Many Phuket People Admit Paying Bribes in Alarming Survey
By Chutima Sidasathian Monday, October 7, 2013
PHUKET: A survey of Phuket businesspeople has shown that hundreds pay bribes - and that a substantial proportion are willing to support corruption if they achieve their aims.
Eighty percent of the respondents said they thought corruption had increased on Phuket between last year and this year.
The Director of the Phuket Anticorruption Network, Dr Surin Bamrungpol, issued the results of a survey that produced 611 completed returned from 1200 that were sent out.
Of those who responded, 140 admitted paying bribes to police; 138 admitted paying bribes to the Phuket Land Titles Office; 128 admitted paying bribes to the municipal councils; 77 admitted paying bribes to Thalang District; 71 admitted paying bribes to the Phuket City (Muang) District; 65 admitted paying bribes to Kathu District; 70 admitted paying bribes to Public Transport; 64 admitted paying bribes to Phuket Immigration; 57 admitted paying bribes to Natural Resources and the Environment; 56 admitted paying bribes to Tourist Police; 49 admitted paying bribes to the Roads department; 51 admitted paying bribes to Satree Phuket School; 49 admitted paying bribes to Wittayalai Phuket school; 39 admitted paying bribes to the Revenue Office; 35 admitted paying bribes to the AoT at Phuket International Airport.
Thirteen percent of those who paid said they did not feel bad at all about paying. Another 10 percent thought it was ok if their aim was achieved.
''We have to stop corruption and it's up to private enterprise to make a start,'' Dr Surin said. ''We know the public sector is vulnerable.
''I hope eventually we can establish a 'thousand eyes of the pineapple' network across Phuket to make corruption unacceptable.''
The network has 23,000 members and interest continues to grow, Dr Surin said. The site is at: http://www.phuket-anti-corruption.com/
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Comments
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The private sector here wouldn't be able to operate if not paying bribes to the public sector. When seeing the numbers above, one has to wonder who is the real mafia in Phuket :)
Posted by
Jakub
on
October 7, 2013 19:29
If the survey was carried out among the network members then it is a bit depressing .... ;-)
Posted by
Sailor
on
October 7, 2013 20:26
Phuket Police tops the list of bribe recipients.
With police like this, who needs criminals ?
Posted by
ThaiMike
on
October 7, 2013 20:46
Right or wrong, Jakub you hit the right button. The dragon is way too big to stop now.semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat. Lord de Ramsey, House of Lords.
Posted by
RobinS
on
October 7, 2013 21:01
Phuket has the local government it deserves (to misquote a well known saying).
Posted by
sir burr
on
October 7, 2013 21:03
ThaiMike: Exactly! I believe there are some who actually applaud the idea of a significant increase in police numbers on Phuket. Elsewhere, in many other countries, certainly. But I doubt anyone with long term experience/knowledge of the Thai force in action would hold such a sanguine view.
Posted by
Kaen Phet
on
October 7, 2013 21:22
You'll need to revise the libel laws if you want to make a change. Accuse an official of corruption , go to jail. Pay. more big headache. Need whistleblower laws. Need a culture of honesty..
Posted by
MediaW
on
October 7, 2013 21:33
Paying the police is not unique to Phuket - it happens across the country. My Thai family in Korat has to 'donate' to the local boys in brown to keep their restaurant open & trouble free. I know other Farangs with businesses in Korat who state the same.
If you try driving up country, there are road blocks everywhere looking for any excuse. I have even known people who have been made to take a urine test at the roadside in broad daylight to check for drug use!
Posted by
Logic
on
October 8, 2013 00:36
My mate has a bar on Nanai Rd and has to pay 3000 baht/mo "tea money" to the police just so that he's not hassled. can you imagine the level of graft as every bar in Phuket pays tea money! No copper is going to turn down those wages. Corruption is a cancer in Thailand esp Phuket and sometimes the cure is more painfull than the disease.
Tom
Posted by
Tom
on
October 8, 2013 04:05
Every bar, restaurant, street vendor and probably loris touts will more than likely be paying something (naive to think they are not). It's an incredible amount of money all things considered. As Logic has already stated, it is not unique to Phuket, it's all over the country which, makes it very difficult to stamp out. Dare I say, it appears to be inherent in the culture.
Posted by
Sudo Nim
on
October 8, 2013 09:18
What is always ignored is that other countries in the world would have the same level of corruption if they started paying salaries at the same relative level as in Thailand. Police and people working in the administration are not paid enough to take care of their families and before that happens there will be a lot of 'user payment" I would not be surprised if this is a state of affair that certain parts of the society want to maintain as it secures their position and makes them more or less untouchable due to their economic power.
Posted by
Sailor
on
October 8, 2013 09:38
There are other strange things to Patong : one fuel pump, one supermarket, the most expensive in Thailand McDonald, huge holes in the roads are repaired and returned to the first rain, and tuktuks the most expensive taxis, vans that drive at speeds of crazy and out of control, there are too many things happening in the life of every day, I say, that there are reasons to discover and correct.
Patong is a wonderful city with one of the most beautiful beaches of Thailand ... but, but, but!
Posted by
phil
on
October 8, 2013 09:52
Reports that some officials in the public sector might have 'purchased' their positions only further entrenches corruption in society. The people buying in will naturally be looking to maximize the return on their investment.
This also makes it much more difficult to stamp it out. Adding a factor of 700 or so into the mix might not have the desired benefits we are expecting. @Kaen Phet says it well.
Posted by
Treelover
on
October 8, 2013 09:54
If we are to believe this survey 4% of the Phuket population is paying bribes to 2 schools. There is something wrong with the survey.
That does not mean corruption is not a problem, bus any conclusion based on this survey is not worth the paper it is written on.
Posted by
stevenl
on
October 8, 2013 10:29
Editor Comment:
Your conclusions are not worth writing down, stevenl. The numbers who say they have paid bribes to schools can only be treated as a proportion of the 611 who responded to the survey.
And logically, people with no connection to the schools will not have any reason to say they paid bribes to the aschools.
The claims either indicate many people in the survey have connections to those two schools, or that bribery in education should be more of a concern than bribery of Phuket's police.
- Sailor
I strongly disagree.
I come from a developed country (which I suspect is same as yours) where the police are paid very low salaries, yet my country constantly appears in the top 3 least corrupt countries in the world.
People back home have a strong sense of justice and a will to see it prevail. Striving to do the right thing.
Closer to Thailand, Singapore pays relatively low salaries to their police force, especially the auxiliary police (less than SGD 2000/mo), but scores in the top 5 least corrupt countries in the world.
How do you explain that in the light of your theory ?
It's about personal morals and principles and in that regard Thailand went bankrupt long time ago.
If the salaries for Police and other government officials in Thailand were tripled overnight, do you seriously suggest the level of corruption would equally be reduced to 1/3 of where it is now ?
I don't think so.
Posted by
ThaiMike
on
October 8, 2013 11:35
"The claims either indicate many people in the survey have connections to those two schools, or that bribery in education should be more of a concern than bribery of Phuket's police."
Which is exactly my point. The survey is clearly not representative.
Posted by
stevenl
on
October 8, 2013 12:20
@Thaimike, yes I think a higher salary will work in the right direction. The countries I know of in Europe where the corruption is poor do pay a decent salary to police staff, and so they should. Don't know where you get your Singapore number from, the real no's are here
http://www.spf.gov.sg/career/so_salary.htm and as you can see the entry salaries are more than 50% higher than what you state and yes it is a decent salary in Singapore.
Posted by
Sailor
on
October 8, 2013 14:07
@thaimike
You couldn't be more spot on.
The same attitude appears during job interviews where they are more focused in asking how much they get paid instead of showing what they are able to do.
Posted by
cekipa
on
October 8, 2013 15:15
Editor Comment:
Who is ''they'' cekipa? Only a bigot would talk about all the people of one country as if ''they'' were all they same. Like every nation, Thailand is filled with individuals who all have different aspirations and standards. You appear to have a problem.
The largest corruption trial in Spanish history has just finished involving people on salaries a lot higher than their local police. One guy jailed for 11 years and fined 240mil which, just shows the scale of the corruption. Foot note: two ex mayors jailed also.
Posted by
Sudo Nim
on
October 8, 2013 15:46
- Sailor
A junior police officer in my country earns about the same as a Kindergarten teacher, which is in the lowest quarter salary bracket. It's a well known joke among the officers to state " We just do this for the money ". Being sarcastic.
Singapore:
You quote SENIOR police officer salaries for positions of Assistant
Superintendent of Police and Police Inspector.
That's one heck of a entry level position to start off with, huh ?
All you have to do is to browse the Employment pages of Straits Times and you will see what to expect.
Lowest level is for Auxiliary Police who start from about SGD 1600. That's about THB 40k.
Considering average salary levels in TH and SGP and living expense differences it comes almost spot on equal with about THB 10k per month here.
QED
Posted by
ThaiMike
on
October 8, 2013 16:22
@Thaimike .. no this is entry level salaries, it is much easier to relate to what you are on to if you post the link. Else you are just throwing numbers around and that is nit very trustworthy .
Posted by
Sailor
on
October 8, 2013 19:35
- Sailor
I think you need to read your own source more carefully. If you are unable to, I can't help you either.
I do not have any links for you. I did not have to google it. I know it from my 15y of visiting Singapore. I don't care what you believe or don't. Do your own legwork if you think I'm making these numbers up.
Posted by
ThaiMike
on
October 8, 2013 20:29
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The private sector here wouldn't be able to operate if not paying bribes to the public sector. When seeing the numbers above, one has to wonder who is the real mafia in Phuket :)
Posted by Jakub on October 7, 2013 19:29