Pills, Pornography and Tablets: More Scandals

[Guest fountainhall]

Those not living in Thailand must be thinking all is well in the Land of Smiles since the debacle of the floods at the end of last year. Even here, it does seem much more peaceful than for quite some time, despite the odd gripe about Thaksin Snr. and his jaunts into neighbouring countries.

 

But all is not as well as it may look. Goodness, just last week we had photos in the newspapers of a rather handsome youngish MP watching porn pictures on his mobile phone. Judging by the turgid rhetoric regularly spewed out by parliamentarians on all sides of the House, is it surprising the MP in question wanted some light relief?

 

(Naturally he held a press conference to tell the country that he did not intend to view the photo. Oh really? Well, Khun Nat, there really are fairies at the bottom of my garden, too)!

 

Yet, politics in general continues to throw up its share of yet more examples of government ineptitude. The latest is the tablet row. The new government under Thaksin Jnr. has been struggling to fulfill one of its key election promises – the provision of a million or so free tablets to cover every child at Grade 1 level by the start of the school year next month. (That’s a tablet computer, incidentally – not one of the many millions of metamphetamine tablets which have mysteriously disappeared from state hospitals in Chiang Mai, Udon Thani, Si Sa Ket and elsewhere. But then, that’s another story!)

 

You’d have thought the provision of a million or so tablets would not be the most difficult exercise. But you’d have thought wrong, because in yet another example of Thaksin Jnr’s mismanagement of her colleagues (remember? – she who admitted prior to the election she did not have an iota of parliamentary experience but claimed to be a first rate manager ), after a long running saga there are now doubts if the tablets will ever in fact appear!

 

First there was the bidding fiasco when the company selected to provide the tablets was suddenly told, “Sorry, guys, we’re going to start the bidding process again!” Then, there was the concern that children would simply use the tablets to play games. So a limit of 5GB was placed on the memory, 4GB of which would be pre-installed teaching content. Oh dear me! Judging by the way most kids are taught, that sadly would seem to be a waste of good memory.

 

With a new, cheaper bid from Chinese manufacturer Shenzhen Scope Scientific Development, a group of 20 “tablet committee members” was supposed to go Shenzen to test the devices and bring back 2,000 to start training the teachers. However – should we be surprised? – there is still no agreement between the Thai government and the Chinese supplier. It seems the Thai government wants a 2-year guarantee on everything to do with the tablets. Shenzen Scope agree, but with only one year for batteries. Not good enough, said Thailand, despite the fact that the international standard for battery guarantees seem to be just one year!

 

So each side has escalated the pissing contest. A Thai government source proclaimed, “Shenzen Scope must keep its word!” Impasse! Then Shenzen Scope, which had agreed to open up 30 service centres on Thailand as part of the deal, reduced these to 12. Outrage!

 

So where does the governing party stand? Well, back in cloud cuckoo land, it seems. There is still no agreement with Shenzen Scope. Worse yet, an anonymous source within the Thai government has let slip the fact that Shenzen Scope only has the capacity to produce 1,000 tablets each day. To fulfill the Thai order, it will need to double or triple its number of factories!

 

And who in the Thai government bothered to check such basic facts when Shenzen Scope came top of the second round of bidding, I wonder? Which idiot - and I use that word deliberately – forgot one of the cardinal rules of bidding: checking the ability of the bidding party to fulfill within the time limitations the detail of its bid?

 

Whatever the outcome, it is clear Grade 1 students will start back at school without their promised tablets. And for Madame Yingluck – she who is a first-rate manager – her ability to manage her colleagues and civil servants is yet again called into question as more government money seems destined for the nearest drain. Perhaps she will eventually be persuaded to accept the fact that managing a public company that was to all intents and purposes a family affair is vastly different from trying to run a government. Ministers, Junior Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Advisers, Senior Civil Servants and others do not like being treated like family underlings. Besides, they have their own agenda – and in the Land of Smiles that usually spells C-O-R-R-U-P-T-I-O-N.

 

I am sure the dear lady is rather hoping for more pornography-on-mobile-phone scandals. At least that will take the public eye away from her government’s ridiculous inability to purchase a bunch of tablets – albeit temporarily!

 

http://www.bangkokpost.com/tech/gadget/289787/pc-supplier-may-not-meet-quota

[Bob]

All I've learned so far from this unfolding fiasco is (1) the involved Chinese company can't be trusted whatsoever and (2) somebody should have verified the track record and capabilities of any company involved in the bidding process before allowing them to bid.

 

I don't necessarily disagree with the concept of providing the tablets to the grade school students but the process of approving the deals has been amateurish and wishful thinking at best. Combine that with an apparent fly-by-night company in China and one could have predicted the nightmare that unfolds before our eyes.

 

They need to start over with the whole process now that the selected supplier is obviously a somewhat worthless outfit. It's more important to get the proper equipment and software from a company that can back up the guarantees than to worry about exactly when the kiddies will get the tablets.

 

At least they didn't send somebody down to buy them at the night market...

[Guest fountainhall]

As if the government’s fiasco over the ordering of the tablets was not enough to keep tongues wagging, now there is another problem that no-one, no Minister, no civil servant, no teacher even had considered. It seems 70% of first-grade teachers are between 40 and 50 years old. Oh really? And what’s the problem?

 

Well, not only are some pretty computer illiterate, older teachers “tend to be slower learners!” That means the 50-minute training period allocated for them to master the tablets will not be enough. Not only that, the students themselves may be “unimpressed with their teachers’ performance”, according to the Technology for Learning and Teaching Bureau of the Office of the Basic Education Committee!

 

Finished? Nope! There’s more.

 

"Many schools do not even have electricity for charging batteries, let alone an Internet connection, which is vital for their use."

 

http://www.nationmul...e-30180956.html

 

Fiasco? TIT!

[Guest]

So there's no one in the government that can handle the basic purchasing process for some simple electronics goods.

What happens when they want to do something more challenging, like a major infrastructure project?

[Guest travelerjim]

So there's no one in the government that can handle the basic purchasing process for some simple electronics goods.

What happens when they want to do something more challenging, like a major infrastructure project?

 

Ohhhhh z...

You ask BIG question!

Not such good idea to ask BIG question in TH...

But IF you must know...

CALL 1-800-RedBoss

 

tj

[Guest fountainhall]

RedBoss got angry yesterday. RedBoss give Shenzen Scope one week to sign contract. Or else, no deal! RedBoss will give contract to first runner-up or re-open bidding.

 

Jeez, RedBoss is just like a schoolyard bully. Totally fail to do her homework and then blame others. So I'll dial complaint number: I - NIN - COM - POOP.

 

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/291216/supplier-told-to-sign-or-forfeit