NGOs Must Fight Against Govt Attack

The Thaksin Shinawatra administration has proven once again that it lacks diplomatic manners when it comes to such issues of international concern as human rights and civil movements. The case in point is the recent news report that the government had once asked the Foreign Ministry to have overseas non-government organisations (NGOs) stop funding their counterparts in Thailand. Realising the sensitivity of the issue, however, the ministry simply turned down the request. According to documents from the ministry, the request came in 2001 when the Anti-Money Laundering Office was examining the assets of NGO representatives and newspaper executives. Some NGOs - particularly the Assembly of the Poor, the so-called network to protect the Mool river, and the Thai Volunteers Service - were blamed by the government for unsuccessful negotiations on the Pak Mool dam issue.

According to a memorandum by Laksanachantara Laohapan, then director-general of the International Organisations Department, Lt-General Preecha Wanarat, deputy secretary-general to the prime minister, met her on November 2, 2001. Preecha passed on to her a directive under which the Foreign Ministry was asked to have Thai embassies convince overseas NGOs to cut sponsorship for their counterparts in Thailand.

Apart from a complete lack of recognition for the contributions of NGOs' work to society, no diplomat would expect the government to ask them to tell NGOs overseas to stop funding their local counterparts. This is politically naive and the Foreign Ministry correctly turned down the request to save the face of the Thai government.

Vikrom Khumpairote, then the ministry's acting permanent secretary, said such a step could have shaken Thailand's image abroad as affected NGOs might have raised the issue at international forums.

Later there were measures to destabilise NGOs in Thailand: visa bans on foreign NGO staff working in Thailand and an order for provincial governors to monitor NGOs.

There has long been a misunderstanding of the work of NGOs and a misperception about their role in society by every government, not just the present one. They seem to stick to a fixed perception about NGOs - that these are groups of people who only care about the plight of the poor as long as they can use them to raise money from foreign funding agencies for their own interests.

Both the previous government of Chuan Leekpai and the present one of Thaksin Shinawatra are alike in that they have availed themselves comfortably of this fixed perception. Such a misunderstanding, if left unexplained, will do no party any good.

Indeed, the NGOs are normally quick in their response to issues of international concern. But when it comes to accusations about their own activities, they are astonishingly slow and reluctant despite the importance of the issue and its dire consequence for society.

True, the charges of greed and manipulation are nothing new, but NGOs cannot afford to remain indifferent to them. This would prove to be unwise in the current social and economic environment where we have a very powerful administration that tends to abuse its powers in the name of the public interest.

NGOs cannot just expect the government's charges against them to die down, hoping that society will know about their work and understand them. This is a naïve reaction as the NGOs won't get sympathy from the public in general since the government has communication tools that are just too powerful.

As it is unlikely the Thaksin administration will change its perception of NGOs, it will be in their best interest, and society's as a whole, for NGOs to respond to the government's charges. This would at least help in clearing up any misperception towards the objectives of their work and their role in society. It could also put their work in a more positive light.