LOCAL
Time to ‘get cracking’
New allegations of government corruption
present a challenge to the PM
The beginning
of the air traffic control tower rises above construction work
at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Bangkok's new international hub is
one of the mega-projects said to be riddled with corruption. — Tawatchai Kemgumnerd |
Newspaper headlines pack a lot of information
into a very few words. To save space, headline writers tend to use
a lot of short words. In Thailand, one of the most common of these
words is “graft”. It is used in place of its longer equivalent “corruption”.
The reason that graft is used so often is that
corruption continues to a dishearteningly common occurrence,
despite Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s repeated promise to
stamp it out. Last week, two more high-profile cases
came to light and people are watching very closely to see how Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will respond.
The first involves allegations by a group of retired
naval officers that specifications of three new offshore
patrol boats had been improperly altered to favour certain
suppliers. What makes this of special interest is that the vessels
were originally the idea of His Majesty the King who had in mind
patrol boats with a greater range and capacity.
The second case came about after it was discovered
that a US firm scheduled security screening machines for the new
Suvarnabhumi airport had paid a $800,000 (32 million baht) fine
to the US government for improper dealings in three Asian countries,
including Thailand.
The firm, InVision Technologies Inc, admitted to
US authorities that there was a “high probability” its agents or
distributors had paid “officials or political parties” for selling
its products to Thailand, as well as China and the Philippines.
Not surprisingly, the two cases prompted
some harsh criticism on the Bangkok Post editorial page.
“The reports that the pay-offs involving the airport deal were discovered
in the US and legal action was taken is a huge slap in the face
of Thailand,” last Wednesday’s lead editorial said. “The claims
of irregularities in the patrol boat acquisition also
lend weight to the accepted belief that arms traders continue
to wield an unhealthy influence over our national security.
The editorial ended with a challenge to the Prime
Minister himself. “Prime Minister Thaksin commenced his second
term in office by announcing the bold policy to eliminate corruption
in all its forms. The scandals involving the new international airport
and the navy present him with the ideal opportunity to prove he
means business. So let's get cracking, beginning with revealing
to the public the full substance of these allegations.”
Going ‘phishing’
Beware of nasty people who are on the search
for some of your most sensitive information
A
couple of weeks ago, the Bangkok Post carried a short story
on what has become a very big problem for Internet users worldwide.
The problem is known as phishing (probably a play on the
word “fishing”) and it often involves some very sophisticated
tricks to get Internet users to reveal personal information, such
as credit card numbers, user names and passwords.
A phishing attack usually begins with an authentic-sounding
unsolicited email most us know as “spam”. It appears to come
from your bank or a legitimate organisation where you may hold an
account — the online auction house eBay, for example. The message
normally has an urgent tone, requiring you to respond immediately
to avoid something bad from happening.
The object from the
phisher’s point of view is to entice you into revealing
personal information. For example, here is an example of an email
purporting to come from eBay:
“Dear valued customer
Need Help? We regret to inform you that your eBay account could
be suspended if you don’t re-update your account information.
To resolve this problems please click here and re-enter your account
information. If your problems could not be resolved your account
will be suspended for a period of 3-4 days, after this period your
account will be terminated.”
When you
click on the link, you will be directed to a website that appears
to be a legitimate part of the eBay website. It is not, and
any information you divulge is likely to be used by the phisher
to carry out illegal activities like making unauthorised trades
using your account.
As a general rule, never respond to such an email.
Your bank will not send you such a message and neither will any
legitimate organisation that does business online. Unfortunately,
current estimates indicate that phishers get as high as a 5 percent
response rate, much higher than for other forms of spam. Given that
they send out millions of emails, you can guess how lucrative
such a scam can be.
The problem is serious enough locally for the Bank
of Thailand to have directed financial institutions to strengthen
the security of their Internet banking operations. But there is
only so much they can do. Their customers have to vigilant
as well. Be warned.
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get cracking
to start working seriously
stamp out
to stop and activity and get rid of it completely
high-profile
getting a lot of public attention
specifications
detailed descriptions of how something should be done or built
altered
changed
vessels
large boats or ships
prompted
caused to happen
slap
a quick hit with the flat
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part of the hand
slap in the face
an action that causes someone to be upset or insulted
irregularities
actions that are not according to the normal rules
acquisition
purchase
lend weight to
to make more believable
wield
to have a lot of influence or power over other people
commenced
began
revealing
making known to the public |
substance
importance, seriousness or relationship to the real facts
sophisticated
clever and complicated in the way it works
unsolicited
not having been requested
urgent
the needs to be dealt with immediately
entice
to persuade someone to do something
revealing
making known
purporting
claiming to be something that may not be true
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suspended
stopped temporarily
terminated
ended
legitimate
acceptable according to the law
divulge
to give out information that is supposed to be secret
lucrative
earning a lot of money; profitable
scam
a clever and dishonest plan for making money
vigilant
watchful; very careful to notice any signs of danger or trouble
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INTERNATIONAL
Entering the home stretch
Iraq finally becomes a significant UK campaign
issue
On Thursday, voters throughout
the UK will go to the polls to elect representatives to fill all
646 seats of the House of Commons. Thus far, Prime Minister Tony
Blair and his ruling Labour Party have been reasonably successful
in parrying their opponents attacks on the key
issues raised in the campaign — with the possible exception of one.
That, of course, is the Iraq war.
While most British voters
appear to have opposed the invasion and to this day remain suspicious
of the government’s motives
for going to war, Iraq has not been uppermost in their minds when
it comes to electing their representative to parliament. Polls indicate
that issues like the economy, health and education have been much
more important to most voters.
Last week, however, Iraq
became an issue again with the leak of a pre-war memorandum of legal advice written by attorney
general Lord Goldsmith for Prime Minister Blair. Them memo seems
to suggest that, from a legal standpoint, it was best to take a
cautious approach towards going to war. Leaders
of both opposition parties, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats,
jumped on the leaked statement as proof that that Prime Minister
Blair could not be trusted.
It is not clear what, if
any, effect all this is having on voter opinion. You can find the
latest polling dating on the BBC website at news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/.
Look for the “poll tracker” to see the results of a variety of polls
and while you are there, try out the “seat calculator” to see how
the percentages might translate into seats won or lost.
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home
stretch
the
straight part at the end of a racing track — often used to
indicate the end of something is near
parrying
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defending yourself against attack
motives
reasons for doing something
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leak
the release of secret information
cautious
careful to avoid risks or danger
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