City governor right to stand his ground
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As Dom Dunn suggests, the current flooding crisis has lessons to be learned, but not those answers advocated by Mr Dunn for Bangkok and the country.
The two commanders analogy is correct in theory but, in practice, Thailand cannot allow the multi-headed FROC, or anything like it, to manage a disaster of this magnitude again. The Bangkok governor has been sidetracked so many times by loose cannons, mobs and politicians taking the law into their own hands, and flip-flops by FROC, that it is only his strong will that has given Bangkok the protection it has had.
Only if disaster management is put in the hands of a competent independent body with total decision-making power (with no politicians included) can a countrywide crisis be handled fairly and rationally. Incompetent politicians should be de-FROCed and aid distribution put in the hands of NGOs – not those who think their own supporters are more deserving than others.
This is probably an idealistic scenario, but, unless it happens, the Bangkok governor should be very much involved – as are governors of other provinces in their affairs – in decisions that affect his province. Even at the best of times, it is just about impossible to silence politicians of any stripe, but they can be made impotent only if all of them are taken out of the picture.
Ken Malcolm
Bangkok
