The rot in Thailand's institutional makeup has become so deep, dense and widespread that it can be found nearly everywhere there is controversy. Newly elected Senator Keskamol Pleansamai is the latest case in point. Just about everything that comes with her meteoric rise to the Senate spurs accusations of irregularity and impropriety.
At issue are the myriad qualifications that Dr Keskamol claims to possess, from a medical degree and a doctorate to a full professorship. While cases of charlatans and imposters who duped their way to the national limelight are not uncommon in this country, Dr Keskamol's peculiar case and accusations warrant scrutiny because they are a microcosm of the broader irregularities, conflicts of interest, and shady influences that beset Thailand's shoddy political system.
The first scrutiny should be placed on the legal system. Once her dubious credentials were exposed, Dr Keskamol appointed a well-known lawyer to represent her and threatened to sue anyone who challenged her educational and professional claims. The threat of lawsuits has become a popular and effective way to prevent scrutiny and accountability. The judicial system has become biased in favour of the plaintiff and petitioner, not just in her case but in the wider socio-political landscape.
It costs next to nothing to file a case with a receptive judiciary, which is then empowered to determine outcomes that could affect the whole country's direction. The ultimate examples, where all the costs are borne by the defendant, while all the advantages are with the plaintiff and petitioner, are the Move Forward Party's dissolution ruling on Aug 7 and Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin's potential disqualification thereafter due to a cabinet reshuffle involving former Pichit Chuenban, a former convict related to a bribery charge, who quickly resigned from the post.
While Dr Keskamol's medical degree appears legitimate, notwithstanding the medical council's own investigation, she states in public documents involving her senatorial campaign that she holds a doctorate from California University FCE (Foreign Credential Evaluation). This obscure university, which does not grant doctorate degrees but provides equivalency certifications that are not widely recognised, reminds many observers of Agriculture Minister Thamanat Prompow, who once made a similar claim with the same university and got away with it.
A convict in Australia's criminal justice system in the 1990s for drug trafficking, Capt Thamanat was appointed as deputy agriculture minister in 2019 under the military-backed government of Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha. The Constitutional Court subsequently ruled that his conviction was not applicable in Thailand because the crime took place in Australia. In Mr Srettha's case, his appointment of Mr Pichit was charged by 40 outgoing senators as a constitutional violation and grounds for ejection from office. Mr Pichit's crime in 2008 was the attempted bribery of Supreme Court officials in favour of his boss and Pheu Thai founder, Thaksin Shinawatra.
A convict jailed in a foreign country could return and become a cabinet minister, but a notorious alleged briber who was appointed and resigned from a junior portfolio is being used as an instrument to bring down the prime minister. Indeed, Pheu Thai did not win the election last year and should not be leading the government. But it is because of the power plays in Thai politics. And Thailand needs a functioning prime minister to get the country moving forward again. So why is the Constitutional Court stigmatising and hindering Mr Srettha with a potential ejection ruling?
The second focus on Dr Keskamol's apparent misrepresentation of her qualifications and credentials centres on the new Senate. Instead of a popular election decided by Thai citizens, the 200-member upper chamber is chosen from an internal process involving more than 48,000 applicants. Any Thai citizen over 40 can apply to any of the 20 designated professional categories with a 2,500-baht fee. Not to be overlooked, the age threshold of 40 automatically precludes younger and progressive voices who represent Move Forward's base. From the district and provincial to the national levels, the overall number is whittled down from internal voting until the final 200 emerge.
Dr Keskamol happened to come out on top above all other aspirants, with 79 votes from the final internal balloting at the national level, amid allegations that the Senate voting was gamed in favour of certain political parties such as Bhumjaithai. If that were the case, a stratagem such as arranging and paying for applicants to enter the Senate pool in order to vote for designated and preferred individuals across the district, provincial and national arenas would have been one way to exploit the system. It has been commonly reported that Bhumjaithai secured more than 120 of 200 senators who are aligned with the party.
With its overwhelming influence over the Senate, Bhumjaithai is now seen as the guardian of the conservative order, which is enabled and protected by the 2017 Constitution from the coup era.
The Senate's two main roles will be to make appointments to crucial independent agencies that oversee the political system, particularly the Election Commission and the Constitutional Court, and to approve charter amendments, which require the signatures of one-third of the upper chamber. With Bhumjaithai in charge of the Senate, unlocking political and constitutional reforms will be difficult.
That Dr Keskamol managed to top the internal Senate voting is a big puzzle that deserves cracking. The controversy surrounding her rise has already sullied and undermined the integrity of the new Senate. Her other claims about being a full professor -- which normally takes university lecturers 10-30 years to achieve, if ever -- keep moving Thailand away from being a merit-based society. When merit and proven abilities are outpaced and replaced by connections and nepotism, the rot will keep getting worse until some people put a stop to it.
Thitinan Pongsudhirak, PhD, is professor at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Political Science and a senior fellow at its Institute of Security and International Studies.