Since Intellectual Property Department deputy director-general Suphat Saquandeekul was arrested in Japan for stealing paintings from a hotel during his working visit last month, top government figures have not even issued rebukes to the official.

“Please don’t add salt to his wound … A theft is not a grave disciplinary offence,” Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said.

Commerce Ministry permanent secretary Viboonlak Ruamrak said Suphat deserved help and understanding – not outright condemnation – from the public after his crime.

“He might have acted out of drunkenness,” she said.

Suphat finally issued a public apology and said via a statement that he drank too much and ended up taking some paintings from the walls of hotel corridors. To show responsibility for the incident that damaged the reputation of Thailand and the Kingdom’s bureaucrats, he

tendered his resignation.

I am not dismayed at how Suphat responded to the theft scandal.

What I am upset with is how the holders of powerful positions that are supposed to champion moral excellence have been trying to suggest Suphat just made a simple mistake and by no means deserves the harshest disciplinary penalty such as being dismissed without a pension.

Instead of trying to play down his theft, authorities in fact should have placed an emphasis on how this was a bad example. It is necessary to make clear that no one should follow this example.

On her Facebook page, Thicha Nanakorn – director of Ban Kanchanapisek Vocational Juvenile Training Centre for Boys – laments that if powerful figures rush to protect an official caught stealing, it will be hard to inculcate the right virtues in youth.

“Stealing is illegal no matter how much the stolen item is worth,” she said via social media .

I agree with her. If you say it’s okay to steal small stuff, your moral standards are subject to doubt.

If you say Suphat’s action should be forgiven, you fail to understand that an impressive work history and a theft that one commits are two separate issues.

Even though Suphat has boasted a clean work record in the government services for a few decades, that fact cannot give him the right to flout laws and challenge public morality.

It was also really worrying to see Ombudsman General Viddhavat Rajatanun recently try to indirectly defend Suphat during a lecture on ethics at a forum earlier this month.

“It’s unfortunate for him that this incident occurred in Japan. Had it happened at a karaoke lounge in his hometown in Thailand, there would not have been any problem,” Viddhavat said.

Although the ombudsman refused to comment on whether Suphat acted rightly or wrongly, he tried to point out at the possibility of giving wrongdoers the chance to make amends.

“What if we let him serve the country without pay?” Viddhavat said.

There is nothing wrong about the idea of giving wrongdoers a second chance. But it is outrageous to not describe what is wrong as “wrong”. If we let this case go without a real debate, Thai society may end up not being able to tell what is right from wrong.

When a person does something wrong, he or she must be held accountable for it.

Then society could give him or her a chance to do

better in the future.

Don’t forget that an act of small-scale theft that goes unpunished may encourage moral decay and a large-scale corruption in the end.

Lately Thailand has seen many graft cases. These scandals hit big state enterprises like Thai Airways International and PTT. It is high time the current powers-that-be review their approach and take morality more seriously.

Ignore the problem today and it will only grow worse in the future.