Grumpy PM no martyr for progress
Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha is grumpy and has been for the past week, almost four years actually. What with his lamenting that he is all too human, that people should respect the premiership or how he could have left the country in a civil war had he not staged the May 22 coup.
And of course, why aren’t the media patriotic? Why do they have to publicise photos of his National Legislative Assembly members dozing off while “debating” the three-trillion-baht national budget?
Why do they have to point out that the economy is bad and reform not progressing when he has appointed a zillion committees to take care of the business? Social media is particularly annoying. Why do they have to mock him, put words in his mouth and come up with an endless array of sassy remarks?
Would any PM, elected or not, not be very upset when the remark making a lively round online is: “We live in a country where a three-trillion national budget was passed without any sounds of dissent, only snores.”
Another popular one that may bring a smile to anyone but the super-conservative regime: “We live in a country where sex toys are illegal but phallic symbols are worshipped.”
In short, PM Gen Prayut and his military regime seem to have been made to bear the brunt of everything people are not pleased with. And the list is endless. There is the sluggish economy — a trader in Chiang Mai recently caused a stir when he put on display a banner saying there are no customers and now he has no more money to pay his staff.
Complaints about a rise in corruption have been loud. There is this concern that Thailand is becoming a “hub for hazardous waste” after tonnes of discarded electronics were shipped into the country illegally. How about the plastic waste that ended up in a whale’s digestive system? Can’t the government do more to curb Thai people’s seemingly excessive use of disposable plastics?
The government drew flak over its request for a sharp increase in the national security budget, a 20% hike from 274 billion baht last year to 329 billion baht in 2019. This while the education sector seems to be in turmoil following yet another new admission system.
The police chief failed to bring a senior monk accused of temple fund embezzlement back from Germany to face justice even though he flew there himself. The pro-election activists keep on plotting their new activities, and to everyone’s surprise, even K-Pop fans, usually considered apolitical, helped drive traffic to the sympathetic #THwantElection hashtag.
Do not forget reminders that there is an absence of progress in the black leopard and luxury watches cases, a swipe at the government which still comes up occasionally on social media. Worse, while the regime is battling all these problems on every front, a certain fugitive brother and sister sent in their latest photo album showing them enjoying themselves as they visited their alumni in Kentucky in the United States.
All these incidents seem to have made resentment PM Gen Prayut’s current mood and tone. As the regime nears a turning point supposedly to arrive when the next election is called, uncertainties and pressure are combining to make the bitterness and anger even deeper.
All things considered, the rise in the PM’s grumpiness is understandable. But will the attitude help him with “the next four, or twenty years”?
Who would want their leader to be a grumpy old man who only recognises the humanity and dignity in himself but never that of others? What matters are not shortfalls but how one deals with them. It is bad for members of the NLA to be caught falling asleep during an important session but what’s more important is how they deal with this lapse.
What is even more crucial is how their boss, the PM, deals with the inappropriate act. As the rights group iLaw pointed out, all 250 members of the NLA were appointed by the National Council for Peace and Order. They have passed almost 300 laws, 77% unanimously.
These NLA members are given a salary of more than 100,000 baht a month. Some of them do not even have time to attend the session as they sit on several panels. But they are allowed to take unlimited leave of absence, according to the group.
The NLA can blame the media for publicising the embarrassing photos. That would be another lapse of judgement. The PM, however, should not. Whether he is fuelled by deep resentment accumulated over the past four unappreciated years or recent pressure for the government to hold an election, the PM can prove his worth only through his performance, not his bad mood.