First House-Senate session turns into blame game

In the debate, the opposition criticised the government and its Flood Relief Operation Centre (FROC) for failing to properly manage the crisis, while a Pheu Thai MP shot back by blaming Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra. Many senators, meanwhile, came up with some constructive suggestions.
The suggestions include adopting an integrated approach in water management, building of flood ways or another major river and adopting strict urban-planning rules that strictly separate agricultural, industrial, residential and water-catchment areas. A number of senators also encouraged the authorities to take water-management lessons from countries like the Netherlands as well as bring the internal political battles to an end.
Democrat MP Suthep Thuagsubhan led the attack against the government by pointing out its failure in explaining the severity of the situation to the public.
“They listen to [FROC] and they don’t understand. There’s no clear answer as to how many days the floods will remain. Nobody knows but you will have to talk with them,” he said.
Suthep also criticised the government’s slowness in setting up mobile kitchens to help flood-affected Bangkokians and warned that the food provided should meet certain standards. “The food must be of good quality. Bangkok people are picky about what they eat, they are not beggars.”
He also urged the government to provide counselling, because Bangkokians “have limited patience”.
Thepthai Senapong, another Democrat MP, said FROC had been put in the hands of the wrong people and the government favoured red-shirt politicians seeking relief goods.
However, the most controversial speaker was Jirayu Huangsab, Pheu Thai MP for Klong Sam Wa district. He accused the Bangkok governor for failing to take care of those affected in the outlying areas of the capital. Calling him a “shadow Bangkok governor”, Jirayu said Sukhumbhand and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) did not care for people in far-flung areas like Klong Sam Wa, where people had to eventually take to the streets to force the opening of the sluice gate.
“The area has been flooded since October 2. Did BMA warn them that it is a water-catchment area so they would not buy houses there?” Jirayu said, adding that the governor should have visited the area much earlier. These attacks against the governor, who is a member of the Democrat Party, led to protests from the opposition, who pointed out that it was against House regulations to criticise someone who cannot defend himself in person.
Jirayu, who was attacked by Klong Sam Wa residents earlier for not caring for them, defended himself by saying that he only had two pick-up trucks and five staff members at his disposal.
Some senators, tired of the blame game between ruling-party MPs and the opposition, urged members of the House of Representatives to stop and concentrate on the task at hand. “I don’t think today is the day to seek the wrongdoers,” one senator said.
“Society will not benefit if the debate is based on political interests,” Nakhon Si Thammarat senator Siriwat Kraisin warned, adding that Thailand is perhaps the only country in the world where canals and waterways can be filled up without any restrictions.
Some of the senators asked the government how prepared it was for possible flooding next year or the upcoming drought, while another asked if the authorities had any plans to deal with the polluted flood waters.