Disappearance of Corruption

The flyovers and train system, ugly as they are, make navigating Bangkok much easier than it was before, unless of course you are in a car. My hotel was right next to one of the BTS stations, so getting around was pretty easy. Once when I was walking across the street on the flyover I stopped just to look at the awful traffic below. I just happened to observe a motorcycle policeman take licenses from two motorists, one of which was a motorcycle taxi whose passenger was not wearing a helmet. As I continued to walk along the flyover, I noticed that the police box was just on the other side of the street, with many police motorcycles parked next to it. It amused me that every bike was unique and in apparent disrepair, very much unlike the rows of CHP BMWs or LAPD Harleys that are all tricked out identically.

I got out my camera to photograph this phenomenon (others would probably prefer to photograph the Emerald Buddha or something like that), and just as I did the motorcycle taxi driver pulled in minus his passenger. He is the guy in the orange vest just getting off his bike in this picture. In the new, incorruptible police force I had been told about, he would get his ticket and have his day in court. But that is not what happened.

Just before the “arresting” officer came out of the box to handle the situation, the taxi driver noticed me up on the flyover with my camera pointing at the scene. His look of disappointment was very clear, even from so far away. When the officer came out, he too looked up at the foreigner with the camera and pulled the taxi driver around behind the box and out of sight. Less than a minute later, the taxi driver walked out to his motorbike, sans ticket. I’m, uh, sure he just got a stern lecture and, uh, no money changed hands.

Because, as my old driver friend told me, corruption is gone. It has moved from plain view.