The Social Security Office (SSO) returned to public scrutiny again ahead of this week when it was presented with an award for best sponsored sticker at the LINE Thailand Awards 2025, apparently achieving the most downloads of its sticker sets among other sponsors of the social messaging app.
The merits of the award are the subject of their own discussion, but what the recognition undeniably led to was further questions into a public organisation already facing accusations of mismanaging funds entrusted to it by citizens for the care of their wellbeing.
After receiving the accolade, it was found that the award-winning SSO account seemingly needed 69.5 million baht to achieve its purposes.
Goals such as providing animations to help people express mild amusement while chatting?
The office called the honour a reflection of its dedication to effective communication with users, but how much communication is needed for a public service that is a necessity for almost all people in the nation?
The Social Security Office has been urged to clarify spending of 70 million baht on an app campaign.
More importantly, how much of the almost 70 million baht was necessary after the SSO already reportedly devoted over 800 million baht to launching an online application that was supposed to connect users directly to their benefits but that has been repeatedly and inopportunely taken offline for “maintenance”.
These staggering expenditures are from an agency that expressed fears in 2024 that it might not have the finances to handle all of its duties. The same that issues pension funds for senior citizens at just above the poverty line at around 4,000 baht a month. One that the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) has warned could face bankruptcy.
Even as it remains to be concluded what spending was justified and why the SSO is constantly on the brink of financial bust, can one be faulted for being incredulous?
One of the most common responses heard when lamenting the rampant state corruption here in Thailand, a country that recently slipped nine places on the Corruption Perceptions Index, is that graft happens everywhere.
That position is infuriating, firstly, due to the implication that just because an offense is prevalent, it is somehow less offensive. Worse yet, it goes as far as excusing how blatant and disrespectful Thailand’s particular brand of corruption can often be manifested.
It is surely more than enough that malfeasance and budget skimming genuinely threatens the safety and quality of life of everyone in the nation, do the people of Thailand also have to suffer the humiliation of being fed explanations that barely stand up to any critical thought?
Just last week, the State Audit Office (SAO) drew public ire for releasing a music video cheering itself on despite having yet to address, in any tangible way, why it committed to pay up to 2.7 million baht for chairs in only two rooms of a building that ultimately claimed the lives of close to 100 people when it collapsed under questionable circumstances.
How could the move not be taken as a kind of affront to all those who still hold legitimate suspicions? Especially when the only addressing of these qualms so far has been, at best, dismissive.
From billion baht complexes that are mostly empty to ornate lamp posts on little-used backroads, why must Thai citizens be both exploited and have their intelligence insulted?
The saying “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me,” only applies when someone is actually being fooled.
