The latest effort to keep people in the engineering profession accountable has come from group of senior engineers who call themselves "Engineers for the Nation". They held a press conference yesterday urging the Council of Engineers to launch an investigation into possible breaches of professional ethics by their peers who were involved in the construction of the controversial airport.

"We all know the project has been plagued by corruption, and corruption by politicians would not have been possible without the help of engineers," said Kieng Mekwasekphan, a leader of the group. "Those engineers have compromised public safety, a key principle of our professional ethics."

Chaiwat Sinsuwong, former industry minister and member of the group, added that every step of the project from the inception, design and construction to the final auditing had been the work of engineers. The group said engineers and engineering firms which were found guilty should have their operational licences revoked by the council.

According to the 1999 Engineers Act, the Council of Engineers (COE) is responsible for controlling professional ethics and issuing licences for engineers and engineering firms operating in Thailand.

Meanwhile, calling Suvarnabhumi the "graveyard" of the architects' profession in Thailand, leading architect Yodyiem Theptaranond, raised similar concerns about the ethics of his peers at their meeting on Friday.

"Ask 200 architects who were involved in the building of Suvarnabhumi to swear in front of the Emerald Buddha that they did not pay under the table to get the jobs or violate other professional ethics, and I'm not sure even two would step forward."

Yodyiem now represents the Architects' Association of Thailand on the board of the Airports of Thailand (AOT) with a brief to solve problems at the Suvarnabhumi passenger terminal.

The Engineering Association of Thailand sent Tortrakul Yomnak to sit on the AOT board to identify the problems with the ruts and cracks on runways and taxiways, but Kieng's group said public trust in their profession was so low that people might not be confident about Tortrakul's findings, which are due to be announced tomorrow.

"How can the public be sure that Tortrakul will come up with the best conclusion that will lead to the right solution?" wondered group member Suppachat Patihattakorn.

"More importantly, how can people have faith that there will be no more corruption in the repair work?" he asked. "The COE has to step in to revive the credibility of our profession."

The engineers' group was formed last year with an "anti-Thaksin-regime" mission, but members admitted that corruption at the airport had started decades before the Thaksin government.

"All the recent previous governments before Thaksin took part in taking something from the project," Chaiwat said. "If it is found that sand used in pressing and draining water from the soft swamp soil is a problem, then we have to look into those involved as far back as 1996, during the interim Banharn government," Chaiwat said.

Suppachat attacked the engineering council for "sitting idly by while engineers exploited their expertise to serve their own and political interests".

"Could there be conflicts of interest that prevent the council from taking action? I don't have the information to make accusations, but this is a legitimate question the public could ask," Suppachat told reporters.

The group said there had been at least 10,000 engineers in the country involved one way or another with the nearly five-decades-long airport project.

However, Vira Mavijak, COE's president, dismissed the group's observation that the professional body had sat idle.

"We, including myself personally, have monitored the development of this project, but it is not our job to launch an investigation into anybody's wrongdoing an official complaint is filed with us. We have to follow organisational procedure," he told The Nation.

Vira said he had not received the compliant filed by the group on Friday but promised to look into the case once the letter of complaint from the group arrived on his desk.

"Most important of all, we have to find out what's wrong with the project before deciding who is responsible."

Nantiya Tangwisutijit

The Nation