Bribery: A New Kind of Business
While obsession over Armani, Versace, Lamborghini, and other luxurious brand names is engrossing the young minds of the future generation, our treasured society has been consumed by a destructive parasite. Ignorance of the public is a fertile nutrient that makes the parasite grow even stronger. It survives the most advanced treatments and is passing through undetected and below the radar for generations. Parents are passing the disease to their child involuntarily. Corruption, the notorious parasite, seems to be an unsolvable problem for Thais. Young people are infected with corruption starting in the form of school bribery.
Motivation
‘“If you can’t make sacrifices for your kids- you don’t deserve them. A true parent would give their life and their very last breath,” stated an annoymous source. Parents are willing to do anything for their children. They will take a bullet if they have to. When it comes to education, every parent wants the best for their child. In Thailand, some parents are paying particular schools to have their child enroll at these places. The reason they are paying the schools is simple: their child can receive a better education and build a better future. For the parents who want their children to enter a better college (Thammasat, Mahidol, Chulalongkorn University), they believe that the school their children graduated from (Triam Udom Suksa School, Suankularb Wittayalai School) is much more important than the actual academic results. Schools are like brand bags; Prada, Hermes, Chanel, Valentino everyone wants to show off what brand they are carrying. Depending on the style and brand the price can be higher or lower, brand bags are like schools. The better known the schools are the harder it is for the students to enter.
Parents view that schools are crucial in shaping the children’s future. Whether it’s kindergarten or high school, every level impacts the other. Many parents are very convinced that if they can get their hands on a decent high school, their child will much easily enroll at top universities. “It’s an exchange for a better future,” said Mrs. P, a mother of an enrolled-through-bribery Bodindecha (Sing Singhaseni) School student.
“I’m certain it affects a hundred percent. According to my experience, having enrolled in the other (regular) type of schools, students will have another kind of classmates and educations. On the other hand, if they enroll at a decent school, they will accomplish more,” Mrs.P elaborated. “If they enroll at a well-known school with the decent education system, they will be able to pass the university entrance exam, and most of their classmates will be able to do that, too. And that’s really different from having only two out of the whole class to pass the entrance exam,” she continued.
Mrs. P might also call this bribery as a “push.” She explained how the bribery system, somewhat, forced her to do it. “In the case of my son who was only a mark away from the passing score, my son would have no problem getting into the school if there was no bribery system. For instance, another thirty to forty students might have taken over my son’s seat and force his score down. This is what I always think about the concept of this (bribery) system. So, there’s no way to fix it. If you want your child to enroll, then you have got to compete. You have to do it,” she said confidently.
Bribery, in many countries, is considered to be illegal and punishable. However, in Thailand, bribery seems to be very normal for the majority of the people. According to The Nation’s article on school enrollment bribery in 2011, the annual accumulated bribery paid was 12 billion baht. This number is gathered only from 366 schools in Thailand.
Price
Enrollment bribes can also come in many forms. The most common one is in the form of money. It can range from a small amount of money to millions depending on how good or famous the school is. “I paid 350,000 baht for my children to get into this school,” said Ms. Wandee Kijbumrunglap, a parent who bribed through an agent. She also added, “At first, we agreed on the price of 300,000 baht, but for some reason, it went up.”
Price can vary depending on which school the parents want their children to enroll in. Furthermore, parents can also be charged an extra amount of money if they want their children to be in the top homerooms.
“Nowadays, I believe that you have to pay 500,000 per head to get in, but if you really want your children’s names written on the student name list, you will have to pay up to million baht,” said Ms. Wandee.
The bribery for schools situated in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region would be higher than schools located in the suburban areas. This has caused schools to become a form of business to seek profits from parents. Sometimes, external agencies step in to take advantage. In this case, parents would have to pay extra money in the form of commission fees.
Enrollment bribe can also come in other forms such as goods, relationships between the parents and the school and even the surname. Pirapa Pinijpreecha, a mother of Bodindecha (Sing Singhaseni) School student, said “The money, here, is similar to the donation to the school. I donated money and goods to school which amounted to 50,000 baht.”
Also, Mr. Pisit Kiettiyos, 41, parent who bribed for his nephew to get into the well-known Thai high school in Patum Thani, explained “As far as I know, I don’t think there is such a standard for tea money because it may come in the form of presenting goods such as air conditioners, light bulbs and school equipment.” Mr.Pisit Kiettiyos, paid tea money to the school. At this point, he mentioned, “I began with 20,000 baht and that didn’t include what I have given to the school before.”
He further added, “my relationship with this school is very good. I helped and donated a lot for the school such as four large air conditioners. I was the primary sponsor for scholarships for about two years. I was involved with supporting the sports kits for the school athletes. Lastly, I am a good friend with the co-director (general service officer) of this school for years, and that I think this made everything easier due to the connection.”
From this, sometimes, the good relationship is not enough. Parents still need to pay tea money to the school. Therefore, it could be said that this nepotism and favoritism have a significant role in enrollment bribes, but then money is more important than any factor.
System
While Thai students are competing for tooth and nail to enter top performing schools in the country, the enrollment is completed as a business practice by some school staff. Every year, an enormous amount of money is transferred from parents to schools as “tea money” in the way that can be seen as a “lawful bribery.”
“We can say that the school enrolling system in Thailand almost derives from bribery,” said Surad Thongcharoen, a special educator for Bureau of Academic Affairs and Educational Standards. “Students can enroll through a special system conducted by the Parent-Teacher Association as the school will admit certain students if they donate some money to the school.”
Comparing to overcrowded classrooms in Thai public schools, the budget provided by the government seems to be inadequate. To get more money, the Parent-Teacher Association becomes a channel where schools turn the bribery into legal practice. Parents will offer an amount of money along with a letter of intent to the association which will consider both the student’s GPA and the price before providing an extra seat for the student. The bribery is flagrantly committed among parents, Parent-Teacher Association, and Alumni Association which, sometimes, parents will even get a receipt for having committed the lawful bribery. In order to bribe more seamlessly, parents can donate some facilities, such as toilets or renovation of the library.
“It is counted as a solution for parents who can afford. It’s a win-win situation for all,” said Surad. “There are extra seats for bribed student has no effect on the regular quota.”
Not every student can enter the school using tea money. We can never know if the quota is full, student’s GPA is too low, or the amount of money that parents offer is not appealing enough. However, parents still have another way to buy a seat for their children.
Some school authorities, such as school director or vice director, call for money from parents who want to buy seats for their children. “If the secretary of the school director comes to you and raises two fingers, it means two hundred thousand baht for the seat. If three fingers, it’s three hundred thousand baht,” said a former student of a famous school in Ladprao.
The process is similar to the admission through the Parent-Teacher Association; however, it is riskier, and there is a greater chance of getting caught. These people will only accept hard cash to avoid leaving any paper trail. Thus, parents will not get a receipt from this kind of bribery.
Patra Nanthawat has been working for the English Program of Robroopasawittaya Phuket School. She has never seen the corruption practice herself, but she has heard from both school staffs and parents about such wrongdoing. She explained, “If the total amount of students the school will accept is 30, sometimes the school authorities might order the staff to accept only 25 students. The other five seats are reserved for some particular students who don’t have talents but want to enter the school. Sometimes, the authorities even use their power to force the school to accept some students.”
Schools and parents turn the green light on for bribery, but the law prefers the red one.
“Be ethical, honest, well-intentioned, and generous,” students echoed one of the Twelve Values Announced by the Head of the National Council for Peace and Order. The Twelve Values are mandated to be memorized by every student in the country. Its goal is to implant ethical value within the young generation.
In spite of 84-year-old democracy regime of Thailand, it’s still at war with the weak enforcement of the law. It’s questionable if it is enough for few words to change a corrupted society when even the laws themselves cannot do much. Corruption is making the nation sick.
“Thai law has punishment for bribery. It’s a criminal offense,” said Ms. Jantree Sinsuppraroek, an associate professor of public international law and contemporary political issue at Chulalongkorn University.
“Whoever, giving, offering or agreeing to give the property or any other benefit to the official,” stated section 144 of Thai Criminal law, “shall be imprisoned not out of five years or fined not out of ten thousand baht, or both.”
Every teacher in public school is considered to be a government officer. This means that parents, who bribe school officer with any benefit, are charged with section 144 automatically. The criminal law requires no lawsuits to be issued. However, the threat of being imprisoned for five years and also ten thousand baht fine does not seem to scare Thai parents. Society acts like the law do not exist, or perhaps they literally do not know that it exists. On public forums and in other public places, the amount of money paid in school bribery is openly discussed.
“The punishment for public officers is more severe than private individuals because the action is a violation of power,” Ms. Jantree explained further.
If the public school officer asks for bribery or accepts bribery, the ultimate sentence is death.
According to Section 149 of Thai Criminal Law, the officer could “be punished with imprisonment of five to twenty years or imprisonment for life, and fined of two thousand to forty thousand baht, or death.”
The death penalty is the highest punishment in the law. However, in a society that accepts such action as a social value, every person turns a blind eye to it.
Ms. Patra Nanthawat’s company offers English Program to Phuket Provincial Administration Organization. Robroopasawittaya Phuket School, where she’s employed, works in close collaboration with government officers and she was surprised to learn about the harsh punishment.
“No one really talks about the punishment for committing bribery,” said Ms. Patra. “No one mentions policies against school bribery, let alone the law.”
Yet, law enforcement is not the core problem of bribery. Ms. Jantree explained that it’s the society that should be blamed. The government imposes law enforcement in response to the need of people in the society. “Thai people accept bribery as a custom. Thai society has a patron-client system. Therefore, no force pushes the government to act.”
The biggest flaw in the law is that it’s not applicable to private schools. Life is not fair. While parties in public school have to risk facing criminal charges, people involved in private school bribery have to risk nothing. It’s a big gap in the law that only specifies and limits wrongdoing to the government officer.
Moreover, even the Ministry of Education has minimal impact on private schools. Private schools have the right to follow or not follow the ministry’s policy.
“The ministry can only ‘turn a blind eye’ at the schools, but they can never actually fully control the schools,” Mrs. Wilailuck Sungneat, a senior teacher at a private school in Bangkok.
If bribery is an influenza virus, Thailand has been sneezing for a long time. The reason that it has not been cured is its doctor refuses to give medicine; its family does not care, and its partner also has the flu.
Effect
Thai society has always been appalled by the idea of corruption. An example of this attitude can be taken from former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra who was ousted over allegations of corruption. The citizens were rioting against Ms. Yingluck, unhappy that corruption could be going on right under their noses. Hence, showing the world that they would not stand for such behavior.
Whenever a case comes to light, it would be plastered across the front page of all the newspapers. However, this raises a question whether people truly care about corruption or are people merely selfish?
Corruption on a national level is handled with appropriateness, but parents are feeding the idea of bribery which equates to corruption to their children at a very young age. People might see bribery as a small problem since it has become a normality in the society.
“The more people look at bribery as something that has been normalized, the more chances that this topic will become something that we do not feel the need to care for,” said Patra Nanthawat, General Manager of Robroopasawittaya Phuket School.
Students that enter the school through bribery may find it difficult to keep up with the courses seeing as they did not pass the qualifications to get into the institution without extra payment. This can cause a tremendous amount of stress to the students. It can also create the need for them to take extra curriculum to keep up with the class.
Students may feel as though they are different from the rest of the class. Despite no actual segregation done to the students, the feeling may stem from within themselves. In the worst case scenario, the students may be bullied by peers if they ever find out they have entered the school through bribery money.
When students fail to keep up with the curriculum, they may spiral down the lane of laziness. With the mindset of them not keeping up, they prefer not to pay attention in class; hence, not exceeding academically.
“When they fail to exceed in studies, the reality does not meet their expectations. This causes them to feel pressured. Lastly, the adverse effect goes back to the student,” said Mr. Klitapas Simma, a teacher from Triamudomsuksa School.
Children who grew up with everything served to them on a silver platter would have the mindset that money can buy anything and everything that they desire. That is the very root of corruption. Once they grow up into powerful adults, they may be more prone to use corrupted ways to get things done. This builds the mentality of them getting what they want without putting much effort or needing much determination. As long as they have money, things will be okay.
With children getting everything that they want, this may bring together a growth of snobbery and materialistic mindset to them. People that are used to getting everything they want, in particular through the power of money tend to prioritize things rather oddly.
Some may look at the brighter effects that bribery brings to students. The first good effect mentioned is that students have a bigger chance to enter better universities. It would seem as though good university degree promises you a lot in what your future holds, especially in Thailand due to the local morals.
The students will also have a quality enviroment mingle around, despite not entering schools through exams. An enviroment that is surrounded by determined students instead of an environment where students focus on fun rather than education. This may also increase the quality of life for them to grow into well-mannered adults. People see this as a stepping stone to a successful future - considering it a small bump in the road to have to pay extra money.
A question surfaces. Do the good sides really outweigh the corrupted morals of the country?
Bribery in school enrollment can also affect families. Bribing students into school will increase the amount of expenses that parents have to spend on their children. In some families, the tuition fee alone is a luxury only some can afford. This is the point where inequality of society increases, placing a lot of pressure on the innocent children. Money has become the primary concern of the society. In some families that do not have any other choice, the situation can drive them to commit theft. This could stem from bigger problems in the society.
“There are many effects when it comes down to bribery. Bribery in schools may not seem like a big deal. Though, if you look at it logically enough, it is one of the reasons that create the patron-client system which is holding our country back. It runs in the blood of Thais.” said Mr.Sin Suebsuan, Director of the Moral Promotion Center (Public Organization) working for the government.
He pointed out that bribery leads to corruption. If individuals think money can buy everything then at one point, from being the payer, they will start to be the collector or person who requests the bribe.
Bribery may not seem like a big problem considering it stemmed from the love parents have for their children. The parents are merely molding a successful path for their children but little did they know, it is the process of molding a successful path towards corruption in the country.
Mr. Sin hopes that the wave of the new generation will be able to eliminate corruption. There was a situation in Thailand that people revolt and gather together to refuse the amnesty law for individuals who are in favor of corruption. He said this is not about politics and colors. It’s about millions of people feel unbearable to the corruption, corruption to laws, to society, to the country , to individuals. “I think this is the sign that our new generation is ready to change.”
The love-hate relationship shared between Thai people and bribery parasite is strong. It is toxic in a way that the society knows it is wrong, but it does not have the heart to let it go. The only way to get rid of the illness is through medicine. However, the medicine is too bitter and Thai society is a disobedient child that refuses to take the pill and suffer from the illness. “The solution is to fix the system by seeing who and what is related to the problem such as the policy, legal, public administration, or education of morality to the people,” said Sin Seubsuan. “Thailand has never had an actual educational system reformation. There are only small changes in the structure of Ministry of Education, and it eventually promotes patronage system. When the government cannot solve the problem, it just lets the family institution to shoulder the burden.”
