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Published on March 14, 2008

Whether it is a show of good etiquette or smacks of a political motive, Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin's decision to take leave of absence after an anti-graft committee linked him to the fire-truck scandal is a necessary step. In fact, it's something that should be obligatory for all of our politicians under a cloud. It should be part of their moral "constitution", which, if observed by the majority, may bring some light at the end of the tunnel.

Apirak's decision has piled the pressure on the Democrats' opponents, including Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej. It's safe to conclude that when Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva hailed Apirak's decision as the "act of a true Democrat", there was a lot more meaning to the message. And it would not be an overstatement to say that the Democrats are coming out of this with grace, at the expense of their political rivals.

To critics and detractors, the Democrats are at it again - playing their holier-than-thou card and demonising their opponents. But the point is, why shouldn't they? If a politician resigns from a powerful position to clear his name, to make himself look better and make his enemies look bad, what's wrong with that? If this is how Thai politics is played - sacrificing one's power to be seen as taking the moral high ground - then so be it. We should accept this, not least because we have been forced to accept or tolerate far worse tactics for too long. We have seen the big fish get off the hook, through interference in every step of the justice process, time and time again. Investigators have been purged, prosecutors neutralised, and judges compromised. Whenever we read news about politicians in other countries stepping down for relatively trivial wrongdoing, it adds insult to our injury.

The jury is still out on Apirak. Abhisit said the governor had "no choice". He was referring to Apirak's involvement in making down-payments (for fire trucks) in spite of irregularities which led to the Assets Examination Committee's ruling against him. The job suspension happened a day after the AEC ruled that it suspects foul play involving Apirak and three other senior officials related to the purchase contract, which was signed when Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej was the city Governor.

Samak has been singled out among the first batch of suspects and is rebutting the charges against him in the pre-trial preparations. His camp has portrayed the charges as politically motivated, as their timing coincides with the rise in his political fortunes. Thailand's politics has been unable to get anywhere because corruption charges can be dismissed as a "conspiracy" - if one is powerful enough to make it appear so. And with the person in power refusing to step aside to allow a free and fair investigation, relatively tiny problems can accumulate and get very nasty. We need no reminder of how bad things can get when politicians in power, charged with serious offences, are determined to fight on, but on the wrong stage. The evidence is out there for all to see; our country's moral standards, or the perception of right and wrong, can twist and turn with disastrous consequences when "justice" depends on who holds the reins of power.

The Nation