Another one bites the dust
Another chief of a local administration agency has fallen victim to the regime’s absolute and authoritarian power. Somyot Lertlamyong, mayor of Betong municipality in Yala, has been dismissed by Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda for reasons that remain unclear. The only details available regarding his alleged malfeasance, as reported by Isra news agency, were that seven complaints had been made against him, mostly concerning construction projects in his area of jurisdiction.
According to the Isra report on Tuesday Mr Somyot has been at odds with his political rivals working in the municipal council and some council members who were said to have filed charges against him with the Interior Ministry, which decided to transfer the mayor. Mr Somyot’s dismissal was said to have been recommended by the Yala governor. It’s not clear, however, if the former mayor had the chance to properly defend himself in what appears to have been a rushed probe with suspicions mounting that he may have been framed by his rivals who lost to him in the mayoral election.
Even if Mr Somyot is in the wrong, he still deserves the right to clear himself. This is a universal principle of justice.
The incumbent Prayut Chan-o-cha administration did not step back into a care-taking role, even when it called the March 24 election, and for this reason, it may still claim to have full administrative power. Yet, now that the coup maker-turned-politician has been granted royal endorsement as the next prime minister and is supposed to lead another cabinet once the political bargaining is over, issues have been raised about his administration’s legality and legitimacy by Future Forward Party Secretary-General Piyabutr Saengkanokkul who is also a legal expert.
While the current Prayut cabinet may have a legitimacy issue, the former Betong mayor does not, unless he can be proven to have committed wrongdoing in a transparent, fair investigation. He should not have his right to justice unfairly stripped from him.
Moreover, people who wield absolute, authoritative power do not necessarily make sound decisions in the absence of a checks-and-balances system.
Take a look at Gen Prayut, as coup maker and regime leader, who several times invoked the draconian power of Section 44 to oust state officials, some of high rank, in the national government and many more at local administrative level, only to reinstate them later, after seemingly ill-thought out decisions.
One of the officials who was dismissed and who later returned to his original position was Pongporn Pramsaneh, head of the National Office of Buddhism. After reinstatement, he took charge of high-profile temple embezzlement cases that involve senior monks.
On June 4, the prime minister reappointed a total of 15 officials to their original positions at tambon administration offices in several provinces. Like the National Office of Buddhism chief, these officials faced lightning transfer orders previously under Section 44.
A major controversy also erupted when Gen Prayut appointed Sonthaya Khunplume as Pattaya mayor in what was seen by many as a move for purely political gain to solidify his political base in the eastern region as elections loomed.
Political etiquette requires Gen Prayut and his current cabinet to avoid making crucial decisions regarding budget allocations and the transfers of state officials. If they keep making them, they risk running into real trouble if those affected take their cases to court.