Cronyism is one of the key factors that brought down the otherwise efficient and politically savvy regime of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, people with inside knowledge of the administration...

During his televised address last week, coup leader Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha touched on the topic. He said the ongoing transfer of the senior officials was being done for “appropriateness”.

The coup leader hit the nail on the head when he said the seemingly wholesale transfer of top-level officials does not mean the junta is replacing one interest group with another.

He said it’s necessary for the junta to remove the heads of some government units as it seeks to unearth corruption and conflicts of interest. He also asked for understanding saying it is difficult to to find officials who are not linked to any past governments to do these tasks. But Gen Prayuth’s most important point was his last one. He said the junta is trying to rebuild the bureaucracy so it can be a strong force producing good work for the King and country.