Actions speak louder than words

Speaking to senior police officers, PM Yingluck ordered that career advancement be based on abilities and performance. She says that justice must be ensured for all sides, and fundamental human rights must be respected. Hear, hear!

But, madam prime minister, just last week, why did you summarily fire then-finance permanent secretary Areepong Bhoocha-oom when he refused to transfer his deputy Supa Piyajitti for revealing that your rice pledging scheme could lose taxpayers Bt400 billion for the first two years, and that there could be massive corruption? Is this your version of performance-based reward?

You say that justice must be ensured for all sides, and fundamental rights of people must be respected. Why, then, has no soldier been charged for the killings at Krue Se (32 bodies), Tak Bai (73 bodies), and Nong Chik (four bodies)? Why has the Red Bull heir who admitted killing a policeman with his Ferrari not even been indicted, one full year after the killing? Why has the killer not only been freed on bail, but been allowed to go overseas, all the easier to flee? Why have you, like all those before you, consistently renewed the emergency decree even though UN Special Rapporteur for Extrajudicial Killings Philip Ashton said “it could be used to justify murder”?

And now, madam prime minister, national police chief Adul Saengsingkaew is taking his cue from you, with a NATO (“No Action, Talk Only”) stance, for he vows to take “harsh action” against any police officer involved in illicit drugs or other unlawful activities. Might that “harsh action” be court-martial, perhaps? No, it’s moving him to an inactive post, the same action that’s proven to be so ineffective that Yingluck has to order the cops to come clean!

Madam prime minister, learn from Confucius: “The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.”

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok