Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra admitted corruption within government ranks but dismissed "babbling" critics who claimed graft had reached new highs, a newspaper reported yesterday.
Thaksin said he would tackle corruption within junior ranks of government if he won a second term in elections expected early next year, but dismissed claims by a former premier that the problem had reached a historic high.
Anand Panyarachun told a seminar last weekend that corruption was becoming so widespread that it could ruin the country.
PHOTO: EPA
Thaksin, who ran a huge business empire before becoming prime minister, turned on his detractors who accused his administration of being implicated in a series of conflicts of interest.
"They just kept babbling away and since the election is nearer more of them will come out of the woodwork and will lash out at me whenever a microphone is put before their mouths," Thaksin was quoted as saying in The Nation.
Thaksin said he would focus on police and corruption within the civil service if he won re-election. "Their welfare will be looked after and loopholes for corruption will be dealt with."
Thaksin has launched a war on corruption and announced a six-year goal to stamp out so-called "dark forces," a move that his opponents dismissed as a publicity stunt.
Thailand's revered monarch King Bhumibol Adulyadej earlier this year called on the public to stamp out corruption within a decade following concerns over the effect it could have on the fast-expanding economy.
Corruption has been part of Thai life for decades but critics say there has been no concerted attempt to stamp out bribery, extortion and the sale of political positions.
Nine out of ten Thais believe corruption is rampant at the national level of politics, according to a survey by the National Economic and Social Advisory Council now headed by Anand, twice briefly premier in the 1990s.
A survey of foreign businessmen by a Hong Kong-based consultancy this year found they believed corruption in Thailand was less widespread than in countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam and India but worse than South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Indonesia yesterday began enforcing its newly ratified penal code, replacing a Dutch-era criminal law that had governed the country for more than 80 years and marking a major shift in its legal landscape. Since proclaiming independence in 1945, the Southeast Asian country had continued to operate under a colonial framework widely criticized as outdated and misaligned with Indonesia’s social values. Efforts to revise the code stalled for decades as lawmakers debated how to balance human rights, religious norms and local traditions in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. The 345-page Indonesian Penal Code, known as the KUHP, was passed in 2022. It
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
PERILOUS JOURNEY: Over just a matter of days last month, about 1,600 Afghans who were at risk of perishing due to the cold weather were rescued in the mountains Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier. “He was forced to go, to bring food for the family,” his mother, Mah Jan, said at her mud home in Ghunjan village. “We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating,” she added, clutching a photograph of her son. Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died
Russia early yesterday bombarded Ukraine, killing two people in the Kyiv region, authorities said on the eve of a diplomatic summit in France. A nationwide siren was issued just after midnight, while Ukraine’s military said air defenses were operating in several places. In the capital, a private medical facility caught fire as a result of the Russian strikes, killing one person and wounding three others, the State Emergency Service of Kyiv said. It released images of rescuers removing people on stretchers from a gutted building. Another pre-dawn attack on the neighboring city of Fastiv killed one man in his 70s, Kyiv Governor Mykola
RSS