We, as a society, need to grow up

It isn’t exactly a new issue, but the timing makes it interesting. At a recent forum, bureaucrats from 19 ministries came together to voice their concerns about interference by politicians and called for a more transparent process for recruiting government officials.

The event, “Uniting Government Officials’ Ideas towards Drafting the Constitution”, was organised by the Constitutional Drafting Committee (CDC) panel on public participation and gathering opinions. The topic that garnered the most attention was the “authority and jurisdiction of government officials and politicians”. 

The task at hand, said Suthep Benjapakeesakul from the Labour Ministry, was how to come up with a mechanism that limits politicians from putting forward policies and allows state officials to implement them unhindered. 

Some offered placement testing for bureaucrats and suggested that it had to be better managed so politicians can’t put their own flunkies in positions for which they are not qualified. 

Another group suggested that the appointment of permanent secretaries should be approved and proposed by a panel of senior government officials and politicians whose job it would be to scrutinise these appointments. 

Coming up with a fair system in which bureaucrats can be rewarded for their work has long been a wish of Thai government officials. 

Theoretically, people’s mandate gives power to elected representatives who may or may not be as competent as government officials who have been in the job pretty much their entire career. So the idea of a clearly defined division of labour is a good starting point while we are on the subject of reform. 

But all this could become blurry because nobody really knows where the line is drawn. Shouldn’t politicians be able to select bureaucrats? Shouldn’t competency outweigh seniority?

Like every other sector of Thai society, bureaucrats must strive to improve themselves to meet the challenges of this rapidly changing world. Bureaucrats like to blame politicians for their predicaments. And yet too many of these officials are just going along for the ride, treating their work as little more than a secure paying job. 

A strict guideline to ensure integrity and transparency is one thing, but having too rigid a system cannot accommodate the need for flexibility, especially in an urgent situation where rapid action is required. 

Moreover, the current crop of reformers might want to think about making it easier for officials to switch to other ministries or agencies to attract the needed expertise.

We might want to come up with a salary scale that is equivalent to the private sector’s in order to attract the same kind of calibre. 

The armed forces are designed to be a fighting force – the leaner, the better – and the military is outsourcing many jobs to the private sector or permitting civilians to enter the Defence Ministry to take up non-combat jobs.

In other words, reform should also include the Defence Ministry and the armed forces. Do we really need all these colonels and generals, many of whom walk around without a contingent under their command? 

In many developed countries, commissioned officers who get passed up for promotion one too many times are decommissioned. But in Thailand, our military officers treat their career as another bureaucracy that thrives on the notion that bigger is better. 

And yet not even half of the defence budget is being spent on enhancing military capability. Most of the money goes to things like pensions and salaries. 

As long as one can remember, the Thai military has not been able to come to terms with the notion of civilian supremacy. 

But with an indifferent society that keeps electing idiotic politicians, Thailand’s political and democratic foundation will continue to rest on shaky ground if we keep turning a blind eye to these irregularities. 

In short, all sectors of society need to grow up. We can’t really reform one sector without thinking about changing others. 

Not doing so would be nothing less than selfishness. And in the end, nothing fundamentally will change.