.administration and politics. This focus stems in part from the pervasiveness of corruption the Tha bureaucratic and political systems. In a study published in 1975 Morell showed that at least 75 per cent of MPs received commissions from development projects and payments from party leaders in return for their support, and many also may been involved in extorting money from local businessmen Morell estimated that corruption by members of the legislatures to 1.7 million per generated flows in the range of US$ 0.4 year. Yet he contended that this amount was small in comparison to the income flows from corruption in the bureaucracy. He estimated that between 1969 and 1971 bureaucratic corruption may have involved up to US$ 800 million or half of the govern ment budget Many of the writers on corruption in Thai politics since the Second World War start out from the seminal article by Lucien Hanks on Merit and Power in the Thai Social Order .7 Hanks argued that within the Thai value system, merit could be derived from power and that this equation was the basis for patron-client relationships which formed the structure of Thai political society Following Hanks, subsequent writers interpreted Thai political corruption in the context of patron-client ties Writing in the 1960s, Fred W. Riggs analysed the ways in which the Chinese business community was able to flourish in Thailand. Each businessman received protection from an influential Thai official to carry out his business, and in return the Chinese businessman paid his protector or patron for the service Riggs argued that in the traditional context of Thai society this exchange of mutual interests an exchange of money for political was a normal state of affairs and should not be protection considered a corrupt practice Van Roy 10 explained the existence and continuity of pervasive corruption in Thailand as a carryover of patron-client style from the pre-modern sakdina period, and especially from the Thai tradition of presenting gifts to high officials. Once appointed to a senior position, a Thai bureaucrat will tend to treat his office as a private domain and as a legitimate tool for generating revenue. He will accept fees and gifts for