This guy, Godfree Roberts, sells retirement services in Thailand. A large part of his business is making outrageous comments articles about the dire state of this country, presumably in an attempt to stop the inevitable decline in customers. Google his name – every comment is about how 80% of Thais support the military (although two years ago I believe it was 90%).
I’m not so sure this argument works. Thailand has had comparatively high rates of literacy for a long time, yet a rather despotic monarchy. Also, initially kings only wanted modern education for a small elite of royal officials. They were quite resistant to the concept of mass education (including education for women btw) for precisely the reason that a highly-educated population would upset the social order (absolutely right).
The real expansion of education in Thailand takes place after 1932, I.e. after the end of the absolute monarchy and the establishment of a nationalist, semi-republican regime. By the time the monarchy is “restored” in the 1950s the argument for mass education has been won – and there are international pressures from Western international agencies like UNESCO etc. as part of the US-led discourse of “development” to educate the populations of “developing countries” to boost economic growth.
Lastly, it is true that in Thailand for a long time governments and the King discouraged the English language (except for the elite), and heavily promoted the Thai language. One of the legacies of this policy is the comparatively low standards of proficiency in English in Thailand compared to many developing countries. “Thai Language Day” was set up during the period of the restoration to campaign for the importance of Thai to national survival. The King gave a lot of attention to “Thai language day”. He gave many speeches about how important it was to preserve the Thai language, otherwise the nation would “lom jom” (“collapse”. This word occurs frequently in the kings speeches. It is a good example of how he conflates dangers to the monarchy with dangers to the nation). There is an obvious political agenda here. Royalist regimes can control discourse in the Thai language, but they can’t control the English language, well, not very much.
Actually, one of the reasons for the current political crisis is the role of the English language in Thai political discourse. Nowadays the ease of international travel for all Thais, not just the elite, + Thai workers overseas, Thai wives of foreigners living overseas, the jump in the numbers of Thais going overseas for their education, etc. know and read English better than ever. The Internet has put this process of engagement with the English language on steroids. When the international media was very pro-monarchy, before 2006, the royalist regime actually benefitted because the international media in a way did their propaganda for them. Their stories would all begin with “Thailand’s deeply revered King…” or “Buddhist kingdom”, as though these were good things. The general presumption in the Western media was that Thailand was a constitutional monarchy like the UK, but much more exotic and much more popular. But since the international media has turned quite viciously against the monarchy Thailand’s openness is now a big problem for the royalists. That is one reason for the rise in anti-Western, anti-US sentiment among the Thai elite, who used to be among the most pro-Western, pro-US elites in the developing world.
Another good Duncan Graham contribution that, sadly, is an accurate portrayal of Australia’s modern image on television. The sports service is popular and useful to Australians in Bali, a holiday home away from home for so many these days. But for the other areas the service seems little more than wallpaper with repeated patterns. Along with other foreign broadcasters our services is part of a strange new, impactless trend in smaller hotel lobbies, of daylong pictures without sound.
‘True Buddhism’ is in accordance with the fundamental teachings of Buddha. There are some fuzzy areas around the edges but every Buddhist agrees on the core principles. I know that academic Buddhology likes to use the ‘many interpretations’ tool, but this is not actually the reality for Buddhists.
When Christianity is turned to violence and war and Buddhism is turned to slavery and elitism it is pretty clear that they have departed from the script.
The author is quite correct in his conclusions about the contemporary political situation in Thailand and I am grateful for this interesting article. My only concern is the confusion between Thai state ‘Buddhism’ (post 1902) with actual Buddhism. The former is a modern distortion that is only nominally related to the ancient tradition.
That day is near, very near!
And Thailand’s “God-King” and Mafia leader will write history for being the ONE and only person, ops – creature, responsible for Thailand’s misery and upcoming genocide.
Sham on the entire royal clan.
Money, money, money. Not for nothing but a specific reason is this criminal the world’s richest monarch.
This is absolutely an abuse of Ploys human rights an unethical unlawful attack based on guilt by association . Prayuth and his regime of fascist royalists are destroying Thailand in the eyes of the world
Bloody disgrace, our world’s gone mad with the rise of fascist autocrats everywhere. Here’s to hope the Brexit gang will flex their (deteriorating) muscles and grow some balls against the second rate dictator Prayuth.
Absolute disgrace. Thailand is now a Gestapo state and I’m very happy to have left. The time is coming when decent Thais will rebel and.. enough is enough
If we cut through to what makes a constitution and a king polar opposites, we should ask, “What is the difference between people who are inclined to obey abstract public rules, and those who are inclined to obey a king or patron?” The answer is literacy. Those who read critically are more comfortable with abstract rules which can be carefully analysed and tested by anybody with the capacity to do so; and those who don’t read critically are more likely to be swayed by the body language, vocal rhetoric, family connections, fancy dress, and personal power of an individual. It’s the difference between text and television, email and Facebook, culture and non-culture. It’s why lectures are a better medium for spreading crap than text, and why Trump appeals only to the functionally illiterate.
By encouraging literacy, the kings of Thailand have made their people wiser, but have set the clock ticking for the time when they become an obvious nuisance and need to go out and get a real job. It is a development that a wise king like Frederick the Great would have welcomed with all his heart. Bhumibol, on the contrary, has fought against the inevitable for the whole of his reign, which makes him the opposite. The time has come to stop admiring him for successfully advancing his own status, and to reflect on what that has done to his country.
“Malaysian Official #1”, the unnamed person of interest mentioned in the very recent US Justice/FBI authorities move to recover $1.0 billion stolen-laundered from 1MDB (headed by the clown in this article), is quite a very cute way of insulting the Malaysian clown-currently Prime Minister Najib.
Rep to “Guest”: there will be endless debates about what “the true teaching of the Buddha” is. In practice it’s an intellectual resource which lots of different people can use for different agendas. But the Buddhist doctrines I talk about here are very old, widely held, and deeply ingrained in the Thai Buddhist tradition. I discuss this at length in my “Thailand’s Theory of Monarchy” book.
As an admittedly gross generalization, I think much of the study of Buddhism, especially Thai Buddhism, tends to suffer from a comparatively uncritical starting point, especially when compared with the academic study of other religions. If Buddhism is associated with unpleasant things like despotism or violence it has been “misinterpreted”. It’s a distortion of “true Buddhism”, which is all about peacefulness and awakening and enlightenment. This starting point is not always helpful for understanding how this religion actually works in practice.
Buddhism,like other religions, also is subject to different interpretations. Unfortunately, in Thailand, the elites and the palace’s propaganda machine sabotage the true teaching of the Buddha for its own benefit.
Thanks. I agree that it is a very interesting article. Actually this point relates to my reply to Chris Beale. Because republicanism is foreign to most Thais, apart from the Western-educated elite, how can a nationalist government “sell” the idea to a Buddhist population? By turning it into a sacred symbol that must be worshipped, in the manner of a Buddha image. Clumsy and not so effective, but in a way you can feel for the new govt. in its attempt to popularise this new political idea. This gulf between a tiny, Western-educated nationalist elite, and their religiously-inclined populations is a problem you see repeated all over the postcolonial world.
Thanks for this comment because it gives me a chance to mention one of my favourite hobby-horse themes. I would almost say that Thailand shares more similarities with Iran than with any other country – especially the historical experience of their monarchies in the twentieth century, but even dating back further than that.
But my reason for mentioning Khomeini is that, for every old country with a monarchy that is centuries or millenia old, republicanism presents an intellectual problem. How can you fit It into the indigenous tradition, which has known only monarchy? Well “revolution” is one way of doing it, an apocalyptic idea of entering an entirely new age. Eg. France after 1789, or the Khmer Rouge’s “Year Zero” in Cambodia after 1975. Muslim countries faced the same problem, eg. ending the Caliphate for Turkey. A massive intellectual rupture. Where Khmeini is interesting (and others like Ali Shariati), is that they try to develop a theory of republicanism which can be integrated into the Shia Islamic tradition. Read his “Islamic Government”, or the Islamic Republic’s Constitution, or Shariati’s work. Even though Western political philosophy is very useful and influential, it’s not enough, hence the attempt to develop a Shia Islamic republicanism to justify the removal of a Shah and the imperial system, which could be constructed as dating back to Xerxes et al. in the 5th and 6th centuries BCE.
In the Thai case, as the most advanced Theravada state in the world, there has not been the same attempt to try to integrate republicanism with Thailand’s intellectual tradition, predominantly Theravada Buddhism. Basically, Thai republicans reference the French and Russian revolutions (to a much lesser extent England’s “Glorious Revolution” of 1688, and Western political philosophy almost exclusively. I think this is a problem for contemporary republicans as it’s easy to accuse them of “importing” a Western political idea that is “not suitable” for Thailand’s situation. It’s harder to dismiss if you can show that Thailand has a “republican potential” based on its own intellectual tradition.
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Thailand’s containment constitution
This guy, Godfree Roberts, sells retirement services in Thailand. A large part of his business is making outrageous comments articles about the dire state of this country, presumably in an attempt to stop the inevitable decline in customers. Google his name – every comment is about how 80% of Thais support the military (although two years ago I believe it was 90%).
I doubt he actually believes
Thailand’s hidden republican tradition
I’m not so sure this argument works. Thailand has had comparatively high rates of literacy for a long time, yet a rather despotic monarchy. Also, initially kings only wanted modern education for a small elite of royal officials. They were quite resistant to the concept of mass education (including education for women btw) for precisely the reason that a highly-educated population would upset the social order (absolutely right).
The real expansion of education in Thailand takes place after 1932, I.e. after the end of the absolute monarchy and the establishment of a nationalist, semi-republican regime. By the time the monarchy is “restored” in the 1950s the argument for mass education has been won – and there are international pressures from Western international agencies like UNESCO etc. as part of the US-led discourse of “development” to educate the populations of “developing countries” to boost economic growth.
Lastly, it is true that in Thailand for a long time governments and the King discouraged the English language (except for the elite), and heavily promoted the Thai language. One of the legacies of this policy is the comparatively low standards of proficiency in English in Thailand compared to many developing countries. “Thai Language Day” was set up during the period of the restoration to campaign for the importance of Thai to national survival. The King gave a lot of attention to “Thai language day”. He gave many speeches about how important it was to preserve the Thai language, otherwise the nation would “lom jom” (“collapse”. This word occurs frequently in the kings speeches. It is a good example of how he conflates dangers to the monarchy with dangers to the nation). There is an obvious political agenda here. Royalist regimes can control discourse in the Thai language, but they can’t control the English language, well, not very much.
Actually, one of the reasons for the current political crisis is the role of the English language in Thai political discourse. Nowadays the ease of international travel for all Thais, not just the elite, + Thai workers overseas, Thai wives of foreigners living overseas, the jump in the numbers of Thais going overseas for their education, etc. know and read English better than ever. The Internet has put this process of engagement with the English language on steroids. When the international media was very pro-monarchy, before 2006, the royalist regime actually benefitted because the international media in a way did their propaganda for them. Their stories would all begin with “Thailand’s deeply revered King…” or “Buddhist kingdom”, as though these were good things. The general presumption in the Western media was that Thailand was a constitutional monarchy like the UK, but much more exotic and much more popular. But since the international media has turned quite viciously against the monarchy Thailand’s openness is now a big problem for the royalists. That is one reason for the rise in anti-Western, anti-US sentiment among the Thai elite, who used to be among the most pro-Western, pro-US elites in the developing world.
How Australia Plus became Australia minus
Another good Duncan Graham contribution that, sadly, is an accurate portrayal of Australia’s modern image on television. The sports service is popular and useful to Australians in Bali, a holiday home away from home for so many these days. But for the other areas the service seems little more than wallpaper with repeated patterns. Along with other foreign broadcasters our services is part of a strange new, impactless trend in smaller hotel lobbies, of daylong pictures without sound.
Thai authorities target critic’s wife
‘Photoshopped’ probably. The CP was much leaner in photos taken during ‘Bike for Dad’.
AMM’s wife being arrested was awful and invoking lese majeste is uncalled for and should be condemned.
Thai authorities target critic’s wife
Who can say what will happen next but something is sure to happen. And soon.
Thailand’s hidden republican tradition
‘True Buddhism’ is in accordance with the fundamental teachings of Buddha. There are some fuzzy areas around the edges but every Buddhist agrees on the core principles. I know that academic Buddhology likes to use the ‘many interpretations’ tool, but this is not actually the reality for Buddhists.
When Christianity is turned to violence and war and Buddhism is turned to slavery and elitism it is pretty clear that they have departed from the script.
The author is quite correct in his conclusions about the contemporary political situation in Thailand and I am grateful for this interesting article. My only concern is the confusion between Thai state ‘Buddhism’ (post 1902) with actual Buddhism. The former is a modern distortion that is only nominally related to the ancient tradition.
Thai authorities target critic’s wife
Not long
Thai authorities target critic’s wife
interested to see how long the lid can be kept on a pot of boiling water …………..
The crisis behind ‘A Kingdom in Crisis’
Thai Police Question the Wife of a British Writer Critical of Thailand’s Royal Family
http://time.com/4418678/thailand-royal-family-lese-majeste/
Thai authorities target critic’s wife
That day is near, very near!
And Thailand’s “God-King” and Mafia leader will write history for being the ONE and only person, ops – creature, responsible for Thailand’s misery and upcoming genocide.
Sham on the entire royal clan.
Money, money, money. Not for nothing but a specific reason is this criminal the world’s richest monarch.
https://twitter.com/thaireales
Thai authorities target critic’s wife
This is absolutely an abuse of Ploys human rights an unethical unlawful attack based on guilt by association . Prayuth and his regime of fascist royalists are destroying Thailand in the eyes of the world
Thai authorities target critic’s wife
Bloody disgrace, our world’s gone mad with the rise of fascist autocrats everywhere. Here’s to hope the Brexit gang will flex their (deteriorating) muscles and grow some balls against the second rate dictator Prayuth.
Thai authorities target critic’s wife
Absolute disgrace. Thailand is now a Gestapo state and I’m very happy to have left. The time is coming when decent Thais will rebel and.. enough is enough
Thai authorities target critic’s wife
Just terrible. Shameful.
Thailand’s hidden republican tradition
If we cut through to what makes a constitution and a king polar opposites, we should ask, “What is the difference between people who are inclined to obey abstract public rules, and those who are inclined to obey a king or patron?” The answer is literacy. Those who read critically are more comfortable with abstract rules which can be carefully analysed and tested by anybody with the capacity to do so; and those who don’t read critically are more likely to be swayed by the body language, vocal rhetoric, family connections, fancy dress, and personal power of an individual. It’s the difference between text and television, email and Facebook, culture and non-culture. It’s why lectures are a better medium for spreading crap than text, and why Trump appeals only to the functionally illiterate.
By encouraging literacy, the kings of Thailand have made their people wiser, but have set the clock ticking for the time when they become an obvious nuisance and need to go out and get a real job. It is a development that a wise king like Frederick the Great would have welcomed with all his heart. Bhumibol, on the contrary, has fought against the inevitable for the whole of his reign, which makes him the opposite. The time has come to stop admiring him for successfully advancing his own status, and to reflect on what that has done to his country.
The Kuala Lumpur logo controversy
“Malaysian Official #1”, the unnamed person of interest mentioned in the very recent US Justice/FBI authorities move to recover $1.0 billion stolen-laundered from 1MDB (headed by the clown in this article), is quite a very cute way of insulting the Malaysian clown-currently Prime Minister Najib.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/21/us-1mdb-lawsuits-link-malaysian-pm-najib-razak-to-stolen-money.html
Thailand’s hidden republican tradition
Rep to “Guest”: there will be endless debates about what “the true teaching of the Buddha” is. In practice it’s an intellectual resource which lots of different people can use for different agendas. But the Buddhist doctrines I talk about here are very old, widely held, and deeply ingrained in the Thai Buddhist tradition. I discuss this at length in my “Thailand’s Theory of Monarchy” book.
As an admittedly gross generalization, I think much of the study of Buddhism, especially Thai Buddhism, tends to suffer from a comparatively uncritical starting point, especially when compared with the academic study of other religions. If Buddhism is associated with unpleasant things like despotism or violence it has been “misinterpreted”. It’s a distortion of “true Buddhism”, which is all about peacefulness and awakening and enlightenment. This starting point is not always helpful for understanding how this religion actually works in practice.
Thailand’s hidden republican tradition
Buddhism,like other religions, also is subject to different interpretations. Unfortunately, in Thailand, the elites and the palace’s propaganda machine sabotage the true teaching of the Buddha for its own benefit.
Thailand’s hidden republican tradition
Thanks. I agree that it is a very interesting article. Actually this point relates to my reply to Chris Beale. Because republicanism is foreign to most Thais, apart from the Western-educated elite, how can a nationalist government “sell” the idea to a Buddhist population? By turning it into a sacred symbol that must be worshipped, in the manner of a Buddha image. Clumsy and not so effective, but in a way you can feel for the new govt. in its attempt to popularise this new political idea. This gulf between a tiny, Western-educated nationalist elite, and their religiously-inclined populations is a problem you see repeated all over the postcolonial world.
Thailand’s hidden republican tradition
Thanks for this comment because it gives me a chance to mention one of my favourite hobby-horse themes. I would almost say that Thailand shares more similarities with Iran than with any other country – especially the historical experience of their monarchies in the twentieth century, but even dating back further than that.
But my reason for mentioning Khomeini is that, for every old country with a monarchy that is centuries or millenia old, republicanism presents an intellectual problem. How can you fit It into the indigenous tradition, which has known only monarchy? Well “revolution” is one way of doing it, an apocalyptic idea of entering an entirely new age. Eg. France after 1789, or the Khmer Rouge’s “Year Zero” in Cambodia after 1975. Muslim countries faced the same problem, eg. ending the Caliphate for Turkey. A massive intellectual rupture. Where Khmeini is interesting (and others like Ali Shariati), is that they try to develop a theory of republicanism which can be integrated into the Shia Islamic tradition. Read his “Islamic Government”, or the Islamic Republic’s Constitution, or Shariati’s work. Even though Western political philosophy is very useful and influential, it’s not enough, hence the attempt to develop a Shia Islamic republicanism to justify the removal of a Shah and the imperial system, which could be constructed as dating back to Xerxes et al. in the 5th and 6th centuries BCE.
In the Thai case, as the most advanced Theravada state in the world, there has not been the same attempt to try to integrate republicanism with Thailand’s intellectual tradition, predominantly Theravada Buddhism. Basically, Thai republicans reference the French and Russian revolutions (to a much lesser extent England’s “Glorious Revolution” of 1688, and Western political philosophy almost exclusively. I think this is a problem for contemporary republicans as it’s easy to accuse them of “importing” a Western political idea that is “not suitable” for Thailand’s situation. It’s harder to dismiss if you can show that Thailand has a “republican potential” based on its own intellectual tradition.
So, maybe Thailand needs a Khomeini!