A bully with a government job

[webfact]

EDITORIAL

A bully with a government job

By The Nation

 

Let’s see what fate awaits the public prosecutor upset when two cops refused to take him to dinner

 

BANGKOK: -- An arrogant senior public prosecutor in Bangkok is accused of forcing two junior police officers in Chon Buri to apologise to him in person for failing to take him to a food shop as he requested while visiting the eastern province last weekend.

 

The policemen of non-commissioned ranks declined to accompany him to the eatery since they were on duty at the time, but they gave him directions. That wasn’t enough for the prosecutor, who was heard complaining that the cops showed him disrespect. The policemen reportedly were ordered by their supervisors to apologise to the angry public prosecutor. The 

 

conversation was captured on video and made its way onto the social media.

 

The Attorney-General’s Office said on Tuesday it was trying to determine whether the prosecutor had committed any wrongdoing. Spokesman Somnuek Siangkong said that, if he did, he’d face severe disciplinary action. The controversy that’s arisen harms the agency’s image, Somnuek said, and in the past many public prosecutors have been sacked for causing trouble. “We try to get rid of the rotten fish to restore the public’s confidence and faith,” he said. 

 

If the facts as presented are true – and there’s no reason to suspect they’re not – this is just one more example of a common practice among senior bureaucrats: demanding privileges in the form of junior public officials serving their needs. Should they not get what they want, they feel that discipline is in order. 

 

Unfortunately this practice doesn’t stop at small favours, such as being accompanied to a restaurant. In many cases it involves asking that a crime be overlooked. And it is often junior, non-commissioned police officers – the very people tasked with enforcing the law on the street – who are asked for such “favours”. 

 

Of course there are corrupt officers who demand that criminals pay them bribes in return for immunity. But honest officers seeking only to perform their duty will be severely discouraged when supervisors ask them to kowtow to senior bureaucrats with the power to cause damage should they be denied favours. 

 

The public prosecutor in this case allegedly threatened the junior policemen, saying he could have them “jailed” anytime he wished. This was likely not the first time he’d made such a threat to junior officials who failed to answer his needs. 

 

Such bullying stems from Thailand’s patronage system, in which the mighty and the lowly rely on one another’s services and favours. Such a mutually beneficial arrangement between people of different social classes is tolerable if it fosters social harmony. But the practice is wholly unacceptable if it weakens law enforcement and allows the law to be abused.

 

Certainly we cannot uproot this habit overnight. What we can do is condemn the practice instead of condoning or accepting it. Supervisors must not force subordinates to apologise for failing to do what is not their duty, any more than for failing to do wrong, such as sparing law violators. They have to protect junior colleagues who honestly enforce the law. It is the honest ones who deserve the public’s support. 

 

Senior officials overseeing bureaucrats who request privileges and favours, meanwhile, have to discourage such acts. They need to take action to assure the public that they such practices are not being permitted.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/opinion/30320598

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-07-13

[Chris Lawrence]

Thailand’s patronage system, well at least you know who to see if you have a problem. The only problem with that is the envelope keeps growing. The only problem with that is the wrong side has a good chance of winning. 

[Samui Bodoh]

5 minutes ago, webfact said:

Such bullying stems from Thailand’s patronage system, in which the mighty and the lowly rely on one another’s services and favours. Such a mutually beneficial arrangement between people of different social classes is tolerable if it fosters social harmony.

 

Relying on "one another's services and favours" ISN'T tolerable when the course of justice is perverted. It is simply a lame excuse as to why some people get to violate the law with impunity.

 

If Thailand wants to progress to a more developed status as a modern, rules-based country, this process has to stop.

 

As it is, it just fosters double standards in favour of the rich or connected, while denying justice to those of a lower social or financial status.

 

And this is the root of many of Thailand's problems.

[Cool Guy 5000]

He also phoned 3 army officers to come and arrest the 2 police officers for a perceived lack of respect toward him. And he was allegedly drunk whilst behind the wheel. As for the Attorney-General’s Office trying to determine whether the prosecutor had committed any wrongdoing, well if they can't work that out in 30 seconds.....

[doremifasol]

.

 

The public prosecutor should be prosecuted

for being so full of crap. 

 

.

[JAG]

Nothing will happen. Whoever is his "influential friend" higher up the food chain will see to that
Of course it may cost him, but he will recoup that from those lower down the chain.

[tomwct]

This is not his first time!

[shady86]

Should be other way round. Someone in higher position and salary should be doing a favor, not asking for it.

[LannaGuy]

Surely he should lose his job at the very least but that will never happen.

[esprit]

2 minutes ago, LannaGuy said:

Surely he should lose his job at the very least but that will never happen.

This is Thailand.  If what you said correctly did happen there would be no one in a job from a minor government official  upwards

[captspectre]

one more reason for the Army to replace the Police! and the PM has got to be tougher! get rid of most of the "elite"

[LannaGuy]

Just now, captspectre said:

one more reason for the Army to replace the Police! and the PM has got to be tougher! get rid of most of the "elite"

but he is an "elite" and his job is to protect the ammart  

[piersbeckett]

Uncivil servant?

 

Seriously though and IMV, corruption can only be stopped if tackled from the top down.

[little mary sunshine]

Arrogant lowclass trash with a Law Degree,

I wonder if He graduated bottom of the Class!!

[klauskunkel]

All he wanted was a police escort with sirens and lights flashing, so he could make an entrance at the noodle stall and maybe get a discount.

[Emster23]

A bully with a government job

 Yeah, well Donald Trump won't....er, what? Oh this is local news.....

never mind

[Yann55]

[Yann55]

1 hour ago, captspectre said:

one more reason for the Army to replace the Police! and the PM has got to be tougher! get rid of most of the "elite"

 

I sure hope you're being sarcastic, because if you're not, I wonder what planet you're living on  

[Cadbury]

39 minutes ago, little mary sunshine said:

Arrogant lowclass trash with a Law Degree,

I wonder if He graduated bottom of the Class!!

No matter how far down the bottom of the barrel his qualification might have been he ultimately would have had to pay for his job like everyone else in the services.

What a thoroughly debased society Thailand has at the top end of town. Pity help the proletariat.

[tracker1]

2 hours ago, shady86 said:

Should be other way round. Someone in higher position and salary should be doing a favor, not asking for it.

Unfortunatly it doesn't work that way in a lot of countries and I know for a fact it doesn't work that way in Thailand ! the hirachy system is alive and well here !

 

[tracker1]

1 hour ago, captspectre said:

one more reason for the Army to replace the Police! and the PM has got to be tougher! get rid of most of the "elite"

I love humor and a good laugh first thing in the morning ! 

[Lemonltr]

2 hours ago, captspectre said:

one more reason for the Army to replace the Police! and the PM has got to be tougher! get rid of most of the "elite"

I remember reading a story  allegedly of the PM saying this idiom-  (approximately) If you come across a dangerous soi dog get behind a Poo Yai. Also I believe he said when in the South. "We don't mind you making your money but please take care of the little people"

I also remember being taken aback by this blatant promotion of the patronage system, a system which in the opinion of many is at the root of Thailand'a inability to progress and which keeps the rich, rich and powerful and the poor,  poor..

 

[sweatalot]

Again mobiles with movie function and social media are a blessing.

Those wrongdoers and criminals have to be shamed and to fear to be publicly shown as the scum they are.

Edited July 13, 2017 by sweatalot

[humqdpf]

Although i would normally agree with the various criticisms on the patronage system operating in various sectors in Thailand, in this case i think that the case is somewhat trivial. There is the argument that the Public Prosecutor should not be wasting his time wandering around on his own looking for a place to eat. There is also the additional issue of him not being made an easy target for some defendant or connection to a defendant who wanted to take revenge for a decision to place charges.

 

I can just imagine a case where the prosecutor, in a strange town and prosecuting cases in public, being told by jobsworth cops that "sorry we are on duty and we cannot show you where you can safely have lunch.'

[lvr181]

2 hours ago, little mary sunshine said:

Arrogant lowclass trash with a Law Degree,

I wonder if He graduated bottom of the Class!!

Arrogant lowclass trash with a Law Degree,

I wonder if He graduated bottom of the Class!!

[YetAnother]

dollars to doughnuts, that prosecutor does not think he did anything wrong; the old 'everybody does it' ; i imagine threatening a police officer is a crime and even if he somehow manages to get off or cover this up (doubtless he will play victim), he should be ashamed , but that implies he has a moral code

[YetAnother]

bet the officials assigned to look into this do the same thing; so there will be a backroom meeting , a bunch of laughs, and then,nothing

[Grusa]

24 minutes ago, lvr181 said:

Arrogant lowclass trash with a Law Degree,

I wonder if He graduated bottom of the Class!!

Degrees are bought and paid for. Class ranking is irelevant, as are morals, intelligence, education or the lack of same.

[Baerboxer]

9 hours ago, JAG said:

Nothing will happen. Whoever is his "influential friend" higher up the food chain will see to that
Of course it may cost him, but he will recoup that from those lower down the chain.

 

Indeed. And so it goes on, in so many circles of varying sizes and contexts, on a daily basis.

 

Reforms - my arse!

[Golden Triangle]

Sounds more like 17th Century Britain rather than 21st Century Thailand, when are they gonna clean this HiSo LoSo Shit up ? 

 

If ever