Carrot & stick to push bureaucrats

BANGKOK: A number of Cabinet members, especially those from the ruling Thai Rak Thai Party, are quickly discovering that things are not going their way, especially as far as policy implementation is concerned. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra himself has found the investigation into the bomb blast on the aircraft that he was supposed to board is going too slowly.

Interior Minister Purachai Piemsomboon is witnessing overwhelming bureaucratic stumbling blocks in his efforts to bring transparency and more efficiency to his ministry.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Prapat Panyacharttirak finds himself working 80 percent on routine affairs and only 20 percent on restructuring. Industry Minister Suriya Juengrungruengkit is baffled by the failure of ministry officials to monitor how much damage Thailand suffered from the delay in the implementation of auto exports provisions under ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA).

All in all, the new government is meeting with considerable resistance from the bureaucracy in its efforts to bring about changes for the better.

The Thai Rak Thai ministers, especially those with first-time experience in public office, fall into two groups. The first is those willing to fall for the routine line and let the bureaucracy take over. The second is those who will put up a fight and try to stage reforms. Past experience has shown that most Cabinet members prefer to take the easy option of letting the bureaucracy run things. Will the Thaksin Cabinet be able to do better, given the public mood for reform?

Thaksin has already had one brush with the bureaucratic establishment in a meeting with Dhipavadee Meksawan, the head of the Civil Service Commission. Thaksin has given her the green light to adjust the salaries of civil servants twice a year under the usual annual budget as a means to encourage officials to become more responsive and compete for promotions. The civil servants will also get an annual bonus as part of the incentive.

This initiative is much welcomed, and it is pleasing to see this bureaucratic reform effort taking off so early in the life of the administration. It is not an understatement to say that successive governments of the past decade have largely failed because they did not care to manage the bureaucracy better.

But Thaksin and Dhipavadee have not gone far enough. Thaksin has given civil servants the carrot but not the stick. It is fine to monitor, assess and promote able civil servants twice yearly. But the bureaucracy's salaries still lag too far behind the private sector to attract good and qualified people. Moreover, what is to be done with lazy officials or those who are unwilling to perform on merit?

Thaksin would do well to get the stick out. The Thai bureaucracy could do with more early retirements and the budget saved could be given to those able to perform. The prime minister could issue some lightening orders to get the bureaucracy to eliminate red-tape, install more transparency and eliminate corruption.

The prime minister has repeated all along that he wants to administer Thailand like a corporate CEO. He has taken the initiative to delegate work to his Cabinet members. But he must quickly come to realize that they need help because the bureaucracy is far from capable of decently carrying out the policies of the government.

There is just too much inefficiency and vested interests. The Thai Rak Thai Party's policies will not be implemented unless Thaksin works on the bureaucracy and keeps his Cabinet members honest. It is simple as that.

-- The Nation/Asia News Network