Independent review of park project needed to clear govt

Using loyalty to the monarchy as a means to conceal graft cannot be accepted on any level, because people realise that honouring the monarchy and personal greed cannot be connected. 

On Monday, the military and its supporters justified the barring of students from protesting at the park by saying that they did not want the peace to be disturbed. 

A group of royalists were waiting to scream insults at the students when they were forcibly pulled out of Ban Pong railway station in Ratchaburi. One of them went as far as to shout: “If you don’t love the King, then get out [of the country].” 

It is known across the world that people in Thailand revere their monarch, but it is illogical and even silly to say that looking into a project – even if it was built to honour seven great kings – is equivalent to dishonouring the monarchy. 

A project that claims to be built in honour of great kings should be completely clean, otherwise it will only damage the reputation of the monarchy. 

Initially, nobody questioned the erection of the park until the powers-that-be shot themselves in the foot when a minister admitted that someone had taken commissions while the project was being built. The hunt for concerned officials over the past few months has only confirmed public doubt that there is a lot more than meets the eye. 

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s take on this was: “If they hadn’t done anything wrong, why would they need to run away?”

So far the authorities’ damage-control efforts have produced no results. In fact, it has had a repercussion on things and jeopardised the government’s reform and anti-corruption agenda. Setting up an in-house investigation committee has done little to build public confidence. Several independent bodies, which were previously very fierce in dealing with graft cases related to the Shinawatra clan, are now reluctant to look into the Rajabhakti project. 

What’s worse, the government is trying to politicise the issue by accusing politicians and activists of aggravating the issue for personal political gain. The authorities have been blocking their activities at the park for the past couple of weeks, and are arresting, detaining and forcing them to sign pacts to get them to shut their mouths. 

Apart from further damaging Thailand’s reputation on human rights, the government has heaped more shame on the country by getting security officials to summon activists and their relatives for attitude adjustment sessions. When they failed to find one student activist, they summoned his frightened mother to tell her that she needs to control her son’s behaviour. 

The authorities clearly have a misperception about this country’s citizens, because they believe that like soldiers, Thais can be ordered to turn right, left or go this way or that. 

This coup’s cheerleader and veteran politician Suthep Thaugsuban, who came out last year to help save the general’s government, looks to have made matters worse by implying that the damage caused by the Rajabhakti Park project was not as great those incurred by the rice-pledging scheme. So, he said, it’s not worth investigating the project. 

Is Suthep saying that corruption is only wrong when his rivals do it?

It’s tough to understand how Suthep will rebuild his credibility. But if the military-led government wishes to survive and continue its reform agenda, it will have to win public trust. And in order to do that, it will have to let public and independent agencies examine the project.