The Need to Reform
Why It Is Time to Overhaul the Thai Bureaucracy
Bureaucratic reform first occurred in Thailand during the reign of King Rama V when the Thai civil service was divided into ministries and departments at the central and provincial levels. Since then, all governments have attempted to continuously reform the Thai bureaucracy which has significantly expanded. The size of the system and its deep-rooted problems led to a new round of bureaucratic reform in 2002 before another reform was initiated in 2014 as part of the government’s national reform campaign.
The need to reform the Thai bureaucracy has been reinforced by the Thailand Future Foundation who proposed an urgent reform after it found that the government’s personnel budget increased by almost three folds while the efficiency of the public sector was worsening as well as the problem of corruption. The foundation also sound that the Thai bureaucracy lagged behind in many ways and needed to keep up with the world.
The need to reform the Thai bureaucracy has been reinforced by the Thailand Future Foundation who proposed an urgent reform after it found that the government’s personnel budget increased by almost three folds while the efficiency of the public sector was worsening as well as the problem of corruption. The foundation also sound that the Thai bureaucracy lagged behind in many ways and needed to keep up with the world.
The foundation therefore suggested that bureaucratic reform should be considered as one of the most important issues of the government. It stressed that bureaucratic reform should take place urgently since bureaucracy was an important drive to make reform in other fields successful. The foundation further suggested that now was a good opportunity to reform the Thai bureaucracy since as high as 40% of civil servants will retire in the next 15 years.
Apart from the Thailand Future Foundation, a World Bank survey found that the Thai public sector’s rank in terms of efficiency dropped from 65th ten years ago to 74th among 196 countries. Another survey by the World Economic Forum conducted with businessmen from 2008-2013 showed that inefficiency of the public sector was one of the five factors obstructing their businesses in Thailand.
Spearheaded by the Prime Minister’s Office, the 2014 bureaucratic reform seeks to provide better service for the people and close loopholes that can lead to corruption. What sets this bureaucratic reform apart from its predecessors is that all 20 ministries work together side by side and integrate their reform-related projects.
Permanent-Secretary for the Prime Minister’s Office M.L. Panadda Diskul has delivered the government’s bureaucratic reform policy, one of the urgent tasks of the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. According to the official, all government units and state enterprises are required to work towards the goals of:
1. Ensuring quality services for the public.
2. Developing their organizations so that all civil servants work with professionalism and responsibility for the society.
3. Increasing the efficiency of their human resources management.
4. Using a management system that integrates central, provincial and local departments.
5. Strengthening relations between the government and private sectors with a focus on the public participation.
6. Increasing transparency based on the principle of good governance.
7. Furthering the “Under the Royal Graciousness” project.
8. Preparing Thai civil servants for the ASEAN Economic Community.
The bureaucratic reform by the Prayut Chan-o-cha administration is expected to show some progress from October 2014 onwards.