Civil servant has no say over his fate

As a civil servant, Kitti has, over the past seven years, been tossed from place to place - and survived a number of political storms.

His survival has nothing to do with political manoeuvring. It's because Kitti has always stood his ground, refusing to give in to controversial initiatives put forward by the Thaksin administration.

When he objected to the controversial drug war in early 2003, Thaksin showed Kitti the door at the Office of the Narcotic Control Board.

Kitti's removal also paved the way for Thaksin's long-time friend, Chidchai Vanasathidya to enter the picture as a civil servant on the move.

The war resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people over three months. Thaksin's rating went up but Thailand's international standing took a dive. According to Thaksin, drug pushers against drug pushers carried out all except about a dozen of the killings.

Kitti was sent to the National Security Council as one of its deputy secretary-generals and afterwards served as the deputy permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice (2003-4).

He was stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. His stint didn't go well with the then Justice Ministry permanent secretary, Somchai Wongsawat, who just happened to be Thaksin's brother-in-law.

Afterwards, from 2004-2006, Kitti was sent to the PM's Office to be an inspector general, known as a dead-end job that would drive any hard-hitting bureaucrat crazy.

Shortly after the September 2006 coup against the Thaksin government, the generals decided to send Kitti back to his post at the ONCB.

It was a slap in the face for the Thaksin Administration for "unfairly" dismissing capable civil servants.

Today, three months after a Samak Sundaravej government came into power, it's back to the same old ping-pong game.

On Monday, Justice Minister Sompong Amornwiwat summoned Kitti to inform him that he would be going back to his boring old job at as the inspector general.

When asked to comment about his transfer, Kitti said: "I'm used to it."

piyanart@nationgroup.com