The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has done the country a disservice by secretly changing the law and instituting the death penalty as the maximum punishment for graft. The commission claims it discussed the law at length and agreed the death penalty is appropriate for such a severe offence as corruption. The NACC has acted in a disappointing and a high-handed matter. The legislature and government should act to rescind the NACC's secret decree and start over again. A new corruption law is needed, but it must undergo public debate, including the decision to extend the use of capital punishment.
The NACC has ignored widespread questioning of the use of the death penalty. It is unacceptable that this independent body should institute this major change is such a manner. Thailand has not yet joined many of its Asean neighbours in abolishing executions. But it has not used the ultimate penalty in more than six years. The executions of two drug dealers by lethal injection in August, 2009, were the last use of the death penalty. Before that, seven years passed without an execution.
- Background: NACC defends death penalty
Since 2002, when executions in Thailand almost completely stopped, numerous capital cases have come before the courts. In almost all such cases, the judges decided against the death penalty. Several of the cases have involved horrendous crimes that shocked the nation. These included the serial sex-killer "Nui", who abused and murdered six-year-old Nong Cartoon in 2013. The Phra Khanong Provincial Court said it spared his life because he confessed.
So the NACC has essentially decided that what it called the "severe offence" of stealing state money is worse than the repeated sexual abuse and killing of many girls over a long period. Of course the anti-graft agency made no such comparison. But it should have. While the use of the death penalty has been set aside for the worst crimes - drug dealing, child murders - the NACC has rehabilitated capital punishment for use against people who steal.
This seems an obvious case of a copycat and knee-jerk reaction to corruption crackdowns in other countries, notably China. Officials in that country believe that using the death penalty will either deter or properly punish those involved in theft of state money or property. China also believes that executions are fit deterrents and punishment for drug dealing. But just last week, Beijing admitted that drug trafficking and abuse are "out of control" in southern China, so the death penalty hasn't actually worked as claimed.
Two facts are indisputable. Graft is rampant and even ingrained in Thailand's government culture. In addition, no one can doubt the honesty and sincerity of the NACC. However, neither of these facts suggests the death penalty is either useful or just in battling graft or enabling the NACC.
The strongest deterrent against corruption is a fearless, incorruptible agency dedicated to exposing dishonest people in government, business and society. The corrupt fear two things worse than death: exposure and loss of their ill-gained profits. The shame of exposure of graft, arrest and trial is a far greater deterrent than prison or death. The humiliation that a corrupt person brings to himself and his family can be compounded by seizure of every ill-gotten gain from the acts of graft.
Better laws are needed to fight corruption. But the NACC should not micromanage the justice system. It is the duty of parliament and the public to decide such important issues.