The scandal which followed Wednesday's crackdown on an underage prostitution ring in Surat Thani brought unwanted attention to the relatively quiet Ministry of Social Development and Human Security.
Reports emerged on Thursday that a deputy director-general of the Department of Children and Youth (DCY), as well as a staff of the province's shelter for children, have been charged by the police for intimidating witnesses to stop them from revealing the identities of the prostitution ring's high-profile clients.
Among those were a chairman of a local savings cooperative, a deputy chairman of Phunphin district's tambon administrative organisation's council, as well as soldiers, a teacher and the son of a politician.
In fact, the shelter staff even threatened witnesses to get them to retract their testimonies, according to Pol Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn, assistant chief of the national police.
Anti-human trafficking police on Wednesday arrested 12 suspects.
Following the arrests, police transferred the underaged victims to a different provincial child shelter, where they will be looked after by social workers and protected as witnesses.
The DCY deputy director-general interfered in the police investigation by contacting a staff at the shelter to persuade witnesses to retract their statements. The attempt ultimately failed after the shelter's director reported the attempt to police.
Needless to say, the trafficking of minors for prostitution is a heinous crime in itself. If the allegations of interference are proven to be true, this will add to the severity of the breach carried out by officials whose primary task was to take care of children.
Authorities must pursue the case until the very end. Hopefully, the government won't stop at prosecuting small-time offenders while letting influential, well-connected suspects get off scot-free.
To achieve that, the police must ensure their witness protection programme is up to scratch, because the ring's client list is believed to be made up of powerful figures. The ministry must also assure the public that its probe will be fair and transparent and encourage whistle-blowers to speak up.
So far, authorities' reactions have not matched the gravity of the case.
While the ministry's permanent secretary, Patcharee Arayakul, has ordered the DCY to report their findings to the ministry, Minister of Social Development and Human Security Juti Krairerk seems to be out of sight.
It goes without saying that the ministry has a serious public image problem. In 2018, nine welfare centres for the underprivileged were probed for corruption after 189 officials were suspected to be forging documents to siphon welfare money.
While the officials were eventually cleared, Kornthip Daroj from the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) said it didn't mean the ministry was graft-free -- it just meant they couldn't find proof to substantiate the claims.
The Ministry of Social Development and Human Security might not be famous, unlike the so-called "Grade A" ministries of finance, commerce, agriculture, and foreign affairs, which politicians covet.
Yet it has a big responsibility because it must take care of people and develop human resources, especially children.
If it is to achieve that task, the ministry must make sure its staff are fit to carry out the noble task of keeping our children safe.
