ABOVE: The Bosch DCN multimedia microphones reportedly cost THB145,000 each. They have little screens so users can look at other people without making eye contact. Photo: Bosch
When the newly selected cabinet sits in their first session today, they’ll be using microphones someone with a median income could only afford if they saved every baht for a year.
Word that nearly 100 microphones costing THB145,000 each were installed in a fancy new meeting room for junta chief Gen. Prayuth Chanocha’s cabinet to meet in the Government House has prompted calls for an investigation.
Permanent secretary Pannada Diskul of the prime minister’s office said the purchasing process behind the 89 expensive microphones would be reviewed to dispel public concern.
An opposition legal expert from the deposed ruling party, Ruangkrai Leekijwattana, questioned why the microphones, which were available for THB99,000, were installed prior to an official purchase contract.
The renovation of the conference room and two others cost THB69 million. Bosch markets the type of microphone as “designed from the ground up to inform, impress and inspire the audience.”
Panadda told reporters the refurbishment of the Government House was not a “political issue,” but would be reviewed nonetheless for the sake of transparency, The Nation reported.
“Journalists and social media users quickly began asking why the microphone is so expensive,” read an unsigned editorial from the generally coup-friendly publication. “Then a strange thing happened: the market price of the microphone as listed on the maker’s website shot up overnight from Bt99,000 to Bt199,000,” citing a Matichon report.
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