Thread: Corruption on the rise

This from MCOT:


BANGKOK, Sept 7 – Corruption is increasingly acceptable in Thai society with an alarming trend of people seeing it as a way of life and willing to ‘tag along’ for personal gain.

An Assumption University poll conducted Sept 1-6, found the number of Thais not objecting to corruption if it was with their partial advantages increased from 63.4 per cent in June to 65.8 per cent in August.

Only one-third – 34.2 per cent – of the 2,117 respondents insisted that corruption is unacceptable.

Assumption Poll director Noppadol Kannikar said the younger generation is most worrisome with 79.1 per cent of respondents under 20 and 76.5 of those aged 20-29 said state corruption is acceptable if it benefits themselves personally.

A similar attitude was reported by nearly two-thirds of the rest of the respondents -- 64.8 per cent of the 30-39 age group, 65.4 per cent of the 40-49 age group, and 59.9 for people above age 50.

Among career groups which embrace the same attitude, students represented the highest percentage at 70.6 followed by entrepreneurs at 66.2 per cent, private employees at 64.3 per cent, general wage earners and farmers at 61.9 per cent.

Lying? White lies only, or more? More than two-thirds, 68.3 per cent, approved lying for survival while slightly under one-third, 31.7 per cent, said they would not lie regardless.

In the public sector nearly 60 per cent of state officials described corruption as acceptable, and referred to benefits in terms of job promotion, transfer to a better location and profit.

They claimed that every government is corrupt and politically intervene in public administration. (MCOT online news)



I am shocked, I tell you, to learn there is corruption in Thailand.

^ And they are right next to the Ministry of Truth.

Originally Posted by Chang

They claimed that every government is corrupt and politically intervene in public administration.

Of course.

---Update---

All depends on how one defines corruption?






...needless to say...

One's view of corruption often comes down to your view of "commission" payments in the West.

In Thailand deals are often smoothed through with an unofficial incentive paid either in advance or upon completion of a particular project.

In the West the broker who negotiates a project will receive a contractual bonus upon completion of a project.

It's not what you do but the way that you do it. In Asia deals are usually conducted face-to-face and reneging on them causes a loss of credibility, or "face". In the West written contracts are the norm and it is a lack of such written agreement that often spawns accusations of corrupt practices in Asia.

The UK is as corrupt as Hell but people use all manner of smoke and mirrors to give the appearance (or veneer) of respectability. The president of my former UK professional body was arrested for, of all things, operating a boiler room scam. Of course his chums at the Association aren't disciplining him.

The history of politics, I would argue....

Is the history of "corruption".

Sometimes people get caught.

Nixon, for example, simply "got caught".

Cell phones and advanced communication may change things going forward............


nice Casablanca clip...
love the movie...
play it again Sam

68.3 per cent, approved lying for survival while slightly under one-third, 31.7 per cent, said they would not lie regardless.

Liars!

I kinda like Thailand's corruption - it is an honest corruption (I know, the irony...), in Thailand, if you have the money, you pay. Everyone has access, everyone knows the rules and the system. Sure, sometimes there is a sacrificial lamb, but, in general, things grind along quite nicely.

The opposite is true in the West. The average TEFLer does not have access to corruption as they do in Thailand, the corruption is inherent in the smoke-filled rooms of the gentleman's clubs and the hushed corridors of venerable institutions and, as Chang says, the corruption is often dressed up as something else. It is the access that makes Thailand's corruption a more honest institution. The UK is corrupt, I am not sure if as much money is channeled through the black economy, but it certainly has corruption. Give me Thailand's honest corruption any day.

As to thsi ever changing? Not in my lifetime. If will take many generations to rid Thailand of corruption - and that will only start to happen when there is the will. Which of course, at present, there is no will. Thai people will say they think corruption is wrong and it should be stopped - unless it involves them and they benefit from it. Thai folks are actually expressing some form of jealousy when they say that corruption is bad, what they are actually saying is that it is terrible because I am not getting a benefit from it...

Originally Posted by goo_stewart

what they are actually saying is that it is terrible because I am not getting a benefit from it...

... or because they are Democrats and are now "respectable" because their corruption is institutionalised as in the West.

Corruption shares many similarities with taxes.

An intelligent individual will always have a legal loophole when and if the shit hits the fan.

There will always be ways around regulations.

There was a time, and not that many years ago, when a smart politician could buy a vote for a pint.

Which, I suppose, is why many countries force pubs and bars to close on voting days.





....

which means the folks want us all to be sober before we vote.

I think every voting day, on a national or provincial level, should be a statutory holiday and the bars should be allowed to sell booze....

Originally Posted by russellsimpson

the bars should be allowed to sell booze....

I agree, but only because there is a fair chance I'd be elected without even being on the ballot paper.




I have stong support from the dark-skinned Isaan types, just like Thaksin...

kinda puts paid the the whole "Corruption went down under Thaksin" argument....