Bureaucrats want end to interference

[Lite Beer]

Bureaucrats want end to interference
Nitipol Kiravanich
The Sunday Nation

BANGKOK: -- Bureaucrats have voiced strong concern over interference by politicians in state agencies and ministries - and called for a more transparent process for recruiting government officials.

They spoke at a forum held on Friday on the topic of "Uniting Government Officials' Ideas towards Drafting the Constitution" by the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) panel on public participation and gathering opinions.

Participants in the forum include 19 ministries and other officials, such as the ministries of Defence, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Social Development and Human Security, Labour, plus Education and Industry.

Officials from the ministries were divided into four groups of mixed members. The topic that caught the most attention was the "authority and jurisdiction of government officials and politicians".

All four groups agreed that over the years many politicians have interfered with their working jurisdiction and abused state officials. So, they want to see government agencies and ministries that are more independent, with less politicians intervening.

Suthep Benjapakeesakul from the Ministry of Labour, who represented the first group, said they would like to separate politicians from the executive branch so that politicians only have authority to put forward policies and state officials can put them into action.

"By this proposal it could reduce the interference of politicians towards other agencies because they would only propose the policy," Suthep said.

He also voiced concern over the source of officials, saying it is within the jurisdiction of Office of the Civil Service Commission (OCSC) to arrange tests for people who want to be officials. In some cases the OCSC allowed other agencies to arrange the test, and that may lead to people with power to abuse their authority and bring in candidates who did not pass the test.

'Keep politicians away from courts'

The first group said the selection of government officials should be scrutinised carefully, and they did not want to see politicians interfering in the courts. So they want the CDC to draft articles outlining the jurisdiction and authority of every agency.

The second group said that the appointment of permanent secretaries needed to be approved and proposed by executives. Therefore they proposed the setting up of a panel of government officials and politicians to scrutinise such appointments.

"We would propose this idea to the CDC, to, if possible, set up a new committee for officials to be part of the appointment of high-ranked officials, to promote a more just system," a representative from the group said.

The first group proposed that a new committee be set up to scrutinise state officials' integrity and morality, so it could scrutinise the transparency when permanent secretaries were appointed.

The third group said there should be a separation of power clearly stated between politicians and state agencies.

They also voiced support for the first group on setting up a committee to scrutinise the appointment and relocation of state officials in some cases.

Koompon Buasawan, a Commerce official representing the first group, said the committee should include retired senior officials and others who would not benefit from the scrutiny, as it could be a way to solve problems.

The fourth group voiced support for the idea to clearly stipulate the jurisdiction of officials to prevent political interference in work areas.

Thawilwadee Bureekul, chairperson of the panel, said all proposals would be noted and forwarded to the CDC. Some proposals had already been discussed and if officials had more suggestions they could be passed on also.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Bureaucrats-want-end-to-interference-30250799.html

-- The Nation 2014-12-28

[Thai at Heart]

There is a junta running the country and these numpties are moaning about political interference. They do know the coup happened 7 months ago, right?

[Robby nz]

Could it be that they forgot to mention the need for the stamping out of corruption among civil servants and harsher penalties for corruption including restitution and loss of pensions.

As for ; 'Keep politicians away from courts' There must be quite a few politicians who have a dire need to be close to the courts ....As Defendants.

[Chang_paarp]

Great in theory, BUT, with power comes responsibility.

The bureaucrats will need to accept more responsibility for their action, are they ready for that?

[arthurboy]

Until these so called servants of the Thai people stop being corrupt themselves, nothing will change. Working within a government department, especially at senior level, has always guaranteed certain favours and benefits from equally corrupt politicians and other people of influence.

There's no interference. There is plenty of complicity and collusion.

Pathetic crocodile tears. Corrupt and rotten to the core, the lot of them.

[whybother]

There is a junta running the country and these numpties are moaning about political interference. They do know the coup happened 7 months ago, right?

"All four groups agreed that over the years many politicians have interfered with their working jurisdiction"

[chainarong]

These suggestions operate in other countries why not Thailand, firstly politicians shouldn't be in the business of appointing senior heads of departments etc there should be a government selection panel (Independent selection tribunal) selection is on merit not rank or nepotism , the bureaucrats are quite correct in that the politicians formulate policy , departments implement it , one hopes that if these recommendations are taken on board the eradication of the General nuisance from Thai decision making will eventuate.

[ABCer]

Politicians say the right words.

Government officials say the right words.

People in Red say the right things.

People in Yellow say the right things.

People in uniform say the right things.

Elected people say the right things.

Exiled people say the right things.

People at Courts say the right things - Judges, Defendants, Prosecutors.

Non-transparency/Transparency

Nepotism/Makers of Merit

Inadequacy/Adequacy

Bribery/Honesty

Extortions/Donations

Appointments on Merit/Charity

Responsibility for action, inaction etc./Total Irresponsibility

etc. etc. etc.

This System exists for over 2,557 years, is alive and well.

Nothing has changed. Nothing will change. Ever.

And a Happy New Year to us all!

Edited December 28, 2014 by ABCer

[dominique355]

Suthep Benjapakeesakul from the Ministry of Labour, who represented the first group, said they would like to separate politicians from the executive branch so that politicians only have authority to put forward policies and state officials can put them into action.

Nobody should be allowed to check if these bureaucrats actually do their work. "Leave us alone, just give us the money to waste."

[Thailand]

Keep away and we absolve ourselves from all responsibilities related to everything we do.

[connda]

Perhaps corruption isn't working as 'business as usual' with the recent changes in governance? Sorry. So sad!

Edited December 28, 2014 by connda

[HUAHIN62]

Perhaps corruption isn't working as 'business as usual' with the recent changes in governance? Sorry. So sad!

I think they must now share their tea money thats why they are complaining. Accept for the political arrests/CIB arrests nothing have changed on the corruption front.

[lvr181]

Were they bureaucraps or bureauprats?

Sounds like they do not want to be held responsible or transparently accountable for their actions

But they should not have to put up with interference of individual politicians when carrying out official Government policy.

[yellow1red1]

just the other day,,, it occurred to me,,, with all of this desire to move towards democracy, and away from democraZy.... why? oh why hasn't the NCPO conducted a few binding referendums,,, where the People can Assemble on Issues??? where the People can propose Laws and Issues? where NO political advertising is allowed and NO leaders are Elected, only the Issues and Laws to be decided? One reason it would be SO hard to put forward is because, you guessed it?, that [would] be REAL democracy.

> it would BUST the West [if] Siam transformed into a REAL democracy.. the yanks, zionists , EU central bankers , ALL of the kleptocrats would Rush to put a STOP real democracy in Siam < they will not tolerate democracy,,, they want a return to democraZy!

[yellow1red1]

Something very interesting in the Article,,, it's ALL about the power of the politicians and the power of the bureaucrats. of course the Power of the People isn't mentioned; isn't a [concern]...

>>> It [could] be so simple, using Intelligent Design, instead of having to rely on Dumb Luck.

There could be a technocratic House which points all of the Civil Managers. While they are not Elected by the whole, the Peoples' Elected Reps view the Short Lists of Candidates for the position of Duty and Responsibilities and the Elected House has to Approve the Appointments. Now, the beauty that makes it Corruption-proof, is the Civil Managers, who Administer the Portfolios, cannot Collect Taxes. The Peoples' House, who Collects the taxes, can't spend monies. The Elected Reps are an Intermediary between the Partners, the People and the Crown. There are no Premiers nor Governors, the Elected Reps are Equal to each other and good at accounting and budgeting, because they get asked for Funding every year.

[[[btw, a FB Friend of mine, the former Vice-Premier of Bhutan has suggested, on his FB Timeline that his country discuss my concepts and have a referendum on changing their Constitution. In 2010 I warned him their new democracy would turn just as bad as the other ones around the world, with an unlocked back door for the Corrupt and the division of the People into political Gangs, all which came true, of course. In Thailand I was interviewed on a PhangNga radio station, by a Provincial Governor, a few professors, and some highly place VIP's are FB friends and they have shown my architecture to high places. This is tangible and progressing on many fronts in the West, too]] It's really very simple; we now have Smart Phones but are burdened with Stupid Political Systems, all of which, quickly, turn into Kleptocracies, ALL of them.

Sure there is political Corruption; yes 3 million children will starve to death in 2015, [when there are 7 billion acres of arable land - do you have your acre?]. Yes the Pacific Ocean is a garbage dump. Did I mention Arms Lobbyists? Just don't say the human race is a civilized species, we are NOT.

[mikemac]

"The first group said the selection of government officials should be scrutinised carefully, and they did not want to see politicians interfering in the courts."

From what I have seen and heard in the past nine years it would be a good idea to stop Thai politicians interfering in politics, full stop.

[ksamuiguy]

Obviously the wrong people are writing the document, what was wrong with the last one, just massage it a little.

Yes I have read it several times, with a few changes it would be good to go.

[Langsuan Man]

If they could just understand the concept of firing people for cause instead of just putting them into inactive posts, maybe then, there might be hope for change