Thailand’s take on its education, its oppression on the Thai people, its exploitation of the poor and the young and etcetera are not only a danger to the Thai society but a threat to our world and the livelihood of our living in the West, as well. For example, many Thai people who have immigrated to the West have retained the culture and the tradition that may not be compatible with the law that governed western society. It is true that Thai who spoke out against the current regime and against the monarchy are considered ungrateful and unpatriotic. Such Thais have been harassed and threatened to kill by other Thais who view them as ungrateful. As a human being, we need to not continue to accept the status quo and to help others who have been oppressed.
Weapons have always been overlooked in Children’s Day in Thailand for a long long time. Thai elites may think that they there are two sides of weapons: positive and negative ones, and they may think they are presenting the positive one.
I dislike racism of all kinds, however, having lived in Thailand for more than 15 years, I believe it is fair to say that when dealing with Thais – ALL Thais, it is important to remember that in general, you are not dealing with towering intellects, and I honestly do not see how this somewhat bleak opinion can be challenged on any factual basis.
The extent to which Thai culture and the Thai education system have retarded the intellectual development in general of Thais is becoming more widely recognised, but is still not sufficiently appreciated. In my opinion.
In one short paragraph, this explains everything that is required to understand why (for example) Thais have meekly acquiesced to a largely uneducated, cowardly, and unprofessional set of Armed Forces stomping all over their fledgling democracies, in many cases with the self-interested connivance or approval of the Thai monarchy. It also explains why Thais have such enormous egos with so very little justification. Thais have been bequeathed the Chinese trait of status-consciousness (AKA ‘face’) and corruption (AKA thieving), both of which are not very much help in the development of a mature population, but it has to be said that they have been led by the nose to both by 60+ years and probably a lot longer of cynical and manipulative social conditioning (for which you can read ‘propagandising’).
There is something akin to the Stockholm syndrome (aka Helsinki syndrome) about the relationship that has been created by Monarch and Armed Forces in collusion, between the Thai people and the Armed Forces which should serve their interests and protect the country against threats from outside, but which in reality have the main purpose of subjugating the Thai people themselves. It seems to me, that Thais are in thrall to the perceived power of the armed forces, and do not have the native intellect to realise the immense confidence trick that has played on them at their direct expense.
And so the army, navy, and air force, recognising the real nature of their role in Thai society also recognise the need to maintain the lies that have been told on their behalf. Hence the article which is being commented on, which seems to me to be less of an obvious condemnation of the Armed Forces, of their management, what the various governments which have meekly handed over taxpayer’s money to fund their grandiose ambitions, and in particular the execrable ex-General Prem who, when he is called to what he doubtless believes will the Buddhist version of heaven, will be largely unlamented by Thai people everywhere. In anticipation of this event, I am considering buying a small company providing tables, chairs, balloons and fireworks for what I firmly believe will be the huge demand for party equipment when he finally shuffles off this mortal coil. Well past his expiry date that one.
I meet, talk with, and generally have good relations with many Thais, this does not however blind me to the potential that they could have had, but have not fulfilled simply because they have drunk too much of the monarchist Kool-Aid.
One can only hope this changes over time, and right now is probably the best opportunity we’ll see in my lifetime.
This is not a matter of pushing Western values on the rest of the world. It is a demographic imperative that women need to spend much less time bearing children and more time contributing to their culture. There are vastly too many people in the world, and unless we change cultures radically, the human plague will end in mass death on an unimaginable scale, just like mouse plagues and grasshopper plagues.
Interesting that Hendri feels comfortable ‘mansplaining’ the situation of feminism in a majority Muslim country when, as far as I have been able to determine by reading around, the relationship between the norms and values that predominate in western feminism and those that infuse Islamic feminism are not only often at odds but fiercely contested.
Perhaps its the male tendency to want to make things absolutely clear that explains this otherwise odd behavior?
And again, Hendri seems to find it “intriguing” that civil society in a predominantly Muslim culture would exhibit an attachment to norms and values that are different from those of western civil society actors.
Perhaps if Hendri was to consider the “local knowledge” end of things instead of constantly assuming the universality of academic liberalism as proclaimed loudly day in and day out across the western world?
As I hope I have made clear before now, my own position on LGBTQ rights and feminism are about as radical/liberal as anyone’s.
I just don’t share the evangelicalism that assumes that cultures that differ from mine are somehow in a state of error.
I also believe that “civil society” in coastal America or Canada is distinct from that in Indonesia or Thailand and that to expect one to be identical to the other reflects a very deep misunderstanding of what the term “civil” in that phrase actually means.
Ohn, I am not referring to any international news agencies which may come with their own agenda. I am talking about aid groups such as ICRC, the Norwegian Refugee Council, the Danish Refugee Council, the UN refugee agency and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs etc. These organizations are working on the ground to help both Rohingya and other Myanmar nationals and now even their good work is being blocked by the Myanmar military.
And my constant harping on Orwell is meant to be ironic, given that the posters here who are given to pulling out the litany of “fascism, Orwell, North Korea” as a way of avoiding discussing Thailand in the context of its own history are at least as guilty of indulging in mindless Hate Weeks (months, years) and deliberate distortions of the historical record as the junta.
A kind of ludicrous to compare a US senator with a butcher, and variety dictators.
If ACA is that good why will the majority voted to dismantle.
Need to represent more honestly on pros and cons.
At it very basic intend is the government take over of 20% of US economy directly. this 20% is connected indirectly, (only 1 degree difference) to 100% 0f US economy. Does it remind one of collectivization.
Now if the author will compare ‘a community organizer’ intend to make US to anything other than US through none constitutional means may be she will be reminded of the ROL concept that she claimed received her law degree from Harvard.
Michael Wilson – the junta could hardly have legally revoked bail on a crime committed in 2009, when the junta did not come to power until 5 years later !! Can you cite an instance Hitler, Mussolini, or Franco acting in such a legally retrospective manner ? Even those three fascist gentlemen realised the PR wisdom of politically judicious use of the law. I suggest you read more Machiavelli, less Orwell.
2016 was not only a bad year for human rights. More widely, it was the year revived secessionism gathered pace : Brexit, Trump ( eg. his
Taiwan tilt ), Hong Kong’s agitation, Scotland demanding a second referendum, Northern Ireland, West Papua, etc.Break up of the EU this new year ? 2017 looks like a gathering world-wide whirl-wind of SECCESSION – watch out Thailand. The tsunami – with all its’ human rights abuses – may be heading your way.
“Disregard the nonsense remark in this piece by pro-DP exiled Somsak Jiem who thrives on political ambiguity.” So when aajaan Somsak criticizes the red shirts support for Taksin that automatically makes him pro Democratic Party? Any Thai readers can follow aajaan S. by going to his twitter page
And in typical Orwellian fashion Whiteman cuts and pastes the tale of Arisman going to jail (again) but fails to post the simple fact that 3 days later he and 15 other Reds were bailed out.
Yet more evidence of the nefarious fascism of the Junta!
What a pity there is no Hippocratic Oath for lawyers!
Constitutional lawyer Barack Obama has, without going to the trouble of seeking a constitutional amendment, made it legitimate for an American president to order the killing of any undesirable (or ‘deplorable’, to use the winning term of another lawyer) American, not to mention foreigners.
Will Trump out-drone Obama? Or will what this Washington-based lawyer-author sees as a ‘multi-year resistance to the Trump agenda’ include resistance to Trump’s continuing Obama’s violations of US and international law?
Ma Ba Tha isn’t ‘directed at minority groups’ and Ashin Wirathu is not their ‘spiritual leader’. Both of these ‘blows’ to MBT’s legitimacy actually had no noticeable effect, so the organisation is not in ‘decline’.
It could be that Burmese Buddhists are upset at not getting enough attention in comparison with ‘Rohingya’; the author’s ‘perceived disenfranchisement’, or there could be a simpler explanation. Perhaps they are simply right and their religion and culture do need defending, against mass migration, and against the rapidly degenerating West.
DHL, I agree much injustice has been committed against migrant workers in Malaysia. But the scale is much smaller than what the Myanmar military has been doing against the Mohinga people. Are we talking about a case in which tens of thousands being killed and hundreds of thousands forced into internally displaced persons camps as is the case in northern Rakhine state?
Indeed it does, and despite the farce surrounding the accession date and the role of the decrepit serial plotter Prem, they did not read the signs. Some did but Uncle Too was too smart for that, and too busy building what he fondly imagines will be his legend (even setting aside the most bizarre episode yet – the ridiculous ‘Thai as Lingua Franca if you do what I tell you’ fantasy.
Methinks the new head boy isn’t quite the meek and weak person the Armed Forces assumed he would be, nor indeed what some commentators believe the old head boy was.
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Old men and the abuse of Thai youth
Thailand’s take on its education, its oppression on the Thai people, its exploitation of the poor and the young and etcetera are not only a danger to the Thai society but a threat to our world and the livelihood of our living in the West, as well. For example, many Thai people who have immigrated to the West have retained the culture and the tradition that may not be compatible with the law that governed western society. It is true that Thai who spoke out against the current regime and against the monarchy are considered ungrateful and unpatriotic. Such Thais have been harassed and threatened to kill by other Thais who view them as ungrateful. As a human being, we need to not continue to accept the status quo and to help others who have been oppressed.
Old men and the abuse of Thai youth
Weapons have always been overlooked in Children’s Day in Thailand for a long long time. Thai elites may think that they there are two sides of weapons: positive and negative ones, and they may think they are presenting the positive one.
Old men and the abuse of Thai youth
I dislike racism of all kinds, however, having lived in Thailand for more than 15 years, I believe it is fair to say that when dealing with Thais – ALL Thais, it is important to remember that in general, you are not dealing with towering intellects, and I honestly do not see how this somewhat bleak opinion can be challenged on any factual basis.
The extent to which Thai culture and the Thai education system have retarded the intellectual development in general of Thais is becoming more widely recognised, but is still not sufficiently appreciated. In my opinion.
In one short paragraph, this explains everything that is required to understand why (for example) Thais have meekly acquiesced to a largely uneducated, cowardly, and unprofessional set of Armed Forces stomping all over their fledgling democracies, in many cases with the self-interested connivance or approval of the Thai monarchy. It also explains why Thais have such enormous egos with so very little justification. Thais have been bequeathed the Chinese trait of status-consciousness (AKA ‘face’) and corruption (AKA thieving), both of which are not very much help in the development of a mature population, but it has to be said that they have been led by the nose to both by 60+ years and probably a lot longer of cynical and manipulative social conditioning (for which you can read ‘propagandising’).
There is something akin to the Stockholm syndrome (aka Helsinki syndrome) about the relationship that has been created by Monarch and Armed Forces in collusion, between the Thai people and the Armed Forces which should serve their interests and protect the country against threats from outside, but which in reality have the main purpose of subjugating the Thai people themselves. It seems to me, that Thais are in thrall to the perceived power of the armed forces, and do not have the native intellect to realise the immense confidence trick that has played on them at their direct expense.
And so the army, navy, and air force, recognising the real nature of their role in Thai society also recognise the need to maintain the lies that have been told on their behalf. Hence the article which is being commented on, which seems to me to be less of an obvious condemnation of the Armed Forces, of their management, what the various governments which have meekly handed over taxpayer’s money to fund their grandiose ambitions, and in particular the execrable ex-General Prem who, when he is called to what he doubtless believes will the Buddhist version of heaven, will be largely unlamented by Thai people everywhere. In anticipation of this event, I am considering buying a small company providing tables, chairs, balloons and fireworks for what I firmly believe will be the huge demand for party equipment when he finally shuffles off this mortal coil. Well past his expiry date that one.
I meet, talk with, and generally have good relations with many Thais, this does not however blind me to the potential that they could have had, but have not fulfilled simply because they have drunk too much of the monarchist Kool-Aid.
One can only hope this changes over time, and right now is probably the best opportunity we’ll see in my lifetime.
Indonesia and ‘transparent sex’
This is not a matter of pushing Western values on the rest of the world. It is a demographic imperative that women need to spend much less time bearing children and more time contributing to their culture. There are vastly too many people in the world, and unless we change cultures radically, the human plague will end in mass death on an unimaginable scale, just like mouse plagues and grasshopper plagues.
Old men and the abuse of Thai youth
The nearby article about the new thai king and germany is totally blocked in thailand by the military junta and their new cyber-security rules.
Indonesia and ‘transparent sex’
Interesting that Hendri feels comfortable ‘mansplaining’ the situation of feminism in a majority Muslim country when, as far as I have been able to determine by reading around, the relationship between the norms and values that predominate in western feminism and those that infuse Islamic feminism are not only often at odds but fiercely contested.
Perhaps its the male tendency to want to make things absolutely clear that explains this otherwise odd behavior?
And again, Hendri seems to find it “intriguing” that civil society in a predominantly Muslim culture would exhibit an attachment to norms and values that are different from those of western civil society actors.
Perhaps if Hendri was to consider the “local knowledge” end of things instead of constantly assuming the universality of academic liberalism as proclaimed loudly day in and day out across the western world?
As I hope I have made clear before now, my own position on LGBTQ rights and feminism are about as radical/liberal as anyone’s.
I just don’t share the evangelicalism that assumes that cultures that differ from mine are somehow in a state of error.
I also believe that “civil society” in coastal America or Canada is distinct from that in Indonesia or Thailand and that to expect one to be identical to the other reflects a very deep misunderstanding of what the term “civil” in that phrase actually means.
Race to the bottom
Ohn, I am not referring to any international news agencies which may come with their own agenda. I am talking about aid groups such as ICRC, the Norwegian Refugee Council, the Danish Refugee Council, the UN refugee agency and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs etc. These organizations are working on the ground to help both Rohingya and other Myanmar nationals and now even their good work is being blocked by the Myanmar military.
A response to the Thai government
The trial and bail hearing were in 2015, Chris.
And my constant harping on Orwell is meant to be ironic, given that the posters here who are given to pulling out the litany of “fascism, Orwell, North Korea” as a way of avoiding discussing Thailand in the context of its own history are at least as guilty of indulging in mindless Hate Weeks (months, years) and deliberate distortions of the historical record as the junta.
Doctor, my eyes
A kind of ludicrous to compare a US senator with a butcher, and variety dictators.
If ACA is that good why will the majority voted to dismantle.
Need to represent more honestly on pros and cons.
At it very basic intend is the government take over of 20% of US economy directly. this 20% is connected indirectly, (only 1 degree difference) to 100% 0f US economy. Does it remind one of collectivization.
Now if the author will compare ‘a community organizer’ intend to make US to anything other than US through none constitutional means may be she will be reminded of the ROL concept that she claimed received her law degree from Harvard.
Defending Islam and reclaiming diversity
The Sunni and Shea branches of Islam is still killing each other over who observe Sharia better.
As Sharia represent ultimate Islam rather delusional to expect diversity.
According to Islam Allah is monolithic and only Muhammad is the only prophet, whom does not look kindly to ‘Diversity’ . period.
A response to the Thai government
Michael Wilson – the junta could hardly have legally revoked bail on a crime committed in 2009, when the junta did not come to power until 5 years later !! Can you cite an instance Hitler, Mussolini, or Franco acting in such a legally retrospective manner ? Even those three fascist gentlemen realised the PR wisdom of politically judicious use of the law. I suggest you read more Machiavelli, less Orwell.
Tough year for human rights in Southeast Asia
2016 was not only a bad year for human rights. More widely, it was the year revived secessionism gathered pace : Brexit, Trump ( eg. his
Taiwan tilt ), Hong Kong’s agitation, Scotland demanding a second referendum, Northern Ireland, West Papua, etc.Break up of the EU this new year ? 2017 looks like a gathering world-wide whirl-wind of SECCESSION – watch out Thailand. The tsunami – with all its’ human rights abuses – may be heading your way.
A response to the Thai government
“Disregard the nonsense remark in this piece by pro-DP exiled Somsak Jiem who thrives on political ambiguity.” So when aajaan Somsak criticizes the red shirts support for Taksin that automatically makes him pro Democratic Party? Any Thai readers can follow aajaan S. by going to his twitter page
https://twitter.com/somsakjeam?lang=th
and from there link to his facebook page so you don’t have to sign up. If you go looking for political ambiguity, ya gonna be disappointed.
A response to the Thai government
Or should that be 12? Editor please add this query to my post above.
A response to the Thai government
And in typical Orwellian fashion Whiteman cuts and pastes the tale of Arisman going to jail (again) but fails to post the simple fact that 3 days later he and 15 other Reds were bailed out.
Yet more evidence of the nefarious fascism of the Junta!
A response to the Thai government
6 Mar 2015
Arisman, 14 UDD members jailed for 2009 Asean summit break-in
http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-news/490589/arisman-14-udd-members-jailed-for-2009-asean-summit-break-in
Doctor, my eyes
What a pity there is no Hippocratic Oath for lawyers!
Constitutional lawyer Barack Obama has, without going to the trouble of seeking a constitutional amendment, made it legitimate for an American president to order the killing of any undesirable (or ‘deplorable’, to use the winning term of another lawyer) American, not to mention foreigners.
Will Trump out-drone Obama? Or will what this Washington-based lawyer-author sees as a ‘multi-year resistance to the Trump agenda’ include resistance to Trump’s continuing Obama’s violations of US and international law?
Is Ma Ba Tha really in decline?
Ma Ba Tha isn’t ‘directed at minority groups’ and Ashin Wirathu is not their ‘spiritual leader’. Both of these ‘blows’ to MBT’s legitimacy actually had no noticeable effect, so the organisation is not in ‘decline’.
It could be that Burmese Buddhists are upset at not getting enough attention in comparison with ‘Rohingya’; the author’s ‘perceived disenfranchisement’, or there could be a simpler explanation. Perhaps they are simply right and their religion and culture do need defending, against mass migration, and against the rapidly degenerating West.
Race to the bottom
DHL, I agree much injustice has been committed against migrant workers in Malaysia. But the scale is much smaller than what the Myanmar military has been doing against the Mohinga people. Are we talking about a case in which tens of thousands being killed and hundreds of thousands forced into internally displaced persons camps as is the case in northern Rakhine state?
Thailand’s supreme reign
Indeed it does, and despite the farce surrounding the accession date and the role of the decrepit serial plotter Prem, they did not read the signs. Some did but Uncle Too was too smart for that, and too busy building what he fondly imagines will be his legend (even setting aside the most bizarre episode yet – the ridiculous ‘Thai as Lingua Franca if you do what I tell you’ fantasy.
Methinks the new head boy isn’t quite the meek and weak person the Armed Forces assumed he would be, nor indeed what some commentators believe the old head boy was.
Interesting times.