Adelaide University takes money from someone who everyone knows as being the patriarch of one of the most corrupt family in Malaysia.
Then Monash University gives a doctorate to a dodgy Malaysian Prime Minister.
Then the Australian National University surprises everyone by agreeing to set -up a chair on Malay/Malaysian studies although it is unclear what is happening with this “project” as details are sketchy – other than an announcement from the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia.
And now Curtin, gives a doctorate to the Prime Minister’s wife for an obviously wrong reason – mistaking a government funded project (child care and early education) as philantrophical work of the Prime Minister’s wife.
A Malaysian working in Australia, and an alumnus of Curtin pointed this and many other inconsistencies out to Curtin University.
What’s happening with these Australian universities?
Dan – What is your experience of Thai people as readers? Mine is like that of a development worker I met a decade ago who said to me “Thai teachers don’t read”. So I do think Andrew MM might be on to something.
My admittedly unscientific anecdotal survey is based on the following evidence: I have spoken to about three dozen people who admit to owning KBAALW, and not a single one of them has read it.
I also doubt that Paul Handley and Grant Evans have read it. The impression I have from their reviews is that they dipped into it, read parts of it, but never really confronted the full horror of reading it from cover to cover.
I would add that, by your own admission, you also have not read it and have no plans to do so in the near future, which makes your relentless and enthusiastic PR work for the book and its authors all the more bewildering.
Frankly I wonder if even the editors bothered to read the book properly. Had they done so, they would surely not have allowed execrable lines like “love came knocking on his door in the shape of a cousin” to make it into the final version. They would also have noted that praising the king for having “straddled two centuries” and sharpening his own pencils was perhaps not the best strategy for evoking the monarch’s greatness.
I have a suggestion for you: how about you postpone any further comments until you have actually bothered to read the book, and then we can talk sensibly.
Just to add, the biggest selling book in Thai history is the Story of Tongdaeng. High sales do not equate to high quality.
Andrew “My impression from anecdotal evidence is that the vast majority of those who bought it did so to have it as a status symbol or talisman” etc
Any chance you might be able to tell us how you arrived at that impression and what the anecdotal evidence is? Is it based on research? wishful thinking? Vox pops? Internet chat?….. How many anecdotes have you collected since I believe the book has sold thousands and thousands of copies and you have passed judgement on the ‘majority’ of buyers?
Please don’t take offence, but it seems to me to be a fairly patronising ‘impression’….. As if somehow those Thai people who might be genuinely interested in reading it are in someway to be looked down on, or incapable of genuine thought.
The fact is that it is selling like proverbial hot cakes. A great many people are buying it. Presumably they are reading it what is your actual evidence that they are not?)….. And that means they might also be reading the sections of the book that, “mentions lese majeste and the need of the monarchy to change”? ….. That means, however timid, a debate is in process surely?
Andrew Walker #7: Fair comment. It has other uses too: because of its immense bulk, it also makes an excellent offensive weapon. If you ever want to beat somebody to death with a book, KBAALW would be far more effective than The Story of Tongdaeng or even TKNS.
Thank you for your comment about my opinion, in which I have the following to say in respond.
First, I have just heard about the UDD TV’s speech on its TV. And yes, assuming that what you said is true, I would wholeheartedly agree that it is a very bad thing to say. Nevertheless, the fact that UDD’s media acted inappropriately does nothing to make the image of the Thai Royals and Thai elites look better.
Secondly, I respectfully disagree that anyone who reads my comment that the “Thai Royals deserve zero respect for their acquiescence to their fanatics’ violence incitement” would result in nothing but further violence. True, there may be some people who would been incited. Nevertheless, I am sure that most people would not think that way.
In fact, I believe that the vast majority of rational Thais are more likely than not to ‘stop and think’ whether the Royals that they have been taught for their whole lives to respect and sacrifice everything they have for them are really deserving of such admiration.
I was one of those people. I used to respect the King, but after the mess in 2010 I changed my mind.
After the media tried to justify the massacre in 2010 that the Reds deserve to die because they do not love the King, followed by countless witchhunts by the royal fanatics on their attempt to expose people who do not love the Monarchy to public humiliation and imprisonment, I started to ask myself, “what would I do, if I were the King? If I witness my fanatics behaving this way, what would I do? Would I be happy if someone who don’t like me must go to jail if they say they don’t like me? Would I keep quiet when my fanatics are witch-hunting people who think differently? Should I remain silent? Certainly not. If I remain silent, those people would not stop.
The truth, which you have to accept is, the King’s silence to all these witchhunting, massacre, and this current craziness in Thailand nowadays, have damaged his reputation and his own carefully constructed image far more than any criticism from any scholar would do. No person who has even a remote sense of morality would remain quiet in situations like only they can do something to stop the insane human rights violation done ‘in their names’ for their own benefit like what the King currently does. And no, people who realise that he is not worthy of respect won’t necessarily feel that they should inflict violence on him. They are most likely to lose their love and respect they had for him and that’s all. There may be some who would wish to inflict violence on him, but I am certain that those people would be in the minority.
Thirdly, I heavily disagree with your opinion that to say “someone deserves no respect” is akin to saying that they are a dog. For example, I do not respect Yingluck. Her effort to try to build a relationship with the Thai elites who are behind the killing of her supporters is sickening to watch. Nonetheless, I do not mean, when I say I do not respect her, that she is like a dog. To say someone is ‘a dog’ is much more extreme that to say one does not deserve to be respected. “Not respecting” signifies a feeling of indifference. However, to call one “a dog” goes way beyond indifference. It is a clear insult. I fail to see how saying “x should not be respected” can equate to a clear insult like you suggested.
Vichai N (62). I assume you agree that it should be legal to write similar, amusingly scurrilous ditties about Queen Sirikit. Yes? Otherwise you would be a hypocrite.
Associate Professor Azmi Sharom of University Malaya, writing in The Star, notes that:
The power to appoint a Mentri Besar is clearly at the discretion of the Sultan. This is one of the few real powers that he has. A power that he does not have is to dismiss an existing Mentri Besar.
But the current case in Perak is different. The Sultan chose a new Mentri Besar while the old one was still in office. By appointing a new man, he was in effect sacking the old one. And sacking the Mentri Besar is not within his constitutional powers.
Actually, I am rather curious as to why the Sultan did not just dissolve the state assembly when requested. All this party-hopping business was wreaking havoc on the public’s faith in the democratic system.
Surely, the clearest and fairest way out of the debacle was to have fresh state elections.
I remember when I was laying in my hotel room in Khon Kaen in October 2009, watching PTV on the TV and reading the SMS comment strip that they aired.
The contents were pretty much the same as the ones that are mentioned in this article. Abhisit and Suthep should hang. They are dogs etc etc.
And I remember that my reaction was the same then, as yours is today. “The UDD leadership do not deserve any respect” – I cried. For the exact same reasons that you give.
The display of uninhibited emotion, with calls for violence, can not be attributed to political sides. Rather to a general state of moral. Or lack thereof, in society.
On the other hand, if you let a group of teenagers in any western country have their say on sensitive issues, their reaction would be prettty much the same.
The wrong you commit, and that I committed, when claiming “The leadership don’t deserve respect” is that we politicize this lack of restraint, lack of reflection and lack of respect for others.
Because the effect of your comments, and your well intended reaction, is not that readers becom affectionate against lack of respect for other peoples views. Rather it builds hatred against the royalists in this case. Just like my own view helped to build hatred against the UDD. And that leads nowhere but to further violence.
And besides that, saying that someones doesn’t deserve respect isn’t that far from saying that someone is a dog.
Luckily, I have changed since that day in October 2009. I hope you will too.
I don’t have time to look anything up right now. Can anyone tell me whether the book actually discussed anything mentioned in the review in Bangkok Post? , the lese majeste, the CPB, the unaccountability, and the contradiction with sufficiency, etc.
“Chai-anan argues that security occupies the top priority of the Thai state’s agenda, whilst participation (or democracy) is subordinated.”
A military and police force without oversight may be security, but wouldn’t security be better without rampant corruption and rent-seeking in these institutions? This requires oversight so that they are not a law unto themselves and also the participation of an active citizenry. How to get to active participation is an important problem to be solved, not relegated to the dustbin as not important because it is not Thai! There are model politicians such as Rosana in Bangkok who was the watchdog on the PTT privatization and who provide a precedent for active involvement and there are the environmental activists too who often seem to get shot (unfortunately).
Honestly, wouldn’t people like a theory that solved practical problems in their lives more than some non-falsifiable theory that tells them how unique they are or searches for some unique solution for them because they are supposedly so different and unique? And also apparently does so without providing concrete examples. People already do what Chai-anan proposes and not just in Thailand!
“What Thailand can do is to focus on promoting community activities whereby people can work together towards common goals. This doesn’t have to be political or something involving money but something basic and close to their daily problem solving. This community-based participation – not democracy – leads to reconciliation.”
Um, life surrounding the Buddhist temple? That has existed for thousands of years already. Not only here but in Burma, Cambodia, Laos, … In Mae Sai the Tai Lue community comes together every Wan Phraa for morning offerings to the deceased. How many morning drives in the pickup with streamers flying in the back can I remember. Temples in Burma are likewise a focal point for activity. I remember my Burmese wife running off to make the Mohinka for the Dhammayogi (lay women meditators in brown) retreat at “Khin Nyunt’s monastery” down the street. Or in Tachileik waiting in line to get the sage advice of a popular monk on resolving the marital disputes of father and mother in law and listening to so many interesting cases before us, such as the parents of girl apparently crazy, who kept stripping her clothes off and dancing in the street (mental health advice from monks). All community life revolving around the Buddhist temple.
“In a representative democracy, people do not know their representatives in person but mainly through their occasional political campaigns and advertisements.”
Why do you need to personally know your representative as long as he or she is working on your behalf and you are kept up-to-date on their work via a thorough local media (which is perhaps problematic as long as journalists are shot with impunity).
“Therefore, representative democracy does not promote civic participation in political and policy processes, nor shared values and experience.”
Development of a vibrant local media that keeps people informed about what is happening at the local level would promote civic participation. Once again, an active problem solving approach is needed, not casting something off as being not important with the non-falsifiable argument that it is not Thai or not Burmese or not Malay, etc, etc (the old-worn out Southeast studies unique solution gambit, all the mandalas, galactic polities, geobodies, of the past, blah, blah, yawn).
@Matthew Bard.
Hi Matt, if you would like to email me at phrachuntawongso at gmail.com , I will get back to you ASAP.
I am currently teaching a 10 day vipassana retreat and so spending little time on the internet,
Write to me at the above email and I will write when I have a moment.
With metta,
Phra Greg
All due respect, why don’t you guys just email K. Vacharaesorn through his email on the link above and ask him all these rumors or doubts regarding what has been discussing here. If the letter wasnt fabricated he should be willing to reveal the truth??
Is not it ironic to me that the people who preach on sufficiency economy the most (the K and those people around him) are mostly people who are extremely rich and famous in Thailand?
If they really believe in sufficiency economy, why don’t they don’t practice it? Why don’t they move to the villages, grow rice & vegetables, raise animals by themselves? Why don’t they sell all their expensive cars and use a small Toyota..why they must keep expanding their business empire? Why don’t settle for a small house somewhere in the village and live happily ever after?
Until those who parrot and/or preach sufficiency economy really practice sufficiency economy, my opinion of this theory shall not change: this whole sufficiency economy theory is all BS.
Nick is entirely correct that many do buy the book, but that does not mean that they read it. My impression from anecdotal evidence is that the vast majority of those who bought it did so to have it as a status symbol or talisman, a badge of their loyalty to the king to leave prominently on their coffee table for when guests visit. The majority of those who bought it have no interest in actually reading it, and those who attempt to do so quickly give up. I can’t say I blame them.
I guess Nick is also right that for the Bangkok Post to carry Evans’ review is brave, but that is a depressing illustration of how dissociated from reality Thai royalists have become – that even a tepidly positive and toothless review of a shameless hagiography of the king should be regarded as somehow edgy just because it mentions lese majeste and the need of the monarchy to change. These are points that no sane person would disagree with, and yet stating them in the Bangkok Post in a generally highly sycophantic review is regarded as brave and controversial in the Thailand of 2012. How sad.
hi… I will be visiting my son in siem reap , cambodia in april ’12, then i’d like to come stay with you all for awhile to meditate, in june. what can i bring for you all? …………. matt
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The University of Adelaide and the Chief Minister of Sarawak
Are Australian universities cash strapped?
Adelaide University takes money from someone who everyone knows as being the patriarch of one of the most corrupt family in Malaysia.
Then Monash University gives a doctorate to a dodgy Malaysian Prime Minister.
Then the Australian National University surprises everyone by agreeing to set -up a chair on Malay/Malaysian studies although it is unclear what is happening with this “project” as details are sketchy – other than an announcement from the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia.
And now Curtin, gives a doctorate to the Prime Minister’s wife for an obviously wrong reason – mistaking a government funded project (child care and early education) as philantrophical work of the Prime Minister’s wife.
A Malaysian working in Australia, and an alumnus of Curtin pointed this and many other inconsistencies out to Curtin University.
What’s happening with these Australian universities?
Another review of King Bhumibol’s life
Dan – What is your experience of Thai people as readers? Mine is like that of a development worker I met a decade ago who said to me “Thai teachers don’t read”. So I do think Andrew MM might be on to something.
Another review of King Bhumibol’s life
Dear Dan #9
My admittedly unscientific anecdotal survey is based on the following evidence: I have spoken to about three dozen people who admit to owning KBAALW, and not a single one of them has read it.
I also doubt that Paul Handley and Grant Evans have read it. The impression I have from their reviews is that they dipped into it, read parts of it, but never really confronted the full horror of reading it from cover to cover.
I would add that, by your own admission, you also have not read it and have no plans to do so in the near future, which makes your relentless and enthusiastic PR work for the book and its authors all the more bewildering.
Frankly I wonder if even the editors bothered to read the book properly. Had they done so, they would surely not have allowed execrable lines like “love came knocking on his door in the shape of a cousin” to make it into the final version. They would also have noted that praising the king for having “straddled two centuries” and sharpening his own pencils was perhaps not the best strategy for evoking the monarch’s greatness.
I have a suggestion for you: how about you postpone any further comments until you have actually bothered to read the book, and then we can talk sensibly.
Just to add, the biggest selling book in Thai history is the Story of Tongdaeng. High sales do not equate to high quality.
Cheers
Andrew
Another review of King Bhumibol’s life
#5 Andrew
Andrew “My impression from anecdotal evidence is that the vast majority of those who bought it did so to have it as a status symbol or talisman” etc
Any chance you might be able to tell us how you arrived at that impression and what the anecdotal evidence is? Is it based on research? wishful thinking? Vox pops? Internet chat?….. How many anecdotes have you collected since I believe the book has sold thousands and thousands of copies and you have passed judgement on the ‘majority’ of buyers?
Please don’t take offence, but it seems to me to be a fairly patronising ‘impression’….. As if somehow those Thai people who might be genuinely interested in reading it are in someway to be looked down on, or incapable of genuine thought.
The fact is that it is selling like proverbial hot cakes. A great many people are buying it. Presumably they are reading it what is your actual evidence that they are not?)….. And that means they might also be reading the sections of the book that, “mentions lese majeste and the need of the monarchy to change”? ….. That means, however timid, a debate is in process surely?
The toll of flooding on lives and politics
Assume anything you wish England.
Another review of King Bhumibol’s life
Andrew Walker #7: Fair comment. It has other uses too: because of its immense bulk, it also makes an excellent offensive weapon. If you ever want to beat somebody to death with a book, KBAALW would be far more effective than The Story of Tongdaeng or even TKNS.
So it is not entirely worthless.
Another review of King Bhumibol’s life
“the vast majority of those who bought it did so to have it as a status symbol or talisman” – is there a better reason to buy a book?
A catalogue of threats against the Khana Nitirat
@NoBuzz
Thank you for your comment about my opinion, in which I have the following to say in respond.
First, I have just heard about the UDD TV’s speech on its TV. And yes, assuming that what you said is true, I would wholeheartedly agree that it is a very bad thing to say. Nevertheless, the fact that UDD’s media acted inappropriately does nothing to make the image of the Thai Royals and Thai elites look better.
Secondly, I respectfully disagree that anyone who reads my comment that the “Thai Royals deserve zero respect for their acquiescence to their fanatics’ violence incitement” would result in nothing but further violence. True, there may be some people who would been incited. Nevertheless, I am sure that most people would not think that way.
In fact, I believe that the vast majority of rational Thais are more likely than not to ‘stop and think’ whether the Royals that they have been taught for their whole lives to respect and sacrifice everything they have for them are really deserving of such admiration.
I was one of those people. I used to respect the King, but after the mess in 2010 I changed my mind.
After the media tried to justify the massacre in 2010 that the Reds deserve to die because they do not love the King, followed by countless witchhunts by the royal fanatics on their attempt to expose people who do not love the Monarchy to public humiliation and imprisonment, I started to ask myself, “what would I do, if I were the King? If I witness my fanatics behaving this way, what would I do? Would I be happy if someone who don’t like me must go to jail if they say they don’t like me? Would I keep quiet when my fanatics are witch-hunting people who think differently? Should I remain silent? Certainly not. If I remain silent, those people would not stop.
The truth, which you have to accept is, the King’s silence to all these witchhunting, massacre, and this current craziness in Thailand nowadays, have damaged his reputation and his own carefully constructed image far more than any criticism from any scholar would do. No person who has even a remote sense of morality would remain quiet in situations like only they can do something to stop the insane human rights violation done ‘in their names’ for their own benefit like what the King currently does. And no, people who realise that he is not worthy of respect won’t necessarily feel that they should inflict violence on him. They are most likely to lose their love and respect they had for him and that’s all. There may be some who would wish to inflict violence on him, but I am certain that those people would be in the minority.
Thirdly, I heavily disagree with your opinion that to say “someone deserves no respect” is akin to saying that they are a dog. For example, I do not respect Yingluck. Her effort to try to build a relationship with the Thai elites who are behind the killing of her supporters is sickening to watch. Nonetheless, I do not mean, when I say I do not respect her, that she is like a dog. To say someone is ‘a dog’ is much more extreme that to say one does not deserve to be respected. “Not respecting” signifies a feeling of indifference. However, to call one “a dog” goes way beyond indifference. It is a clear insult. I fail to see how saying “x should not be respected” can equate to a clear insult like you suggested.
The toll of flooding on lives and politics
Vichai N (62). I assume you agree that it should be legal to write similar, amusingly scurrilous ditties about Queen Sirikit. Yes? Otherwise you would be a hypocrite.
Will UMNO give up power?
Associate Professor Azmi Sharom of University Malaya, writing in The Star, notes that:
Everyone understands this. Why can’t UMNO?
A catalogue of threats against the Khana Nitirat
Just a reflection on Comment #1 from CT.
I remember when I was laying in my hotel room in Khon Kaen in October 2009, watching PTV on the TV and reading the SMS comment strip that they aired.
The contents were pretty much the same as the ones that are mentioned in this article. Abhisit and Suthep should hang. They are dogs etc etc.
And I remember that my reaction was the same then, as yours is today. “The UDD leadership do not deserve any respect” – I cried. For the exact same reasons that you give.
The display of uninhibited emotion, with calls for violence, can not be attributed to political sides. Rather to a general state of moral. Or lack thereof, in society.
On the other hand, if you let a group of teenagers in any western country have their say on sensitive issues, their reaction would be prettty much the same.
The wrong you commit, and that I committed, when claiming “The leadership don’t deserve respect” is that we politicize this lack of restraint, lack of reflection and lack of respect for others.
Because the effect of your comments, and your well intended reaction, is not that readers becom affectionate against lack of respect for other peoples views. Rather it builds hatred against the royalists in this case. Just like my own view helped to build hatred against the UDD. And that leads nowhere but to further violence.
And besides that, saying that someones doesn’t deserve respect isn’t that far from saying that someone is a dog.
Luckily, I have changed since that day in October 2009. I hope you will too.
Another review of King Bhumibol’s life
I don’t have time to look anything up right now. Can anyone tell me whether the book actually discussed anything mentioned in the review in Bangkok Post? , the lese majeste, the CPB, the unaccountability, and the contradiction with sufficiency, etc.
Chai-anan’s sufficiency democracy
“Chai-anan argues that security occupies the top priority of the Thai state’s agenda, whilst participation (or democracy) is subordinated.”
A military and police force without oversight may be security, but wouldn’t security be better without rampant corruption and rent-seeking in these institutions? This requires oversight so that they are not a law unto themselves and also the participation of an active citizenry. How to get to active participation is an important problem to be solved, not relegated to the dustbin as not important because it is not Thai! There are model politicians such as Rosana in Bangkok who was the watchdog on the PTT privatization and who provide a precedent for active involvement and there are the environmental activists too who often seem to get shot (unfortunately).
Honestly, wouldn’t people like a theory that solved practical problems in their lives more than some non-falsifiable theory that tells them how unique they are or searches for some unique solution for them because they are supposedly so different and unique? And also apparently does so without providing concrete examples. People already do what Chai-anan proposes and not just in Thailand!
“What Thailand can do is to focus on promoting community activities whereby people can work together towards common goals. This doesn’t have to be political or something involving money but something basic and close to their daily problem solving. This community-based participation – not democracy – leads to reconciliation.”
Um, life surrounding the Buddhist temple? That has existed for thousands of years already. Not only here but in Burma, Cambodia, Laos, … In Mae Sai the Tai Lue community comes together every Wan Phraa for morning offerings to the deceased. How many morning drives in the pickup with streamers flying in the back can I remember. Temples in Burma are likewise a focal point for activity. I remember my Burmese wife running off to make the Mohinka for the Dhammayogi (lay women meditators in brown) retreat at “Khin Nyunt’s monastery” down the street. Or in Tachileik waiting in line to get the sage advice of a popular monk on resolving the marital disputes of father and mother in law and listening to so many interesting cases before us, such as the parents of girl apparently crazy, who kept stripping her clothes off and dancing in the street (mental health advice from monks). All community life revolving around the Buddhist temple.
“In a representative democracy, people do not know their representatives in person but mainly through their occasional political campaigns and advertisements.”
Why do you need to personally know your representative as long as he or she is working on your behalf and you are kept up-to-date on their work via a thorough local media (which is perhaps problematic as long as journalists are shot with impunity).
“Therefore, representative democracy does not promote civic participation in political and policy processes, nor shared values and experience.”
Development of a vibrant local media that keeps people informed about what is happening at the local level would promote civic participation. Once again, an active problem solving approach is needed, not casting something off as being not important with the non-falsifiable argument that it is not Thai or not Burmese or not Malay, etc, etc (the old-worn out Southeast studies unique solution gambit, all the mandalas, galactic polities, geobodies, of the past, blah, blah, yawn).
Mixing religion and commerce: The Monk for a Month Program in Fang, Chiang Mai
@Matthew Bard.
Hi Matt, if you would like to email me at phrachuntawongso at gmail.com , I will get back to you ASAP.
I am currently teaching a 10 day vipassana retreat and so spending little time on the internet,
Write to me at the above email and I will write when I have a moment.
With metta,
Phra Greg
Crown Prince’s family update?
All due respect, why don’t you guys just email K. Vacharaesorn through his email on the link above and ask him all these rumors or doubts regarding what has been discussing here. If the letter wasnt fabricated he should be willing to reveal the truth??
Najib to receive honorary degree from Monash
Its Dr. Rosmah Mansor now.
Curtin University has just conferred the First Lady of Malaysia with an honorary Doctor of Letters.
Just like her hubby, could it be that the FLOM is getting her Doctorate for some “special favours” to Curtin?
Interfaith dialogue in Malaysia
Thank you for this well-written post.
Chai-anan’s sufficiency democracy
Is not it ironic to me that the people who preach on sufficiency economy the most (the K and those people around him) are mostly people who are extremely rich and famous in Thailand?
If they really believe in sufficiency economy, why don’t they don’t practice it? Why don’t they move to the villages, grow rice & vegetables, raise animals by themselves? Why don’t they sell all their expensive cars and use a small Toyota..why they must keep expanding their business empire? Why don’t settle for a small house somewhere in the village and live happily ever after?
Until those who parrot and/or preach sufficiency economy really practice sufficiency economy, my opinion of this theory shall not change: this whole sufficiency economy theory is all BS.
Another review of King Bhumibol’s life
Nick is entirely correct that many do buy the book, but that does not mean that they read it. My impression from anecdotal evidence is that the vast majority of those who bought it did so to have it as a status symbol or talisman, a badge of their loyalty to the king to leave prominently on their coffee table for when guests visit. The majority of those who bought it have no interest in actually reading it, and those who attempt to do so quickly give up. I can’t say I blame them.
I guess Nick is also right that for the Bangkok Post to carry Evans’ review is brave, but that is a depressing illustration of how dissociated from reality Thai royalists have become – that even a tepidly positive and toothless review of a shameless hagiography of the king should be regarded as somehow edgy just because it mentions lese majeste and the need of the monarchy to change. These are points that no sane person would disagree with, and yet stating them in the Bangkok Post in a generally highly sycophantic review is regarded as brave and controversial in the Thailand of 2012. How sad.
Mixing religion and commerce: The Monk for a Month Program in Fang, Chiang Mai
hi… I will be visiting my son in siem reap , cambodia in april ’12, then i’d like to come stay with you all for awhile to meditate, in june. what can i bring for you all? …………. matt