Time up for corruption?

In developing countries, fighting corruption is usually limited to a rampant election cry, but strengthening institutions and improving transparency to actually implement stronger governance policies rarely gets concentrated attention. However, this trend seems to be changing in some countries, with interesting commonalities seen in Sri Lanka and Thailand. 

A petition calling for the resignation of Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister attracted thousands of signatures this week, heaping pressure on the junta’s second-in-command to step aside amid a scandal over a luxury watch and undeclared assets, Reuters reported. The Deputy Prime Minister being spotted with multiple expensive watches would remind Sri Lankans of similar accusations levelled at former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s eldest son Namal Rajapaksa who garnered the ire of local netizens after sporting a series of expensive watches.  

In the case of Thailand, the scandal has also revealed growing signs of disgruntlement among the Thai public, and added to uncertainty over whether the junta will call an election later this year that is supposed to move the Southeast Asian nation back toward democracy.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) placed Prawit Wongsuwan, 72, a former Army chief who is also Defence Minister, under investigation after his appearance in a photograph of the Cabinet wearing a diamond ring and a luxury watch in December sparked an avalanche of criticism on social media.

Thai netizens have since identified 25 expensive luxury watches that the former General has worn but not declared to the anti-graft body. Prawit has said that he borrowed the timepieces from friends, but would resign if that was the public’s wish. According to Thailand’s anti-corruption act, all political officeholders must fully disclose all of their assets. A similar asset declaration law exists in Sri Lanka but is not always fully implemented. 

The scandal is a sore point for the junta, whose promise to rid Thailand’s politics of corruption was central to its premise for staging a 2014 coup. Just a few months later Sri Lanka also saw an unexpected change of power with President Maithripala Sirisena being elected on a strong anti-corruption campaign platform. Since then Sri Lankans too have become impatient of good governance pledges not being delivered on time.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who has said a general election will take place in November, last week asked for more time in office to prepare the country for the vote. Signs of growing impatience with the junta have been manifest in a steady stream of protests calling for a quick return to democracy and in defiance of a junta crackdown on freedom of assembly. 

While Sri Lanka did not have to pay such a steep price to focus political attention on corruption it is also running out of patience. During his Independence Day address President Sirisena described fighting corruption as the new form of patriotism, highlighting both the dire need and danger not meeting expectations poses to politicians. 

The fight against corruption will always be a long battle, perhaps even taking several terms of Government to achieve. But it is one that developing nations are increasingly turning to as they become fed up of the insensitivities of their political elite. Sri Lanka has made a start, but it needs to make sure it remains at the crest of the wave.