CORRUPTION THE POLICE The dignity, the discipline and the courage of the Thai police, we must protect. Even if we have to die in their defence. Our flesh ant our blood. we will sacrifice, for the happiness of the Thai people. We are born to die. So we must leave wood deeds for Thai people to remember us by. We will help all Thais wherever thev are. So wlterever they are. Thais rulu and happy. The Police Songs Images of the Thai Police The police song paints an image which the police would like the society to share. The image which many people have of the police is very different. Many policemen are believed by the public to extort money, rape detainees, traffic in drugs, steal from public funds, acquire stolen property recovered by the state, and engage in all kinds of corruption willingly and without social conscience In addition, many believe that senior police officers pay large sums of money to acquire the positions which enable them toindulge in these profitable activities. In an interview with the Far Eastern Economic Review in 1992, the prime minister Chuan Leekpai said At the moment we are trying to get rid of officers who may have problems, in particular the transfers of police who in the past may have been involved in buying positions, going right up to the level of the minister. That is no longer the case. There is to a certain extent some deficiency in human resources in our police force. But the problem is also the system that is why we propose to reform the system. The prime minister accepted that purchasing of positions in the police hierarchy had happened in the past, but claimed that retired police general the practice was now defunct commented: "I wonder where he obtained this information. And if he was in the opposition would he still be saying the same thing. An academic who was once a police officer found that the income which the police received from extortion and protection had become fully institutionalized within the police force: The trickle-up benefits which government officials received from corruption syndicates (tam nam)... had a part to play... in creating cooperation within the police through the sharing of gains... In many cases such benefits were not used entirely for private benefits. They were also used as reserve funds which enabled high-ranking police officers to improve their work performance. The money was used to repair police stations, to buy office equipment, to decorate the office at times of festivities and important occasions, to pay for feasts on various occasions. The funds were used to pay for the cost of arranging welcoming parties for high-ranking police officers who visited the police tation. They were also used to pay for miscellaneous i involved in investigative work and criminal cases, for purchasing tickets for charity events which the superiors or other requested or forced the ordinary policemen sell, as well as other emergency expenses,"a extent, the police appears still to operate along the principles of sin milans, system of remuneration of officials hich prevailed in the the Phraya traditional bureaucracy. Krom Damrong Rachanuphap gave the following description of the gin muans system prior to the administrative reform in the 1880s: The principles of public administration known as gin muang are based on the idea that the governor (jad m gy must give up his private pursuits in order to administer matters of the state so that the people will and without Thus the people must repay this sacrifice with gratitude by helping him with his tasks or sharing with him goods which they produce or find, such as giving him the surplus of their own fish and other food. By this means the people relieve the governor of having to worry about his livelihood. With many people lending a helping omfortably. The central hand, the governor can liv government does not have t pay is regular stipend. It is sufficient just to give him some fee in cash as expenses. His assistants (krommakanu will receive similar benefits, although less in accordance with their lower ranks... As for their livelihood, they are in a position to make use of their official posts to earn income better than anyone else... Thus there arose a widespread custom of earning an income from official positions. This gin muuang system is sometimes called mao ntuang or sub- contracting administration. The government subcontracted the tasks of tax collection and keeping of law and order to the governor and his men This system of subcontracting entailed low expenses on the part of the central government. In principle the governor could keep one third of the tax collected for his own use, and in practice the percentage might be more. In other cases the contract might pecify certain lump sum to be paid to the central government on an annual basis What was over and above the contractual amount, the governor and his men could keep Kromnakan were the assistants of the governor who carried out the actual work of tax collection. The governor recruited