Rajabhakti Park scandal a test for the government

The Royal Thai Army has reacted swiftly to revelations that some of its officers might have received kickbacks from foundries commissioned to cast the enormous statues of seven great Thai kings for its Rajabhakti Park project in Prachuap Khiri Khan. 

If the allegations prove true, what we need to see next is the officers paying a price for their corruption.

Funding for the Bt1-billion, 200-rai park in the resort town of Hua Hin has come mainly through donations. 

Deputy Defence Minister General Udomdej Sitabutr, who inaugurated the project while still serving as Army commander in chief, confirmed on Tuesday that officials had intervened in the scandal and that the foundries had agreed to donate money they’d set aside for kickbacks to the Rajabhakti Park Foundation. 

Udomdej is currently in the process of passing on to his successor the chairmanship of the foundation, which oversees park operations.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan has said Udomdej assured him the project was not mired in corruption and that he was ready to facilitate the ongoing investigation. And Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha has said anyone found culpable would be brought to justice, while reminding us that “the investigation is not yet concluded, so don’t point fingers”.

It is indeed too early to jump to conclusions, even if some media reports have pointed to an unnamed amulet expert with alleged links to senior Army officers. The Army has denied any irregularities, though scepticism abounds.

Prime Minister Prayut also noted, defensively, that every group and profession has bad elements, and that fact alone doesn’t justify collective condemnation. Fair enough, but what his government must ensure is that bad elements in the Army are publicly punished as further deterrence to corruption.

Prayut, himself a former Army commander in chief, has often denounced graft, even blaming it for the country’s most pressing problems. After their coup in May last year, he and the other generals promulgated an interim charter that required the new constitution to include an “efficient mechanism for the prevention, examination and suppression of corruption in both public and private sectors”.

The government, which regulates the Army, has to make sure there is no cover-up involving the latest alleged crime. The allegation must be investigated in a fair and transparent manner. Any persons found to be involved – whether junior or senior officers – must be brought to heel. 

In this way, any suspicion of a whitewash can be dismissed and the public will be assured that no misdeed will go unpunished, even when the military is the organisation being tainted.

Many high-ranking Army commanders, both retired and serving, are now part of the government and the National Council for Peace and Order. It should thus be easier for this government to dig into such scandals than it would be for a civilian administration. Failure to do so would only suggest there are people in power wishing to hide the truth. The way they deal with this issue will be a test of their sincerity in tackling the corruption that stymies Thailand’s development.

No one in government and none of the top Army commanders should entertain thoughts of sparing their “brothers in arms” if they’re involved in this scandal.