ACT president Mana Nimitmongkol said there were a number of reasons why the government has failed to gain public confidence in its many policies and initiatives, reports the Bangkok Post.
Despite numerous plans such as legalising casinos, the B10,000 digital cash handout, a B157-billion economic stimulus plan, and proposals to host more music festivals, many people still view these as political ploys, Mr Mana wrote on Facebook.
He argued that such mistrust stems from the rampant corruption in Thailand and the government’s failure to show it is serious about suppressing this scourge.
Several factors have caused public sentiment toward the government to turn negative, he said.
For example, he noted, there has been no concrete anti-corruption policy even though the government has announced a plan to improve Thailand’s score in the annual Corruption Perceptions Index from 34 now to at least 57.
State anti-corruption mechanisms have weakened over the past two years, with the government discontinuing bodies like the Anti-Corruption Operation Centre, said Mr Mana.
The government also tends to respond to crises irresponsibly - by ordering agencies to identify culprits - rather than conducting transparent investigations and addressing root causes to prevent recurrence, he said.
One example of this would be the case of the collapsed State Audit Office (SAO) building during an earthquake on Mar 28.
There has been no progress in the bureaucracy or legal reforms to tackle the root cause of graft as promised, said Mr Mana.
The ACT has recommended an audit of abandoned and incomplete state-funded buildings nationwide, saying that if nothing is done the losses could be B100bn or more.
He added that the government has ignored recommendations from the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) on recurring problems such as school milk fraud, hospital drug procurement and highway bribes.
Bureaucrats are idle because they see the government as being unclear in terms of tackling corruption, said Mr Mana. Anti-corruption meetings are routinely held but with no tangible results.
Mr Mana urged the administration to take the lead in battling corruption, beginning with open government practices and making it a national agenda item.
To advance this goal, the ACT will host Anti-Corruption Day 2025 on Sept 6, inviting online participation to help design a system where honest individuals can thrive and wrongdoers have no place in society.