New Generation Must Not Be Corrupt
จากไชต์: Office of The National Anti - Corruption Commission (ONACC)
จำนวนผู้เข้าชม: 161
All members of society know that corruption in Thailand may range from streets to skyscrapers. Some people might compare corruption in Thailand to flourishing mushrooms in the rainy season but that is all wrong because no mushrooms in any season can outgrow or outlast corruption and no mushrooms flourish on the top of a skyscraper.
Corruption on the streets may not only refer to kickbacks from heavy-duty truck drivers, lottery ticket hawkers, and city sidewalk vendors but also many other kinds of bribery. Corruption at skyscrapers may not only involve the issuance of construction licenses as earlier mentioned by Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt during a meeting with district chiefs but also many other types of payoff.
Those who may have been involved in corruption in bureaucratic circles throughout the country may be categorized as the provider of a bribe and the recipient of it. That may have referred to passive corruption and active corruption.
Some government officials may have been very helpful to certain businesspersons by providing ''conveniences'' or even ''special services.'' Thus, the businesspersons may hand out some valuable items in return.
That kind of reciprocity dates back to a pre-Ramkhamhaeng reign in the Sukhothai era during which state tributes were collected. Nonetheless, loopholes spontaneously occurred with the payment and collection of the tributes. The relevant authorities may have neglected their duties to maintain the due interests of the state.
One put it straightforwardly that corruption in bureaucratic circles as well as state firms and independent agencies could probably involve all walks of life and at all levels ranging from city or town administrative organizations to local communities. Sometimes, a business owned by a single person could be no exception.
More surprisingly, every imaginable public and private organization has set up a certain unit in charge of combating corruption, ranging from Government House, ministries and departments to subdistrict administrative organizations. Typing the words ''Anti-Corruption Center'' on a Google page, one will find such an entity by different names, such as a center, a club, or an association.
One may as well wonder why Thailand had continually ranked near the bottom of the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) despite so many anti-corruption organizations. However, the sustained challenges have been met to the extent that the country's CPI has gradually risen.
On January 31, 2023, the Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Thailand) publicized the results of a survey conducted by the Transparency International (TI) which found Thailand's CPI moving up from the 110th in 2021 to the 101st, marking an increase from 35 points to 36 points. That compared to Malaysia's CPI which scored 47 points and Vietnam's CPI which made 42 points.
More than half the total of the Thai people have been somehow involved in corruption unknowingly. That may be called customary corruption.
A movie advertisement produced by the Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Thailand) encourages the people to stay away from corruption. It features a couple of corrupt parents who say ''one will get accustomed to it some day.'' That refers to the fact that the Thai people have been more or less accustomed to corruption since they were very young.
In Buddhism, wrongdoings may be divided into three categories:
(1) The physical wrong, involving the killing of animals, thefts, and adulteries.
(2) The verbal wrong, referring to telling lies, saying rude words, committing perjury, and speaking bad about someone.
(3) The mental wrong, involving greed, vindictiveness, and heresy.
Though all people of every religion already know what is right and what is wrong, only few practically follow those religious teachings whilst most put personal gains above public interests and consider an undue grab of advantages as a wise man's act.
Nonetheless, Thailand has seriously endeavored to combat all types of corruption by mapping out an anti-corruption masterplan under 20-year national strategies. The anti-corruption masterplan is divided into two major schemes:
(1) The prevention of corruption by way of ''reforming'' the people, especially children, and adolescents, into whom the awareness of honesty will be embedded so that they will become a corruption-free generation. Besides, the established systems will be ''reformed'' with innovation to be showcased for transparency and against corruption in bureaucratic circles. Members of society could keep track of any suspicious acts and take part in examining and notifying them, thus helping reduce corruption to some extent.
(2) The suppression of corruption by enhancing the efficiency of anti-corruption procedures and apparatus. Besides, legal actions against suspected corruption will be taken promptly and justly whilst the relevant laws will be amended and adjusted in order to promote and support the efficiency of the anti-corruption procedures. Thailand's CPI has been targeted to rank between the 1st and 20th by 2037.
In order to rank among the world's Top 20 in terms of the CPI, approaches will be taken as follows:
(1) Imbedding and restoring the awareness of being good citizens, especially children and adolescents of all ages and at all levels, so that they will be oriented to the culture of honesty, be able to tell public interests from personal gains, be ashamed of wrongdoings, not be apathetic to corruption and participate in missions to combat all types of corruption.
(2) Supporting the operations of government personnel and seeing to it that they will be carried out openly, transparently and free of corruption and that the government officials will refrain from perpetrating corrupt acts and keep any individual businesses apart from the assigned duties on a good-governance basis.
Besides, the awareness of honesty and anti-corruption values should be embedded and maintained among government personnel who may be encouraged to take part in anti-corruption networks among bureaucratic circles. Government officials may monitor and give tip-offs on any suspected corruption in order to prevent it whilst measures will be provided for the support and protection of the informants.
(3) Developing the values of politicians at all levels ranging from national leaders to community leaders who may be predetermined to pose themselves as a good example for all members of society whilst having higher standards for moral, ethical and honesty than the average people. Besides, similar ethics should be as well maintained and promoted among the rank and file of political parties.
(4) Creating a sustainable anti-corruption innovation to reduce the number of cases of corruption in bureaucratic circles whilst the operations of all government agencies will be thoroughly transparent and examinable with any practical risks to corruption being subject to assessment and subsequent management.
(5) Adjusting the operational systems and restructuring government agencies in order to trim down the scope of decisions which could otherwise be made by government officials, especially those in servicing units, by applying technology to work in place of humans.
Besides, the procedures and period of time for the operations should be clearly defined and examinable whilst the relevant laws and regulations should be amended accordingly to the extent that the decision-making or approval-giving power of the relevant officials will be curtailed.
For instance, information pertaining to procurement or employment projects run by government agencies or the availability of government funds for those projects should be disclosed and accessed to the public.
Every member of society should beware of any suspicious acts which could possibly lead to corruption whilst the good deeds of those who are fighting it should be upheld and admired in order to boost the morale among themselves and create a good image of the country.
Most importantly, the awareness of religious teachings could keep the people ashamed of sinful acts. A pursuit of personal gains is religiously deemed as an unsustainable, woeful act.
One may be happy to grab some ill-gotten money but may as well remain woeful during sleeping or waking hours. Members of society should realize that good things must come to those who have done good deeds.
-by Saenchai Khaobhuthai
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