At present, the power is concentrated only on the top 10 per cent of the Thai people. This concentration of power is a big problem," he said. "We have to give more opportunity to people at the bottom. We must return happiness to them. This is a big challenge for Thailand."

He also said it had become a global trend for the central government to give more power to local governments. "In China, local administrations have a free hand on many matters. We cannot obstruct this global trend," he said.

For Anand, reform is an unending process that needs improvement from time to time. "This is something Thai society needs to be aware of. You say that things will be all right after the reform. But reform actually is a process that never ends. You do changes today and will have to make them again 10 years later.

"Writing a good constitution may not be the next solution. An election is just a tool of democracy and there are also other components," he said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Anand-questions-sincerity-to-fight-graft-30248493.html


-- The Nation 2014-11-25

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

He is not alone.

[chooka]

The government has no credibility so how can it be damaged?

[NongKhaiKid]

No matter who is in power corruption is always just a little too close to home for serious consideration.

The PM showed his hand when he lept to the defence of his appointees who have considerable wealth using weak excuses.

There will be corruption investigations but they won't be conducted on an ' across the board ' basis.

[timewilltell]

I agree with Kn Anand. Thailand needs a simple constitution based on sound ideals. It should set out basic rights and concepts that are inalienable. It is a document that needs to last and as things are generally in constant flux, the simpler the better.

The old constitutions were lengthy and thus require constant updating which is somewhat destabilizing. With that in place a thorough overhaul of the Justice system to bring it up to international standards rather than the adolescent mess it is at the moment. There are many many improvements that are obvious to anyone who has studied the legal systems of the West which despite their faults, have proven steadfast for hundreds of years.

Then apply it all universally and without favour with access to all. Thai lawyers, some are corrupt , many are seriously racist, and none of them really know what they are doing because the law is subject largely to the whims of the judges in constant change throughout the lifetime of a case, there being no serious concept of precedence. Many many basic issues.

[BSJ]

Anand seems like a knowledgable fellow....but how many skeletons does he have in his closet?

[Robby nz]

He is right on all points particularly "For him, achieving national reconciliation and reform did not mean sparing people who broke the law"

It would seem that someone has suggested just that to the CDC : BANGKOK: -- A proposal for an amnesty bill was discussed yesterday by a charter drafters' subcommittee as a way of accomplishing true reconciliation.

I would hope they don't take it seriously and let those who have broken the law get away with it just to try to make one side or the other happy.

There will always be victims of every unlawful act and giving amnesty to those who broke the law can never compensate (make happy) the victims.

There will also be those who will think along the lines of ' we got away with it before so we will do it again' or 'they got away with it so we can do it'.

[Suriya4]

What has he done on corruption when anan was pm himself? Nothing. In fact the rkich got richer.

[longway]

Who is the old power clique?

[Fat Haggis]

What has he done on corruption when anan was pm himself? Nothing. In fact the rkich got richer.

And all corruption stopped under Abhisit then did it?

[benalibina]

Who is the old power clique?

That cannot be mentioned here.

[WitawatWatawit]

History will not judge Anand quite as kindly as he would like, especially in regard to the military's behaviour during the May 92 violence (which I did not witness personally, though I was there). But there's no denying he twice brought the country back on course through his skills and (flawed?) integrity, and his connections. So for him to mention "... rumours of a deal between the military rulers and the old power clique..." is very telling indeed. In many ways this "old power clique" were vitally important to him in restoring order 22years ago, so any criticism by him of them needs to be taken seriously.

[asdecas]

Anand seems like a knowledgable fellow....but how many skeletons does he have in his closet?

Perhaps if you arrived recently you don't know that Khan Anand led the most effective Thai government of the past fifty years.

[smutcakes]

He is right on all points particularly "For him, achieving national reconciliation and reform did not mean sparing people who broke the law"

It would seem that someone has suggested just that to the CDC : BANGKOK: -- A proposal for an amnesty bill was discussed yesterday by a charter drafters' subcommittee as a way of accomplishing true reconciliation.

I would hope they don't take it seriously and let those who have broken the law get away with it just to try to make one side or the other happy.

There will always be victims of every unlawful act and giving amnesty to those who broke the law can never compensate (make happy) the victims.

There will also be those who will think along the lines of ' we got away with it before so we will do it again' or 'they got away with it so we can do it'.

Robby, i think everyone agrees that people who break the law should be punished.

The issue in Thailand however is that unless they punish everyone then all it is going to do is create larger rifts in society.

If someone could come in and punish all people then it would be great, but its impossible.

The problem we have is that one group comes in, takes some action against their opponents and that's that.

It would appear this is also going to happen this time.

The other major fly in the ointment being that those who are supposed to take the lead in fighting crime, and those sentencing the criminals, are just about the worst and most perpetual breakers of the law in the country.

[Fat Haggis]

I thought that the posting of "rumours" wasn't allowed on TVF? ?

All he's appearing to say is what many posters have been saying since the coup, and he's more in the know than TVF members

[ezzra]

Former prime minister Anand Panyarachun... now there goes one of the very few righteous

men in this Sodom and Gomorrah of a country we call Thailand...

[Prbkk]

..a deal with the old power clique? Gee, no one saw that coming. Shocking.

[Eric Loh]

Doubt the current government is taking any advise from the Anad or the Privy Council. Power have shifted.

[ogb]

There will also be those who will think along the lines of ' we got away with it before so we will do it again' or 'they got away with it so we can do it'.

Yes, that definitinely seems to be the case when it comes to the biggest illegality being Military Coup and scrapping the constitution

They keep getting away with it, so they keep doing it.

[taony]

Who is the old power clique?

That cannot be mentioned here.

Or anywhere else for that matter.

[MobileContent]

Anand seems like a knowledgable fellow....but how many skeletons does he have in his closet?

From all the PM of Thailand I think a very few.

[longway]

Who is the old power clique?

That cannot be mentioned here.

Well given that the army is supposed to be the old power clique's agent, why would it hv to do a deal?

[Acharn]

What has he done on corruption when anan was pm himself? Nothing. In fact the rkich got richer.

That's funny, my memory is that while he was PM (and remember he was appointed by another junta and they were looking over his shoulder all the time, and they were hugely corrupt) corruption was much less than before (Chatchai Choonhaven's Buffet Cabinet). Granted, he did not jail many corrupt generals, but they would have shot him. I still consider him the best Prime Minister Thailand has had over the last thirty-five years. I have to admit Prem was pretty good, though.

[WitawatWatawit]

^^^ Anand is one of the few people whom the military cannot touch. After the military overthrew Chatchai (partly because his battlefield to marketplace philosophy did not sit well with them), they needed to restore some credibility before installing Hia Su as PM, so Anand with his diplomatic background was the perfect choice. Though he wasn't able to stop Su, he did do things (memory vague, sorry) that had a lot of my anti-military Thai colleagues cheering.

[Tatsujin]

Perhaps they could (for once), look outside of Thailand, see how the rest of the world does things, and take the best bits from them ...

[Robby nz]

What has he done on corruption when anan was pm himself? Nothing. In fact the rkich got richer.

And all corruption stopped under Abhisit then did it?

It decreased and leveled off in spite of him having to take on the parasite parties to form a coalition then took off again once Yingluck took over :

[ginjag]

What has he done on corruption when anan was pm himself? Nothing. In fact the rkich got richer.

And all corruption stopped under Abhisit then did it?

It decreased and leveled off in spite of him having to take on the parasite parties to form a coalition then took off again once Yingluck took over :

576x544xCorruption-Perceptions-Index-THAILAND-2.jpg.pagespeed.ic.NKNgav0HXt1.jpg

This guy Ab., was VERY limited to as to what power he had with the dung he had to work with. Shame it went down hill Jack and Jill style PTP.

[smutcakes]

What has he done on corruption when anan was pm himself? Nothing. In fact the rkich got richer.

And all corruption stopped under Abhisit then did it?

It decreased and leveled off in spite of him having to take on the parasite parties to form a coalition then took off again once Yingluck took over :

576x544xCorruption-Perceptions-Index-THAILAND-2.jpg.pagespeed.ic.NKNgav0HXt1.jpg

This guy Ab., was VERY limited to as to what power he had with the dung he had to work with. Shame it went down hill Jack and Jill style PTP.

If they were more popular it would not have been necessary to have to work with the 'dung'.

Could he not have apologized and declared that the other 'dung' and 'parasite' parties were not of the ethical standards he holds dear, and declined to work with them?

[tx22cb]

How can this guy openly question the Govt when a few (silent) students wearing T-shirts (which read "Anti-Dictatorship") get arrested on the spot?

Another case of one law for Us, another law for Them.

[laocowboy2]

Anand seems like a knowledgable fellow....but how many skeletons does he have in his closet?

Less than anyone else I would guess. He has a justifiable reputation for both honesty and humility. I have seen him queuing for a table in a restaurant - and refusing an offer to bypass the queue.