We Need To Take A Stand Against Corruption

[nurofiend]

...and this is where i found out never to interact with you ever again.

Isn't that post oxymoronic?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect App

pointing out that i plan not to interact with a poster with such views in the future, no i don't think it's an oxymoron.

[h90]

Maybe if the news sources stop writing editorials about corruption, and start doing some investigative reporting and follow ups, until a conviction on corruption.

Oh wait I forgot, the editors of these news sources, are in somebodies back pocket, already.

I guess we will have to leave it up to the high school and uni students with their artwork to slow the progress of corruption.

a) too much work

no one want to read it

c) risk of getting a defamation law suite

d) risk of getting a bullet in the head

writing a general article why corruption is bad is done in 1 hour.....

[smedly]

...and this is where i found out never to interact with you ever again.

Isn't that post oxymoronic?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect App

pointing out that i plan not to interact with a poster with such views in the future, no i don't think it's an oxymoron.

I'm not saying I support either of the options I suggested, if you read carefully I'm saying - I don't see another way forward, there is no sitting government will do it as they are to busy getting rich of the Thai people that put them in office.

The Thai people think that because they have elections and vote for a political party that they have a democracy - it ain't that simple, those in the sitting government become rampant crooks and were they find obstacles to their theivory they try to rewrite what little controls are in place to give them ultimate power - some Thais can see it but most don't

[DeepInTheForest]

I agree with you that more progress could be made via true aggressive investigative journalism in Thailand. We also need to remember that the news organizations and the individual journalists themselves do not have many of the legal protections that they do in many countries in the west. A journalist doing investigative reporting on corruption involving involving the "pu yai" or big people is taking a substantial personal risk. To start with, the defamation laws in Thailand severe and are both civil and criminal. Those laws are used as a club to discourage and smother any such investigative reporting. One of the real purposes for the defamation laws are to protect the big people, the "high-class", from reporting that may impact them or their lucrative activities.

A journalist by the name Erika Fry learned that lesson when, working for a major newspaper here, she did a news story on a Thai official that had been accused of plagiarizing his doctoral dissertation. Take a read of "Escape From Thailand" and "Escape from Thailand: Epilogue" from the Columbia Journalism Review. What happened to Erika Fry is the result of her investigative reporting on someone not really that high up in the "pu yai" status.

When a journalist does some damage to or angers one of the real biggies, they have a good chance of ending up like Wisut "Ae" Tangwittayaporn from Phuket. "Newspaper reporter shot, killed in Thailand"

The Escape From Thailand links are excellent. Many thanks to Baloo22. I heartily recommend them to other readers.

I think that we are not powerless, as thinking humans, to effect change in these matters. Of course the struggle is long, and will outlast us.

Should we not support the effort toward social justice, in whatever way we can? We can support organizations in Thailand devoted to this, and we can work to change opinions among our friends and in our workplaces. While the fate of Thailand is best left in Thai hands, as citizens of the world we have an obligation to push for a more equitable society. Does that sound too high-minded? I sure hope not.

Thai NGOs have altered history and pushed for democratization with mixed results in the past.

From the Copenhagen Journal of Academic Studies, a dated but thought-provoking piece can be found at

http://rauli.cbs.dk/index.php/cjas/article/download/2164/2160 . It's called "Grassroots NGOs and Political Reform in Thailand: Democracy behind Civil Society", and it's written by Naruemon Thabchumpon of Chulalongkorn University. Here is a thought-provoking excerpt:

Historically, the business groups (such as the Industrial Association, the Bankers' Association and the Chamber of Commerce)

and urban technocrats have tried to prevent popular political participation by using state interference. As many problems faced by the poor, both rural and urban, are caused by the government's economic and development policies and the capitalist mode of production, the business groups have reacted in an anti-democratic way to safeguard their own economic interests. Though business and elite-urban groups agreed with the NGOs in backing the 1997 constitution, they were unwilling to support people's participation in order to create substantive political reform. During the 1997-98 economic recession in Thailand, they prevented people's participation in the state's decision-making process on the ground that this might affect the economic climate.

The technocrats, on the other hand, agreed with the role of NGOs in creating a public forum for citizens' participation in

the Thai political reform process. However, in many instances there is a conflict of interests, as many problems

faced by the peasantry are caused by the lifestyles of urban consumers.

Whether you agree with the above or not, the link is worth a read.

Edited December 10, 2012 by DeepInTheForest

[jamstock]

I would rather pay a policeman 200 B on the spot for a minor infraction, than have to haul my ass all the way to the local police station and pay 400 B... small scale corruption such as this is not a problem in my view. It's large scale corruption, the likes of which we see endemic in the banking and financial system in the West which really damages things.

Whats wrong with an on the spot fine and a receipt issued, not placed in the pocket as usual.

Probably best for a badly paid policeman to get that 200 B than wherever else that money would go to if you paid the fine "officially"

[waza]

".... If we ourselves are not committed in our fight against corruption ... then we can’t expect others to respect Thailand and its institutions.” Korn Chatikavanij

At least we know Yingluck is against corruption.........

Edited December 12, 2012 by waza