A man enters the bank and asks to see the manager in private. He’s ordinary looking and sloppily dressed. At a glance you would guess he’s a market vendor. He places a department store shopping bag on the manager’s desk and asks to make a deposit. The bag contains several million baht in used notes. The manager accepts. But deep down he is uneasy that his respectable bank is part of the black economy.

This scene is played out every day in Thailand’s banks, financial companies, stock brokers and real estate dealers. Turning black money into clean assets is that simple.

Several decades ago, authorities in Europe and the US studied why really big criminal enterprises are difficult to suppress. They are sophisticated enough to evade the police, or rich enough to buy them. Conventional police tactics don’t work. But everyone today needs to use the modern financial system as part of day-to-day life. Imagine trying to survive without a cheque book, credit card, money transfer, ATM. Authorities decided to target the point where criminals attempted to convert black earnings into legitimate cash, where money is ‘laundered’.

Since the 1970s, many western countries have passed anti-money-laundering laws. Mostly these force companies and individuals to explain where any large sum of money comes from before it can be deposited in the modern financial system. Banks and other deposit-takers must ask their customers for documentary proof, and inform the authorities if they think there is any ground for suspicion.

Over the last decade, the US has tried to use the same anti-money-laundering strategy to combat the massive international drugs trade. It has pressured other countries, particularly those which play a role in the international drugs trade, to pass anti-money-laundering laws. Thailand was singled out as a prime candidate.

With or without this US pressure, Thailand has good internal reasons for looking at the anti-money-laundering strategy as a form of crime suppression.

Thailand has a huge illegal economy. Black money has a distorting effect on business, and a damaging effect on politics. Honest businessmen often find themselves at a disadvantage. Good politicians have to compete against "money politics". Criminal entrepreneurs find it relatively easy to neutralise the police by a mixture of cash and guile. Moreover, because of all these factors, Thailand has become an international centre for many criminal activities. It used to be big in drugs and arms. Now it is a major transit centre for the modern slave trade in illegal labour.

The proposal for an anti-money-laundering law has been around for about 5 years. Now it is close to the point where it will come up to parliament. But what chance does it have?

Of course the bill is controversial. If it wasn’t, one would be very suspicious. But what are the arguments against it?

Objection 1: Thailand already has good enough laws against criminal businesses and especially against drug running. Thailand already has a law which permits the authorities to freeze the assets of suspected drug-traders while on trial, and to confiscate them if they cannot be explained. But this law only applies to those on trial. The point of the money-laundering law is that it creates a mechanism (the scrutiny of deposits) which may help to catch criminals, or at least deter them.

Objection 2: the money-laundering law will be open to abuse; it will allow the authorities to victimise people. This is the same as saying: we cannot be sure of justice here because our police and judiciary are no good. It could be used as an argument against having any law at all. It points to the need to do something about the police and judiciary. It is not an argument against having a money-laundering law.

Objection 3: it will obstruct Thailand’s ambitions to become a regional and international financial centre. But surely we want to be a financial centre like Switzerland and Hong Kong, not like the Cayman Islands. Both Switzerland and Hong Kong have money-laundering laws which are stricter and more wide-ranging than the Thailand proposal. Thailand will need a proper money-laundering law to qualify as a respectable financial centre.

Objection 4: the Thailand draft only covers illegal profits from drug-trading, but drugs are only a minor part of Thailand’s black economy. No matter. Even a limited law is a good start. It is the mechanism which is important. Imagine our friend depositing his bag of used notes at the bank. Under scrutiny will he reply: "It’s alright. The money does not come from drug-trading. I earned it sending a thousand Thai prostitutes to Nagoya. Here’s the receipt."

But is this government really serious about passing this law? There are reasons for doubt. The US has been the driving force behind the legislation. The Chuan government started the parliamentary process. The Banharn government has been two-minded. It has sent the bill back for rewriting. The draft is now being batted around committees. Important people emerge to issue words of caution about passing such a bill in a hurry.

After all, how many members of this coalition have ever gone to a bank to deposit a bag of money which they would rather not have to explain to the authorities?

Banharn is using this bill as a prop in his ringmaster role in the coalition. He waves it around like a whip whenever some of the party lions with murky pasts come growling too close to the ringmaster’s chair. But like a whip, it is much more effective as a threat than as real punishment. If he really used it, the lions might turn on him, or run away. Where would the ringmaster be without the lions? In short, why should Banharn pass a bill which is likely too make business more difficult for many of his close supporters?

But we need the money-laundering bill. It won’t stop drug-running. It will at the least discourage the development of Thailand as a centre of international crime and money-laundering because other places will be more convenient. It may trip up some of those who now boast that they do "nothing illegal" because existing laws are so easy to evade. It will start the process of installing ways to limit the illegal economy. It will begin to level the playing field for honest businessmen. It will provide one way to lessen the rot of "money politics".

Chang Noi says: keep the pressure on Banharn to pass the anti-money-laundering bill.