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If globalization is seen as a problem these days, consider an even more serious one – political leadership disintegration.
It seems today that our national leaders – almost without exception in any country – are more often involved in self-effacing misuse of national coffers, undermining of charter freedoms by enacting nasty surveillance counter-terrorism measures, and plain graft and corruption refined by watching their counterparts in other countries and on other continents. Many observers today will confirm that yes, our collective leaders are indeed helping themselves more than helping us.
Thailand’s latest example of this new global phenomenon was the recent decision by the Thai Supreme Court to hear evidence against three current Cabinet ministers on corruption charges. The three – Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee, Labor Minister Uraiwan Thienthong and Deputy Transport Minister Anurak Jureemas – were widely expected to do the decent thing and step down immediately when the court agreed that there was sufficient evidence for a hearing.
However, the three were able to take advantage of contradictions in regulations and constitutional law where their staying or leaving was literally open to interpretation. So they decided to stay while the country’s top legal counsel tries to determine whether they can remain in office.
It does not look good for them, not if the Thai criminal court’s decision against powerful Pojamarn Shinawatra, wife of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, is any measure. Pojaman was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for tax evasion.
Back in 1997, Pojaman attempted to transfer 738 million baht (nearly US$22 million today) of Shin Corp. shares from her maid nominee to her brother Bhanapot. According to Thai law, the transaction was considered taxable to the tune of 270 million baht (US$8 million). However, Pojaman told officials at the time that the transfer was not a transfer but a gift, and thus tax-free.
Three years later Pojaman became “Mrs. Prime Minister” when her husband Thaksin took office in February 2001. But in declaring his and his family’s assets as part of Thai requirements for such officeholders, Thaksin raised eyebrows at the National Counter Corruption Commission in its investigation of his finances at the time when the investigation began stopping irregularities in Pojaman’s stock “gift.”
At the time there were all kinds of denials and protestations by the Shinawatra family, Shin Corp. and strangely enough, by many of Thailand’s expatriates who were also enamored of Thaksin’s apparent charm and worldliness. “It’s legal,” they all shouted.
Thaksin’s immense popularity and his immense financial resources were put to good use even from the start, quashing legal and other kinds of opposition to ensure that he was permitted to take up office. One wonders at the ensuing immense price That Thailand has paid since then in allowing Thaksin to come to power, let alone the current Thaksin-nominee government still babysitting Thailand until the messiah returns.
Casualties include lost billions of baht in a nullified election years later, some 3,000 bodies in the streets as part of an illegal anti-drug war, deteriorated relations with Muslims in the southern region of the country, intense divisiveness in society and a growing realization that the best interests of the revered Thai monarchy were, to say the least, not being attended to by the power-hungry premier.
Thaksin, however, touched many raw nerves in the kingdom, including the people’s perception of their government and even their monarch. The Far Eastern Economic Review was the first to publicly hint at differences between Thaksin and the monarchy, but was quickly bashed against the wall by a Thaksin-compliant police force throwing the harpoon of lese majeste – insulting the king – against the writers who did the article.
Few dared say much as a consequence. But one populist program after another failed, or was maintained in secretive fashion so as not to reveal huge losses – the Village Development Fund and OTOP (one tambol one product, a form of communist-style economics) projects come to mind.
The Shinawatra family business empire and national administration later became difficult to differentiate. Money in huge amounts flowed into the Thaksin machine and eked back out to the people in symbolic, paternalistic fashion to make sure the next election went the way of the ruling Thai Rak Thai government.
Behind the scenes, the Thaksin family was also doing its share of sleight of hand. This is in part where Pojaman came in with the 1997 share transfer. Rank hath its privileges. But there is a Thai expression that refers to a whirlpool that pulls everything in it down, and the whirlpool of greed that the Shinawatra apparatus dealt with on so many levels and issues had to crack a rivet here and there.
Obstinate spearheading by journalist Sondhi Limthongkul against his former business partner, and growing public realization that the Thaksin empire was not all it was put up to be, kept investigating agencies busy. They have finally caught up with Thaksin’s wife, and of course, he is now in the sights of those who want justice.
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(Frank G. Anderson is the Thailand representative of American Citizens Abroad. He was a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer to Thailand from 1965-67, working in community development. A freelance writer and founder of northeast Thailand's first local English language newspaper, the Korat Post -- www.thekoratpost.com -- he has spent over eight years in Thailand "embedded" with the local media. He has an MBA in information management and an associate degree in construction technology. ©Copyright Frank G. Anderson.)
