On the other hand, government officials are like company employees who
work for the super CEO or Prime Minister. Accordingly, they must not criticise
their boss, the super CEO. The recent row between Thaksin and academician
Thirayuth Boonmee, who is critical of the way the Prime Minister runs the
government clearly illustrates Thaksin's belief that Thailand is his company. He
responded to the criticisms on 12 September 2003 by saying that academicians who
are government officials should no longer receive pay from "royal money."9 What
he meant was that as the Prime Minister, he owned the Royal Thai Government's
money. Hence, it was disloyal for Thirayuth to criticise him. How dare an employee
criticise his CEO? After all, he is the super CEO who has the highest authority in
the country.10 However, critics were quick to point out that academicians were, like
all government officials, paid by taxpayers' money, and that they were civil servants
of His Majesty the King.