Lacking in leadership

Lacking command

Following criticism that she failed to respond to the most devastating natural disaster Bangkok has seen in years, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s status has been affected by the recent disaster.

Critics claim that Ms. Paetongtarn’s command has been harmed by natural disasters. Shortly after being elected prime minister on Aug 16 next year, she was greeted with a storm crises in Chiang Rai.

The top was accused of using excuses to travel to the county that had been devastated by the floods. She insisted that she had no choice but to wait for her visit to get formalized before going to work directing national interests, insisting that her championship was pending royal support.

At the time, the incident reaction, or a shortage of, from the new state was called into question by opponents who criticised what they described was a “vacuum in management” needed to deal with disaster-battling challenges, which required a great national-scale resources, labor and logistics.

Despite the fervent pleadings made by flood victims, Ms. Paetontarn was spared a severe reprimand because she was “new” to the best job. An observer claimed that her time as head of the government was her keeping kindness.

However, the reviewers warned she may know from the worst flooding in Chiang Rai in 30 years, which left 16 persons dead and damaged more than 14, 000 ray of land across nine towns from Sept 9-15 next month.

According to the critics, she was expected to take on a dominant position following this disaster and have a well-formulated action plan ready for immediate execution in the event of another catastrophe.

The 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar and Thailand on March 28 shook high-rises and toppled one of the State Audit Office ( SAO ) buildings in Bangkok.

As the capital descended into chaos, with panic-stricken workers and people pouring onto the streets to avoid the shaking buildings, calls were made for the government to move in to support several tenants prevented from returning to their condos, which had developed deep cracks, for health reasons.

Chadchart Sittipunt, the governor of Bangkok, made the announcement that public parks would be open 24 hours a day to provide shelter to those who had no place to live.

However, critics claimed that City Hall did not designate any tents or temporary shelters for the displaced. Only volunteers were out in force to set up mobile kitchens to hand out free meals to those working at the collapsed building site.

The governor’s announcement came shortly after the government declared Bangkok a disaster zone, which gave the city the opportunity to use emergency funds in response to the crisis. For the search and rescue operations at the collapsed SAO building, resources and personnel were essential.

The observer said tremors had left a trail of destruction in its wake. Many residents and tenants acknowledged not knowing whether the damage that their condo juristicians had taken out of full or part covered the damage.

Many people were forced to rent out their condos while their homes were being repaired.

At the collapsed building site, meanwhile, it was unclear who was in charge of the search and rescue operations being carried out by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and government disaster prevention and mitigation authorities.

The government was thus the target of significant criticism.

The Senate has criticized the government for what it claimed was the government’s slow response to the earthquake.

Senator Romsit Wiriyasan tabled an urgent motion calling for an Upper House debate on the issue with suggestions to be conveyed to the government and relevant agencies.

He claimed that the government’s capacity to handle emergency situations was poorly reflected in evacuations from buildings, traffic chaos that prevented rescue workers from reaching earthquake-damaged areas, and text message warnings that took too long to reach people.

No one saw the government’s leader step up and take over the helm of crisis management immediately after the earthquake, according to Pol Gen Maj Romsit.

Lt Cdr Wutthipong Pongsuwan, another senator, called on the government to speed up the implementation of the so-called “cell broadcast service ( CBS ) system”, which allows emergency weather and natural disaster warnings to be disseminated via mobile phone messages.

Senator Nantana Nantavaropas argued that the 2004 tsunami and the 2011 deluge, two other natural disasters that have affected Thailand, should have taught.

However, the government appeared unprofessional and had trouble expressing itself effectively in a crisis. State agencies were too slow to respond”, she said.

Ms. Paetongtarn presided over a meeting with state organizations to address the delays in text messages warning people about the earthquake. Mobile phone companies from True Corporation and Advanced Info Service also showed up.

The premier asked them whether SMS alerts could be sent shortly after a quake.

However, this was too little and too late. Critics claim that the prime minister made errors frequently.

After announcing on March 31 that Bangkok’s disaster zone status had been rescinded and that quake-related situations had been brought under control, the prime minister learned of some state agencies evacuating staff from office buildings due to tremors being felt and structural cracks being spotted.

The critics criticized Ms. Paetongtarn for trying to dispel the fear. She argued that the March 31 tremors were unrelated to aftershocks that had taken place in Myanmar.

” It had nothing to do with aftershocks or additional quakes”, she said.

The critics were also perplexed by what they claimed was the premier’s suggestion that individual building managers were independent in carrying out quake-induced damage assessments.

I have no idea how to act when an earthquake strikes, according to Ms. Paetongtarn to be honest.

” We don’t live in a country where quakes are frequent and destructive. Some people may mistakenly believe they have low blood sugar when a quake strikes. She said,” We need to be educated more about earthquakes.”

Casinos are not a surefire bet

Chaichanok Chidchob, the secretary-general of the Bhumjaithai Party, caught everyone off guard when he objected to legalizing casinos at a House meeting.

His blunt rejection came shortly after the Pheu Thai-led government backed away from its bid to fast-track scrutiny of the casino-entertainment complex bill.

The legislation’s initial reading was scheduled for April 9; however, it was postponed until the following two-month legislative session.

Observers believe that Mr. Chaichanok’s action has placed the Pheu Thai Party, which initiated the policy, in a awkward position.

Opponents of the bill, which involves the legalisation of casinos and allowing them to be part of an entertainment complex, have been adamant– the bill must be scrapped entirely, not just postponed.

During a recent protest, Pichit Chaimongkol, the leader of the Network of Students and People for Reform of Thailand ( NSPRT), stated,” Our intention is to prevent the legalization of casinos, not just to see the bill’s deliberation delayed.

Additionally, the government’s claim that the bill received overwhelming public support during its public input gathering process has been met with skepticism.

With strong resistance outside of parliament and Mr Chaichanok’s opposition, the government may now be forced to consider holding a referendum on the casino proposal, according to observers.

Pheu Thai appears to be hitting roadblocks in its casino-entertainment complex bill push, according to Stithorn Thananithichot, director of King Prajadhipok’s Institute’s Office of Innovation for Democracy.

Given that Bhumjaithai is the coalition’s second-largest party and reportedly has the backing of the majority in the Senate, Mr. Chaichanok’s position should not be disregarded.

Even if the government successfully pushes the bill for House deliberation in the next parliamentary session, the bill’s passage is not guaranteed, he said.

The House needs at least 330 votes to support the bill because it is considered to be finance-related legislation.

The government is unlikely to achieve that number right now, and he said that critics will demand that the cabinet take responsibility if the bill fails in its first reading.

And even if the bill does manage to clear the House, the Senate poses a major obstacle and is highly likely to shoot it down, said Mr Stithorn.

The government must have taken note of the situation and made a decision to remain silent for the time being. He said that Mr. Chaichanok’s action is a new problem.

According to the analyst, the Bhumjaithai secretary-general may be taking his cue from his father, Newin Chidchob, the founder and de facto leader of the Bhumjaithai Party, to seize an opportunity to score political points while Pheu Thai appears to be losing them.

The only thing he said was that he [ Mr. Chaichanok ] became overly emotional [during the House meeting], cried after his speech, and was later mocked by several media outlets, “he said.

No political party, aside from the main opposition People’s Party ( PP ), is prepared for a snap election, so Mr. Stithorn insisted Mr. Chaichanok’s decision won’t cause a House to dissolve.

Pheu Thai, which came second in the last general election, is also fully aware that improving on that result will be no easy feat, he added.

The best course of action for the government is to put the casino-entertainment complex bill on the ballot and demand that the pending referendum bill be passed after its 180-day cooling-off period has expired.

The government’s claim that 80 % of the 71,300 polled on February 28 and March 14 reportedly indicated support for the bill is disputed by the general public.

” There are questions after questions about the hearing process– such as what the questions were, how accurately these questions were framed and how the findings were processed, “he said.

Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, a former election commissioner, noted that the survey’s findings showed nearly identical levels of support for each of the eight themes, with 80.6 % to 80.7 % of voters choosing to support each of them.

According to Mr. Somchai, it was statistically assumed that 57, 500 out of 71, 303 respondents would provide the same answers.

” Even from Mars, the result looks improbable. The former commissioner was quoted as saying that the cabinet believed it.

According to Mr. Stithorn, the ruling party may need to negotiate with the PP to secure their support for the bill and be willing to reciprocate by holding a charter rewrite referendum at the same time.

” If a referendum is conducted fairly and the bill receives majority support, it can dilute critical voices. The government will face opposition if there is still skepticism, and Pheu Thai will continue to suffer politically, he predicted.