Fractures in Thaksin administration

Thepchai Yong, The Nation, Asia News Network, Bangkok

If and when a chief executive officer complains that he is overworked and under tremendous stress, it's definitely a bad sign. It's even worse if he has to beg publicly for understanding for frequently losing his composure in front of others.

Normal business practice would require an immediate review of that CEO's performance before he became a risk to his company.

But how to deal with a prime minister who wants his constituents to believe he is so stretched out that toilet breaks during meetings provide him with his only breathing space?

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra recently claimed he felt exhausted, because he had to pay attention to every detail of the affairs of the state. If he loses control of himself in public, it's purely because of work pressure, and the media should be more understanding.

Well, for the first time this self-styled CEO prime minister is admitting that running the country is not as easy as running a company.

The top-down style of management that might prove successful in the private sector and with which Thaksin is so familiar is not something that can automatically be applied to the world of politics.

His Cabinet members are thus treated more like lieutenants whose job is not to think or come up with new initiatives, but rather to implement his ideas.

It's no wonder then that most of his Cabinet members have invoked precious little inspiration. They were chosen primarily out of their political loyalty and their readiness to comply with the leader's political whims.

The most glaring example is Social Development and Human Security Minister Watana Muangsook, who by his own design has become a lightning rod for the administration. But his endless idiosyncrasies are continually tolerated by the PM.

He once described brawling vocational students as "having no more brains than water buffalo". Then he went on to propose weekend races on highways for bikers, so they would stop being a nuisance to motorists.

Still bruised by criticisms over that proposal, Watana dropped another bombshell last week, that young couples heading for love motels during Loy Krathong should be shamed by having a spotlight shone into their faces at police checkpoints.

A few days later, the young minister created another big stir by urging Thai women to prostrate themselves at their husbands' feet every night before going to bed, as a sign of respect.

Competing for media space was Interior Minister ACM Kongsak Wantana and his assistant, Vice Minister Kosin Ketthong.

The interior minister had barely recovered from the storm he created recently with his proposal that UBC cable service be made available to youngsters in the three strife-torn southern provinces.

The idea was to wean them away from the influence of Muslim militants by having them glued to television screens watching English Premier League soccer instead.

Kongsak last week quickly endorsed his assistant's proposal that poor and landless Isaan farmers be resettled in the three southernmost provinces as a buffer against Muslim militants.

Incompetence and ineptitude aside, charges of corruption and irregularities routinely hound many of Thaksin's Cabinet members. But the prime minister just shrugs them off and simply rotates some of them to other ministries through limited Cabinet reshuffles, just to relieve the political heat.

Watana and Kongsak are, of course, not the only two Cabinet members who worked their way to the top more through patronage and cronyism than by merit.

Thaksin's self-proclaimed "dream team" Cabinet is composed largely of Thai Rak Thai's financial contributors, family confidants and political sycophants.

The majority of Thais gave Thaksin and his party an unprecedented vote of confidence, hoping he would use it to change the face of Thai politics, like he promised to do.

As one of Thailand's most successful businessmen, Thaksin should know better than anyone that for a CEO to be effective, he needs a team of competent colleagues and subordinates.

An effective CEO doesn't tolerate incompetence and sycophancy. And he doesn't go around interfering with the work of department heads or trying to have a say in all of their decisions.

But if Thaksin chooses to ignore the basics of management and continues to surround himself with "yes men" and sycophants, he should stop complaining about being overworked.