Speaking during a lecture on "Money Politics in Thailand" at Chulalongkorn University, Pasuk said the evolving nature of money politics in Thailand might eventually end the myth of Thailand being among the few of countries that have a high level of corruption but also high GDP growth.

She cited a World Bank study that showed that corruption tended to dampen economic growth. Cases in point were India before its economic reform, and African countries.

Money politics is the process through which politicians and businessmen use wealth to acquire and keep political power.

However, World Bank economists were puzzled by the situation in Thailand and South Korea in the 1970s, which had high corruption but showed spectacular GDP growth.

Pasuk said despite the high corruption, these countries had a supportive economic environment that encouraged local entrepreneurs and politicians, who had made money from politics, to re-invest their money in local business.

In other countries with corruption problems, assets were relocated overseas instead.

In the early period of money politics in Thailand, Chinese entrepreneurs, despite having to share their profits with military-installed governments, thought the overall business environment was still worthwhile and re-invested their earnings in the country.

During this time the media was gagged and civil society was weak, so those in power didn't have to expend extra effort to stay in power.

In the second period, the semi-democratic and democratic period of the 1980s to 1990s, most of the forms of corrupt revenue-gathering remained the same. The government still collected commission fees for business licences and government concessions. 

However, the people in power had to make extra efforts to maintain their interests amidst the blossoming of the democratic system.

The third period in Thailand began with the economic crisis of 1997. The election of 2001 began a period in which the government was formed by the tycoons themselves. Businessmen who survived the crisis formed the Thai Rak Thai Party and were elected to government.

Pasuk said that although Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra got elected in 2001 due to innovative platforms, his government pursued many policies aimed at benefiting the family businesses of politicians and friends, she said.

She said that if the trend, which is counterproductive to economic development, continued, some businessmen and even politicians might feel that they should put their money outside the country.

If this were the case, Thai society would run a risk not only of worsening economic development but also of worsening prospects for democratisation, since the government would continue trying to reduce the cost of corruption by controlling the media, and undermining the courts, critics and independent bodies.

The only solution to counter the evolution of money politics in this direction is to create independent institutions and support freedom of media and the civil society, she said.

Jeerawat Na Thalang

The Nation