Thailand's new anti-corruption mechanisms are the best the country has seen in the past 20 years, an anti-graft advocacy group says.
A report, released late last week by the Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand (ACT), gave an overview of anti-graft efforts put in place in the past two years.
Mana Nimitmongkol, the group's secretary-general, said the government and legislative bodies are taking steps in the right direction by laying new foundations that will help curtail fraud, collusion or bribery.
In the past two years, three laws which would help tackle graft were adopted by the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), including the Licensing Facilitation Act and the Royal Decree on the Revision of Laws.
The former aims to reduce bureaucratic red tape and make administrative procedures simpler, rendering the process more convenient for individuals and private companies, while the second is a simplification of the legal system and will lead to the eventual elimination of unnecessary or outdated laws.
The objective is to make administrative procedures simpler, more transparent and leave fewer steps at the discretion of public officials, said Mr Mana.
"People will be less tempted to bribe officials to get their requests approved, if state agencies follow a clear set of rules and deliver promptly," he added.
Meanwhile, four new laws are in the process of being drafted, including a Public Procurement Act as well as an amendment to the Official Information Act.
Pursuing the goal of reducing corruption, state agencies and private companies must enhance their transparency records, the ACT secretary-general argued, and let civil society be a witness to their dealings.
New tools, such as an Integrity Pact -- an agreement between private and public sectors to let a third party monitor public procurement procedures on large-scale projects, from the drafting of terms of reference to the bidding process and transaction -- will put pressure on both parties as it allows for public scrutiny, he said.
The Integrity Pact, which is already being used in five projects -- including the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority's purchase of NGV-fuelled buses and the construction of the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand's Blue Line -- will be incorporated in the Public Procurement Act.
Since the 2014 coup, the government has vowed to prioritise the fight against corruption as part of its national agenda. According to Mr Mana, it has been doing so by pursuing public officials accused of corruption and imposing immediate sanctions, through the use of Section 44 of the interim charter to suspend them or transfer them to inactive posts.
However, the powers of the prime minister under Section 44 are not a sustainable solution, he added, as they will be null after new election takes place. "The real challenge is to make these efforts last. That is why laying out new regulatory systems and effective anti-graft mechanisms is so important," he stressed, adding that all parties must play a role in fighting corruption.
The government must ensure public officials and the public have a better understanding of how to use these new laws and tools for the better good, he said.
Nonetheless, sanctions imposed on public officials accused of corruption, as well as the work of the National Anti-Corruption Commission in bringing public figures involved in graft to court is a move that will encourage the public to act as watchdogs, he added.