Ethics Inspection of Political Office Holders Based on the Mechanisms connected to the Public: case study in Japan, South Korea and Thailand

Abstract

This article aims to study the problems, concepts, theories, measures and mechanisms for ethics inspection of political office holders, especially members of the House of Representatives, senators, ministers and prime ministers, with a focus on comparing the ethics inspection systems of Thailand with those of Japan and the Republic of Korea, as well as the historical development of each country because they are similar to Thailand in terms of political context, administrative history, development of democratic concepts and diverse ethics inspection systems. This can create learning from the experiences of each country in order to propose guidelines for designing mechanisms that are appropriate for the Thai context. The study uses documentary research by analyzing provisions of the constitution, laws on political ethics, court judgments and decisions, as well as case studies reflecting the role of the public in the inspection process.

The results of the study found that the Code of Conduct used to control political office holders in Japan, the Republic of Korea and Thailand is based on the context of each country. The scope is not clearly defined. However, the core of ethics that all countries share is that “Political office holders must exercise political power responsibly towards the people in a democratic regime.” When considering the inspection mechanism in Thailand uses a system for inspecting the ethics of political office holders, using the “Court system” starting from the process of drafting laws by Constitution Court with independent organizations as criteria for controlling the ethics of political office holders until Supreme Court and Constitution Court consider ethical violation cases. Obviously seen that Thailand inspection system does not rely on the parliamentary process. Meanwhile, Japan uses the “Internal parliamentary inspection system” through the ethics committee within the parliament. The Republic of Korea uses the “mixed system” (Internal parliamentary inspection system, Specialized inspection system and Court system). Although the Constitutional Court inspection system is the final stage, the inspection process allows the public to play a role, from pushing outside the parliament to the process of removing them from office, which is the main role of the people’s representatives. The systems of Japan and the Republic of Korea can effectively create mechanisms that are accountable to the public under democratic regimes. Since the public has participated in the process in a tangible way, it is suggested that Thailand should improve the mechanism for inspection the ethics of political office holders by increasing the mechanisms connected to the public in the inspection process, such as adjusting the process of drafting laws that are used as ethical standards for political office holders to have steps that allow the public to be aware of and participate, including designing the mechanism of the inspection system that is connected to the public, taking into account the historical, social and cultural contexts of Thailand in order to create a system for inspection the ethics of political office holders according to democratic principles.