Absolutely hopeless as it may seem, the critical state of the Thai police deserves one last try. And who says the last, desperate measure has to be extremely tough, costly or divisive?
This week has seen rock bottom. Just when the country thought nothing would beat the Kamnan Nok incident, the most powerful men in the force have been accused, directly or indirectly, of involvement in massive and systematic bribe taking. In a matter of months, the badly-tainted image of the Thai police has been blown up apparently beyond repair.
Newscasters and commentators are in unison about the force being rotten to its core. They all agree while “good apples” are out there, the bad ones have been too dominant and unstoppable. Transfers and promotions are less and less on merits, and corrupt practices are feeding on themselves.
Bad bosses are making initially-good subordinates corrupt. Good…
