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7 December 2011, BANGKOK —
Thailand is calling on its youth to join the anti-corruption fight with a new campaign launched yesterday.
The campaign, titled "Corruption - I Won't Accept It", is aimed at educating the young about the dangers of corruption in Thai society and was kicked off yesterday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the National Anti Corruption (NACC) Commission.
The event was held to mark International Anti-Corruption Day on Dec 9.
Short documentaries produced by seven universities across the country: Chulalongkorn, Chiang Mai, Thammasat, Prince of Songkla, Khon Kaen, Thai Chamber of Commerce, Rangsit, and Chandrakasem Rajabhat were premiered to send anti-corruption messages to students in the hope they will share the message with their peers.
A recent poll showed the majority of Thai people, and particularly students aged below 20 years, said a corrupt government was acceptable if it could also bring prosperity to the country.
"Corruption in Thai society remains its most serious problem," said NACC chairman Panthep Klanarongran.
"It is like a cancer damaging the economy, society and morality of this country. Such perceptions toward the issue among the young need to be changed."
Thailand ranks 80th among 183 countries worldwide listed in the 2011 Corruption Perception Index, released last week by Transparency International, two steps lower than last year's ranking.
The country received 3.4 points on a scale of 0-10, with 10 points meaning a country has negligible corruption.
"The rank is relatively low and certainly nothing to be proud of," said anti-corruption specialist Samuel De Jaegere, UNDP Asia Pacific Regional Centre.
The fight against corruption is a long-term effort and the country needs to be able to count on its youth to work on this issue, he said.
Sangsit Piriyarangsan, chairman of the governance development doctorate degree course at Chandrakasem Rajabhat University in Bangkok, said it was evident in many countries - including Thailand - that corruption could not be solved by only the rule of law.
Prevention was what was most needed.
Narumol Deedum, a fourth-year student at Chiang Mai University's faculty of political sciences which produced an anti-corruption video, said she and her team wanted to send the message to audiences around the same age as her to help them understand that graft can never be a good thing for Thai society.
"We understand that the young generation like us must start saying no to corruption now," the 21-year-old student said. "Otherwise the generations after us will be those who will have to bear the negative consequences of the problem in our country."
Original story appeared in the Bangkok Post, December 7 at: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/269571/youth-urged-to-join-fight-against-corruption
For further information, please contact:
Mark S. Cogan, Communications and Media Officer, UNDP Thailand, office: 02 288 1887, cell: 087 972 7435; mark.cogan@undp.org
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