I think I have a strong urge to time travel tonight-maybe to a Thailand that came before- I will pick up pieces of myself and add them to my basket of eggs. Is this "corruption" such a forgetfullness of the nature of the human into the survival of the fittest. Yes, it looks like it works but not for long-in the scheme of things-When our fellow man starves and lacks- it is the shadow side of our abundance and Oneness...

Date:   11/6/2005 11:40:41 PM ( 19 y ago)

COMMENT: Corruption Abounds.

BANGKOK, THAILAND:
Dear A-Letter Reader:
That astute British observer of 19th century America, Lord Acton,
gave us the pithy comment: "Power corrupts and absolute power
corrupts absolutely."

American history is replete with examples of corruption at all levels of
government, from the Credit Mobilere scandals of Grant and the Teapot
Dome of Harding to the Mayor Dailys of Chicago.

But as I travel in southeast Asia, I've found that corruption certainly is
alive and well here. China is on my schedule for next week, and from all
reports and reading I've done, it's even worse there.

As I write this, the chief justice of the Indonesian Supreme Court is under
investigation for bribery. The son of Malaysia's chief law enforcement
officer is being investigated for graft. It took me forever to get through
immigration at Bangkok's new $4 billion airport (no computers yet, all
done by hand). The airport is reported to be riddle with corrupt contracts
and kickbacks, from parking garages to baggage scanners.

Transparency International's annual corruption index of governments
last month found southeast Asia to be among the most corrupt in the
world. An exception was Singapore, near the top in "clean" rated
governments, mainly because the authoritarian Lee`regime does not
tolerate crooks of any kind. Thailand came in 59th, tied with Castro's
Cuba. Hong Kong was also rated as clean.

The clean findings on Hong Kong and Singapore give some comfort
because the Sovereign Society is working to establish banking
arrangements in both places for our members' Convenient Offshore
Accounts. That's part of my reason for this journey.

Honesty and stability are some of the factors we consider in any
offshore financial center, and here in Asia we apply these rules with
even greater strictness to protect our members. That caution is
only an acceptance of reality.

That's the way that it looks from here in Thailand.
BOB BAUMAN, Editor.



 

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