Prayut's 'war on corruption' will kick off soon

[dereklev]

He should start at village level with all the corrupt, unelected Poo Yai Bahn!!

[TechnikaIII]

If it were to be a capital offence, as it can be in China, there would be nowhere to dispose of all the bodies. Hmmm.. Alternatively .. YES !! A transplant hospital to rival the body parts business in China!!

The money that fat Americans will cough up for kidneys, hearts, lungs, whatever ... wow ! And every second public official a donor. ... What a killing they could make! (Sorry)

[diehard60]

Thai talk is cheap. Let's see some actual busts of Tai big men, Thai bankers, and Thai business cronies. Let's see them cuffed, charged, indicted and arraigned and tried. Steep jail time handed out for those found guilty.

Dream on my friend.

[English 1]

All these Bar Room Lawyers on here do nothing but pick holes and make snide remarks and think they know all the answers.

They don't of course.

The task the good General now PM has set himself is immense.

He has done wonders in a year and long may he continue.

All the Thai I speak to are 100% for him and I include many who used to support the Red Shirts.

[BigBadGeordie]

If it were to be a capital offence, as it can be in China, there would be nowhere to dispose of all the bodies. Hmmm.. Alternatively .. YES !! A transplant hospital to rival the body parts business in China!!

The money that fat Americans will cough up for kidneys, hearts, lungs, whatever ... wow ! And every second public official a donor. ... What a killing they could make! (Sorry)

And if they ever perfect brain transplants the demand would be huge!

Imagine being able to access a completly"new, unused, fresh out of the box organ!"

[arthurboy]

Since being in power, the junta has made a lot of noise about the war on corruption, which, of course, has given plenty of people time and opportunity to 'negotiate' their corrupt businesses with new masters and alliances, move their 'assets' elsewhere, cover their tracks more completely or all three.

Deals have been done and will continue to be done. simply because there is far too much money to be made for the military, police, authorities, civil servants, businesses etc.

Whatever the case, the trough has been and continues to be repositioned.

[Emster23]

I always love that excuse offered "X married a rich wife". Yes, but why would she marry him? Expectation of his future "earnings" in his government role... and I doubt if because he is such a good lover. This isn't "Hangover Part 2: Bangkok's got him".

"Nobody here but us chickens...."

[Always18]

I wonder if he will look at the army, or will it just be a selective war on corruption.

Hmmm....................now that's a tricky one............

[Laughing Gravy]

Thanks for making me laugh and smile with this article. There is nothing like a comedy script to read in the morning.

Now I have picked myself off the floor and massaged my aching stomach from laughter, I will now comment.

Is this guy for real? Do people really believe this? I guess more than 90 percent of people do

As it has been suggested look thyself first, start from the top and work down. as for this happening

[bangkokheat]

i must have been sleeping, did i miss something

[skildpadden]

"Guys, after a year in power, we are almost finished solving the biggest problem: the price on lottery. Since it is been a while with one of them popular crackdowns, we will soon announce a specific date where we will crackdown on corruption, so you better start hiding your money or moving your assets to a safe place".

[Tatsujin]

Someone needs to look in the mirror and start there first of all, as it's amazing how wealthy Government Officials, Military and Police can get considering their "actual" salaries. Seems like a lot of them married wealthy women.

[Lovekorat]

So how many sitting round the table will be there on Tuesday?

[727Sky]

Very few things can destroy the foundations of a civilization as thoroughly as systemic corruption. Immigration money taken to get stuff done under the table all the way to the cop's bank account you have to mail your tea money to every month to avoid domestic entanglements...

Where would one start... Police would be a good first step but the policies/actions are way to entrenched IMO.. Good luck in his endeavors is all I can say. Wish bones are not back bones but to tackle some of this stuff will require both.

[joemisko36]

Go General, give him a break. You cant fix things that have been neglected for a long time in just 1 year.

[h90]

Will there be a background check on people like K. Suthep?

You can be sure the previous government checked just everything to find something at Suthep. But other than the 1995 land case which is clearly clean they didn't find anything.

There are some bigger investigations in Nakhon Si Thammerat at the moment....

[Godders]

. . . the main committee had decided to provide three courses on "grow up and not corrupt" to teachers under the jurisdiction of the Education Ministry and local administrations in June, July and August.

Do they mean the teachers are going to be given courses on how not to corrupt their pupils, which one way of reading of this execrable English, or that the pupils will be taught how to grow up without being corrupt themselves and/or corrupting others?

With Thai government investing around a quarter of total expenditure to little obvious effect in terms of the generally low level of academic achievement by Thai schoolchildren, the first place I'd be inclined to look for corruption and cronyism is the bloated education ministry and local administrations.

[Bellacissa]

"Juree Vichit-vadakarn, chairman of the NAC's subcommittee on conscience and awareness building, said the main committee had decided to provide three courses on "grow up and not corrupt" to teachers under the jurisdiction of the Education Ministry and local administrations in June, July and August."

Dear Chairman,

I would like to offer my expertise in advertising and marketing to help you with the naming of new initiatives - this one needs some help. All it will cost you is a Non-B, a work permit and some 80 baht lottery tickets.

Respectfully yours,
Bellacissa

[sweatalot]

So whats been happening over the past 12 months... Oh planning the war.

Sent from my c64

I guess corruption is so deeply routed in this country that it was better to prepare a good strategy and wait until this government had enough time to survey and get their position strong enough because heavy resistance has to be expected.

I wish the general good luck and success.

Did any other government before take any real step against corruption? What did the shin gang governments do against corruption?

[Praematura]

Topic says it all "his governments claimed commitment," don't really need to read more as it's been a year.

[ttthailand]

Every step forward is just that, a step forward. This country is so broken and corrupt that anyone who takes on the challenge to clean it up has a huge job on their hands. At least he is making an effort unlike ALL the others before him. I see him on TV talking about corruption and many other issues and have to think that people are listening and those corrupt officials have to be taking notice. It is impossible to put everyone who has been involved in corruption in jail but you can change their behavior which I think he is starting to do. I hope he is fair and acts against red and yellow and everyone else equally.

If he can really pull this off in the next year or two and restore elections and freedom he will be remembered in history as a great leader. I wish him luck !

[DM07]

Okay...I am getting old and my memory may fail me, but...didn't we all assume, he was already on it?

Or better: wasn't that, what all the junta- huggers told us?

[empireboy]

Not that I'm pro forced military rule but it appears to me this guy has done more practical good for the people in a year than (elected) others have done for anyone but their cronies in a decade...

[Traveling Sailor]

Big smoke no fire

And mirrors.

[heybruce]

Last year wifey overhead a middle-aged lady actually boasting how her policeman husband's promotion cost 10 million baht. The words were couched as a complaint of the expense, but were really to show that they had the dosh....a boast.

They pay the bribe, get the promotion, and the return is a bigger cut of the bribes further down the hierarchy....all the way down to the street cop.

With hundreds, if not thousands, of ranking policemen having their investments threatened, things may get ugly...there's hundreds of millions of baht that need to be repaid.

Do you have the balls, Sir, to fight the war to the bitter end? I hope so.

Since the military system works in much the same way, and since he rose to the top in this system....

Edited May 28, 2015 by heybruce

[Balance]

Maybe good news at last on the corruption front but it has to be done across the board.

Not just the top tier like the government officials but with the lower ranks such as the police and school teachers.

Heard one such case only last week. My wife has neices and nephews who are aged between 6 and 8 who go to the local village school.

The pupils are 'encouraged to save money' with their teachers, normally about 5B a day.

The neice came home the other day asking for my wife to now keep any money she saves as she does not want to give to the teacher.

This action was sparked when the nephew was told he had accumaleted savings with the teacher of 400B but he could not have it back as the teacher had no money to give him.

Some of the children were given back the money they saved by some teachers, but other teachers would not give back at all.

5B a day for 30 children in a class is a lot of extra cash to top up one's wages.

The parent's however are afraid to go and see the teacher or tell their children not to give the teacher money as they fear the children will be victimised by the teacher.

This is the sort of corruption that should be stamped on before the children except this as a way of life, and do similar when they grow up.

Reading this prompted the following non Thainess idea:

In the short term maybe the Thai teachers should be replaced with Farang teachers in the first grade. The kids could be taught English when they are young and the classes could therefore be taught in English.

[mathias67]

a war on corruption, across the board or with certain notable exceptions ?

When you hear of corrupt immigration officers and ranking police only being transferred and not sacked or taken to court then the corruption will continue. Use the full power of the law and put the corrupt in prison and NOT just move them around

[AlQaholic]

Start from the bottom and work your way up to a certain level......Then its time for election so face saved......

[crazykopite]

I get it it has taken 12 months of planning or would it be hiding all my money before we start the war !

[Traveling Sailor]

So whats been happening over the past 12 months... Oh planning the war.

Sent from my c64

I guess corruption is so deeply routed in this country that it was better to prepare a good strategy and wait until this government had enough time to survey and get their position strong enough because heavy resistance has to be expected.

I wish the general good luck and success.

Did any other government before take any real step against corruption? What did the shin gang governments do against corruption?

They refined the art.