Good Governance?

Thaksin has once again lost control of his temper, as he blasted the Matichon newspaper for reporting that the World Banks's rating of Thailands governance had declined under the Thaksin Rak Thaksin regime. As usual, Thaksin confused criticism of the government (or simply reporting the facts in this case) with disrespect of the country as a whole.

Along with "showing disrespect" for Thailand, the great leader also claimed that the Matichon was incorrect as the articles headline showed that Thailand's "control of corruption" was only 49% when in fact it had improved from 42% from 1996 to 2004. In fact, the Good Governance measure is based on 6 factors and overall, the measure had in fact declined from 2002 to 2004 as the article was pointing out. Moreover, most of the improvement in the corruption control index had taken place before the year 2001 when Thaksin took over.

Thaksin should look at the numbers before shooting his mouth off. I wonder if good governance has anything to do with having a Prime Minister who doesn't regard the country he governs as his own personal property?