The Rot That is Corruption in Thailand's Own Backyard by Phairath Khampha 19 December 2002 Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra might be serious about tackling corruption but he does not seem to be doing enough, particularly when it concerns his own party and his own family. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra made himself clear days after he swept to power that corruption would not be tolerated. He drove home the point with a pledge to take action against wrongdoers--without waiting for any proof. His remarks came back to haunt him. The very corruption the premier had vowed to stamp out was in his own backyard. As of the middle of December 2002 at least three Thai Rak Thai party MPs had so far been implicated in corruption scandals in the previous few months. Chucheep Harnsawat lost his cabinet portfolio before the fake compost scam was exposed. Vittaya Thienthong, brother of Thai Rak Thai strongman Sanoh Thienthong, resigned as secretary to the agriculture minister following exposure of the fake compost scandal. Chuwit Pitakpornpallop stepped down as secretary to the natural resources and environment minister, in the wake of the cattle distribution scam. Public sentiment notwithstanding, none of the three had faced any action from the party as yet. In fact, the prime minister might have gained credit for the exposure of a series of corruption scandals as a result of the government's following up on graft complaints. "Those corruption scandals have been made known to the public thanks to the government. The premier ordered probes into the fake compost and cattle distribution scams, and the rice and lamyai price support schemes. He has always made it clear that it is unacceptable if anyone steals from the poor and the children," said Deputy Prime Minister Prommin Lertsuridej. Mr Chucheep's removal from the agriculture minister post is the government's "strong signal" that it is time to clean up. The next step would have been to encourage government agencies responsible for combatting graft to work more effectively in both preventing and suppressing corruption. Dr Prommin was confident the existing mechanisms are good enough to effectively tackle corruption. A close aide to the prime minister agreed with these remarks. However, no one seemed to be serious in actually doing anything about it except where it could be used for political back-stabbing. Mr Thaksin was serious about tackling corruption, considering the fact he asked the cabinet in March 2001 to appoint a committee to work in support of the National Counter Corruption Commission. A few months later, cabinet was also asked to set up a national-level committee to lay down anti-graft policy and evaluate its implementation. "These reflect that the prime minister wants the government to have its own tools to deal with corruption and support the NCCC," the aide said. Yet, the premier's close aide noted that the mechanisms had instead been centralised. This is where the government went wrong. "There are adequate mechanisms to deal with corruption, but the government has stopped short of laying down a system for those mechanisms to work properly." Another lesson learned was that the Thai Rak Thai itself also lacked a system to deal with party MPs who were involved in corruption scams. The prime minister gained stronger self-confidence and neglected to set up a system. And the government was criticised as lacking in political will. But Suranant Vejjajiva, Thai Rak Thai party spokesman, said there were party rules against MPs involved in corruption. The most serious punishment would expulsion from the party. Mr Chuwit was Thai Rak Thai's first MP to face the axe according to the rules, but the question remained over how the party should proceed. Mr Suranant, however, concedes that there were no guidelines to follow when this happens. "The only thing those MPs can do is to resign from their political posts to show responsibility." And none do. Phumtham Vejjayachai, the party's deputy secretary-general, was assigned to take charge of Mr Chuwit's case before the party would work to lay down guidelines to be followed in future. However, critics quickly noted that this was just a classic move to buy time. It remained unknown when Mr Thaksin would call a meeting of 96 party executives--and soon enough this would be forgotten and, as usual, swept under the carpet and overshadowed by a new scam. "It is just a mere attempt to counter pressure from the public," says one critic. After all, the main obstacle to wiping out corruption was the usual lack of political will--as pointed out by Uthis Khaothien, an adviser on policies and plans at the National Economic and Social Development Board, in his recent study proposed to the NCCC. The academic said corruption in Thailand was deep-rooted in the bureaucratic system and in the culture of society, which also favours nepotism and puts personal gains before national interests. It had nothing to do with poverty or people's salaries being too low. In Thai culture people inherently are corrupt and dishonest and see nothing wrong with stealing, as long as one is not caught. In the fake compost scam, the cattle distribution scam and the rice and lamyai price support schemes, the key players were politicians and government officials. A group of academics led by Somkiat Pongpaiboon of Rajabhat Institute Nakhon Ratchasima Campus, and Duenden Nikhomborirak of Thailand Development and Research Institute, noted that policy-oriented corruption was widespread and could be committed without breaking any laws. Legal loopholes purposely made by the same corrupt politicians allow politicians to exploit state budgets and regulations for personal gain while the anti-corruption system was flawed. Although politicians are banned from holding shares and required to be free from conflicts of interest, their families and relatives are not. And although politicians are required to declare their wealth when taking and leaving cabinet posts, the law fails to scrutinise acquisitions and transactions of assets once they are in office. As corruption in Thailand has become a more complicated matter, one man alone cannot solve the problem.