Thai Graft Buster Laments Losing Battle With Corruption Culture

[cavanami]

...and on and on it goes...

 

Thai Graft Buster Laments Losing Battle With Corruption Culture

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-01/thai-graft-buster-laments-losing-battle-with-corruption-culture

 

Thailand is awash in corruption and the battle against it will be lost unless there is a fundamental shift in Thai politics and culture, an anti-graft official said.

 

“Everywhere in Thailand there are conflicts of interest,†said Vicha Mahakun, a commissioner with the National Anti-Corruption Commission. “Every business, every government office, everywhere.â€

 

At the heart of the issue is the political patronage system in which campaigning politicians spend money and make promises in exchange for votes and then raid state coffers once in office, Vicha said in an interview in Nonthaburi province near Bangkok on March 30...

 

“Almost every military coup since 1957 has seen military juntas accuse civilian politicians of corruption, and they have justified military intervention by this claim,†said Kevin Hewison, director of the Asia Research Centre at Murdoch University in Perth. “At the same time, every time a military regime has been ousted, massive corruption and unusual wealth has been discovered among the military leaders.â€..

[Coss]

Who would a thunk?

[Guest]

Almost everyone agrees that there are considerable problems, but I hope oneday time and pressure, however long it takes, will work in the end.

 

This road to perfection is going to take a long time, many other countries including Thailand have problems with corruption .... We should be looking to countries where there is zero corruption, to see how it might be applied here ..

[cavanami]

What country has zero corruption? Me thunks, no country.

 

We are people and people are not perfect. Some countries are better then others

 

If Thailand *** really *** wants to end corruption, it will first take a huge commitment to education. All the Thais need

improved education...then it will take several generations...all the time it will also take a Thai government staffed with

hundreds and thousands of hard working, honest, non-corrupt people.

 

This this will ever be possible?

 

For sure, not in my lifetime, even if I live to be 200 years old, IMO.

[Guest]

Not in my lifetime a perfect world, and it will never be. I do agree with you the country has it's share of difficult problems to overcome. But everthing succumbes to time and pressure, a quote I remember from the film Shawshank Redemption, but I think true, just time and some at least of the problems will be overcome ..........

 

Another alternative, might be to make a better job of hiding corruption as other countries do ...... meant to be a joke to the less sanook board members.

[Coss]

Almost everyone agrees that there are considerable problems, but I hope oneday time and pressure, however long it takes, will work in the end.

 

This road to perfection is going to take a long time, many other countries including Thailand have problems with corruption .... We should be looking to countries where there is zero corruption, to see how it might be applied here ..

 

Then I hope you'll accept, the yapping at Thailand's heels, of nippy little dogs, from countries like NZ.

 

What country has zero corruption? Me thunks, no country.

 

.....

 

For sure, not in my lifetime, even if I live to be 200 years old, IMO.

 

NZ and Denmark. In NZ I would struggle to find even an isolated instance of corruption. There is crime, but no corruption that you can see. The only corrupt processes we find are favours and even they are rare.

[Coss]

Actually, as an example of possible corruption in NZ, read this, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11427447

 

Not so much evidence of corruption, as it's all relatively legal, the arguments are over who gets the profit, maybe there are wrong doers, but they would have done wrong, according to accepted legal processes...

[cavanami]

Not in my lifetime a perfect world, and it will never be. I do agree with you the country has it's share of difficult problems to overcome. But everthing succumbes to time and pressure, a quote I remember from the film Shawshank Redemption, but I think true, just time and some at least of the problems will be overcome ..........

 

Another alternative, might be to make a better job of hiding corruption as other countries do ...... meant to be a joke to the less sanook board members.

 

In the USA, the corruption is called, "lobbyists" and "campaign contributions" and the USA is loaded with this!

[cavanami]

Present day example of corruption in the USA...

 

Potential hurdles await prosecutors in Menendez case

 

http://news.yahoo.com/jersey-sen-menendez-vows-fight-corruption-charges-051636221--politics.html

 

The federal indictment against New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez turns in part on prosecutors' ability to show that the lavish gifts and political favors at the center of the case amount to outright bribery rather than reflections of a decades-long friendship between the lawmaker and the donor...