Mired in corruption

Ambika Ahuja has a timely piece on corruption in Thailand. Timely because both Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya spent considerable time in New York distancing their party and government from nasty, evil, money-grubbing politicians who are corrupt.

The Reuters report has a different take: ” From minor bribes to dubious multi-billion-dollar procurement deals, corruption is as endemic as ever in Thailand despite the fastest economic growth in 13 years and a government led by an Oxford-educated technocrat. British-born Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, a 46-year-old economist, signaled zero-tolerance for graft when he took power in December 2008 with fellow a Oxford University alumnus, Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij. But corruption indicators show graft remains deeply rooted two years into Abhisit’s administration.”

And why is this? Ahuja is right to point to “one of the fundamental weaknesses of his premiership — he holds on to power only with the support of networks of politicians, generals and bureaucrats whose reputation for probity does not match his own, and who epitomize the patronage politics that has long bedeviled Thailand.” This is exactly what Kasit tried to say the government was avoiding. In fact, they are more enmeshed in this system than ever.

The report notes that “Corruption allegations have shadowed a $42-billion government-spending plan to rescue Thailand from recession. Questions were raised over procurement projects involving security forces, while abuse-of-power complaints against police and provincial officials remain a staple of local media reports.” It mention the Bhum Jai Thai Party and Newin Chidchob, but there have been constant corruption allegations against the Democrat Party and the military as well.

No serious investigations and no accountability.

The Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd showed Thailand was the fifth-most corrupt of 16 Asia-Pacific economies. The World Bank’s Governance Indicators suggest corruption worsened between 2005 to 2009. Kasit said foreign investors knew the government was straight and clean, but foreign investors say they have to budget for direct and indirect bribes.

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