absolutelyBangkok archive · Culture shock
Originally published Oct. 8, 2009
It’s pretty obvious by now that Thailand has become a de facto ungovernable state and society. One does as one pleases under the pretext of freedom and democracy. The higher up the less accountability, but even the good man John Q. Public thinks of himself first. You’d be stupid to not follow the example of your leaders. Be honest, get screwed. Fight for justice — where to start?
Yes, there are courts and prominent people get convicted for corruption, political offenses, defamation, etc. You actually know of anyone serving a prison term? Bail’s the magic word and if your nightclub burns down and dozens of people die, do not worry. Time is on your side. You’re defaming your nemesis? Just repeat the affront again and again until it becomes the truth.
Elections? Rule of law? A. would never accept that B. gets what A. deserves, and A. does what it has to do to claim what’s rightfully A.’s, while B. starts copying A. and keeps on ignoring honor and respect and common sense until everyone wishes for C., but C. soon turns out to be just another A. while everyone is suing everyone and even Cambodia and Laos start surpassing the once proud kingdom.
Yes, both have 3G, and what a powerful metaphor that is, those hinterlands boasting themselves of faster communication networks than the neighboring kingdom whose wealth once was based on the exploitation of its neighbors. Grand old hegemonist Thailand keeps on living in the past while ignoring the present and therefore avoiding the future; as if the future is something deeply un-Thai.
3G debacle, anyone?
3G stands for the “farce” Thai politics have become, for the “almost immovable bureaucracy, ineffective regulators and amazingly obstructive government ministers,” the Bangkok Post opines.
Too much damage has been done to the kingdom over the past years, but nobody is able to name names, and as long as the blame game drags on without anyone being able to name names and pointing the finger at the core issues and working on sustainable solutions Thailand teeters on the brink of a failed state with still lots of sunshine and great people and food, which is why the whole circus can go on and on without ever really leading to Judgment Day.
The only option to get over the collective state of paralysis is to detract from the real issues and step up propaganda, brainwashing and nationalism, even 3G nationalism. Sing until you’re hoarse and repeat mantra-like those god-given values again and again and real Thainess shall descend upon you — Thaiwhat? There you have it. A plastic nation, a static nation, a nation where everyone is someone’s puppet with no vibrancy left but only artificial rituals and plagiarism brought to perfection.
The logical consequences would be an open class struggle, liberation politics and, maybe, a victorious civil society. But that’s textbook science. Thailand’s current regressive reality is all-embracing, leaving you with only the options of ignorance, selfishness and whitewashing to bear the sad evolutional descent.
And as there’s such a vast supply of cheap, undereducated, disenfranchised labor the Sanohs and Chavalits and Sondhis and Sanans and Chalerms and Chamlongs and Banharns are here to stay and old equals new and some day the Thaksins will return.
And one day, depending on the events at play, some sort of social chemical reaction will ensue. The agents at play will determine the series of reactions. It’s bare physics, stupid. The more artificial Thailand and Thai society have become at that stage the more ugly the reaction.
Everything will find its balance again, especially in a grossly unbalanced Thailand.
Until then you may want to practice the virtues of ignorance.
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