Deunden Nikomborirak, Peeradej Tanruangporn One core aspect of the Thai state that annoys people of all political stripes is its secrecy. Despite the promulgation of the Official Information Act in 1997 aimed at promoting the “right to know”, state organisations in Thailand remain riddled with secrecy. A prime example is the rice-pledging scheme. Most developed countries […]
Nanchanok Wongsamuth Calls for reform of public records law Access to information should be the top priority for Thailand to undergo a reform to tackle corruption, said a researcher at a Bangkok seminar. Deunden Nikomborirak, the research director for economic governance at the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), said the public should use information as […]
Erich Parpart and Pichaya Changsorn Lack of trust, poor enforcement highlighted Public sector corruption was a major problem last year, with the “Corruption Situation Index” (CSI) in December showing that 75 per cent of those polled saying it had got worse. That was up 12 percentage points from 2012. This trend needs to be rectified immediately […]
Erich Parpart Amid the political turmoil and demands for the country’s reform, the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), economists and academics have proposed efficiency, transparency, and good governance in every sector of the country. The aim is to stamp out the country’s chronic economic and political problems in all aspects. In each of the past […]
An appointed government proposed by protesters as a “people’s council” could worsen Thailand’s chronic corruption problems, economists have warned. Prof Pasuk Phongpaichit of Chulalongkorn University’s economics faculty yesterday said it is not clear who would appoint the members, and this would allow for corruption. “A small group of people might not come from a fully […]
Somkiat Tangkitvanich, PhD Thailand Development Research Institute Recently, the worlds of research, media and telecommunications have been in disbelief in several actions taken by Thailand’s National Broadcasting Telecommunications Commission (NBTC). First, The Telecommunications Committee of the NBTC (hereafter the “Committee”) has agreed to extend the use of 1800 MHz frequency spectrum for True Move and […]
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), which has failed at most of its assigned work, has recently tried to expand its powers by intimidation and prying into areas where it does not belong. The prime example right now is the defamation lawsuit against a research expert and an editor of the Thai PBS network. […]
GOVERNMENT intervention and protection for some services is partly to blame for significantly lower productivity in Thailand’s service and agricultural sectors compared to the industrial sector, according to a research paper. In the report titled “State Rules and Market Efficiency”, the author, Duanden Nikhomborirak, a researcher at the Thailand Development Research Institute, said the Kingdom’s […]
THE CRIMINAL CHARGE of defamation filed by four members of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission’s telecom committee against a researcher and a broadcaster amounts to intimidation of the rights of the media and scholars to scrutinise the regulatory body, NBTC member Supinya Klangnarong said yesterday. Her remark follows charges filed last week by four […]
SPECIAL REPORT: The government must find a way to balance good health with good economics. The Universal Healthcare Coverage scheme (UC) has experienced a number of difficulties since it was launched 12 years ago, with financial problems being among its biggest challenges. The UC, which was introduced in 2001, was originally known as the “30-baht […]
