The remorse of Thailand's political leaders over their inept handling of the economy may be genuine, but some observers believe crocodile tears are masking the kind of self-serving manoeuvring that had officials fiddling while the nation burned.
'We have been judged by our professor and given an F for fail grade,' said the Finance Ministry's new permanent secretary Supachai Phisitvanich of the International Monetary Fund's recent 20-day examination of Thailand's broken boom.
After years of pushing problems under the carpet, many officials and local financiers are only too eager to hear as much bad news as possible - and to blame themselves for past errors.
'We've all been demanding to be whipped, we are going to be whipped - and we are going to enjoy it because we know it will be doing us good,' the head of one Thai broking house said.
Alcoholics are told that the first step on the road to recovery is the recognition of the problem - so it might appear that the tears pouring out of much of corporate and regulatory Thailand are a sign that the bad, befuddled old days have been left behind.
Unfortunately many observers do not believe it.
