PM pleased with Thailand's considerably-improved transparency status

BANGKOK, February 13 (TNA) - Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha is pleased with Thailand's considerable improvement of transparency status, ranked by the Transparency International, a world leading independent organisation against corruption. In his special speech delivered at Bangkok's Government House on Friday, Prime Minister General Prayut, who is also Chief of the Thai-army led National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), said that Thailand's transparency status has latestly been ranked the 69th position this year, from last year's 85th place. The prime minister attributed the positive change to his interim government's anti-graft policy, noting that he has never demanded any bribe since he took office in September 2014. Stressing that state disclosure of information to the public is one of the ways to fight and eradicate corruption, the prime minister pointed out that transparency leads to good governance and end to social strife in the country. According to the Thai premier, information transparency is in line with his government and NCPO's policy on moving Thailand forward, mentioning that 8,040 agencies in the country are now ready to provide information to the public upon requests, while the rest of more than 13,000 agencies will be later invited to join the move. The prime minister suggested, meanwhile, Thai people not to be worried over current negotiations between his government and China on a plan to construct new double rail tracks, as his administration prioritises public and national interests and the plan would be scrapped if construction costs were too high. Regarding to his government's plan to promulgate digital law, the prime minister explained that the new law, now under the deliberation of the National Legislative Assembly(NLA), will be used against those involving in illegal businesses, but it will not be used to hack information of the general public; so, the public should not be concerned that their rights would be curbed or infringed. (TNA)