On one issue, the govt is out of Line
The military-dominated government has made one undisputed flop over the past year, but nobody seems to care about it. The one-year anniversary of the coup has given anti-coup activists inside and outside the country the chance to pinpoint several flaws in society since Prayut Chan-o-cha decided to oust the interim government on May 22 last year, when he was the army’s head honcho.
They pointed to several problems, including enforcement of martial law, which was later replaced by Section 44 of the interim charter that gives widespread power to the National Council for Peace and Order to do anything it likes. Freedom of expression has been compromised since the coup, political gatherings are banned and the media is constantly reminded of its reportage by Gen Prayut.
The latest example came on Friday when Lumpini police asked for cooperation from the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand to cancel a forum sponsored by Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, which intended to discuss its report on human rights issues after the coup. The panel was cancelled, but the report was released and is available online.
Every issue mentioned in the report can be disputed by the government and NCPO spokesmen if they want under the pretext of social and political security. Only the reality on the ground offers the full picture.
But they will find it hard to find explanations to counter the waste. Anyone remember the Line sticker which was put out to propagandise the 12 core values?
The project was the brainchild of the NCPO which assigned the Information and Communication Technology Ministry to execute it. The stickers were aimed at instilling core values in people so they can do good, especially young Thais who will grow up to lead the country.
The 12 stickers were put out for people to download for free onto their Line applications from Dec 30 to Jan 28, with the ICT Ministry proudly presenting the project to the public for use for 90 days. It received negative feedback from day one because many Line users were not convinced the animated stickers truly reflected the message the junta was trying to get across.
The sticker project went from mobile phones to the National Anti-Corruption Commission on Jan 5, a week after the launch. Srisuwan Janya, president of the Stop Global Warming Association, petitioned the anti-graft agency to look into the price tag for the stickers, which seemed unusually high.
The NACC was urged to conduct a probe into why the project had bypassed normal procurement procedures undertaken for other state agency projects.
Exactly five months later, on Thursday, the NACC decision finally came — to throw out the petition instead of going into the inquiry stage.
The NACC said the agency had found no grounds for the allegation the stickers could be overpriced after contacting Line Co (Thailand) for information. The price tag could have been higher still if the project was done through an agent instead of a direct deal with the firm as the ICT Ministry did.
On suspicions about the procurement procedure, the anti-graft agency contacted the Comptroller-General’s Department for information. The reason for the need to go to a special procurement process stemmed from the urgency of the scheme. ICT officials had only about one-and-a-half months to translate the aspirations of the NCPO onto stickers as the junta had given the order on Nov 18 so they would be available as a New Year gift for all Thais.
“The NACC members are of the view not to accept the petition for investigation,” said the statement released on Thursday to conclude the decision to dump the petition.
The project has been cleared of dubious allegations. But one simple question has not been addressed.
Why did the NCPO have to spend some 7 million baht to produce the stickers? The amount may be small compared to other projects, but it could have been spent on other important matters.
It’s taxpayer money and should be used carefully.
The NACC was urged to conduct a probe into why the project had bypassed normal procurement procedures undertaken for other state agency projects.