Guest Posted December 31, 2015 Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 " Stopped by police many times. 2 red notes always does the trick. Given the choice between a receipted fine or a quick fix (bribe)." In my eyes the person giving a bribe is as bad as the person receiving it, don't you undestand it is your actions and boasting about it on forums that encourage others to do the same ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My Penis is hungry Posted December 31, 2015 Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 Depends on the level of corruption, thailand i so corrupt the cost of a bribe is tiny. Speeding, 100 baht, 3$us, in Indonesia, the cop wants $15-25us, as the risk of persecution and being caught is so higj. Hence in Indo, people pay the fine, not the bribe most often. My wife wanted to pay the fine for an offence once, 3hours later . . . . . When was the last time a cop xharged with accepting a fine for a speeding ticket???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted December 31, 2015 Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 Bribery and corruption is a way of life in Thailand. When other countries were still developing, it was also bribery and corruption. Malaysia has gotten better, as far as the corruption. I have very limited dealings with Malay police, but every time, bribery was never mentioned or hinted at. The Malay people I know living in Malaysia respect the Malay police. How many Thai people respect the Thai police...I have never seen any! All the Thais I know look down on the Thai police because of the bribery and corruption. It will take time, but Thailand will move on just as the USA did and get away from bribery and corruption. I would never even consider offering a bribe to any US police person. It is just not done, not the same as what we see in Thailand. In the USA, we were brought up to respect the police and we knew that if we needed help, the police would provide the help. As of today, I see no Thai person reflecting this upbringing, but I think it will change, give it time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 31, 2015 Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 Let us all hope more is done to enforce the law properly, as the law stands offering a bribe to the police or any official, can end up in five years imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 baht or both .. The best way to stop bribery of police is to increase their salary, giving them more self respect in society. The salary is far too low, and has to be increased in some way. How this will be paid for is another matter. Also any attempts at bribery giving or receiving ends up in a jail ... Fines of 2,500 baht for drink driving whoever they are, and bribes of two hundred baht, as I note some board members might pay are totally unexceptable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My Penis is hungry Posted December 31, 2015 Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 <<The best way to stop bribery of police is to increase their salary, >> Here we agree, but as is common in chnese dominated socities, ain't going to happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My Penis is hungry Posted December 31, 2015 Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 Dupe post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted December 31, 2015 Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 Hi, "In my eyes the person giving a bribe is as bad as the person receiving it" While I agree in principle, it isn't always that easy. Take for instance the garbage collector's at my house. They want 20 Baht/month in bribes. I could of course refuse to give this, but the result of that will be that they will not pick up my garbage. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radioman Posted December 31, 2015 Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 Let us all hope more is done to enforce the law properly, as the law stands offering a bribe to the police or any official, can end up in five years imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 baht or both .. The best way to stop bribery of police is to increase their salary, giving them more self respect in society. The salary is far too low, and has to be increased in some way. How this will be paid for is another matter. Also any attempts at bribery giving or receiving ends up in a jail ... Fines of 2,500 baht for drink driving whoever they are, and bribes of two hundred baht, as I note some board members might pay are totally unexceptable. You make some very valid points here, though I think it's drifted somewhat from where your original post seemed to focus. I'll leave that. In the first point you highlight the penalty for being caught offering a bribe. Since in reality it is usually the official who initiates this process under the guise of a fine or tax the likelihood of it ending in any sort of legal action, excepting cases of entrapment, is extremely low. Winning the lottery might be better odds. As to the second point, yes, I and probably a lot of others could not agree more. Set minimum educational and training standards that make sure most policeman are both knowledgeable and competent about their jobs and imbued with a natural sense of honesty. Multiply their pay by 5 and reduce their numbers by the same amount. Give them the tools to do their job and they surely will. Thai people are no less capable than others. As to the third point, a little blurred to my thinking. The 2,500 was likely a bribe. As would have been the 20,000. I don't know what the "real" fine and/or other penalties apply for drink driving. The 200 was for likely unrelated non-offences, it's just 'go-away' money. As to why people are paying bribes, or feel inclined to do so. It seems not hard to conjure up the scenario involved. Lets take an example. Stopped by police the officer offers two alternatives. Ignoring that we immediately have a bad situation going down based on being offered a choice we need to understand what the choices are. Well says the cop you can pay the spot "fine" aka bribe, of 200 Baht or go to the police station and pay the real fine. Police station is some 8km away deep in the city, which means traversing the massive congestion to then sit and wait for hours for the license to be 'processed' and the fine paperwork completed. The end result can be an entire day lost for what might not even have been a real improper act. The alternative involves arguing your case with the officers on scene however your outrage at being stopped for what you might presume as a non-offence should perhaps be tempered by the the knowledge that starting an argument with a group of policemen is not generally a good idea. Since all parties generally know the "options" it's not hard to see which route the human condition will generally drive most people along. This lose lose situation is what helps maintain the state of low level corruption that in turn feeds the higher level disinterest. Until such time as the average policeman's earning ability only makes a bribe of many many times the real fine worthy of consideration this situation is not likely to change much. I'd suggest that if a fine is set at 1000 Baht the break point for a bribe needs to be at least 10,000 Baht. Now how much does a policeman need to earn for a single bribe of less than 10,000 Baht to be not worth it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 31, 2015 Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 " Take for instance the garbage collector's at my house. They want 20 Baht/month in bribes. " What is your yearly bill for garbage collection ? The garabage men call and collect from me 120 baht a year for collection. Are you saying you pay a charge and then a further 20 baht a month on top as a bribe ? Or are you saying you expect the service to be free, and regard the 20 baht a month as a bribe . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 31, 2015 Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 " I don't know what the "real" fine and/or other penalties apply for drink driving." The penalty for having more than 50 mg/dl can be up to three months in jail or a fine of not more than 60,000 baht, or both a fine and jail. 2,500 baht was rediculously low, you think 20,000 baht too high I think very reasonable ? Try 40,000 to 60,000 baht nearer the mark. I think most supporters of upholding the law on drunks driving, which can kill innocent people would agree that fines in this region, should be applied without exeception, along with confiscation of licence. Had I been the police the drunk driver (which happend to be farang) but anyone with only 2,500 would have been jailed for three months Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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