Surveys to help inform graft policies

The Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand (ACT) has formed an alliance with civic networks to survey the public on their expectations of parties’ anti-graft policies in the run-up to the poll, said ACT chairman Pramon Sutivong.

He said the aim of the surveys was to let the parties know they need to incorporate graft-combating policies in their campaign platforms and the people will be able to rate them on how successful they think they will be.

The polls are the product of a collaboration between the ACT, the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC), and the Khon Thai Foundation, who have teamed up with civic networks to conduct the surveys nationwide.

Mr Pramon said that with the election due in February, parties should take the opportunity to design effective anti-corruption manifestos and advertise them.

The parties are expected to reveal their policies soon after the election date is officially announced in the next two to three weeks.

The polls were to be carried out between Nov 16 and Dec 15 on various graftrelated topics.

The results will be disclosed on Dec 20, by which time the parties will likely have announced their anti-corruption platforms.

Mr Pramon said the parties must implement the policies if they become part of the next government.

“The promise must be honoured,” he said.

UTCC rector Saowanee Thairungroj said each of the polls will have at least 3,000 respondents, one in six of whom will be first-time voters.

The topics of the survey touch on people’s expectations of how the anti-corruption policies should be executed.

They will also include questions on whether politicians are committed to implementing the anti-graft policies.

The university will make the surveys available online between Dec 1-14.

In a previous survey that was under way before the anti-graft survey alliance was established, 99% of respondents said they could not tolerate corruption and 86% expressed their willingness to be part of a graft eradication effort.

Wichian Pongsathorn, chairman of the Khon Thai Foundation, said many stakeholders are helping to spread the word about the graft policy surveys through social media.