'No room for corruption'

[beautifulthailand99]

The life and death of General PM Sarit Thanarat is a sobering read into the abuses of power that absolute power can bring. The good general will no doubt learn from the past mistakes of his compatriots to avoid such pitfalls in the future.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarit_Thanarat

[ginjag]

..............but there certainly was a whiff of corruption when eminent military and police officers bought GT 200 'bomb detectors'. Not surprisingly, as far as I know, the only guy who went to prison was the Irishman who sold them to Thailand's noblest, now doing time in a UK jail, . Maybe the senior officers who approved the purchases, are in the cabinet now, so its OK.

818 in total were sold to Thailand: I suppose it was all a misunderstanding.......not a hint of corruption....... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GT200 provides more info.

GTG, a pig just flew by.

And what about the inflatable aircraft which won't fly. Who knows just which general bought that ?

And the school tablets, and the digital clocks, and the 50 trips abroad, she was the defense minister-remember, floods anyone, rice anyone, passports anyone, amnesty anyone. Get yourself ship shape.

[wwest5829]

No room for corruption sounds a bit like no room for Thailand.

Not one man and not one government can root out corruption. It will be a long process. But I hope and think Prayuth is the man to give things a good start.

Butttttttttttt for this the big shot of the previous corrupt governments MUST be put in prison. So far only Sondhi got a long year sentence but is hopping around in freedom on bail.

Just checking you meant to say, "the big shots of the previous corrupt governments MUST be but in prison...."? I am hopeful that you are including all. The biggest problem I see facing the General will be making too many enemies in addressing so many problems (they do exist). If I understand world history, many reformers have gone down do to this issue.

[wwest5829]

The life and death of General PM Sarit Thanarat is a sobering read into the abuses of power that absolute power can bring. The good general will no doubt learn from the past mistakes of his compatriots to avoid such pitfalls in the future.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarit_Thanarat

One can hope the General has studied all his military junta predecessors.

[Benmart]

One has only to look at the transformation of Singapore. It had a corrupt civil service, corrupt police force and was rife with corrupt nepotism. The economy was in a shambles, the waterways were polluted and corruption was embedded down the cop on the beat.

My Singaporean friend told me that is more a case of unconstrained power kept by few families with perfectly built system of legal nepotism and political dominance. If that works for you...

While there may some merit to your friends thoughts, strategies to combat corruption are never perfect. I'm not familiar with your friends credentials, which must have some validity since he is from Singapore. I too have Simgaporean friends that have shared contrary views, and I only listen.

One can only try to combat corruption and make life better for the whole.

What works for me is irrelevant. I am but one person, living in a country as a guest and it's not my battle.

I tried to put bandages on the wrongs during my working service and now it's someone else's turn.

Edited August 30, 2014 by Benmart

[Benmart]

The life and death of General PM Sarit Thanarat is a sobering read into the abuses of power that absolute power can bring. The good general will no doubt learn from the past mistakes of his compatriots to avoid such pitfalls in the future.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarit_Thanarat

Thank you for the link.

Interesting, sobering and frightful reading. Yes, I hope the PM learns from recent history.

It is nice to read a post that has some relevant, academic input. So much that is posted has a negative, hateful slant to it.

[Robespiere]

No room for corruption.

No room for elections

No room for free speech

No room for the separation of powers

No room for visa runners

No room for Burmese and Cambodian workers

No room for surrogacy

No room for international TV channels

No room for alcohol advertising

No room for street vendors

No room for beach umbrellas

No room for eating sandwiches or reading books in public

We're well on the way to utopia.....not

[3NUMBAS]

because all the available slots are already taken , no more vacancies

[thairowe]

Corruption has gottin worse under the Junta, not better. It is all threw the government.

[Bluespunk]

Corruption has gottin worse under the Junta, not better. It is all threw the government.

That's quite a claim. Care to back it up with evidence?

[northernjohn]

Corruption has not stopped in Phuket. This is a huge undertaking for him and it may be too big for him to tackle. Just sayin'.

Saying or Hopping.

Makes no difference how big it is. The job will be started and as any place else in the world there will always be some. It will take time. So don't hold your breath. Phuket is just one piece of a gigantic puzzle that has already been started on and has no completion date. As it is now they will be working ion it for a year plus then turn it over to the public to elect people to continue the job. As in any part of the world it will always be there and need working on.

Edited August 30, 2014 by northernjohn

[northernjohn]

Start with action and not talk. Show the world by jail for jet ski Mafia. Taxi Mafia get jail and their vehicles crushed on live TV.BIB get jail not a new post. Start there and show us don't tell us .

The show has been started and like it or not there is far more to Thailand than jet skies and taxies. Here in Chiang Mai there are no jet skies and very few taxies.

Does any one know how the taxi scam shut down is working out. We were there two weeks ago and it seemed it didn't matter what taxi we talked to they all had the same price. In my mind it was high but then again I don't live on an Island that has tourism as the main business.

I see where they are calling a halt to the scams to the jet skiers again. That is twice. It took three times with the taxies. Might have to go at them both again. As the two cases indicate they do not just make a headline then drop the issue.

[northernjohn]

The life and death of General PM Sarit Thanarat is a sobering read into the abuses of power that absolute power can bring. The good general will no doubt learn from the past mistakes of his compatriots to avoid such pitfalls in the future.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarit_Thanarat

Thank you for the link.

Interesting, sobering and frightful reading. Yes, I hope the PM learns from recent history.

It is nice to read a post that has some relevant, academic input. So much that is posted has a negative, hateful slant to it.

To be honest it was quite apparent to me that the General had learned from past mistakes and was putting it to good use. At least it was apparent to me.

[apalink_thailand]

I have a feeling that this guy means what he says. However, its a huge task and one that will get him many, many enemies. I do not see the jails filling up with corrupt civil servants and cops though. The hand slapping and the "inactive post" is the usual punishment for them.

[leiftheswede]

Corrution is a lifestyle in Thailand but good luck - He sure will need it.

[dukebowling]

Politics can never be without immorality, greed, self servitude or ambition. The idea that a leader can be without fault is an ancient myth.

The problem is, if the people don't accept this and pick the least of the evils involved, democracy won't flourish and corruption will never be reduced. Nobody's perfect and no candidate will ever be perfect. It's ok to not like the voice of the majority, but you have to accept it.

Power corrupts…absolute power corrupts absolutely.

What you have now is absolute corruption because there is no transparency.

Edited August 30, 2014 by dukebowling

[KevinB]

Well the general trend in this string is either a) "give the guy a chance he is only been going for 3 months". "He's made a great start - keep it up General" Or the irrational old Shin clans haters - "They haven't caught the guy in Dubai yet" or "Executed his b*** Sister" or c) Corruption is so engrained in Thailand that - "His job is impossible" "he's going to do what???? - followed by hysterical laughter and FINALLY d) the most honest and observant of the posters "corruption hasn't stop since the coup" - "now instead of paying some provincial guy you drop your brown envelope of at the Regimental head Quarters". "what about previous dodgy military purchases?". Basically I feel that c) and d) will win the day. The chance of controlling the Military where it is a tradition to pay for a commission - pay for a plumb posting (like a border control point or an area containing some of the last remaining hard-wood timber) is one BIG ROUND ZERO. Whose going to do it? Who is going to watch the honesty of the Military? The Military Police? Some new super Department of Military Internal Affairs (I wonder who is going to head that???). Any organisation is only as honest as the guy on the ground - the one at the coal face - and in that case it is the absolute acceptance by the population that picking up some tea money is both fair and normal in Thai culture - This is what is going to win the day.

So there will be no winner in the Generals battle against Corruption - all that will happen is that the great pop song will ring true - "look at the new Boss - same as the old Boss".

In fact the only long-term solution to corruption is to improve civic responsibility and that is achieved by devolving power to communities and building up, over many years, civic society and local organisations that support the process. Local area committees need to watch and oversee the resources allocated to them and monitor their expenditure - unfortunately that takes a Government that trusts it own people to do the right thing and to know what they actually want. And it requires devolved power. The current set up has already decided that they know what the people need and has concentrated Power in the hands of very few. Not a good start as the first real attempt to end corruption.

[BestBitterPhuket]

Now he has said it, and it's on his shoulders to tackle corruption. We have not seen any prosecution of any high level official yet. There should be plenty to chose from and if he is serious about tackling corruption they have to prosecute AND convict several high level officials to set an example. We are waiting..

[HerbalEd]

Yes and Yingluck said much the same thing

You're not seriously comparing the two are you????

[mikehock]

as Lonnie donegan would sing."my dustbins full of corruption" how do you know its full?cause there's no more room inside.

My dustbins full of toadstools

How do you know it's full

Cos there's not mushroom inside

[PhilipCook]

Far be it from me to suggest that China would be a role model for Thailand on any topic except two: tackling corruption and infrastructure development. Take down a few big bad fish(life imprisonment/execution) to scare the rest of society to obey the law and build the best road and rail network with some help from China. One final tip, countrywide property tax rates that pay for schools, fire & police and roads.

[Beetlejuice]

Obviously there are no ways to completely stamp out corruption and that pertains to everywhere in the world.

But it is possible to clamp down on corruption once it raises it`s ugly head and is exposed, at least eradicate the sources of corruption down to, I won`t say acceptable levels because corruption is never acceptable, but to a point where at least the situation becomes controlled to where it is no longer rampant or can reach epidemic proportions.

I believe in General Prayuth Chan-ocha and his ruling junta, because unlike all the previous crap politicians and so-called leaders, these are people who`s actions speak louder than words, they are actually seen to be getting things done and consider that General Prayuth Chan-ocha is the best thing that has happened to Thailand probably for the last one hundred years, a true Thai patriot who really cares about the welfare of the Thai people and hope he and his crew remain in power forever.

[thairastawoman]

555+++

[reverand472]

When the fish begins to stink it begins at the head.

[Robespiere]

Thailand needs to look no further than Indonesia to see how to get their house in order.

Indonesia suffered through years of military dictatorship, crony capitalism and institutional corruption just like Thailand.

But now they are free, under civilian rule with a functioning democracy - all things Thailand is not.

Although corruption continues to be a severe problem in Indonesia, indicators show that Indonesia has greatly improved at curbing corruption over the past decade – more so, in fact, than any other country in all of Asia. Clearly, something remarkable is going on in the country. This paper will focus on the evolution of corruption in the Republic of Indonesia, exploring what factors, including policy indicators, have had the greatest impact in curbing corruption in the country.

The Republic of Indonesia: Between a Gecko and a Crocodile

[paz]

ocha is the best thing that has happened to Thailand probably for the last one hundred years, a true Thai patriot who really cares about the welfare of the Thai people and hope he and his crew remain in power forever.

Forever is a long time, can we agree to "for life" with the right to name his successor? A classic that never go out of fashion.

[gemguy]

That would be nice.....but how does the nation know if the General and his close associates and political allies are not on the take also.

In a dishonest, somewhat rigged system how could anyone rise to the point of ruling a country by way of a coup without being suspect of corruption somewhere along the line and proven as such if the general was allowed to be investigated relative to his history and politically connected military career.

Just saying...if you know what I mean.

[joecoolfrog]

If the General is serious about tackling large scale corruption he will repeal the draconian defamation laws and encourage a free and investigative press. If this does not happen then all we are hearing are empty promises.

[mikemac]

When is the General going to force the police to do their job and clamp down on unlicenced drivers and motorcyclists. Or would that be considered unfair ?

When is the General going to do this, when is the General going to do that, bla bla bla. Is tomorrow ok for you ??? what is it with you people ?? Yingluck had 3 years and did NOWT. Save your comments and see what happens, or are you just the pushy pushy type.

Wait for it ginjag, wait for it.................................................. ( Yingluck did nothing for 3 years that had anything to do with running the country, except for racking up a record number of overseas shopping trips at the taxpayers expense. You cannot really hold her responsible for any of the scams schemes or projects that went on during that hectic 3 years because the poor thing probably knew nothing about them, nothing to do with dresses, shoes or handbags ).................................but ! ........................................AT LEAST SHE AND HER PARTY WERE DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I doubt if the General or anyone for that matter, even Chuck Norris, has a snowball's chance in hell of eradicating corruption in Thailand, but at least he will piss off a few Shins in the process of trying !

[scorecard]

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thairowe, on 30 Aug 2014 - 21:24, said:

Corruption has gottin worse under the Junta, not better. It is all threw the government.

As already said, what's your evidence?

Edited August 31, 2014 by scorecard