Considering that this series may be short lived, it is worth a moment to see what may kill it in its tracks. The greedy and corrupt people in Thailand are for the most part doing a fairly good job at being a Chameleon.
Prime Minister Abhisit is by far the most western Prime Minister Thailand has seen in recent years. In fact he may be the most western ever when you come right down to thinking about it. He clearly follows western values and comes up smelling fairly good when being challenged by the corrupt politicians doing their best to look like they have reformed their ways.
In actuality that is the key for them and also a bit of being forced into a mold they do not like. The corrupt politicians at least appear that they have changed. That means they should not balk, squawk or make other noises that may give them away that the mold they are trying to fit in is giving them a serious wedgie. So if a project is of questionable nature that causes warning flags to pop up, sending it back for more scrutiny and more in-depth reviews must be accepted.
So saying said project comes back from review with a failing or unfavorable score, the corrupt politician that padded the project must simply accept or downsize the padding to get past the corruption radar. In This way Abhisit can place corruption in check without being seen as saying no as a soloist. The collective review supports the no go decision at the Cabinet level of government.
In this respect the Constitution makes it easy to do, but this can only be done if the entire review team is on the up and up. If the government was to change the new cabinet may be less concerned and more willing to let some things pass in return for favors. That simply leaves the graft investigators to do the job. As the graft investigators are insulated from government influence, any attempt to hinder them most certainly would cause the military to let it be known they are paying attention.
So this itself becomes the snowball in the coal bin and worthy of a series. But the deeper you dig the harder it gets as the roots of corruption run very deep in Thailand. There is less influence from the Constitution simply because it was designed to go after corrupt politicians and not necessarily lower and middle government. Once the hunt moves from Bangkok out to the provinces, things are likely to get very interesting. Finding a dead body here and there is entirely likely and almost expected.
Other countries in Asia that have corruption problems are most certainly watching Thailand. If the Thailand experiment seems to be working on the wholesale level, then other countries will be encouraged to follow the Thai model. How well that is received will be reflected in the media of those countries. A thumbs up or thumbs down will be influenced by the government to some extent. If they are corrupt and do not like what they see, then expect unfavorable reviews in the media.
Part of a periodic series
“He [Abhisit] clearly follows western values and comes up smelling fairly good when being challenged by the corrupt politicians doing their best to look like they have reformed their ways.”
Isn’t he and his party in eminent peril of being banned from politics for 5 years for accepting hundreds of millions in illegal campaign contributions? Hasn’t he been lying to us about getting to the bottom of human rights violations committed by the Thai military since the Rohingya boat people at the start of his administration (and perhaps earlier, I have neglected to keep a tally of all the times he has made empty promises and failed to get them)? Doesn’t he soil his hands on a daily basis with dirty politics and backroom deals with the likes of Newin Chidchob? Isn’t the current “reconciliation process” just his idea of a cruel joke? Wasn’t he the man who assented to the pioneering use of snipers for crowd control (The Russians didn’t do that in Chechnya)?
I think the Democrats are just as corrupt and ruthless as the TRT ever was; and you don’t get to the top of that system by being a nice guy.
And so what if Abhisit “is by far the most western Prime Minister Thailand has seen in recent years.” Actually Seni Pramoj was the first western Thai PM. Seni was PM during the October 6, 1976 massacre at Thammasat University. The western Thai PMs have made quite a record in butchery throughout Thailand’s history haven’t they?