• 
• 

Published on March 21, 2008

Disclosure of politicians' assets in accordance with the 2007 Constitution is a move to show transparency in a bid to get rid of money politics, but it is not enough to remove corruption from Thailand, which is now high on the chart of the most corrupt countries in the world. From the legal point of view, this requirement in the charter is too shallow and has too much bias against specific groups of people, and lets many others involved in corruption off the hook easily. For the first time in Thai politics, elected members of the House of Representative are required to unveil their assets and liabilities once they take up office. The previous constitution required only members of the Cabinet to do so, but the current charter takes the wider ranks of politicians into account, requiring the prime minister, ministers, members of the House of Representatives, the Senate, and members of local administrations and councils to declare their wealth. In other words, only "politicians" are required to declare their wealth.

Lower house members, whose assets were unveiled by the Office of the National Counter Corruption Commission yesterday, are not as rich as many people had thought. Those who have great wealth are those we already know come from rich families. The declaration of assets yesterday held no surprises for the public.

It is good for politicians to declare their wealth. At least the public then knows the status of its elected representatives. If there is "unusual" wealth in their pockets, the Constitution says those unexplained assets should be nationalised, and politicians who get "unusually rich" will be banned from politics for five years. Concealment of assets is also  subject to punishment. However, we should not be naïve enough to believe that such requirements will be effective enough to clean up politics; corruption in Thai society is deeper than what we have seen so far. It has deep roots in our culture. Further, corruption is not reserved only for politicians. At all levels, people in power are involved in corruption, and our society needs eyes everywhere to monitor them. To be more precise, high-ranking officials in the bureaucracy are never free of graft. Like politicians, they are in a position to abuse their power.

The 2007 military-sponsored Constitution was written by members of the elite who are biased against politicians. Because of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the charter drafters saw all politicians as equally bad and prone to corruption. The new requirements are pre-conditions for politicians to fulfil before and after taking office.

To be fair, not all politicians are equally bad. Thailand has many legal instruments to scrutinise politicians. The previous constitution offered some tools to cope with corruption and some, if not all, politicians were punished. The current charter gives more means to deal with corrupt politicians at all levels. The mass media here never offers any leniency to them. Politicians who use elections as a ladder to power are still accountable to their electorate. They should not be re-elected if their supporters learn about their corruption. The constitution also offers legal instruments for voters to impeach their politicians. Maintaining a watch on politicians is a good thing. But we shouldn't have too much bias against politicians only and turn a blind eye to other dimensions of corruption. The history of corruption in this country has taught us the lesson that it is not politicians alone who are prone to graft. Many big corruption scandals involve high-ranking officials in the bureaucracy and business communities.

If this country really wants to use the constitution as a legal instrument to tackle corruption, some basic principles in the charter need to be modified to reflect the wider perspective on the nature of corruption in Thailand.  Putting all the blame on politicians is not completely fair, and will never be the way to tackle the root cause of corruption. Fighting graft requires the wisdom to look at every aspect of the issue. Bias alone will lead us nowhere. Producing more legal technicalities will not bring an end. Constitution after constitution, corruption is still with us.

The Nation