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The Department of Land Transport is implementing a points-based system to punish public transport drivers for bad behaviours starting December 1. The system will give drivers 100 points to begin with and demerit points for every violation of traffic laws or safety, resulting in a temporary suspension of their license. The Director-General of the department explained the system that will apply to all bus, taxi, motorbike taxi, and tuk-tuk drivers throughout Thailand from next month. The system hopes to encourage safe and lawful driving, which in turn will give passengers more faith and comfort in utilising public transportation options. Drivers […]

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Ain't going to work.

The flaw in this is that it is Police who will be responsible for administering the program, and they will accept a 'back-hander' in lieu of paperwork.

Thailand, if you want to clean up your roads (and you really should!), you have to clean up your police.

I ain't holding my breath.

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2 minutes ago, Shade_Wilder said:

Ain't going to work.

The flaw in this is that it is Police who will be responsible for administering the program, and they will accept a 'back-hander' in lieu of paperwork.

Thailand, if you want to clean up your roads (and you really should!), you have to clean up your police.

I ain't holding my breath.

Spot on comments there. 
 

It’s the same with virtually every aspect of Thai life (and many other places around the world). Where you have rampant corruption, it doesn’t matter what laws are passed, they can all be bought off. This one is just another on a long list of well intentioned ideas that will come to nothing. Let’s face it, if it was that easy to sort it out, they would have done it by now. 
 

I’ve never looked in to how countries develop themselves out of corruption. There must be some key people and  steps taken, along social/political timing that come together to make it happen. 

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33 minutes ago, Thaiger said:

the system that will apply to all bus, taxi, motorbike taxi

If bald tyres are included then buses are well down over motorcycle taxi's to start with .. 

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16 minutes ago, Soidog said:

Spot on comments there. 
 

It’s the same with virtually every aspect of Thai life (and many other places around the world). Where you have rampant corruption, it doesn’t matter what laws are passed, they can all be bought off. This one is just another on a long list of well intentioned ideas that will come to nothing. Let’s face it, if it was that easy to sort it out, they would have done it by now. 
 

I’ve never looked in to how countries develop themselves out of corruption. There must be some key people and  steps taken, along social/political timing that come together to make it happen. 

"I’ve never looked in to how countries develop themselves out of corruption. There must be some key people and  steps taken, along social/political timing that come together to make it happen. "

It has been a very long while since I looked at it in detail, but the answer is in Hong Kong's history, pre '97. They, in the 50s and 60s, had some of the worst police known to the world, but they managed to clean it up and create a modern, professional and essentially corruption-free force. In turn, that police force went after the corruptors; HK was never completely corruption-free, but they made incredible headway before the Handover.

If you have free time, I imagine you could dig it all up on-line.

Of course, when the Chinese re-took HK, it all went to pot. I know that you Brits had to return the New Territories and the mainland (Kowloon) side, but you should have kept HK island; it was yours in perpetuity according to treaty.

All of the times to NOT act like the colonial oppressors you were...

 

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Enforced regulation is the only way to change behaviour. But I wonder if schedules and timetables set by employers are the real reason behind the risktaking? in my own country, that is often the case. Drivers driving tired because they have to keep to schedules. Insufficient rest breaks etc etc. Can't be critical of the driver if it's unreasonable expectations being placed on them. AS to corruption among police in enforcing laws, there needs to be a government will to change things. Wether or not there is an appetite in government for that??? media could play a role in exposing police corruption. once it's in the public eye, it's harder to brush under the carpet.

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46 minutes ago, Soidog said:

I’ve never looked in to how countries develop themselves out of corruption. There must be some key people and  steps taken, along social/political timing that come together to make it happen. 

A more than apt consideration, @Soidogand one that has had me despairingly looking for answers amongst many seemingly learned internet sources. The maxim 'it takes a new broom to sweep clean' seems to be the overriding verdict, insofar as the only way to rid corruption is to rid the entire existing political set-up, at a general election perhaps, when a totally new and radically different party (maybe like the FFP party before it was neutralised pre-2019 election) is put into power and, as the ministries are re-manned, so will all the ill or nil-performing agencies, e.g. police, litigation, education, health, welfare . . . almost everything in Thailand's case. Almost mission impossible.

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2 minutes ago, Jason said:

media could play a role in exposing police corruption. once it's in the public eye, it's harder to brush under the carpet.

I agree. However the whole system of corruption is so finely tuned in Thailand. The defamation and computer crime laws make it virtually impossible for any quality investigative journalism to exist. The rich and powerful have created a machinery that keeps them at the top of the pyramid and they are happy to allow the minions to feed off the scraps by stealing from each other. You only have to look at some recent high profile cases to see what happens. It allows rich kids to literally get away with murder and stifles the voice of anyone who dare try rocking the boat.
 

I genuinely feel sorry for your average hard working Thai. Being exposed to Thai life for so many years has given me a much greater appreciation of my own country. Currently all hell has broken loose with the U.K. government as a result of the PM looking to protect his friend Owen Patterson from an allegation of corruption. The media is all over it and every opportunity they get to twist the knife with the PM they take it and it could lead to him being ousted from government. In reality, what he has done is an everyday way of operating in the Thai government and done each and every day before lunchtime. When I try to explain to people that while it is totally wrong what has happened, people need to appreciate that it’s a rare event compared to the vast majority of countries around the world. Very sad for the people at the lower tiers of society as they feel it most. 
 

Anyway, must dash as I’m off to buy a potential client lunch. It’s not corruption, it’s a business meeting over an overly expensive lunch 😉

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14 minutes ago, King Cotton said:

A more than apt consideration, @Soidogand one that has had me despairingly looking for answers amongst many seemingly learned internet sources. The maxim 'it takes a new broom to sweep clean' seems to be the overriding verdict, insofar as the only way to rid corruption is to rid the entire existing political set-up, at a general election perhaps, when a totally new and radically different party (maybe like the FFP party before it was neutralised pre-2019 election) is put into power and, as the ministries are re-manned, so will all the ill or nil-performing agencies, e.g. police, litigation, education, health, welfare . . . almost everything in Thailand's case. Almost mission impossible.

Yes I totally agree. My frustration with it relates to how other countries interact with these corrupt countries. It literally made me feel sick to see the likes of Prince Charles meeting these people in Glasgow. Or Ministers beating a path to secure trade deals. I would gladly pay another 30% for my products if they were manufactured in the US or some other non corrupt country. Everything we buy simply supports these corrupt governments. I guess holidaying in Thailand also ultimately doesn’t help !! 

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1 hour ago, Shade_Wilder said:

Of course, when the Chinese re-took HK, it all went to pot. I know that you Brits had to return the New Territories and the mainland (Kowloon) side, but you should have kept HK island; it was yours in perpetuity according to treaty.

All of the times to NOT act like the colonial oppressors you were...

Couple of points worth a mention here:

Thatcher did not want to give up HK, but the fresh water to the island was being supplied by China. When Thatcher was told this, she realised the futility of "digging in". The Chinese would have been able to take control without even firing a shot, so she went down the road of reaching "agreement" with Beijing.

I always thought it was a bit of a bad joke, introducing democracy to HK so late in the day. I am not opposed to the idea in principle, but it was like a General announcing his resignation when the enemy were about to storm HQ. It should have been done so much earlier. Instead, it struck me as more like giving the kids to the car after it had been written off, and they could no longer use it.

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1 hour ago, Soidog said:

Liberators Mr Wilder, Liberators 😉

Not sure I can agree with that view of it. HK was ceded to the UK as punishment for the Chinese having the temerity to push back against our attempts to turn all of  China into an opium den. We were the original drug "kingpins". 

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Many Thai people seem to not mind the way things are. In fact they seem to like it. People in power REALLY like things the way they are. 
Maybe they think Change = Not Good

Buy your way out of problems or get ahead up the ladder with cash payments.
Currently can drive vehicles the way you want with abandon.
Cheat, lie, amass wealth from ill gotten gains. 
Basically do what you like without thought of taking responsibility. 

If all or any of that ends, they might have to move out of the country 🤔
 

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36 minutes ago, Soidog said:

Yes I totally agree. My frustration with it relates to how other countries interact with these corrupt countries. It literally made me feel sick to see the likes of Prince Charles meeting these people in Glasgow. Or Ministers beating a path to secure trade deals. I would gladly pay another 30% for my products if they were manufactured in the US or some other non corrupt country. Everything we buy simply supports these corrupt governments. I guess holidaying in Thailand also ultimately doesn’t help !! 

Even living here as an expat probably doesn’t help. Except maybe the local food vendors and the mom and pop shops that a lot of expats support. 

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1 hour ago, King Cotton said:

A more than apt consideration, @Soidogand one that has had me despairingly looking for answers amongst many seemingly learned internet sources. The maxim 'it takes a new broom to sweep clean' seems to be the overriding verdict, insofar as the only way to rid corruption is to rid the entire existing political set-up, at a general election perhaps, when a totally new and radically different party (maybe like the FFP party before it was neutralised pre-2019 election) is put into power and, as the ministries are re-manned, so will all the ill or nil-performing agencies, e.g. police, litigation, education, health, welfare . . . almost everything in Thailand's case. Almost mission impossible.

Like yourself, I have often pondered a solution, to what is in effect, a regional problem.

When you think back a few years ago, I think the prob could have been solved by donors such as the EU and US, sending auditors to discover what happened to the aid money they had previously sent. Of course that only really applies to Cam and PI. Now, China has entered the marketplace, and we are hearing the likes of Hun Sen, telling these donors, "We don't need your money if you are going to place conditions on it", while busily selling off chunks of the country to China.

Short of a popular uprising, I just can't see a solution. And even then, can we trust that if that were to happen, that the incomers would be any more honest than the ousted.

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1 hour ago, Soidog said:

Yes I totally agree. My frustration with it relates to how other countries interact with these corrupt countries. It literally made me feel sick to see the likes of Prince Charles meeting these people in Glasgow. Or Ministers beating a path to secure trade deals. I would gladly pay another 30% for my products if they were manufactured in the US or some other non corrupt country. Everything we buy simply supports these corrupt governments. I guess holidaying in Thailand also ultimately doesn’t help !! 

I don't see many viable options of ending this short of a total trade ban on buying Chinese goods. There is a limit to how much the Chinese can retaliate, because they have to import food to feed themselves. But there will be farmers in liberal democracies that would object to being caught in the cross-fire.

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this is all because they are fully pissed off because of the petrol prices and El - di c k head said don't you ever chastise or criticize him. He needs to be relieved of his authority as his head is getting way too fat perhaps like his offshore bank accounts. .

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