All Sectors of Thai Society Urged to Join Forces in Fighting Corruption

(21/05/2012)

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has urged all sectors of Thai society to join forces in fighting corruption, so that the country would move forward with greater stability. The call was made at the workshop “Anti-Corruption Strategies,” held at the Government Complex on Chaeng Watthana Road in Bangkok on 18 May 2012, when the Prime Minister also announced the Government’s anti-corruption strategies and its proactive plan against corruption. Apart from provincial governors, senior officials, and members of the private sector and the media, representatives of the diplomatic corps and international organizations also took part in the gathering. Minister to the Prime Minister’s Office, Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan, and the Office of the Public Sector Development Commission have been assigned by the Prime Minister to integrate plans from all relevant agencies in the fight against corruption. Minister Niwattumrong said that a working group had been formed to work out the anti-corruption strategies and the proactive plan, which were proposed at the workshop. The workshop came after the Cabinet on 8 May 2012 approved the strategies and the plan, aimed at raising public awareness of counter-corruption and creating transparency in government agencies. Speaking at the workshop, Prime Minister Yingluck cited corruption as a major problem resulting in a great loss of national funds. She quoted a study undertaken by the United Nations claiming that the corruption problem has become a threat to economic and social stability. It increases the cost of doing business, leads to the loss of natural resources, excludes the poor from public services, and corrodes public trust in the government sector. The Prime Minister stressed the need for everyone to eliminate this social ill, which is an obstacle to national development. Aware of the importance of fighting corruption, she said that the Government has set anti-corruption in the public sector as an urgent policy, which seeks to adhere to transparency and good governance, based on universally accepted norms. According to the proactive plan against corruption to be implemented within one year from now, the Government will launch an awareness-raising campaign by honoring government officials who are honest, or have outstanding achievements in anti-corruption. It will encourage government agencies to propose a “clean initiative” for greater transparency in their performance. This initiative will be spread more widely to help in efforts to fight corruption. On this occasion, Prime Minister Yingluck also presided over the opening of the Ministry of Justice’s Anti-Corruption War Room, where complaints about corruption may be sent around the clock through the hotline 1206.