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Published on March 26, 2008

 Generally, the chiefs of these organisations coolly accept questions on their job prospects ahead of elections, and after the government's formation. If the new governing party turns out to be a rival of the previous administration, it is very likely they will lose their jobs without completing their terms. The focus is now on MCOT president Wasan Paileeklee, following PM's Office Minister Jakrapob Penkair's accusation that because of Wasan, MCOT lost Bt27 million in 2007. As the MCOT chief, Wasan was liable to be accused of poor performance, but if a standard performance indicator like the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) had been in place, things may have been different. Last year was a troubled one for all media companies, with only a 3 per cent growth in advertising revenue. BEC World bucked the trend with a sharp increase in advertising revenue. MCOT is positioned differently from BEC World. As a state agency, it is supposed to deliver programmes that educate. In this regard, several inspiring programmes were introduced. If these were taken into account, there is no way that Wasan would lose his job.

Looking back, if KPI was in place, former MCOT president Mingkwan Sangsuwan would not have lost his job either. Mingkwan smoothed out the privatisation of the state enterprise. ModerNine's re-branding was so successful that the audience base increased and so did advertising revenue. Because of his performance, he was tipped to win another 4-year term, but things changed after the coup. The situation was similar at AOT. Former president Chotisak Asapaviriya, appointed in the Thaksin era, lost his job after less than a year. Chotisak was out of a job even when there was no replacement, leaving operations at Suvarnabhumi Airport in chaos. This suggests a lack of standards in selecting the heads of key state agencies.

It is thus not surprising that ahead of elections, there is talk of change. Capable individuals need to take sides and hope that their side wins. But this only ensures the continuity of the patronage system, something that Thailand must leave behind if we are serious about improving national competitiveness.

If this government is serious about proving to the world its capability of putting the Kingdom on a better course, it must make significant changes in selection and performance-measuring procedures.

The Nation