Crises in Thailand coming to head

Sopon Onkgara, The Nation, Asia News Network, Bangkok

The entire country is trying to deal with the spread of the drought crisis, the most serious in 20 years. Upcountry, grass- roots folks whose livelihoods are being threatened and who have hardly enough water for household use, much less for their livestock, are pinning their hopes on rainfall resulting from freak weather.

His Majesty the King, with his unfathomable benevolence for his subjects, has taken charge of artificial rain-making by trying to mobilize all possible resources to alleviate the crisis.

The government, citing a number of logistics problems, has not been as keen in providing aircraft as it was for its origami bird dump on the South, a PR and psychological stunt put on a few months ago to deflect attention from the worsening conditions down there.

With all this hardship, where is Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, our CEO and the political idol of 19 million voters, who has been boasting about the effectiveness of his hands-on management style and championing the cause of fighting poverty?

Ah! He is enjoying a week-long holiday in Japan with his family, getting away from the hot weather in the home country, and the heat of the wide-ranging, unresolved problems that are now likely to snowball into a real threat to the economy.

The necessity for the prime minister's holiday in Japan has never been sensibly explained. Whatever the reasons for it, it directly contradicts his urging Thai people to travel locally to support tourism, especially to the Andaman coast, which was ravaged by the tsunami in December.

The sudden getaway was untimely in every aspect. The protracted crisis in the three southernmost provinces, the severe drought, official indecision over diesel pricing, bird flu and a myriad of other problems affecting the livelihoods of the people and economy all demand attention.

Let's hope that this holiday is not Thaksin attempting to escape the bad omens of Rahu. There is a widespread perception that our multi-millionaire CEO is deeply superstitious, despite his repeated claims to be otherwise.

Oh yes, he urged Cabinet members and all government officials to spare no effort in the official battle against the drought, which is now inflicting hardship and grievances on rural grassroots folks. This passionate plea sounded pretty hollow, though he obviously wanted to do something to be seen as a caring leader.

He is due back tomorrow, when he will decide whether the price of diesel should rise by Bt3 per liter to mark the immediate end of the price-support scheme, which has now accumulated over Bt. 70 billion in debt for the Oil Fund. If this scheme were allowed to continue, the deficit could reach Bt100 billion soon enough, based on the current daily rate of close to Bt300 million.

He has yet to present a new policy package to the House to kick off the new four-year term. An avalanche of problems is already waiting to challenge his crisis-management skills and preference for PR stunt shows and the magic of his well-oiled propaganda machine.

What is more ominous, the next crisis is just around the corner: state-owned banks, led by Krung Thai Bank, plan to issue bonds to raise about Bt100 billion. This means that their lending capacity is drying up after four years of reckless lending.

The government does not have enough cash the till, available funding sources are getting tight. The sinister scheme to open up the international reserves was detected early on. The soiled hand was caught in the cookie jar for all to see.

That's why Thaksin, fighting tooth and nail, wants to get sell shares of the country's electricity generating operations and waterworks together with the post and telecommunications under a privatization plan. This will allow the government to raise fresh funds to keep its populist programs alive and to start many ambitious new ones.

Of course, some of the proceeds will have to fall into the hands of politicians in power and their cronies. Let's not call it kickbacks or ill-gotten gains from graft, but management fees or commissions for services rendered.

These national assets represented by this scheme are vast and will probably prove the last big lot for sale before a new economic crisis eventually comes knocking on our door as a result of gross mismanagement and unprecedented gluttony on the part of politicians who grab power through their snake-oil salesman's charm and voter gullibility.