BURNING ISSUE: Thailand’s iron lady: Jaruvan

Published on August 31, 2005 - Auditor-general’s steely demeanour has kept the power elite from forcing her to submit. Khunying Jaruvan Maintaka’s unflinching stand against the powers that be has become a symbol of resistance against a coordinated effort to oust her from the post of auditor-general. In the process she has stoically challenged the governing politicians.

Her problem is that she knows too much about shady deals in state projects, particularly the corruption-plagued multi-billion-baht Suvarnabhumi Airport project, which is a huge gold mine ripe for plucking by greedy hands.

Jaruvan’s tenacity in going after big-time crooks has become the stuff of legend. With only half of her term gone she has amassed a menagerie of adversaries - from vested interests to corrupt politicians - and in the process became a target for elimination.

The combined elements, a network of influential and well-connected civil servants, politicians and business people, regard Jaruvan as a major obstacle. Her presence as auditor-general prevents them from sharing in the spoils of deals such as major contracts, lucrative procurement projects and outright misuse of state funds.

These elements have been successful in plotting to oust her by parliamentary procedure and seeking a ruling from the Constitution Court last year that the Senate selection process to appoint her as auditor-general was invalid.

But the court stopped short of spelling out whether her status as the top executive of the independent agency is valid. That was enough for the web of conspirators to push forward with their mission.

Senate Speaker Suchon Chaleekrua was instrumental in the final attempt to get rid of the strong-willed Jaruvan, who has refused to resign by insisting that she can only be removed by royal command. Her salary was frozen and she was told not to bother showing up for work. Her office was sealed by order of a senior executive in the Office of Auditor-General.

Some of the people at the office whom she had earlier supported turned against her just to please their superiors and higher-ups.

Politicians and people with links to the government have tried to persuade Jaruvan to abandon her position, but she remained adamant about staying.

Suchon proposed as her replacement Visut Montriwat, former deputy finance permanent secretary, whose nomination was endorsed by 107 senators. A group of minority senators cautioned Suchon that his move was possibly inappropriate.

About 60 ruling party MPs under Snoh Thienthong’s Wang Nam Yen faction signed their names to protest Suchon’s move, but later all but two agreed to withdraw their protest after hearing a stern warning from Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra that they should not get involved.

Suchon stealthily proposed Visut for royal appointment on June 10. The issue has become anybody’s guess and as time has dragged on for nearly three months, an expected royal approval is still not forthcoming.

As the impasse continued, Thaksin sought some face time with Jaruvan, who by this time had become known as the “iron lady”. She agreed to meet him on the morning of August 17.

Whether it was her intuition or mistrust of the entire arrangement, Jaruvan suspected that it could be some sort of political trap, so she decided to stay at home.

Shortly thereafter, she received phone calls from reporters asking why she had not shown up. She was surprised because nobody else was supposed to know about the appointment. Her suspicion that there was indeed mischief in the making only deepened.

If she had shown up, it would have appeared that she had lost her will to resist her ouster and capitulated to the pressure. Her moral high ground would have been compromised.

She was later put through to Thaksin by phone, who failed to persuade her to step down and accept his offer of another position.

The PM later told reporters that it was a matter for Suchon to decide what to do and that it was his responsibility. The pressure is growing on him to make a decisive move.

The Political Desk
The Nation
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