Was he really appointed to the Constitution Drafting Committee? When asked what he thought of the whole drafting process, he replied, “I think it will be a mess and the next constitution will be just that.” I guess he’ll have nobody to blame but himself now.
As ever among leading Thai thinkers, Niti is tiptoeing around his target and one has to wonder how many people besides other tip-toeing thinkers recognize what he is poking at.
At his age and stature, why can’t Niti be a little more direct about just what the nationalism is that he faults — could it be “nation, religion, (army,) king”? — and just why is Thai history such a straight, orderly, beautiful line?
There are already a lot of Thais out there being more forthright about these issues, and that Niti can’t bring himself to even go halfway shows perhaps the real problem: that either Thai thinkers are too wimpy to take risks, or that real thought and voice repression exists and no one will say just that. Such repression is decidedly not democratic in anyone’s sense.
Perhaps Niti would be better off writing just a few lines: “I can’t say what I really want to about the problem with Thailand because there are XXX forces making it impossible to openly criticize.”
Actually, perhaps that is what all these academics should do, when talking to the media: Just say, “I can’t say what I really think because I feel threatened by the junta and the lese majeste law.”
That might be better than beating around the bush, as has already been done for a quarter century.
“…he thinks that the (imagined) village-level social structure of times long past could provide a viable model for Thailand’s contemporary political system.”
If that means that Bangkok people (like myself) get to telecommute from the provinces then hip hip hooray.
“…he (imagined) village-level social structure of times long past could provide a viable model for Thailand’s contemporary political system.”
It can and does. That, however, would not be apparent to someone who has not lived in a well-functioning village in the provinces.
The head of a major industry group in Thailand lives at the end of our humble little rural lane. He has it figured out.
I’m a bit confused by Patrick’s piece about the Fa Dieo Kan issue on the coup.
Anyone reading his article, but not reading the Fa Dieo Kan issue, could easily get the impression that the contributors to that issue are supporting the coup. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is one pro-coup piece included as an appendix, but only because it is slaughtered in one of the main articles. The contributors are unrelentingly opposed to the coup.
What is striking about the issue as a whole is the way it discusses the role of the royal institution in the coup, sets it in a historical context, and questions the consequences. This is the central theme of the whole issue, and significantly pushes the boundaries of what is usually considered safe and acceptable. The editor and one of the contributors are already under charges of lese majeste for a previous issue. Several of the writers have been jailed, or threatened with jail, in the past. I can’t see what is silent or lamb-like about this.
Patrick seems to argue that anyone who opposed Thaksin is responsible for the coup, and that if they now whine about the coup, that’s only a belated and hopeless attempt at exculpation. Is it really not possible to oppose authoritarianism in any form, whether it is armed with guns or money? Is there truly only one choice in Thai politics, between Thaksin and the junta? Surely, the big question is why the liberalizing, democratizing trend of the 1990s has given way to competing authoritarianism in this decade. A debate which begins to address this issue deserves to be celebrated, not belittled.
Banjerd Singkaneti of the faculty of law at Thammasat University was one of the intellectual hard-liners agitating against Thaksin. He got famous for his statement that Hitler was better for Germany than Thaksin was for Thailand. This insight was rewarded after the coup by him being appointed to the Asset Exemination Committee and the constitution drafting body.
Now he has given us a further insight into his political world view by saying, “I personally believe in social structure and administration through traditions and customs that we once had in small communities. It’s more real than western-style democracy because people rule by themselves. I firmly believe that we really need to look back into our village life.” (Bangkok Post 26 February)
So, Banjerd has obviously noticed that Thailand has become a mass society. Still, he thinks that the (imagined) village-level social structure of times long past could provide a viable model for Thailand’s contemporary political system.
The difficulty in assessing these sorts of projects is that reports like this are as much about ideology (Keynesians vs Friedmanites) as they are about the individual situation. I note in particular that Conroy explicitly does not consider the impact on macroeconomic crisis recovery or poverty:
“Thaksinomics is concerned primarily with macroeconomic issues of recovery and growth, with poverty alleviation as an important subtheme. However, this paper is not concerned to evaluate its success in these fields. Rather its purpose is to examine the implications of Thaksinomics for financial sector development”
Most Keynesians (and I suspect non-economists generally) would I think feel this puts the cart well before the horse.
A pointless poll really – Surayud is only there for a short term until the elections, and Thaksin has said many times that he is finished with politics.
TKNS > Bangkok Post (February 25, p. 2) carries a footnote (advertisement/invitation) on 1973/1976. It reads, “His Majesty the King Graciously Designated Her Majesty the Queen to be His Majesty’s Representative to preside over the Cremation of Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn, Former Prime Minister, at the Main Royal Crematorium, Depsirin Temple, on Sunday February 25th, 2007.”
It tells us something about Thai political culture that Thanom is not treated as a corrupt former military dictator who sullied his hands with the blood of young Thai people.
Read the Wikipedia articles on the book (english and thai).
The Thai translators never refer to it by its full title, but use TKNS instead. They translated the title rather imaginatively as р╕кр╕зр╕гр╕гр╕Др╣Мр╣Гр╕Щр╕нр╕Б р╕Щр╕гр╕Бр╣Гр╕Щр╣Гр╕И. Chapter 15 (on Prem) is translated as р╕Щр╣Йр╕│р╕Юр╕╢р╣Ир╕Зр╣Ар╕гр╕╖р╕н-р╣Ар╕кр╕╖р╕нр╕Юр╕╢р╣Ир╕Зр╕Ыр╣Ир╕▓ and Chapter 16 is translated as р╕Др╕гр╕нр╕Ър╕Др╕гр╕▒р╕зр╕ер╕░р╣Ар╕лр╕╡р╣Ир╕вр╣Гр╕И. It was originally posted on the Prachatai webboards. But you should also be able to find a Google Cache of the HTML version.
[…] bridge will link the northern Thai road network with a road that cuts across north-western Laos: from Huayxai to Luang Namtha and then across the border (at […]
Every democracy goes through a maturing process. Even the US, in its early days, had a Vice President (Arron Burr) who was indicted with Murder (he killed Alexander Hamilton). But the US and its intellectuals did not abandon democracy just because they had rotton people in it. I’d rather have to put up with rotton people in a democratic system than rotton people in a dictatorship/absolute monarchy (if only the Iraqis could have voted Saddam out). It’s tempting to say that it would be good to have good/brilliant people in a dictatorship/absolute monarchy (Lee Kuan Yew/Jigme) but thats a fools choice in today’s modern complex society with its multitude of interest groups.
If someone had pretty good KIO/KIA contacts it should be relatively easy to get information on where the battalions were in 1984, 1974, 1964 and all the years in between. It would also be interesting to know where there were (are) in relation to the Kachin populated areas in the Northern Shan since the Kachin rebellion started north of Lashio.
Myanmar, under the military junta, is exercising self determination, free from considerations of foreign interests, not hostage to foreign capital, military threats or ideologies. It is the ultimate anti-globalist strategy. To isolate with sanctions can only reinforce the mentality of the Burmese elite. Engagement, free movement of people, goods and information is the real threat to the regime, but the tide is already beginning to turn with the US overplaying its hand in the mid-east, and a new wave of self-determination and respect may spell doom for the Burmese peoples.
Srithanonchai: For me it’s always the cheese which I’m missing (and in April and May the Asparagus). Chocolate has to be definitely “Lindt” or some chocolates from Brussels.
To Amateur: No, french baguettes don’t count. And the British have exported their language which is now quite convenient to anglo-american tourists (and to the Indians who can compete on the IT market). I think the ex-colonies can be happy that they haven’t adopted the English cuisine – it’s rather the opposite: the cuisines of the former colonies have a big impact inthe UK now.
Mind you me joining… I am ethnically Thai but culturally pretty Kraut and would like to add that even in the UK where I am now it is quite a hassle to get proper German bread, even though they offer German Rye Bread at Tesco’s.
The Laotians are quite lucky in having the French heritage of making Baguettes. The British haven’t exported anything good into their colonies, not even democracy. India is maybe an exception…
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“The silence of the intellectual lambs”
Was he really appointed to the Constitution Drafting Committee? When asked what he thought of the whole drafting process, he replied, “I think it will be a mess and the next constitution will be just that.” I guess he’ll have nobody to blame but himself now.
“The silence of the intellectual lambs”
As ever among leading Thai thinkers, Niti is tiptoeing around his target and one has to wonder how many people besides other tip-toeing thinkers recognize what he is poking at.
At his age and stature, why can’t Niti be a little more direct about just what the nationalism is that he faults — could it be “nation, religion, (army,) king”? — and just why is Thai history such a straight, orderly, beautiful line?
There are already a lot of Thais out there being more forthright about these issues, and that Niti can’t bring himself to even go halfway shows perhaps the real problem: that either Thai thinkers are too wimpy to take risks, or that real thought and voice repression exists and no one will say just that. Such repression is decidedly not democratic in anyone’s sense.
Perhaps Niti would be better off writing just a few lines: “I can’t say what I really want to about the problem with Thailand because there are XXX forces making it impossible to openly criticize.”
Actually, perhaps that is what all these academics should do, when talking to the media: Just say, “I can’t say what I really think because I feel threatened by the junta and the lese majeste law.”
That might be better than beating around the bush, as has already been done for a quarter century.
“The silence of the intellectual lambs”
“…he thinks that the (imagined) village-level social structure of times long past could provide a viable model for Thailand’s contemporary political system.”
If that means that Bangkok people (like myself) get to telecommute from the provinces then hip hip hooray.
“…he (imagined) village-level social structure of times long past could provide a viable model for Thailand’s contemporary political system.”
It can and does. That, however, would not be apparent to someone who has not lived in a well-functioning village in the provinces.
The head of a major industry group in Thailand lives at the end of our humble little rural lane. He has it figured out.
“The silence of the intellectual lambs”
I’m a bit confused by Patrick’s piece about the Fa Dieo Kan issue on the coup.
Anyone reading his article, but not reading the Fa Dieo Kan issue, could easily get the impression that the contributors to that issue are supporting the coup. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is one pro-coup piece included as an appendix, but only because it is slaughtered in one of the main articles. The contributors are unrelentingly opposed to the coup.
What is striking about the issue as a whole is the way it discusses the role of the royal institution in the coup, sets it in a historical context, and questions the consequences. This is the central theme of the whole issue, and significantly pushes the boundaries of what is usually considered safe and acceptable. The editor and one of the contributors are already under charges of lese majeste for a previous issue. Several of the writers have been jailed, or threatened with jail, in the past. I can’t see what is silent or lamb-like about this.
Patrick seems to argue that anyone who opposed Thaksin is responsible for the coup, and that if they now whine about the coup, that’s only a belated and hopeless attempt at exculpation. Is it really not possible to oppose authoritarianism in any form, whether it is armed with guns or money? Is there truly only one choice in Thai politics, between Thaksin and the junta? Surely, the big question is why the liberalizing, democratizing trend of the 1990s has given way to competing authoritarianism in this decade. A debate which begins to address this issue deserves to be celebrated, not belittled.
“The silence of the intellectual lambs”
Banjerd Singkaneti of the faculty of law at Thammasat University was one of the intellectual hard-liners agitating against Thaksin. He got famous for his statement that Hitler was better for Germany than Thaksin was for Thailand. This insight was rewarded after the coup by him being appointed to the Asset Exemination Committee and the constitution drafting body.
Now he has given us a further insight into his political world view by saying, “I personally believe in social structure and administration through traditions and customs that we once had in small communities. It’s more real than western-style democracy because people rule by themselves. I firmly believe that we really need to look back into our village life.” (Bangkok Post 26 February)
So, Banjerd has obviously noticed that Thailand has become a mass society. Still, he thinks that the (imagined) village-level social structure of times long past could provide a viable model for Thailand’s contemporary political system.
Thaksinomics and Thailand’s credit culture
The difficulty in assessing these sorts of projects is that reports like this are as much about ideology (Keynesians vs Friedmanites) as they are about the individual situation. I note in particular that Conroy explicitly does not consider the impact on macroeconomic crisis recovery or poverty:
“Thaksinomics is concerned primarily with macroeconomic issues of recovery and growth, with poverty alleviation as an important subtheme. However, this paper is not concerned to evaluate its success in these fields. Rather its purpose is to examine the implications of Thaksinomics for financial sector development”
Most Keynesians (and I suspect non-economists generally) would I think feel this puts the cart well before the horse.
Fading puppet
A pointless poll really – Surayud is only there for a short term until the elections, and Thaksin has said many times that he is finished with politics.
Thaksinomics and Thailand’s credit culture
Some of the projects had great potential, like Bangkok Fashion City which resulted in a great library and resource center for fashion and design.
Discrediting/delegitimizing absolutely everything in Thaksin’s legacy is unproductive overkill.
Banned but scanned
Thanom’s great grand-daughter has some comments on her blog.
http://gnarlykitty.blogspot.com/
See “In his honour” Pts 1 & 2
Banned but scanned
The King also paid for all of Thanom’s medical expenses after his 2004 stroke. See here.
Somkid, sandwiches and sufficiency
Amateur: Thanks very much for your cultural-culinary solidarity! And my sympathy for your suffering in the UK.
21 Jan: Enjoy your “Lindt”!
Banned but scanned
TKNS > Bangkok Post (February 25, p. 2) carries a footnote (advertisement/invitation) on 1973/1976. It reads, “His Majesty the King Graciously Designated Her Majesty the Queen to be His Majesty’s Representative to preside over the Cremation of Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn, Former Prime Minister, at the Main Royal Crematorium, Depsirin Temple, on Sunday February 25th, 2007.”
It tells us something about Thai political culture that Thanom is not treated as a corrupt former military dictator who sullied his hands with the blood of young Thai people.
Banned but scanned
Read the Wikipedia articles on the book (english and thai).
The Thai translators never refer to it by its full title, but use TKNS instead. They translated the title rather imaginatively as р╕кр╕зр╕гр╕гр╕Др╣Мр╣Гр╕Щр╕нр╕Б р╕Щр╕гр╕Бр╣Гр╕Щр╣Гр╕И. Chapter 15 (on Prem) is translated as р╕Щр╣Йр╕│р╕Юр╕╢р╣Ир╕Зр╣Ар╕гр╕╖р╕н-р╣Ар╕кр╕╖р╕нр╕Юр╕╢р╣Ир╕Зр╕Ыр╣Ир╕▓ and Chapter 16 is translated as р╕Др╕гр╕нр╕Ър╕Др╕гр╕▒р╕зр╕ер╕░р╣Ар╕лр╕╡р╣Ир╕вр╣Гр╕И. It was originally posted on the Prachatai webboards. But you should also be able to find a Google Cache of the HTML version.
Banned but scanned
Can anyone provide a hint to the Thai website where the book is scanned. Have googled but haven’t found anything. Thanks
On the road to development?
[…] bridge will link the northern Thai road network with a road that cuts across north-western Laos: from Huayxai to Luang Namtha and then across the border (at […]
“The silence of the intellectual lambs”
Every democracy goes through a maturing process. Even the US, in its early days, had a Vice President (Arron Burr) who was indicted with Murder (he killed Alexander Hamilton). But the US and its intellectuals did not abandon democracy just because they had rotton people in it. I’d rather have to put up with rotton people in a democratic system than rotton people in a dictatorship/absolute monarchy (if only the Iraqis could have voted Saddam out). It’s tempting to say that it would be good to have good/brilliant people in a dictatorship/absolute monarchy (Lee Kuan Yew/Jigme) but thats a fools choice in today’s modern complex society with its multitude of interest groups.
Burmese army bases in the Kachin State
If someone had pretty good KIO/KIA contacts it should be relatively easy to get information on where the battalions were in 1984, 1974, 1964 and all the years in between. It would also be interesting to know where there were (are) in relation to the Kachin populated areas in the Northern Shan since the Kachin rebellion started north of Lashio.
Tutu on South Africa’s Burma vote
Myanmar, under the military junta, is exercising self determination, free from considerations of foreign interests, not hostage to foreign capital, military threats or ideologies. It is the ultimate anti-globalist strategy. To isolate with sanctions can only reinforce the mentality of the Burmese elite. Engagement, free movement of people, goods and information is the real threat to the regime, but the tide is already beginning to turn with the US overplaying its hand in the mid-east, and a new wave of self-determination and respect may spell doom for the Burmese peoples.
Somkid, sandwiches and sufficiency
Srithanonchai: For me it’s always the cheese which I’m missing (and in April and May the Asparagus). Chocolate has to be definitely “Lindt” or some chocolates from Brussels.
To Amateur: No, french baguettes don’t count. And the British have exported their language which is now quite convenient to anglo-american tourists (and to the Indians who can compete on the IT market). I think the ex-colonies can be happy that they haven’t adopted the English cuisine – it’s rather the opposite: the cuisines of the former colonies have a big impact inthe UK now.
Somkid, sandwiches and sufficiency
Mind you me joining… I am ethnically Thai but culturally pretty Kraut and would like to add that even in the UK where I am now it is quite a hassle to get proper German bread, even though they offer German Rye Bread at Tesco’s.
The Laotians are quite lucky in having the French heritage of making Baguettes. The British haven’t exported anything good into their colonies, not even democracy. India is maybe an exception…