Had the campaign "Speak up to end corruption" emerged ten years ago, it might have had some effect.
Alas, time has passed. Through political upheavals, deep-seated conflicts and a ravaging pandemic, people's expectations of what government agencies should do have completely changed.
Before, it might have been "cool" enough to launch an awareness campaign featuring celebrities talking about hard issues like corruption. Now, however, the problem has plagued society for so long and taken such deep roots that it seems to have become part of our everyday life, marking every step from birth to death.
With the reality being what it is, the commercial-like campaign thus appears superfluous.
The campaign came to the attention of the public last week when a dozen or so celebrities uploaded portraits of themselves on social media with the message "speak up to end corruption" written across their hands, arms or faces. The images were accompanied by brief stories about what social ills the celebrities would like people to speak out against.
The mystery didn't last long. Soon, news reports revealed that the campaign was under the aegis of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).
According to a PPTV report, the campaign is aimed at promoting zero tolerance against corruption.
Unfortunately, it seems to have received sub-zero feedback. Netizens slammed it as shallow, hypocritical and a waste of public money. Some said the budget for the campaign would have been better spent on buying Covid-19 vaccines.
Others linked it to the ongoing political conflicts, saying the celebrities got paid to "speak up" under the campaign but when ordinary people wanted to "speak up" they got blasted with tear gas and rubber bullets.
Some also alluded to an earlier incident when some actors and actresses were threatened with lawsuits when they called out and criticised the government's handling of the Covid-19 crisis.
The backlash was so strong that several celebrities decided to remove their images from Instagram, according to a TNN report.
The perceived failure of the "speak up" campaign speaks volumes about how the bureaucracy is lagging behind the people. The gap lies not just in the performance and expectation but also deep in the mindset. When the bureaucrats think "control", people are increasingly demanding "service".
Some groups have become so progressive they are calling for changes at the structural level. But state as well as independent agencies seem to be stuck in the status quo, believing that there is no need to mess with the structure even if it is seen as being lopsided as long as we have "good" people at work.
That is probably why the NACC believes it would be better for people to speak up against corruption than to do the hard lifting of making all state functions transparent, simplifying the legal process and ensuring that the country is really governed by the rule of law.
Part of the reason why the "speak up" campaign is seen as "fake" is because it seems to present itself as a bold move when there is nothing bold about it at all.
Is it true that corruption can be eradicated if people speak up against it?
In this time and age when people take to social media every day to question basically every deal that government agencies are involved with -- from regulating the prices of surgical masks to Covid-19 vaccines to antigen test kits -- what has been done about them? Does the NACC try to get to the bottom of any of these deals?
The problem of corruption in Thailand has advanced so much it has become almost state-of-the-art. It's not only systematic but can take the form of corruption by policy which is probably the most dangerous and difficult to tackle.
For the graft buster to believe that the problem can be wiped out if people just speak up seems to be naive at best. Also, in a time when several groups are talking openly about reform of the monarchy complete with hashtags that would have been unthinkable ten years ago such as #RepublicOfThailand or #RoyalMotorcade, speaking up against corruption does not sound audacious. If anything, it appears too timid and too little, a child playing with tin soldiers when a real war is raging.
The "speak up" campaign appears even more irrelevant having been launched at the time when the Covid-19 pandemic is peaking, when people's doubts and resentment against government agencies are reaching a crescendo as well.
Why is there a need to finance such a campaign now when most people are struggling to cope with the crisis? When services from government agencies are largely in doubt? And when the NACC itself is not seen as contributing anything?
Atiya Achakulwisut is a Bangkok Post columnist.