As Thai Floods Dissipate, Finger-Pointing from Both Sides of Political Fence Continues

BANGKOK -- With 11 Bangkok districts now flood-free and others expected to be dry by the New Year, Thailand's floods are receding. What started as normal annual flooding in the north of the country, ended up being the fourth costliest natural disaster on the entire planet. More than 650 people are dead, almost 13 million people were affected, and 30 percent of the country was under water at one point.

So you'd think, now we've come through the worst of it, people would start working together to fix the problems the flooding caused. Normal Thais, maybe. But, this being Thailand, it's politics as usual, and for Thai politicians that means a massive divide, and lots of blame and finger pointing.

Even during the floods, Bangkokians were angry as we couldn't get a straight answer from anyone in authority on whether or not our areas would flood. Why? Because the Pheu Thai government, the opposition Democrats, the Bangkok Metropolitan Association, and the Flood Relief Operation Command (FROC) were so intent on proving each other wrong, it didn't matter if the information they gave out was correct or not.

Just as long as it was in direct contrast to anything anyone said who was a member of the particular group or groups they hated.

So useless was the information in fact, in my area of Bangkok, FROC were still saying we may not flood as water was coming up through the drains on my street.

As the situation in Bangkok worsened, foreign expats went around talking about being "FROC-ed by FROC". Thais went so far as to rip down sandbag barriers protecting certain parts of the city, as they felt they were being made to unnecessarily suffer living in four feet of flood water, just to save the rest of Bangkok. And everybody was just....simply.......angry.

Politicians, of course, could have made the situation better, but most were so busy getting their names in The Bangkok Post or their faces on TV, many Thais felt the floods would have been less if politicians had butted out, stopped trying to control flood waters, and just let the floods run their course.

Of course, since Bangkok started to dry out, things certainly haven't gotten any better. This week, former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva accused the government of paying too little attention to flood victims and said Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's statement that the flood situation was improving "was not true".

FROC's commander, Pracha Promnok, accused Abhisit and the Democrats of what Thais now call "The Great Flood Conspiracy". He wants to know if Democrats deliberately held back 4 billion cubic meters of water in major dams, knowing they'd be kicked out in the July general election and Yingluck and Pheu Thai would be elected. Pracha's idea was Thailand's massive floods weren't a natural disaster but man-made............by the Democrats.

Now, if you've lived in Thailand as long as I have, you wouldn't put it past any Thai politician to do exactly what other politicians are accusing them of, or worse. But, everyday Thais are losing patience.

Like a Thai friend of mine said this week, "Why don't all of them just shut up! All they do is talk, talk, talk and point the finger of blame. Meanwhile, while they all sit nicely dry in their big, expensive houses, my parents are still living in two feet of flood water and my grandmother won't return to our house, as she's frightened of crocodiles and snakes. Could they all please STOP TALKING and fix the froc-ing flood problem."

I'd venture a guess just about every Bangkokian agrees with him