The ego has landed

COMMENTARY

Published: 14 Oct 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

The government's 2.75 trillion baht infrastructure development plan unveiled on Oct 5 will, at best, have a mediocre effect on the development of Thailand. This is not a knock against the Pheu Thai regime. It would be mediocre with any of the previous governments in charge as well. We're not even factoring in corruption; instead we're factoring in an unyielding mindset.

Likewise, the marriage between tablet computers and the Thai educational system will be a rocky one, with a laundry list of irreconcilable differences, for the same reason that Thai educational reform is much talked about, but always falls to pieces even before the reforming "groom" gets to place a wedding ring on the bride's hand.

This is because the feudalistic cultural mentality is not conducive to national advancement. If we want to marry development with feudalism and beget the prodigal son or daughter of advancement, the mindset of Thai culture has to change.

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p.corso
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Discussion 56 : 17 Nov 2012 at 05.4356
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a friend of mine is thai. she's born in middle-classed family with good education at home and at school,traditionally conscious,always respects the elder like most thai people,excellent student in both thai and foreign languages since she is curious and loves learning new things,graduated with first classed honour from university and proud to make her parents happy.
But nobody knew that she had to wake up earlier than her father every morning so she could have listened to some english songs on radio;she got screamed by her dad whenever watching Manoch Puttan's Sunday Noon then.He accused her of being mad with western culture.
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pogi
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Discussion 55 : 18 Oct 2012 at 14.0655
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excellent...parents and educators should think that our children is our future...
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loong
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Discussion 54 : 16 Oct 2012 at 03.1454
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Excellent article! I think it would benefit Thai college teacher(arjaan) to learn, analyses, and practice in class for all Thai colleges student. Open mind is the key word for any society progression. It does not matter how many trillions the government spend on infrastructure, people as a whole still be a buffaloes.
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ricardofel
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Discussion 53 : 15 Oct 2012 at 06.4553
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The reality is that NOTHING will change in Thailand. The poor will always be poor: they are expendable which is why no politician ever passes laws to protect them. The middle class will stay where they are doing their best to rise above the poor and the politicians will always be corrupt; the rich will maintain their status and only care about how much more money they can make and they won't care about anyone.
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faceless
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Discussion 52 : 15 Oct 2012 at 06.1752
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bangmodken d.42, On your interest in seeing K.Voranai take a more active role in politics, Thais with his intelligence and courage are needed. But I do take issue with any questions you raise on whether he has the cojones to do the job.

Consider for a moment the fine line he straddles here. That takes guts. Dare I say at times heroic stuff. Maybe he can be more effective and be able to keep fighting the good fight by staying right where he is.

Also, the reality of politics is compromise. Political success requires compromise. I wouldn't wish that upon him.
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faceless
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Discussion 51 : 15 Oct 2012 at 05.2551
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johninbkk d.48, maybe you should read the article again, without the blinkers of a PT apologist.

The article is titled "The Ego Has Landed".

The early paragraphs give examples of egocentricity imposing on policies through the "unyielding mindset", "the mindset of Thai culture (that) has to change". So now the scene is set for our further exploration of this issue.

Give it a rest John.
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JP

Discussion 50 : 15 Oct 2012 at 05.0950
Brilliant, outstanding article.
Let us learn from Master Yoda;
"Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering".
YODA
from iPhone application.
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genii
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Discussion 49 : 14 Oct 2012 at 22.5449
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Freedoms, rights, liberties.
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johninbkk
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Discussion 48 : 14 Oct 2012 at 20.5348
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A Thai friend of mine who came to study in the US once told me, "I like US education more - the teachers make you think for yourself. Thai teachers only make you obey them."

(the first two paragraphs of this article are unrelated to the rest of the article)
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bkk-farang
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Discussion 47 : 14 Oct 2012 at 20.3847
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Great Article Kun Voranai, thank you.
Like you describe, there are lots of people who don’t want certain kind of changes, and sometimes I can’t blame them.
I live in Thailand since almost 20 years and I also learned a lot from Thais. I don’t know how much of this is typical Asian thinking and how much is typical Thai, but anyhow, I learned.
Maybe one way to convince some people of the advantages to learn from different cultures would be to point out what the western world learned from Asia and Thailand. Maybe after Thais see how some Westerners learned from Thais these Thais will be more open to ask: And what can we learn from “the West”? If we are all open minded we will all advance.
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