Get the political games out of relief efforts

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has called for every party to transcend their political colours and work together to fight the flood. However, red-shirt leaders in her own Pheu Thai Party have disrupted the flood relief effort with their political bias while some politicians shamelessly took an advantage of people’s suffering.
Chalong Riewrang, Pheu Thai Party MP from Nonthaburi province, told reporters recently that donated items had not been effectively distributed to flood victims because some of red-shirt politicians had an “influence” over donated items more than others.
This remark would have carried less weight if it had been from Pheu Thai’s political opponents. But the public has paid attention to this news because it came from the same (ruling) party. In fact, Chalong’s criticism was not surprising. Earlier, social media had featured clips exposing the alleged abuse and mismanagement of donations stockpiled at the Flood Relief Operations Centre (FROC) headquarters.
Earlier, ThaiFlood, a large civic network, pulled out of FROC and said that officials at the operations centre were refusing to tell the truth about the situation. Also, ThaiFlood was being discriminated against when it came to distributing supplies. The ThaiFlood spokesman said red-shirt groups had received special privileges when it came to supplies for flood victims.
This act is inappropriate during this time of crisis, as donors have sought to assist flood victims regardless of their political preference. They assumed that FROC would do their best to hand out relief to needy victims.
In fact, FROC has been criticised by both the opposition and members of the society directly and indirectly. For example, members of online communities alleged that the FROC became a venue for Pheu Thai politicians, red-shirt leaders and former Thai Rak Thai Party executives to “steal the show” in a bid to boost their popularity. They showed up at the FROC to receive donated relief items and to hand out relief as a political stunt.
The issue of unfair distribution of donated items was reportedly brought up during a meeting between Defence Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapha and top military commanders to finalise preparation for flood control. There was a proposal to have the Army oversee the distribution of the donated items. But the government has not responded to this. As of press time, the government had asked Gen Pracha Promnok, director of the FROC, to give signature approval for items to be distributed to flood victims. Let’s hope that this will ensure the distribution process works more smoothly, without bias and that signature approval doesn’t cause distribution delays.
Donors want their assistance to be given to those in need in good faith. But some politicians have used the donations for political purposes. For instance, although selfless donors gave many items, some politicians shamelessly attached their names on these goods. Social media outlets such as Facebook helped exposed these actions so the public became aware of what they were up to.
Yingluck said she had delegated power to deputy prime ministers and other ministers to manage the flooding and to set up several committees to deal with the crisis. She may have hoped that delegating power would promote cooperation. But as it turns out, some politicians took the narrow perspective with the interest of their own constituencies without considering the big picture.
Yingluck needs to show some leadership to let the public know she means it when she says that there is no politics involved in the flood relief operation – by ensuring that donated items get to people in need promptly.
The easiest way is to start by looking at people around her. Otherwise, the flooding will end up doing serious damage to her and her government.