The BTS case is not a real nepotism issue, and despite the Post report it is hardly a new story. Kerree Kanjanapas launched his scheme more than a decade ago as part of his family run business, with the idea that he could flip it on the stock market to get back his own investment and keep control if it to earn whatever more of the profits that he could, including , from the beginning, controlling the advertising by his own private company, and taking advantage of real estate along the route. The banks and other key investors were in trouble on the project from the beginning but had their own little side deals to earn back fees etc, as well as their own real estate projects. Suffice it to say no investor had the public interest first in mind on this project.

This is how family businesses work and probably should work — at least until they fail! It is only nepotism to those in the company who are not family and don’t get to be boss. They may be publicly listed but the behavior is nothing strange or unexpected, except perhaps to unwitting investors from the public.

The hard working people who dug up that info should be applauded. It is ***so systematic*** that words would merely clutter the description.

Nepotism is a very slippery thing and sometimes disappears into its hole as quickly as it emerges, without a trace.

Take, for instance, the article from the Bangkok Post below (with a little threat of defamation suit kicker, doing honour to Lee Kuan Yew’s innovation).

The BTS was in bankruptcy proceedings and actually looking further into the situation would have cost the main parties money, so the issue disappeared. But the seasoned reporter Nuntawun Polkuamdee did a good job of uncovering the facts.

http://www.readbangkokpost.com/economics/corporate_governance/bts_corporate_governance_confl.php

To this end they have limited choices of who to do business with, whom to call on to get their kids a ministry job, and whom to marry their children to. Realistically speaking, they are not going to marry far beneath themselves.

Perhaps there is some academic theory on elites and intermarriage in societies which maps out just when the society is advanced enough that the utility of such connections means less than absolute skills — which is the case in the US, despite the Bushs etc.

You obviously don’t know the definition of nepotism.

It means favoring relatives for positions of power.

In your three American examples, there is not one case of nepotism.
In the US, nepotism is against the law, and it has been frownedupon since President Kennedy hired his brother Bob to be attorney general back in the 60’s.

In some cases, congressmen put wives or children on staff. Guess what? It becomes a scandal.

In Thailand, giving relatives undeserved high positions is a way of life.

George Bush never put a relative into a position of power.

As for Enron and Wal-Mart, those are private businesses.

Private businesses can do what they want.

If we went by your definition of “nepotism” in the business world and it was a crime in Thailand, most of the country would be in breach of the law.

And yes, Southeast Asian countries do have a higher level of nepotism than many other parts of the world.

Off the top of my head, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Thailand are the most egregious practitioners of nepotism.

Where, outside Southeast Asia, is nepotism just as bad?

The Mahidols, Sanitwongs, Issararangkuls, Chulanonts, Kalayanamitrs, Devakulas, Amranands, na Songkhlas, Pibulsonggrams, and Yodmanees are all related, going back at least a hundred years.