JANUARY 8, 2001 VOL. 157 NO. 1

Corruption Commission
This watchdog has fangs

ALSO
Rules of Engagement
The latest election pageant has exposed a familiar underbelly of guns, gangsters and political deception

ALSO IN TIME COVER: Lowdown on the Slowdown America braces for a downturn as policymakers try to smooth the road ahead • Fallout: If the U.S. sneezes, does Asia have to catch a cold? • Viewpoint: America's woes spell opportunity for Asia THAILAND: Rules of Engagement The latest election pageant has exposed a familiar underbelly of guns, gangsters and political deception • Nowhere to Hide: The watchdogs try to clean things up CAMBODIA: The Taxman Cometh An American citizen leads a violent effort to topple Phnom Penh's government, sparking a moral dilemma for the U.S. CHINA: Rockabye Baby In far-western Yunnan province, women are making ends meet by producing infants for sale to wealthier Chinese JAPAN: Youth Gone Wild A disturbing film is prompting citizens—and opportunistic politicians—to reopen the debate on violent kids TRAVEL WATCH Killing Time: A Guide to Asia's Airports

When Thailand first established the National Counter Corruption Commission in 1998, one of the first questions pundits asked was where in the nation could you find nine bureaucrats or judges who weren't themselves corrupt? But in the end, Senate hearings and a thorough screening process installed Opas Arunin and his team of commissioners to take on tainted politicians, bribe-taking bureaucrats and crooked cops. Thailand had an earlier anti-corruption agency, but it wasn't empowered to investigate members of parliament. It was, in effect, toothless. This new watchdog has some big, nasty fangs.

Almost every Thai political party is being bitten. Opas and his graft busters have investigated Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai twice, and last week threw the book at leading candidate Thaksin Shinawatra for lying about his wealth. For the most part, Thais, fed up with shady politicians, are cheering Opas and his band on. "What you're witnessing is a revolution," says Opas, a courtly, retiring 65-year-old former Attorney General.

The revolution began last March when the commission indicted Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart for lying on his assets declaration. The wine-swilling boss of Chuan's Democrat Party was a notorious machine politician. "He was the most powerful man in several governments," says Pichai Chuensuksawasdi, editor of the Bangkok Post, "and he got slammed." In a watershed moment for Thai democracy, the Constitutional Court upheld the commission's findings and Sanan was banned from politics for five years.

In recent weeks, commissioner Preeya Kasemsant na Ayuthaya has moved into the spotlight. The aristocrat who once headed Thailand's Food and Drug Administration led the team probing both Thaksin and Chuan. "In this age of information, what's wrong cannot be covered up," she once said. And that includes her own malfeasances. Preeya resigned last week amid allegations she had failed to declare shares she held in a private hospital during her own Senate confirmations. Two other commissioners were also accused of hiding assets. Is it time now for a National Counter Corruption Commission Commission? After all, maybe someone needs to watch the watchdogs.

R.H.

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