What a carry on

He comes to mind every time I read about the antics of the Thai government.

There are the madcap popular economic measures, the rice mortgage scheme, the Bt300 minimum wage, which SMEs cannot afford and which the taxpayer may have to subsidise.

There is a fake prime minister much photographed giving advice on flood-prevention schemes, which seem to be running on to the rocks.

To save embarrassment, she may take on the defence minister position, at which she may be equally adept. 

In a land where there is great respect for age and seniority, this would be a real slap in the face for the military.

Then there is the absent prime minister who still on the run, holding Cabinet meetings in Hong Kong, looking to hand out Cabinet posts to some of the 111 formerly disgraced politicians.

There is a government official caught with millions of baht under his mattress, and will go down for unusual enrichment and perhaps corruption. Somewhere there are ministers he used to report to who have gone through the enrichment process and came up smelling of roses, and nobody smells a rat. There are many other ministries and many more mattresses to look under.

There are the courts giving time to tupenny ha'penny libel charges for people charged with terrorism, but nobody being prosecuted for their part in the insurrection two years ago.

The red shirts are still lurking around the scene. 

The yellow shirts are threatening a comeback. Shades of 2006. Will the new defence minister be called upon for military intervention?

Richard Bowler

Bangkok