Corruption, what corruption

[kakariki]

I returned to Udon a few weeks ago with my Thai wife and 2 children for our annual Christmas trip, they have been living in Oz for 9 years. I had to do some renewels and also get an ID card for my son who is 17, we were told at the Id office that he should have done it when he turned 15 (even though he was in Oz) and we would have to bring our towns Mayor in to verify his identity. Our neighbour is 2IC to the mayor so we took her in with us the next day and were told that there would be a lot of problems doing the Id and it would take a while (time we didn't have). The lady at the desk called her boss down (who looked liked Elmer Fudd) who suggested our neighbour come up to his office and see if something could be sorted out. He wanted a set of Aussie $ notes for his collection (sounds like the that police chief in Bkk), but we didn't have any left so asked for 10,000THB to sort it out. Our neighbour told him to shove it, so 5,000Thb was agreed because we needed the Id card to renew his passport.
After that it was into the army recruiting office next door, we spoke to the first soldier at the desk who sent us down the back to see the brass in the office, we just wanted to know about our son who doesn't read or write Thai and lives in Oz, he told us he would still have to enrol for conscription but he would talk to his superiors and call us next week. Monday he calls our neighbour and tells her if we pay 60,000THB they will erase my sons name off all the army records and he won't have to register, she also tells him to shove it, we don't want that as it might cause problems if he has to return here to live, and he is also from a well known and proud army family. Tuesday we return to the recruiting office and register our son legally and we'll take our chance on the draft. Went and had lunch after that and whilst eating Mr. army brass rings up "how about 40,000THb", tell him to shove it again and it's too late as we have just registered our son the legit way, he was most concerned.
I guess the country isn't going to progress quickly when you have 'thieves' like this working in the government, both sitting their flash offices under the picture of an individual hanging on the wall, I wonder how proud they really are.

[Khun Paul]

The question you should ask, is what are they going to do, if his name comes up on the draft and he is living in Oz. Now that would be interesting.

[kakariki]

He'll have to return and do his service, he doesn't want to be on the run from Thailand all his life, he needs to return here to see family. He understands that, we just went to see if there were any viable options.

[socksy]

What about the implications for the poor lad if he has to do his service? Not reading or writing Thai would be a huge problem. My son came over from the UK last year for the conscription 'lottery' and he speak's, read's and write's Thai and English. Fortunately he pulled out the correct colour. Had he not he would have to have given up his job as a shop manager in England.

[fatbob]

Report these people to the Governor.

[parrot]

There are a good number of educated people who believe(d) that getting rid of the old regime would result in an end to corruption. Judging from what I'm reading, nothing has changed......or if anything has changed, it's getting worse.

Meanwhile, lottery tickets were fetching 110 baht inside the doors of Lotus.

[samuel]

.....

stories like yours just make me cry for thailand.
those things will obviously never change to the better.
one million ways to "earn" extra money just for doing the job one's paid for - no mather which color is ruling the state, no matter martial law is on or off.
it's the greed - all done in the face of HM's picture in those offices.
what a shame.
it's just so sad.

[FrazeeDK]

to my knowledge all Thai males must register for conscription at age 18. If they're not in the country I believe they can register through the nearest Thai Embassy.. The conscription process is at age 21 when they must report to their home district for classification and on a specified date "pick the Red or Black" ticket to see if they must go or not.. Depending upon the military's needs the chances of getting drafted in a particular district could be as low as 1 in 10. Deferments are granted for those still in college but after graduation he must participate in the first annual lottery that occurs. The "corruption" aspect continues even on the day of the annual lottery where my great-nephew assured us that a 5,000 baht payment could guarantee getting the right ticket to walk out the door... We/he didn't pay and he lucked out.. Per the announcements at that particular lottery (Khumphawapi District) it looked like the young lads had about a 3 in 10 chance of getting drafted..

from the CIA Factbook:

21 years of age for compulsory military service; 18 years of age for voluntary military service; males register at 18 years of age; 2-year conscript service obligation (2012) https://www.cia.gov/library/publication ... /2024.html

[fdimike]

It's going to take a lot longer than 9 or 10 months to decrease the amount of corruption which has been deeply rooted in this country and which the average Thai seems willing to go along with (corruption is ok as long as it benefits me). Those people (Thai/foreigner alike) who continue to willingly participate in the practice of under-the-table. tea money or whatever you want to call them payments are certainly not helping matters either. It appears to me that the new government is at least trying to stamp out the practice. Unfortunately, it is so wide spread that it's going to take time to correct what has grown into a national problem. I would liken it to a cancer which has metastasized spreading throughout the country.

[socksy]

BANGKOK: -- THE NATIONAL Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has received nearly 2,500 complaints against state officials in the Northeast, including a provincial governor and a judge.

The judge and governor were accused of claiming prizes from lucky draws despite not being the winners during their tenure in Udon Thani province between 2006 and 2007.

"We will speedily investigate the complaints against them," NACC member Vicha Mahakun said yesterday.

He said the NACC had already set up a committee to check complaints about alleged wrongdoings by Udon Thani-based state officials.

"There are 41 complaints in Udon Thani," Vicha said.

There were several complaints involving senior officials from Udon Thani. In addition to those against the judge and the governor, the NACC has also received complaints against former Nam Som district chief Metha Siripaiwong, who is accused of violating laws in relation to bidding on government projects.

Surapon Sukprasert, former head of Khai Prachak Silapakhom School in Udon Thani, was also accused of issuing fake certificates for teachers' academic work during his tenure.

"Just as we began investigating the case, a senior education official in the area allegedly contacted Surapon saying a huge sum of cash would help pull him out of trouble. So, we decided to investigate that official too," he said.

The NACC had already completed its investigation into 417 of the 2,492 complaints related to the Northeast.

"We will try to speed up the investigation into remaining cases," he said.

Most related to bribery, embezzlement, dereliction of duty, abuse of authority and offences related to procurement and bidding on projects.

Source: http://www.nationmul...n-30263702.html

[weasel]

Does anyone really believe it getting better. In fact the tea money in cases getting paid twice. One to the cops and in some cases to various forms of the military.

[wiking]

you forget all the goverment working people

and the top off the pop - it cost a lot to buy a vote - you dont think they want these money again