Thai ministers reveal assets while s'pore ministers continue to hide theirs

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THAI MINISTERS REVEAL ASSETS WHILE S'PORE MINISTERS CONTINUE TO HIDE THEIRS

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31 Oct 2014 - 10:29pm








[photo credit: Deutsche Welle]
Thailand’s junta leader and current prime minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha has a net worth of 128 million baht (S$5 million). However, he is not the richest person in cabinet. His deputy MR Pridiyathorn Devakula has a staggering 1.38 billion baht (S$54.4 million) in wealth.

Another minister with assets of more than one billion baht is PM's Office Minister ML Panadda Diskul, who has 1.31 billion baht in assets. Both billionaire ministers do not have debt.

Mr Prayuth’s wealth includes his wife’s wealth of 26.3 million baht, 14 million baht of which are in cars and 10 million baht in jewelery and luxury watches.

However, Mr Prayuth has also transferred 268 million baht to his father and siblings, as well as 198.5 million baht to his children, which he did not list as assets but as expenses.
Thailand’s National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) revealed the asset declarations today. The Thai ministers are required to declare their assets, by law. The declarations are self-reported and include their spouses’ assets.

But back in Singapore, the ministers are not required to disclose their assets to Singaporeans. They are only required to disclose their assets privately to the President. The current President Tony Tan came from the same political party as the current ministers and used to be the deputy prime minister.

Ex-prime minister Lee Kuan Yew has defended the prevention of disclosure vigorously in the past, justifying that the disclosures would prevent interested people from becoming ministers, if their wealth had to be revealed.

Mr Lee’s logic, however, is out of line with best practices in other countries, as in Thailand.







Last year, 30 assemblymen in the Penang state in Malaysia publicly declared their assets, so as to be transparent and accountable. Under the UMNO government, ministers are required only to declare their assets to the prime minister, similar to Singapore’s opaque system.

But the lack of transparency is acknowledged by the Penang state assembly. Its Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng revealed that he has RM308,368 (S$119,628) in fixed deposits and two shophouses in Malacca worth nearly RM1 million.

After a tax fraud scandal involving ex-Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac last year, the French government also ordered its ministers to declare their assets publicly.
The reason for doing so is to have greater transparency.

Clearly, for a government to have transparency and accountability to its electorate, it is in the interest of its citizens to know the full declarations of their ministers’ assets.
The current Singapore government’s logic of hiding its wealth in order to attract capable people is contrary to best practices and smacks in the face of logic.

We do not want a similar incident as in France where fraud was discovered before a government would be forced in embarrassing circumstances to disclose their assets.
Singapore’s ministers are the highest-paid in the world and are paid million-dollar salaries. Earlier this year, it was discovered that ex-minister and current member of parliament Mah Bow Tan has $28 million worth of shares in GSH Corporation, as its 6th largest shareholder.

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