Public opinion to be considered in reform: Thailand

[heybruce]

Just a quick answer to many posts supporting military rule: I'm not red, I'm not married to a red supporter or anyone else, and corruption predates the Yingluck and Thaksin administrations. I happen to have more faith in democracy than military government. I base this faith on the history of military governments in Thailand and the rest of the world.

Regarding corruption, it's worth noting the part:

"He (Abhisit) noted that the NCPO's roadmap did not mention any steps to tackle the chronic corruption problem."

The best cure for corruption is transparency. All government contracts need to be awarded in a transparent manner, with all but the most trivial being awarded by competitive bidding.

In addition all government employees (elected, civil service, military and any others) with contract and spending responsibilities must publicly disclose all sources of income and assets. If any of these incomes or assets can reasonably be construed to represent a conflict of interest the employee must divest himself/herself of the income/assets or be removed from any position with contract or spending responsibility.

Also, the ridiculous libel laws that scare the press out of reporting anything that might upset the powerful needs to be revised. The press can't perform its duty as the public watchdog unless it can report verifiable facts without fear of legal problems.

You are right, my dear Brucy. Independent watchdogs, transparency, work on corruption, show responsibility.

The Yingluck administration had all that in their program, to obstruct it, it would seem.

The NCPO will listen to the Thai people, but it's unclear if Thai people really have those nobel ideas on 'democracy' some here suggest. It would seem that working on education is just as important, even more important than just asking for elections.

I see, democracy couldn't eliminate corruption, a military government can.

Your learning to use censorship to your advantage; I can point out that the historical record of military governments regarding corruption and instilling democratic values is not a good one, but I can't go beyond that.