Political Interests More Important Than Disaster Prevention!
Political loss is much more important to Yingluck and Pheu Thai Party than preventing the loss of life and minimizing the damage to property. Until three weeks ago, she had been losing ground literally to floodwater battle after battle. A main reason for these losses was that she could not execute her floodwater management plans effectively and efficiently due to the destruction of water barriers and water gates by mobs of affected people all over the place. On top of that, masses of floodwater had been moving nearer to the economic and densely populated areas like Bangkok and its vicinity which accounts for nearly 50 % of the country’s GDP. Consequently, she had a critical decision to make since she needed to control her planned operations. She chose to invoke Section 31 of the 2007 Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Act instead of a state of emergency. Both Section 31 and a state of emergency would give her a total control of all government units. She could shorten lines of command for more effective and efficient operations. However, she absolutely missed the key of the problem here. The effectiveness sought depends on not only execution of government officials, but also cooperation of people in all affected areas. During a crisis, law and order are extremely important. For example, USA would declare a state of emergency in the disaster-hit area. National guards, a reserve military unit, were normally deployed to help other government agencies. As a result, all government officials can execute their plans effectively and efficiently and hence minimize the loss of life and the damage to property.
Section 31 was invoked because Yingluck followed suggestions of people of House Numbers 111 and 109 who were motivated mainly by political loss and face saving because it was opposition party leader, Abhisit Vejjajiva, who recommended the utilization of a state of emergency. If it had been declared, military personnel and equipment would have been fully deployed. They could have certainly controlled the crowd and the floodwater management plans. The chance of successfully disaster prevention would have increased dramatically. Credits would have gone to Democrat Party and military leaders. Under this circumstance, Yingluck and her party were concerned that this would have tarnished their reputation further after their inept response to the flood crisis. As a matter of fact, if the plans work, everyone involved will get the credits, Yingluck and her party also included. This too shows that she possesses a leadership skill, a great responsibility towards Thailand, by putting aside her ego and taking advice from the opposition party leader. Unfortunately, none of these could be realized now. Moreover, her utilization of Section 31 has been proven fruitlessly. Some water gates and barricades have been destroyed time and again. Civilian government officials have been helpless to stop riots. As expected, none of her water management plans have fully worked. The costs of coping with this stupid mistake cannot be quantified easily but it is something that should never have happened in the first place. As a result, Thai people will have to endure this crisis more and longer than they should.
Once again, the lack of vision by choosing to protect short-term political interests over national benefits has damaged Thailand enormously. Pathetically, Yingluck and her supporters are in a state of denial to accept this fact.
