Unfortunately Thailand is one of a few countries that have inherited Confucianism as major social accommodation. Since Confucius planned and created a very long and arduous path to getting a job as a Mandarin or civil servant of sorts, it's only rich families, merchants and such, that could support the years long studies that led to the imperial exams, often at the advanced age of 50+. Who fronted the money to support a lifelong of studies was expecting some kind of return on the investment. Normal. Hence began a centuries long regime of corruption, sanctioned by Confucian beliefs, that still pervades in Thailand and somehow prevents true economic development and runs contra to the tenets of democracy. Don't police officers buy their way into uniforms here ? Normal and accepted ?