Songkran has a more serious side to it; it carries a message about keeping our environment in a clean shape and it is about cooperating together to achieve this with clean houses, clean public areas, clean temples and clean official buildings.
Suspicion is so pervasive that even clean officials are terrified to prod along vital projects by clean companies for fear of being accused of favouritism.The problems in parts of the private sector have thus become a macroeconomic issue.
Now New York City's antiquated system has failed to deliver a clean, swift and official verdict on who won the Democratic mayoral runoff last week.
Facing public confusion about the green jobs promised by Obama's recovery plan, and scepticism about his promise to build a clean energy economy, administration officials switched to talking about climate through healthcare or even national security.
Xiong Wei, a grass-roots activist from Beijing who spent weeks training villagers in the art of holding a clean election, said provincial officials had generally supported the vote, even as it was clear that the leaders of the December uprising — including two who had been arrested — would run for office and might well win.
Then, after five days, a "clean team" of law-enforcement officials took over.
Mr. Gates wanted to keep going in case Iran made a breakthrough in longer-range missiles; other officials wanted a clean break from the old system.
President Nicolas Sarkozy was released from a Paris hospital on Monday with a clean bill of health, government officials said, a day after he suffered a dizzy spell while exercising.
After issuing our small group of visiting journalists with a clean bill of radioactive health, officials from the Japanese energy firm Tepco showed us how to keep it that way.
Set up by Robert Satchwell, a former British Treasury official, to be a "clean" company, Jarrn's contract with BP was, in effect, terminated at short notice in 1999.
