The land of scams has gone fom rank 78 to rank 80 in the CPI. No wonder that jetski, tuk-tuk and taxi mafia can operate freely.
Wonder which government is going to get blamed for this...
How did Hongkong manage to score higher than countries like Germany or the UK?
The UK has a very dim view of Corruption in Politics after a few MPs got caught fiddling their expenses, they view this as corruption when in truth it is fraud.
Syphoning off billions into contracts held by relatives, writing laws to the advantage of companies owned by relatives or simply filling your back bedroom with cash skimmed off bids for public works is likely beyond the belief of most people in the developed world but standard practice here in Thailand.
Singapore once again scores high on the charts but then they have a saying in Singapore, 'Don't look behind the house'.
The Index is rightly called the Perception Index, in parts of the world a journalist writing about corruption might find himself, out of work, in court for revealing state secrets, in court of libel or dead.
And to put this all into perspective Italy is ranked 69. Turkey knocking on the door of the EU is 61 and GREECE is ranked 80 equal to Thailand's ranking.
If the EU let this corrupt country in let alone to the Euro should we be criticising Thailand.
It is a perceptions index, so I wouldnt take the above as cold hard facts - just as an indication of what the public believes.
I struggle to understand why South Africa is only rated at 63. Pretty much the entire government is corrupt and yet the dumb mass public still believes in them.
The three countries that everybody says are so much better than Thailand as a tourist destination, Viet Nam 112, Laos 154 and Cambodia 164. Burma where you expect it 180.
Never had a policeman stop me and demand money. Never happened to any tourist I know that's been several times or even lived there for more than 5 years.
Some people just attract trouble.
the effects of corruption in Thailand are massive - it is a leach on the back of the economy.
Thailand is a country where the police can stop anyone they like with NO REAL REASON and demand money - this corruption goes from the very bottom to the very top.
I find it so sad that an entire nation can find this acceptable.
Efforts in the past to demonstrate against corruption have resulted in deaths of organisers.
The country's civil engineering projects are all under par due to corruption.....money for roads is syphoned off in bribes etc - the result is roads that subside or collapse a few weeks after opening.
Even the floods in Bkk were unmanageable because there were no proper facilities to handle them - any attempts have been thwarted or stopped before they started by the enormous shadow of graft.
THe world banking systems may be culpable but they are also in the end accountable - not so the ruling elite in Thailand.
Sorry buddy but you are the ignorant one. I have an Economics degree.
The American govt has wasted billions on wars and arms and has failed to operate a prudent financial system for decades.
You simply cannot let major banks collapse because it will drag down even more people than has already happened.
Go study an Economics degree and then come back and talk.