In today’s Bangkok Post, Les Thompson has a short letter to the editor titled “Theory and Practice”. Given the recent conversations here on New Mandala about sufficiency economy and the Crown Property Bureau the letter is worth reading in full. Thompson writes:

Wednesday’s edition of the Bangkok Post carried a story about the Crown Property Bureau planning to “turn away from small lessees and instead invite large-scale property developers to build mega-projects… for the sake of bigger returns”.

I can clearly understand that “gathering small plots of land in the Lang Suan area would create great development potential for property projects”. This is an excellent opportunity in any market-based economy.

However, I am a little confused as to how the Crown Property Bureau can reconcile its plans with the theory of a sufficiency economy, a concept based on the idea that “Small is Beautiful”. Any explanation would be helpful.

Much of this ground has already been covered in comments here on New Mandala.

What is most interesting is that this letter, as subtle as it is, was published at the present time. We will have to wait and see whether further public discussions or investigations follow Thompson’s effort to garner an explanation on the theory and practice of royal sufficiency economy.

The whole episode leads one to ponder – will the Crown Property Bureau ever be prompted to publicly account for its “practice” of the King’s theory?