Excellent Analysis from Chang Noi.

[Guest]

Do you seriously think a new government will make any difference?

Thank you.

 

I do think better policies - and this includes laws - could make a difference. For example, if Thai law was changed so that estabalishing a conflict of interest was sufficient to disqualify a bidder, it would make it much easier to attack some of the practices of the current government. In other words, the government cannot award lucrative contracts to a PM's sister - full stop. No debate about whether she is better qualified than the other bidders; it simply isn't allowed.

 

One more example, and this one may seem a bit counterintuitive, but abolish virtually all laws the prohibit foreign ownership of businesses in Thailand. Connected lending and connected transactions thrive in closed economies. They don't do so well when they have to compete in the international arena.

 

Now back to your question: do I seriously think a new government will make any difference? Yes. Maybe not the Democrats - who are increasingly thumping the nationalist drum - but a new government could make a difference.

 

And I will take it step further. I have been critical of the current government from day one here. And yet, I do think that Thailand is better off and less corrupt now than it was when I came here over ten years ago despite the current government. As long as Thailand continues to integrate into the global economy (and there are no signs that will stop), things will improve. As much as a I may seem to gripe about things here, I am ultimately an optomist.

 

To some extent it is like the economy. Governments have less control over the economy than they like to pretend. But since they get blamed when things go bad, they like to credit when things go well. (I guess that is fair.) As long as Thailand continues to globalize, things should get better.

[Nervous_Dog]

<<the government cannot award lucrative contracts to a PM's sister - full stop.>>

 

Agree with everything else, but this one, Thaksin's wifes family are very rich, and LOOONG before he was around. To do this would disqualify two of the leading families in THailand, now while that might make sence sometimes, it wouldn;t always.

 

DIG

[Guest]

Agree with everything else, but this one, Thaksin's wifes family are very rich, and LOOONG before he was around.

Yeah, but not as car park contractors...until the new airport needed a parking structure.

 

I am confident that if you excluded family run businesses of government officials from government contracts you'd find someone competent to do the job. Indeed, the job is much more likely to get done competently at a reasonable price.

[chuckwoww]

 

I am confident that if you excluded family run businesses of government officials from government contracts you'd find someone competent to do the job. Indeed, the job is much more likely to get done competently at a reasonable price.

 

The trick will be establishing a fair impartial non-partisan body to hand out the contracts. Good luck with that. It doesn't work in the US and I doubt if it will work in Thailand.

 

But it's good that you are optimistic.....somebody has to be.

[Old Hippie]

If nothing else, at least these people are upfront and open/honest about their corruption.

[chuckwoww]

Old Hippie said:

If nothing else, at least these people are upfront and open/honest about their corruption.

 

Right. I'm not sure they even define corruption the same way we do. Basically they just accept that some have connections, some don't. Lately of course they've been getting their noses rubbed in it....I'm sure most of them think righteous Westerners should put their own house in order before lecturing to other cultures.

[Guest]

The trick will be establishing a fair impartial non-partisan body to hand out the contracts. Good luck with that. It doesn't work in the US and I doubt if it will work in Thailand.

 

But it's good that you are optimistic.....somebody has to be.

You start with rules that prevent officials from awarding lucrative contracts to connected parties.

 

It does happen in the US, but nearly as much as here, and people often go to jail in the US when it is discovered.

 

I also think my optimism is justified. The US is certainly not pristine, but it is much cleaner than it was in, say, the 1920s. I pick that time period because that is my non-scientific, wholly subjective assessment (without any adjustment for cultural factors) of where we are here in Thailand on the corruption issue.

[Guest]

not sure they even define corruption the same way we do. Basically they just accept that some have connections, some don't. Lately of course they've been getting their noses rubbed in it....I'm sure most of them think righteous Westerners should put their own house in order before lecturing to other cultures.

Most middle class Thais I know would consider the current the current level of corruption totally unacceptable. It is not a West vs. East issue. ABAC did a poll, and corruption was the major complaint.

 

It is the Thai press that is now making a big issue out of this. If this makes The Economist and New York Times, it will do so because of complaints by fed up Thais.

[chuckwoww]

Yes the US is much cleaner than it was in the days of Al Capone. Nowadays guns are for gangstas and crackheads. The real crooks use lobbyists, law courts and doublethink to get what they want. Or change a few electoral boundaries. And vote rigging is a thing of the past. Now vote counting is computerized and efficient. ::

 

Don't look for guys like Frist and Delay to go to jail any time soon. Abramoff might get a rap on the knuckles.

 

And I'm sure many middle class Thais are upset about corruption. They want to be Hi-So but they don't have good enough connections. All they can do is drive their credit cards around in their Toyotas from one shopping plaza to another and hope their children marry up.

 

This is the point where you remind me that incompetent people buy their way through university and land jobs they aren't qualified for. No it's not fair. But the others are free to become anonymous journalists. If they keep complaining maybe they will eventually get better places in the trough.

[Khun_Kong]

... The trick will be establishing a fair impartial non-partisan body to hand out the contracts. Good luck with that. It doesn't work in the US and I doubt if it will work in Thailand.

 

 

Robert DeNiro on Iraq and New Orleans:

 

"You talking 'bout Halliburton? You talking 'bout Halliburton? You talking 'bout Halliburton? Then who the hell else are you talking 'bout? You talking 'bout Halliburton? Well, they're the only one there."