Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam has accepted that Thailand must work harder to eradicate corruption after the kingdom was ranked 101st in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index.
Thailand's score in Transparency International's 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index stands at 36 out of 100 for a second year, though its ranking dropped from 99 to 101. The country shares the ranking with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Panama and Peru. Its corruption score rose from 35 in 2016 to 37 in 2017 before dropping a point again in 2018.
Denmark and New Zealand ranked as the least corrupt nations with a score of 87, followed by Finland on 86 and Singapore, Switzerland and Sweden on 85 points. Singapore topped Asia and Asean as the least corrupt country in the region. The average score of the 180 nations surveyed was 43.
"We could not keep our ranking and Vietnam surpassed us. But we have some time to improve," said Mr Wissanu.
He was speaking at an event commemorating the 12th anniversary of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission, whose biggest achievement was, he said, the investigation into the graft related to the rice-pledging scheme of the Yingluck Shinawatra government.
"Corruption is a great danger to the country and to individuals too. If we as officials take bribes, we might not think it's a problem because we benefit, but we must look at the bigger picture and the trouble corruption causes to society as a whole," he said during his speech.
"Corruption leads to disparity and engenders a feeling of distrust in authority among people in the nation. This is why we have to prevent, suppress and solve the problem," he said.
Meanwhile, National Anti-Corruption Commission chairman Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit said that all sectors in society need to join hands to eradicate corruption.
He said his team was studying the corruption report to see how to improve Thailand's score and praised social media users for their role in raising awareness and reporting cases of graft.
"The government must be determined to fight corruption and strictly enforce the law, while the private sector must eradicate bribery and improve the oversight of internal processes. Meanwhile, the people must not tolerate graft," he said.
He said Thailand has no coordinating body to work with Transparency International but the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce may soon be nominated for the role.
The NACC aims to complete 2,200 cases in 2020 after having only investigated 500 last year, he said.
"If we can achieve this, I believe there will be no unfinished cases and in 2021 we will only have to work on new cases," the NACC chief said.