Thailand Second Most Corruption-riddled Country

[george]

Thailand second most corruption-riddled: Abac Poll

BANGKOK: -- Foreign investors and business people based in Bangkok rate Thailand the second most corruption-riddled country after Indonesia, according to the results of an Abac Poll survey on the most desirable investment destinations among Southeast Asian countries and China.

Thailand's other negative points are traffic congestion and environmental problems, according to the responses of 498 people surveyed by Assumption University from September 7 to October 15.

The Kingdom received good ratings for friendliness of the local people towards foreigners, government support for foreign investment and the quality of skilled labour, the poll said.

Singapore was deemed overall the most favourable country for investment, in terms of security and safety, good administration, currency stability, business management, good living conditions, good infrastructure, honouring of contracts and political stability.

China was ranked second for its good market prospects, high investment returns, cheap labour and abundance of raw material.

The Philippines was seen as the country where violence was most likely to be used to resolve problems, followed by Indonesia and Thailand, the poll said.

--The Nation 2005-10-16

[Buff-horns]

Looks like taxin still has a lot of work to do !

[Donnyboy]

Thailand second most corruption-riddled: Abac Poll

BANGKOK: -- Foreign investors and business people based in Bangkok rate Thailand the second most corruption-riddled country after Indonesia, according to the results of an Abac Poll survey on the most desirable investment destinations among Southeast Asian countries and China.

the govt probably gave the poll people some money so they wouldnt be number one!

[WhiteShiva]

Looks like taxin still has a lot of work to do !

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think Thaksin has done a pretty good job, it is hard to beat Indonesia when it comes to corruption.........

[PanzerJohn]

Looks like taxin still has a lot of work to do !

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think Thaksin has done a pretty good job, it is hard to beat Indonesia when it comes to corruption.........

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thailand more corrupt than Phillipines!!! big loss of face for Toxin.

[britmaveric]

Hub of Corruption?

[mike_l]

Thailand Second Most Corruption-riddled Country, More corrupt than Indonesia

Foreign investors and business people based in Bangkok rate Thailand the second most corruption-riddled country after Indonesia

Surely these two statments contradict each other? It can't be both more corrupt than Indonesia, and the most corrupt except for Indonesia. I reckon the 2nd is the more accurate one.

According to the Transparency International report http://www.transparency.org/cpi/2004/cpi2004.en.html which seems to be the authority on corruption ranking, Thailand ranks 64th in terms of the most corrupt country. That's quite a bit less corrupt than the Philippines (102nd) and Indonesia (133rd) but behind Malaysia (39th) and miles behind Singapore (5th)

[kidtongue]

Thailand Second Most Corruption-riddled Country, More corrupt than Indonesia

Foreign investors and business people based in Bangkok rate Thailand the second most corruption-riddled country after Indonesia

Surely these two statments contradict each other? It can't be both more corrupt than Indonesia, and the most corrupt except for Indonesia. I reckon the 2nd is the more accurate one.

According to the Transparency International report http://www.transparency.org/cpi/2004/cpi2004.en.html which seems to be the authority on corruption ranking, Thailand ranks 64th in terms of the most corrupt country. That's quite a bit less corrupt than the Philippines (102nd) and Indonesia (133rd) but behind Malaysia (39th) and miles behind Singapore (5th)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I hopped on the link you provided and see that Thailand did not survey for corrupt judges and that most of the replies came from the WorldBank/ERBD so perhaps with more comprehensive sampling Thailand can still grab the #1 spot.

[Nignoy]

Looks like taxin still has a lot of work to do !

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think Thaksin has done a pretty good job, it is hard to beat Indonesia when it comes to corruption.........

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thailand more corrupt than Phillipines!!! big loss of face for Toxin.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Funny not to see Australia mentioned anywhere in the corruption stakes!! the thai police could definitely take lessons from the Queensland and New south wales police nignoy

[cobra]

Yet another enlightening poll ...

I'm sure it was intended for Asian markets, or your really going to p-off Russia and Brooklyn NY, not even geting an honorable mention,

[johnnyk]

Looks like taxin still has a lot of work to do !

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Good one!

Like Avis, he will try harder.

[snoophound]

Obviously they havent done a very good job of surveying China!

I would suggest China is by far the Worst.

I saw a doco on TV last week saying 8000 corrupt public servants and businessmen are fleeing the country with millions every month.

Looks like taxin still has a lot of work to do !

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[xbusman]

I have figured out where those 8000 are coming every month....HERE!

[Soiboy]

Uhm, is someone actually going to take an ABAC survey seriously?

Oh, ok, I didn't think so.

You can pretty much write off all of Southeast Asia as corrupt and throw China in there as well.

Singapore is a city under police rule, it doesn't count. It is also probably the most boring destination in Southeast Asia.

Thailand is by far the best country to do anything in Southeast Asia including doing business. Indonesia and especially the Phillipines are much more corrupt. Thai officials go to the Phillipines to get schooled in corruption. Thailand is also the safest country in Southeast Asia (remember Singapore is a city and is an anal, boring place anyway) to travel, have fun, and even live for a while as I did.

An ABAC survey, yeah, going to plan my business around that one.

[sabaijai]

According to the Transparency International report http://www.transparency.org/cpi/2004/cpi2004.en.html which seems to be the authority on corruption ranking, Thailand ranks 64th in terms of the most corrupt country. That's quite a bit less corrupt than the Philippines (102nd) and Indonesia (133rd) but behind Malaysia (39th) and miles behind Singapore (5th)

I think you mean "Thailand ranks 64th in terms of the least corrupt country ..." since the higher the country is on the list, the less corrupt it is.

Hard to swallow the ABAC poll. Thailand more corrupt than Myanmar, Laos or Vietnam? Everyone I know who does business throughout mainland SE Asia says those three countries are the worst.

[Golf]

Hey, didn't we tell you that we want to the leader of EVERYTHING?

Golf

[thedude]

that thailand is a corrupt country is nothing new, and it certainly didn't start from thaksin.

much of what is deemed to be corruption (being a western concept), is actually part of the complex way in which things have been getting done in the kingdom for the longest time. i am not saying that its good, but that it is just the way it is.

thai society has always been people and position centered. thailand has never been under colonial rule, european adminstration and its 'ethical' import has never been imposed on this government, ever. there was no industrial revolution and its related market formation. commerce developed organically from old trading systems, primarily held by networks of old trading families who had to deal with a sort of feudalistic bureaucracy and its unique idiosyncracies.

if you are the police chief in a district for example, you are like the old village lord, you are responsible for the welfare and order among the people under your care and you rightly deserve to be paid if a street hawker wants to set up a little food outlet, or if some large family wants you to clear traffic for them in the mornings, or if some people do not follow your traffic rules in the neighbourhood. you have hundreds of poor police under your care and hardly a budget to speak of, and you have to look after them all. if you magnify this to include other government departments and politicians, and military, aristocrats, and the underworld, you start to get an approximation of thailand.

dealing with corruption in thailand thus requires a fundamental change in many things related to their culture and society. and if you change all that, will thailand still be such a wonderful place?

a central issue is to create a system that rewards fairly for merit rather than position or inherited influence. but modern professional administration requires education, which is sadly inadequate in this country, and is the subject of my rants on other threads.

[meadish_sweetball]

Education is not all it takes to battle it, the corruption is surely as rampant among foreign-educated Thais - just look at the bidding processes for new construction works, the Suvarnabhumi Airport problems, etc. The people running the show there have received enough education to know what they are doing - but it still does not seem to help much.

Notably, Dr. Thaksin's Ph.D. in Criminology posed the question whether education helps to stem corrupt practices, and the answer was along the lines: "It does, but to an almost insignificant degree"...

Apart from that, I agree. The pee-nong system does not rhyme with meritocracy - they are fundamentally opposed concepts. How to solve it? I don't know.

[snoophound]

Is that PHD from anywhere credible??

Honorary?

Education is not all it takes to battle it, the corruption is surely as rampant among foreign-educated Thais - just look at the bidding processes for new construction works, the Suvarnabhumi Airport problems, etc. The people running the show there have received enough education to know what they are doing - but it still does not seem to help much.

Notably, Dr. Thaksin's Ph.D. in Criminology posed the question whether education helps to stem corrupt practices, and the answer was along the lines: "It does, but to an almost insignificant degree"...

Apart from that, I agree. The pee-nong system does not rhyme with meritocracy - they are fundamentally opposed concepts. How to solve it? I don't know.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[thedude]

Education is not all it takes to battle it, the corruption is surely as rampant among foreign-educated Thais - just look at the bidding processes for new construction works, the Suvarnabhumi Airport problems, etc. The people running the show there have received enough education to know what they are doing - but it still does not seem to help much.

Notably, Dr. Thaksin's Ph.D. in Criminology posed the question whether education helps to stem corrupt practices, and the answer was along the lines: "It does, but to an almost insignificant degree"...

Apart from that, I agree. The pee-nong system does not rhyme with meritocracy - they are fundamentally opposed concepts. How to solve it? I don't know.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

agreed, actually i view it as being part of a few key ingredients, a strong and moral leadership, quality of the government administration (here is where education comes in), and a context for change (eg social or economic circumstances, perhaps more revolutionary than evolutionary).

take china for example, circa 1911, sun yat sen, a strong, western educated, highly moral leader, brought about a revolutionary change (due mainly to pent up social circumstances). however, government was largely corrupt, followed archaic practices and were not professionally trained, which eventually led to the decay of the administration and the eventual chaos and power struggles that ensued. its a complex mix of ingredients that may never fall into place, but education plays a great part in ensuring that change is sustainable.

[richard10365]

I wonder how they compare, corrupt wise, to the USA.

[Diablo Bob]

THAILAND GET's A SECOND OPINION!!!!!

Transparency International (UK NGO) released their figures today.......

Thailand came in 60th least corrupt with Indonesia at 140th.... Then again we are tied with Cuba and even Bulgaria & Uruguay scored better than the Kingdom, but what the hel_l, we were better than most of the Eastern European countries, African Countries, Middle Eastern Countries and Most of your Island Nations.

Keep up the good work Thailand, next years goal should be to do better than, lets say Botswana, Namibia and Colombia who out scored us this year.......

Practice makes perfect.

Actually won't feel to bad forking over the 200 baht to the police for the Friday afternoon party this week, knowing that there are a shit pot full of people worldwide, most likely forking out even more than me!

For your information: http://www.transparency.org/cpi/2005/cpi20...nfocus.html#cpi

[The_Moog]

The most corrupt country in Asia is Bangladesh.

Its so corrupt that it doesn't even appear on usual lists of Asian corrupt countries. Perhaps this is because its in a league of its own ...or my theory, because they bribed someone to keep their name off.

Its apparently worse than Indonesia - and I didn't meet one single honest person when I lived in Indonesia for a year.

[dantilley]

The most corrupt country in Asia is Bangladesh.

I too have heard this. It was a while ago the top 5 comprised of Bangladesh, Haiiti, Nigeria, Panama and Chad.

Not sure of the exact order but Bangladesh was number 1.

Also, surely Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam are all more corrupt than Thailand?

[johnnyk]

Is that PHD from anywhere credible??

Honorary?

Not honorary, it's from (East?) Tennessee State U.

Credible? That's another matter.