A Guide to the Perfect Thai Idiot

[Central Scrutinizer]

Quite likely the most honest Thai in the country. A breath of fresh air amongst the aroma of bullshit that pervades the land. I do hope this article was presented in Thai as well as English. Every Thai should have to read this article and discuss it. It should be mandatory reading in the schools. It should be discussed by the students. Discuss here? -Cent

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OUTSIDE THE BOX

 

A guide to the perfect Thai idiot

by Sawai Boonma

 

Published: 26/05/2010 at 12:00 AM

Newspaper section: News

 

In 1996, three Latin Americans wrote a best-selling book in Spanish which was later translated into English as Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot.

 

Their main contention is that Latin American problems are not caused by outside influences as Latin Americans generally believe. Rather, they result mainly from actions of Latin Americans themselves.

 

Correcting Latin American problems, therefore, must come from Latin Americans.

 

Ask Thais about the causes of last week's shameful event - or of any problems in Thailand for that matter - and they will readily point the finger somewhere else, never at themselves.

 

I am a Thai so I am part of this well-practised response. But I now believe that if we continue with this long-running charade of self-deception, Thailand is on its way to becoming a failed state shortly.

 

We present Thailand as the Land of Smiles full of gentle Buddhists. We regularly give alms to monks and often make donations to temples, believing that those are selfless acts for the welfare of others.

 

Deep down, however, we do that only because we wish to get something in return - to go to heaven or have a richer next life. It is a trade, pure and simple, nothing kind or selfless about it.

 

Few of us give for the sake of giving. We are basically very selfish.

 

Every time we go to the temple or attend a Buddhist ceremony, we duly accept and recite the Five Precepts as a guide to our daily lives, but we leave them there, as we always make promises without ever intending to keep them.

 

Actually, we understand little about Buddhism.

 

Even among the ranks of the monks, most do not know the teachings in-depth and lead their lives accordingly - all they know is how to conduct ceremonies from which they earn easy income.

 

This reflects something deeper - we are generally lazy and like to take short-cuts to the sabai (do-nothing) state. Lottery tickets, therefore, always sell out at premium prices; prostitution is rampant and young women readily marry foreign pensioners.

 

We love to talk but rarely listen. Even when we do, we often fail to hear, as we never learn to think critically.

 

We cannot put up with different points of view nor can we work cooperatively.

 

Many of the over 30,000 Buddhist temples were built next to one another because when we disagreed with one, we just built another.

 

That the cooperative movement has never been successful here is another indication of our inability to tolerate different points of view.

 

We readily forgive, so we believe, as our most common utterance is mai pen rai (it doesn't matter) when someone makes a mistake. But that is only a reflection of the culture of indifference and ready rationalisation.

 

We can always cite a well-known proverb, a famous poem or a sage's sharp utterance to justify everything we do.

 

We complain so much about corruption. But we do little about it.

 

Worse, we keep electing the same corrupt politicians because they have money and influence from which we hope to benefit.

 

Survey after survey shows that the majority of us do not mind corruption as long as we get something out of it.

 

One of the surveys last year showed that almost 85% of us believed that cheating was a normal business practice, making us practically a nation of thieves.

 

When I raised the matter in this column, I received the angriest responses from fellow Thais, using expressions so colourful that they should not be printed nor uttered within earshot of other humans.

 

This long-running self-deception has created so much moral deficit, to employ Joseph Stiglitz's terminology, that has put Thailand into a state of moral crisis for some time now. Some of the symptoms of this state are the economic crisis of 1997 and the protests culminating in last week's events.

 

Of course, we will never admit this, for we are perfect and will continue to be very angry when a foreigner utters something non-complementary about us.

 

But I do hope that the events of last week shock most of us into re-examining ourselves, our values, and start reducing the moral deficit as well as trying to generate some moral surplus: doing more genuinely voluntary work for the common good similar to the street cleaning carried out by Bangkokians last weekend, but on a regular basis.

 

Sawai Boonma has worked for more than two decades as a development economist.

__________________

[bust]

Is this news really?

 

Thailand is not the only country that lives by these rules. The bigget problem Thailand has is the power held by the few.....like most countries.

The difference I see is most countries accept the decision of an election something the Thais seem to struggle with.

 

 

[Bar4]

Is this news really?

 

 

For me it is news that something like this has been published. Like the bit about 85% think cheating is normal practice. That's a bit low I would have thought.

 

[gobbledonk]

Is this news really?

 

Thailand is not the only country that lives by these rules. The bigget problem Thailand has is the power held by the few.....like most countries.

The difference I see is most countries accept the decision of an election something the Thais seem to struggle with.

 

 

It waant posted as News - its for General Discussion and I think its interesting from several points-of-view.

 

I agree that Thailand is not the only country that lives by these rules - the others are banana republics and worse, with the possible exception of Malaysia which seems to be doing well despite itself. As you and I know, Oz is regularly 'ahocked' to find we have corrupt Police and pollies - the difference is that we usually jail the bastards. Unless your name is Joh, then you get a Knighthood. We might have 'accepted elections' here in QLD, but for many years the National Party had a system that virtually ensured they would win ever election regardless of what happened in SE Qld. A fiefdom within a sovereign country and they got away with it for decades.

 

Getting back to the opinion piece in the OP, that could well have been written by an expat - some of the board sceptics will undoubtedly see a Farang hand in there. I dont know how many years a Thai person needs to spend overseas before they can openly criticise their society like this - its a national sport here in Oz, but I get the impression that it isnt the done thing in Thailand. Everything I read here and on Ajarn points to an education system in Thailand which doesnt encourage any critical thought - I'll leave it to others to tell me whether thats an oversimplification.

 

Finally, I dont doubt that the author of this piece copped some nasty feedback - it would seem to support a large chunk of the expat view of Thai duplicity, dishonesty and hypocrisy. Very few here are happy when Germaine Greer weighs in on a local issue from the comfort of her armchair in London - she might have been born here, but that doesnt make her our spokesperson.

 

 

 

 

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

Is this news really?

 

 

For me it is news that something like this has been published. Like the bit about 85% think cheating is normal practice. That's a bit low I would have thought.

 

 

 

 

 

And for me. It's news because a Thai wrote it and it was published for all the public to read and see. A Thai admitting their faults is as rare as hen's teeth. He is saying what many farangs have said for decades, many of them on this board over the years. That's why I posted it here. It was refreshing to see a Thai actually have the brains and insight to see the faults and admit them rather than deny them as usual, and the balls to state this publicly.

 

[Mekong]

He has quite a few good articles on his Website if interested.

[Bar4]

Everything I read here and on Ajarn points to an education system in Thailand which doesnt encourage any critical thought

 

Agreed - reminds me of the time a Thai guy was trying to get an approximate measurement of the awning at the bar. After watching him nearly fall of the stool etc for 10 mins I snatched the tape measure off him and ran it along the ground under the awning. Handed it back to him whilst showing the measurement. Jeez was he pissed off. The quotation that came later on was ridiculous.

 

Amazing Thailand.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

He has quite a few good articles on his Website if interested.

 

 

 

Excellent. Thanks for the link.

 

Cent

 

[bust]

Is this news really?

 

Thailand is not the only country that lives by these rules. The bigget problem Thailand has is the power held by the few.....like most countries.

The difference I see is most countries accept the decision of an election something the Thais seem to struggle with.

 

 

It waant posted as News - its for General Discussion and I think its interesting from several points-of-view.

 

 

Sorry gd I was referring to it being new information not which discussion area.

 

But again like you use in your example of JBP it goes on in most countries.

 

Perhaps new that someone in LOS is putting their name to an opinion on it.

[cavanami]

Once you get past the denial, you can go on the mend. now, if xM other Thais will get past the denial stage...