Time for civil service reform under Thailand's Thaksin
Time for civil service reform under Thailand's Thaksin
The Nation, Asia News Network, Bangkok
The Thaksin administration has apparently made more promises
than anyone could possibly keep track of. One of the bigger
pledges it has made is the ambitious undertaking to transform the
state bureaucracy into a people-friendly entity that will deliver
better public service, transparency in decision-making and a
higher degree of accountability. This is, undoubtedly, a tall
order to fill. Several public-sector reform programs have been
drawn up over the past decades, and a few have actually been
approved by the government of the day, but none have been carried
out with the strong political will required to produce the
intended results.
The Thaksin administration appears to have what it takes to
implement the public-sector reform program -- tenacious
leadership, modern-sounding policy statements, popular support
and an overwhelming majority in Parliament.
There is no credible excuse that this government can possibly
make to avoid a drastic overhaul of a state bureaucracy that is
inefficient, corruption-prone and virtually unaccountable to the
public.
The lack of funding is no longer an issue now that a group of
multilateral development agencies, led by the World Bank, have
pledged to provide grant financing and technical assistance to
enable this government to launch and follow through with the most
ambitious reform program ever attempted by a government in
decades.
The World Bank and other donors, including the Asian
Development Bank, the Australian Agency for International
Development and the United Nations Development Program, have
promised to support the government under a three-year program
known as the Country Development Partnership in Governance.
The assistance will be provided for the first year, ending in
January 2003, but grants for the subsequent years will be made on
condition that the government makes measurable progress according
to agreed benchmarks.
The big question mark is whether this government has the right
intentions and the seriousness of purpose to see it through.
The current public-sector reform program was drawn up by this
government's predecessor in the aftermath of the 1997 economic
crisis. The Thaksin government inherited the near-complete
blueprint on bureaucratic reform in five key areas: public
expenditure, human resources, revenue reform, transfer of
functions and decentralization, and government accountability and
transparency.
With the support of the multilateral development agencies,
Thailand can learn from global experience of similar reforms that
have been implemented in other countries.The World Bank Thailand
Office is right on target when it says when the time comes for
the government to translate the ambitious reform program into
practice, success depends very much on the details of
implementation.
Grand visions and important-sounding schemes like the one
coined by Deputy Prime Minister Pongpol Adireksarn -- "high-
performance government" -- may even be helpful if they serve as a
catchy rallying cry to enhance public awareness and encourage
participation from all sections of society.
The chief objective of the reform is to rid the bureaucracy of
its debilitating inefficiency, ingrained corruption and
suffocating lethargy, which have for too long impeded national
development efforts and prevented government agencies from
delivering quality public services.
But the real success of public-sector reform in any country
can be measured by whether people on the street actually
experience real improvements in public services, be they better
health care, improvements in their children's schools or an
easier time getting a driver's license, among other things.