December 1, 2024: Both the biggest opposition party and Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra have their good points when it comes to the flood crisis in the deep South.
Action speaks louder than words, and the prime minister’s use of the biological origin of her husband to dismiss criticism that she does not care about flood-hit southerners is ridiculous, the People’s Party said.
The party’s deputy spokesperson, Pukkamon Nunarnan, said in a Facebook post that when it comes to fellow citizens, a leader’s love and care are felt through how he or she responds to their crises. The flood calamity, Pukkamon said, should have been dealt with through emergency action directed closely by the prime minister.
“We haven’t seen the setting up of a national-level crisis management coordination centre supervised by the prime minister, despite the severity and expanding scale of the problem,” she said.
“It’s a systematic and efficient relief effort that is a proof or love and care, not the saying that I’m married to a southerner. Every Thai knows how lovely the prime minister’s family is, but that fact should be kept at home because it’s not what Thais want to see.”
Pukkamon was making a great point, but so was Paetongtarn when responding to criticism about her presence or lack thereof when suffering southerners are concerned. In countering criticism, the prime minister did highlight the fact that her husband is a southerner, but she also said she did not pay an immediate visit to the crisis region because she did not want to disrupt urgent relief works of the authorities who must focus totally on helping the people.
“Whenever or wherever I go, officials working in the region will more or less have to get involved in receptions,” Paetongtarn said. “That’s why I have had to wait and see when is the best time to visit.”
Politicians going to disaster-hit areas causes the exact problem that Paetongtarn was talking about. Parts of the relief apparatus needs to be spared for receptions, some of them and accompanying distractions always going overboard resulting in substantial disruptions of emergency work.
Some will argue that moderate or low-key visits help boost morale, showing sufferers that they are not fighting alone. Also, a leader can always give instructions regarding receptions. This does not mean, though, that such instructions will always be obeyed, knowing the Thai bureaucracy.
Criticism against Paetongtarn somehow brought back her father’s controversial statement, made when he was prime minister some two decades ago, that people supporting his party would always be on his mind while he prioritised matters. The South had never been his party’s stronghold.
Meanwhile, a TV news coverage of the flood crisis quoted a villager as saying that people losing their furniture, cars or other belongings should get cash relief in the same quick and generous manner as how “digital money” is being distributed.
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