The Thai Character: Flexibility and Adjustment Orientation

Flexibility and Corruption

Since the Thai are not principle oriented, and with
the high value for personal relationships, they also appear not to be
strictly law-oriented. In practice, principles and laws are
ever-adjustable to fit persons and situations. In other words, laws are
rules laid out in papers; but what is wrong or right depends not on the
rules, but instead on who the person is or whom the person knows. A
prominent Thai businessman ironically described this phenomenon in a
seminar:

We Thai are not a society of law; we are a society
of relationship…. It is not what a person has done that’s wrong; it’s
who he is…. If he is your cousin, or your friend, then what he has
done is not wrong. But if another person does the same thing, and it’s
somebody you don’t like, then what he has done is wrong…
   
This is the reason why law enforcement in Thailand hardly works. If
it does, it is selectively enforced on those who are either nobody or do
not know anybody, or who have no money to ease their wrong-doings or
buy their way out of problems. As a society of relationship, it is easy
and common for an officer, upon request from even friends of friends, to
pull out, cross out or destroy a traffic citation issued. For the sake
of a smooth relationship, officers would overlook, turn a blind eye, or
keep silent. The point here is that, while the basic Thai value system
should not be blamed as the major factor for corruption, it definitely
does not help to inhibit corruption either.
   

In general, this characteristic “Flexibility and
Adjustment” value orientation has perhaps accounted for varieties of
behavioral patterns, ranging from the facilitation of ethnic
assimilation process, to the tendency of being corruption prone. In
addition, it provides a deeper understanding to the various existing
interpretations of the Thai being “unpredictable”, “non-committing”,
“irresponsible” or even “selfish” and “opportunistic”, by foreigners.