The deadlier disease: Politics of deception

Kavi Chongkittavorn, The Nation, Asia News Network, Bangkok

Who on earth would have thought that bird flu would rage out of control and become so widespread today? Interviews with relevant officials, especially those working with livestock, have all pointed fingers to the powers that be in the Thaksin government. They say there was a deliberate cover-up of the outbreak.

At the end of October, poultry farmers in Nakhon Sawan were suddenly caught off-guard when their chickens fell ill and died in their hundreds and thousands for no obvious reason. Livestock experts from Bangkok dropped in and took specimens for lab testing to analyze the cause of death. The Livestock Development Department has the country's only lab with tool kits and standards to test for the disease. They came to a very clear conclusion. It was established as early as November that the disease was indeed bird flu. By that time, over one million chickens had been slaughtered.

Somehow the current political reality did not allow these experts to tell the truth to the public. They told the farmers and public that it was cholera and bronchitis -- no sweat. They also feared that the news would cause panic among farmers and damage the national economy. Last year, Thailand exported Bt70 billion worth of poultry to Japan and the rest of the world.

After all, the disease's discovery came hot on the heels of the government's confident announcement that economic growth in 2004 would ratchet up to 8 percent.

Anything deemed damaging to this noble goal had to be swept under the carpet.

Since nobody had the same lab test, the cover-up of the cause of death was a done deal. In fact, separate lab tests conducted in two other medical-science institutes by a group of doctors, who were extremely concerned the disease might be contagious to humans, confirmed the existence of bird flu.

But none was willing to confirm this because they could face disciplinary action as there was no authorization to test an animal specimen in a hospital lab. However, with at least one human victim already dead -- although official confirmation of cause of death is still awaited -- those who carried out the early lab test could be summoned to provide crucial data.

Throughout November, the concerned officials thought that if they managed to contain the disease, everything would be fine and dandy. The standard procedures were carried out: All chickens within 6 square kilometers of the initial infection were killed and anti-viral agents spread in the area.

But such measures were wishful thinking. By the end of November and early December, the virus had spread to Suphan Buri, Kanchanaburi and Sukhothai. By the first week of January, most of the adjacent provinces had contracted the disease. As of yesterday, the tally was 24 provinces.

Now that Japan, the European Union, Hong Kong and other countries have banned Thai poultry, the relevant authorities are feeling guilty. Some have said they should have blown the whistle at the end of last year to limit the damage done to farmers and the economy.

Apart from the cover-up, two important points can be discerned about the whole scandal.

First, the Thai media failed to probe into the cause of the chicken deaths. They were gullible in repeating the government's assertion that it was cholera and bronchitis that killed those birds. Worse, no media outlet was suspicious of the disease and instead dutifully reported that everything was under control.

Before Thaksin came to power, the media were more inquisitive since the atmosphere of a free press was conducive to investigative reporting. Now spoon-fed information and tailor- made news are the norm.

Secondly, access to information has been blocked and manipulated. If the media had performed its watchdog role, then the farmers would have been warned at the earliest. With the right information, they would have been careful in handling and avoiding contact with poultry. That kind of routine reporting alone could have saved lives and contained the spread of bird flu. Now it is too late. Poultry-farm owners can only watch hopelessly when their properties are raided and their chickens destroyed.

The Thaksin government has been caught red-handed in lying to the people. Certainly, the government only came clean when it was evident that the bird flu had claimed at least one human life. Otherwise, the cover-up would have continued.

The government's credibility has suffered irreparable damage. What is also sad is that millions and millions of people around the world, who have enjoyed succulent Thai chicken for years, have been deprived of a favorite food. It will take months, if not years, to return to normalcy.

The government should learn from this terrible mistake. After all, truth would eventually find its way into the open. As Abraham Lincoln said: "You may deceive all the people part of the time, and part of the people all the time, but not all the people all the time."