Pasuk Phongpaichit and Sungsidh Piriyarangsan claim that officials were traditionally not
paid salaries but were entitled to retain a 10 to 30 percent portion of the money involved
as a fee for their services. Even at these times wrong-doers were around and were called
ging maung (“eating the state”). Pasuk and Sungsidh further explain that in traditional
Thai value system merit is derived from power and in this way forms a basis for patronclient
relationship in the political society. There is also a tradition of presenting gifts to
high officials. In this context you see that some things used to be legitimate under the
traditional patronage system but are clearly to be considered problematic in modern legal
system. /2/
Pasuk, and Sungsidh did a survey concerning people’s attitudes towards corruption. This
study showed that many Thais still accept paying fees to officials as sin nam jai, the 'gifts
of good will' and do not see that as a form of corruption. Much more they see taking
things, even small ones like pencils, home from office corrupt. An other thing they found
out was that there is a growing group of middle class people who oppose the corruption
in its all forms. Still people expected the corruption even grow rather than disappear. /2/
One other culture based area concerning corruption is existence of influential provincial
businessmen called Jao Pho (“godfather”). These men must be very similar to the heads
of traditional Chinese business networks, and have often raised them selves above the