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Published on September 23, 2007

That problem was compounded Friday when a revelation by the National Counter Corruption Commission over shareholdings by Cabinet members prompted a minister to resign while two other stayed put with lame excuses, among them their dedication to responsibility.

If former Information and Communications Technology minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom had remained indifferent and not demonstrated his integrity, there would have been no distinction between him and his two fellow Cabinet members.

Sitthichai said he also wanted to set a high standard for holders of public office and did not want to embarrass Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont. His stand was not taken due to a holier-than-thou attitude but a sense of responsibility and propriety.

The two who refused to resign are Interior Minister Aree Wongsearaya and Deputy Commerce Minister Oranuj Osathananda. If there was anything improper, it was not illegal and no big deal, they seemed to say.

Sitthichai's decision to resign was not a surprise, and neither was Aree's refusal to do the same. This was due to a difference in character.

The two Cabinet members should have taken the opportunity to set a good example for professional politicians and show that they would not cling to their seats amidst a public uproar surrounding them.

This issue is likely to haunt Surayud for weeks, if not until his term ends, but it will be one point among many concerning public dissatisfaction with the government's poor showing over the past 10 months.

More distressing is the fact that there will be more of this sloppy performance to come after Surayud revealed during his radio chat that he would not reshuffle his Cabinet. The public will have to live with the current team and exercise extreme tolerance if the show gets worse.

The prime minister was more defensive this time. He said the public's unhappy mood over the government's performance was due mainly to the poor handling of public relations on the part of concerned state agencies and that Cabinet members had acted to the best of their abilities.

Then their best obviously was not good enough. Surayud still has a few months left to salvage the public's faith if he has a sense of mission and cares for the future of the country, which faces a serious threat from politicians tainted by scandals who are now trying to regain power through elections with huge campaign funds.

If the Surayud government views public relations as difficult to do successfully, what else can the public expect the government to achieve, especially in some areas requiring strong political will and courage?

Public-relations work is about self-promotion. The Thaksin government excelled in this area, to the extent of boasting and lying on many occasions to fool the public, especially the gullible who wait for government handouts and populist plans.

The government could have used state-owned media agencies, such as the Public Relations Department, TV and radio stations for the public good, telling rural voters about the evils of corrupt politicians who give them only a few hundred baht to get into power and then recoup their investment with a profit many thousands of times over.

The Assets Examination Committee (AEC) took pains to try to get TV airtime to let the people know what it has been doing. The funny thing was that it had to allocate a budget to buy the airtime, while Cabinet members concerned shrugged off the AEC's repeated requests for help.

The government's failure in its public-relations efforts is not due to weakness but to a serious lack of vision. Surayud has now left it to the people to decide whether they will embrace Thaksin's return to power if he can free himself from all accusations of corruption and misdeeds.

If all legal measures fail to pin down Thaksin, the responsibility must be shared mainly by the government and then the Council for National Security (CNS) for not being up to the hard task of pursuing political crooks and working for the punishment of those who damaged the country.

Over the past six years, there has been a structural decay in national politics and economic and social management, not to mention the plundered national resources and environment, making the country a fertile ground for toxins in the water, land and air. The high hopes placed in the government for national restoration are gone, replaced by a decay in public faith and the horror of the strong possibility that the old powers will return with a vengeance, thanks to big money and a network aided by previous populist schemes and freebies.

Another ridiculous development for public consumption is the desire shown by CNS chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, who retires as Army commander at the end of this month, to enter politics. He is being tempted by a Cabinet seat as deputy prime minister for national security.

The position of CNS chairman is the most powerful one in the country and the holder has the power to remove even the prime minister. If he could not achieve anything much on the job, what on earth does he expect to do as deputy prime minister?

The public may be forced to enjoy the next scene of this political circus with more star actors, but without their earlier high aspirations.

Sopon Onkgara