Relationship breeds corruption

For two consecutive years, Thailand has earned a dubious distinction from two international organisations in charge of monitoring corruption in Asia and around the world.

In a poll released last Tuesday by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (Perc), the Philippines was named as the most corrupt Asian economy, followed by Thailand. The Philippines scored 9.0 out of a possible 10 points under a grading system used by Perc in which zero is the best score and 10 the worst. Thailand obtained a score of 8.0 after the military, which staged a coup in 2006, was seen to have failed to tackle the problem.

"The kingdom's economy has been marking time for two years while it sorts out political problems in which allegations of corruption figure prominently," said Perc.

The organisation polled 1,400 expatriates in January and February in 13 countries in Asia. Excluded were some notorious for corruption, such as Burma and Bangladesh. Singapore and Hong Kong retained their rankings as the cleanest economies, with scores of 1.13 and 1.80, respectively, followed by Japan (2.25), Macau (3.30), South Korea (5.65), Malaysia (6.37), Taiwan (6.55), India (7.25), Vietnam (7.75), China (7.98) and Indonesia (7.98).

Last year, global watchdog Transparency International said corruption in Thailand had worsened; the country slipped back from 11th place to 14th in the Asia-Pacific index and from 63rd to 84th in the overall 180-nation world index.

New Zealand was the "cleanest" of the 32 countries on the list for Asia and the Pacific, where most of the countries faced serious perceived levels of domestic corruption.

"The levels of corruption in these countries highlight the need for governments to engage more actively with civil society in fighting corruption," Transparency said.

Perc is more forthright in its analysis, particularly on Thailand, where "the close personal connections between politicians, civil servants, and businessmen are the backbone of networks of corruption that reach from the central government down to local governments."

This is exactly what Thai academics and non-governmental organisations have been telling us for years, and it explains why the problem is so difficult to solve.

According to the Asian Development Bank 2001, 79% of all businesses had to bribe Thai officials in order to obtain the desired service or to obtain a contract, and bribery costs were estimated to add 20% to the overall costs of a contract. An estimate made by the National Counter Corruption Commission calculates that up to 30% of government procurement budgets vanishes because of corrupt practices.

The National Institute of Development Administration reported that 95 mega-projects cost the state 400 billion baht solely due to corruption within the last five-and-a-half years. Bribery is particularly concentrated in a few governmental sectors in charge of large money transactions: the Land, Revenue, Customs and Transport departments and the National Police Office. Business people buy opportunities and favours, and officials sell opportunities and favours.

Meanwhile, the board memberships of Thai corporations are still characterised by an emphasis on personal connections over professional competence. High-ranking bureaucrats are commonly found on the boards of Thai companies.

Transparency is right in calling on civil society to fight actively against corruption in Thailand. But the rural masses must also be empowered to resist cash handouts while tough new anti-corruption measures must be enforced to break the interconnectedness between the business sector and the political system.