Wednesday, November 01, 2006

What would you do?

A friend of mine has applied for Thai Citizenship along with the rest of her family. If you do not have Thai nationality, you can not leave this poor part of the country, you have no rights and no police protection. It is incredibly important and it takes a lot of effort to get it.

Everything was going well until a week or two ago when the government officer in charge "lost" her paperwork which agreed to find again for a fee. My friend was outraged by the fact that the officer was asking for a bribe (which is strange given that nearly everyone who has power is corrupt here). She wrote a government officer in Bangkok and they are making a big deal about it. They want her to name the person involved which could screw up her opportunity to get Thai citizenship.

What would you do, pay the bribe and forget the report or take your chances and name the corrupt government official?

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