Other irregularities include questionable investments in the property and capital markets that were not subjected to stakeholder scrutiny and which could result in huge losses. Examples of SSO programmes that attracted public suspicion include a change in payment arrangements to pre-natal/child delivery and dental healthcare providers that appeared to benefit private hospitals; investment in the alleged overpriced Wattachak Building; and implementation of low-cost housing similar to the government's much-criticised populist policies.

The Surayud government and new Labour Minister Apai Chandanachulaka must launch a thorough investigation to determine whether any wrongdoing has been committed and by whom, so that corrective measures can be taken to minimise the damage and the wrongdoers can be brought to justice. As happened too often in the past, the Labour Ministry, which has administrative control of the SSO, was given to a second- or third-rate politician of doubtful integrity.

The interim government must change all that, first by purging corrupt officials at the Labour Ministry and the SSO. Then it must strengthen administrative and legal frameworks that will give the SSO a high degree of autonomy under the administrative purview of the Labour Ministry. Only after corruption, which is entrenched in the bureaucratic structure, is rooted out can the government rebuild the Labour Ministry and the SSO to serve their intended purposes.

It must be made clear that the SSO priority is to serve the interest of its members by providing reasonable benefits while at the same time ensuring long-term sustainability of the Social Security Fund.

The SSO was set up to provide a wide range of services for members including medical care and cash for maternity leave, unemployment and becoming disabled, through to pensions and death benefits. Since its inception in 1990, the SSO has grown by leaps and bounds. Using a tripartite system, an employer and employee each contribute the equivalent of 5 per cent of a worker's salary, between a minimum of Bt83 and a maximum of Bt750 per month, while the government contributes another, variable portion.

The SSO's medical care is a major success, with Thailand's social-security system one of the first to adopt a per-capita payment method, under which healthcare providers are paid up front by the government in accordance with the number of registered patients under their care. Healthcare providers are expected to manage their budgets and balance their books on their own. This arrangement has been very effective in preventing healthcare cost escalation that has sunk or threatens to bankrupt similar healthcare plans in several western countries.But its past success by no means guarantees its future performance. It may appear that the SSO is now awash in ever-growing cash reserves. That should not give the SSO cause for complacency. That is because the trickle of pay-outs in relation to the huge cash inflow will begin to reverse in the coming years as members start reaching retirement age.

The SSO must now begin to consider raising cash benefits for pensioners - currently still too low, even for Thailand's cost of living - to more realistic levels that will enable retirees to live in dignity and with a certain degree of financial security. Tightening the regulatory framework to ensure transparency and good governance in the way the SSO and its various funds are managed is of the utmost importance.

This interim government must put in place a safeguard mechanism to put the SSO and its Social Security Fund beyond the reach of manipulative and unscrupulous politicians.