Corruption has cultural roots

To no one's surprise, corruption, that most pervasive and insidious of all societal demons, is once again cited as one of the leading causes of Thailand's lagging global competitiveness. With the open economic borders of 2015 right around the corner this is indeed cause for concern. While many have called for the formulation and implementation of more aggressive anti-corruption policies to restore public trust in the Thai government, little has been said about the ease with which corruption takes root and why, in spite of all the scrutiny, it not only persists but thrives. A recent poll conducted by ABAC suggests that tolerance of corruption is on the rise among young Thais, particularly if it benefits them directly (“Thailand’s anti-corruption network gets UNDP backing”, August 22). Why is this? The likely answer is that Thais, with their tolerant nature and legendary hospitality, are in many ways culturally predisposed to accept bad behaviour in others and to engage in it when it is convenient to do so.

Barely a toddler, a child in modern Thailand quickly learns that there are no real and immediate negative consequences to disposing of a candy wrapper on the street. A few years later, a busy morning finds the same child chucking an empty soymilk carton onto the sidewalk as the motor taxi he is riding zips against the traffic on a one-way street to get him to school. Still too young to have a licence, the teenager confidently drives his illegally purchased motorbike against the flow on the same one-way street to rendezvous with his friends. Now a young father, he offers a Bt500 “fine” through his pickup window to the traffic cop who has just pulled him over for speeding as his adoring 10-year-old looks on. The bribe is accepted without hesitation and the traffic cop gives an amiable smile, snaps a smart salute, and sends the offender on his way. These familiar scenes are played out innumerable times each day all throughout the Kingdom because they are now widely accepted as normal parts of daily life.

My opinion is that modern Thailand is suffering from a crisis in simple ethics. It doesn’t take a stretch of the imagination to see that directly or indirectly, the mountains of rubbish that line the streets, befoul the air and choke the waterways, the infuriating and totally unnecessary traffic jams, the manipulative economic “white lies” and yes, the corruption in government are all the results of tiny moral failures that occur regularly on a massive, nationwide scale. These failures further reflect a very stark disparity between what institutions and the law prescribe as correct behaviour and what society-at-large actually deems acceptable. It goes without saying that if Thai society fails to provide good ethical models for the current crop of young people to refer to, it will be the next generation that will suffer the most. While fighting corruption at the highest levels of government is good and indeed necessary, it is equally of vital importance to acknowledge the existence of corruption’s deep cultural roots and to sever them in order to move the ship of state forward and steer it in the right direction.

David Gorrez

Bangkok