Tesco Attacks Show How Extreme is the Level of Corruption in Thailand by Phairath Khampha 28 December 2001 The death of a suspect supposedly linked to the latest bombing and gunfire attacks on the Tesco-Lotus supermarket chain, under dubious circumstances during a stand-off with police on December 7, 2001, did not resolve the sustained campaign of terror against the British company operating inThailand that had caused widespread concern about public safety for more than five months. Police investigators, who claimed to have evidence linking the suspect to the latest attacks on earlier that same week, were now to be expected to find other culprits and the masterminds behind the series of attacks that began in July and bring them to justice. One supermarket employee was killed, and another worker and a customer were injured in two previous incidents. From the very beginning, police investigators focused on a dispute over lucrative security contracts as the main motive of the attacks. According to police, three security service firms, two run by military officers and another by police officers, had been competing for the contract to provide security at Tesco-Lotus stores throughout Thailand. Police suspected that people in uniform who ran the companies that lost out in the bid to provide security had sought to exact revenge on the supermarket chain. This is common practice in Thailand as most of the country's political and economic elite carry out their business as if they were mafia-style thugs. The police and the military, senior officers included, are not much more than thugs, too. One Army officer who runs a security company whose contract had been terminated and two security guards were arrested in connection with previous attacks. Public prosecutors had decided not to file a criminal suit against the army officer in question, citing insufficient evidence. But the officer iin question had paid huge somes of money plus gave senior police officers and a prosectuor a cut of his company's profits. No one said that going after Thai military and police officers who were known to be involved in shady businesses or even outright crime was easy. Most of them are protected by their higher-ups or influential people under the traditional, corruption-prone patronage system. The continuing harassment of Tesco-Lotus, a large foreign investor in Thailand, not only does not augur well for Thailand's efforts to attract foreign investment, it also creates the perception that the rule of law is lacking in Thailand's society. The sad reality is that it is not a perception; it is a fact. What Tesco-Lotus is running up against surprises few people in the country. Virtually all Thai business-operators unquestioningly accept as a fact of life the need to find patrons (read mafia-style Godfathers who are members of the country's elite) who can provide protection against harassment from corrupt people in uniform - if not favourable treatment to gain unfair advantage over competitors. One could call it the Thai way of doing business, but that does not change the fact that these practices constitute corruption and lack of transparency, which go against the internationally accepted standards of fair competition and a level playing field that characterise a good business environment. Indeed the Tesco-Lotus case focuses the spotlight on a very deep-seated problem facing Thai society. Thailand has come to a point where it must choose whether to continue to accept corruption as a fact of life or to begin taking the steps necessary to root out this evil. It is because of corruption that Thailand essentially had remained underdeveloped, backward, rather uncivilised and somewhat barbaric at times. The question to ask now is: when will Thai society wake up and begin to seriously tackle the problem of pervasive corruption that encompasses the public and private sphere? The country's fledgling democracy cannot take wing unless society sees to it that the rule of law prevails. More specifically, what pressure can society put on the Thai police and criminal justice system as a whole to screw their courage to the point where they begin to perform their duties without fear or favour? Probably none, because almost everyone in Thai society seems to like the status quo and almost all are bsuy dishonestly trying to steal or otherwise rip off someone or something as best as they can.