ABOVE: Thailand’s anti-corruption crusaders should be merciless, without fear or favor, just like sexy master assassin Jaqen H’ghar of ‘Game of Thrones’ Original photo: HBO
Worlds collided yesterday when Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha confessed to not only being a fan of zeitgeist-churning “Game of Thrones” but also his desire for the kingdom’s corruption-busters to emulate the anonymous assassins of the popular series’ Faceless Men.
Speaking about Thailand’s endemic culture of corruption yesterday before an international audience at The Sukosol Hotel, the junta leader held up the magical assassins, who can change swap identities by wearing the faces of the dead, as a model for the nation’s anti-graft body, the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
“The people in the organization must be good individuals. … They must be anonymous and impartial,” he explained. “I watch the series Game of Thrones. In it, the Faceless Men are faceless. They kill everyone who is guilty.”
Jaqen wearing another face. Okay just another excuse to drool over the dreamy man-ssassin.
In a wide-ranging address on government transparency and the roots of corruption, Prayuth sought to clarify his vision for the commission to operate credibly.
Since its 1999 inception, the inception had done little with its broad investigative and prosecutorial powers until it went into hyperdrive about two years ago, making headlines with its aggressive moves against politicos culminating in its successful bid to impeach and indict former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
However the commission has long been accused of operating with a political bias against those aligned with the former Shinawatra governments. Last week former ministers from the Yingluck government said they would sue the commission and its most outspoken member Vicha Mahakhun for how cases were handled.
Since the junta seized power, tackling corruption has become the raison d’etre for its continued hold of power, and also a by-word for Thailand’s ills, much in the way “communism” was leveraged as a catch-all threat during the 1970s.
During his speech, Prayuth said that everyone in the kingdom is complicit in its culture of corruption and must take a role in “curing” the country of it.
With his Thrones reference, the former army commander seemed to suggest the commission should prosecute corruption free of bias in the same way the fantasy series’ cult of assassins kills without fear or favor.
However the organization in the television show and books they’re based on pretty much do it for whoever pays them.
“By doing this, the country will move forward. We will build our trust and give justice to everyone,” he said. “Everyone gets their chance to fight. Those who are guilty will be proved guilty, but the evidence to prove their guilt must be good.”
The alternative is ugliness and disorder, he added.
“Otherwise, chaos will follow, and those who are not involved will be in trouble,” Prayuth said.
He might as well have been describing the fate of the smallfolk during the War of the Five Kings.
Prayuth’s speaking time ran out before he could comment on the show’s characterization of Stannis Baratheon and his personal anguish over Jon Snow’s death.
Spoilers? Bah, it’s been four days.
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