Bearing fruit

re: "Soft power must have global appeal" (BP, Opinion, April 25, 2022) 

Dear editor,

It all sounds perfectly wonderful to have "Thailand's soft power ambitions" ooze along on a sticky trail of mythic sweetness. This notion of promoting the fabled soft power of Thainess must, however, be carefully considered. For who knows what nightmares might come should the dream be realized?

South Korea can today welcome intense international interest focused on its institutions, its leading families, its true history of anti-democratic military rule, its political and legal systems, and so on. South Korea can condemn and laugh at its own past and present foibles as it welcomes the world to join the thrilling pleasures of hot boy bands belting out whatever, not to mention kimchi and mukbang. Is that really what Thailand wants? Should his sticky dreams of mangoes come true, will Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha welcome with ecstasy NetFlix documentaries feeding the surging interest in all things Thai that inevitably comes with soft power success? 

On the other side of the world, a major element in Britain's global soft power success is not only the Beatles, unmentionable brands of Scotch whisky, the Rolling Stones, mushy peas and Queen, but the intense notice that Queen Elizabeth II and her family consistently attract internationally, even in Thailand. But whilst the polls show the success regularly measured in percentage points of the Windsor example of how to bring an anciently revered institution into accord with the modern, marketable values of openness, transparency and accountability, not to mention respect for the basic democratic principle of free speech, is it equally certain that Thailand's official treatment of the same when called for by peaceful Thai protestors augers well for Thailand coping with such certain consequences of any successful global promotion of Thai soft power? 

Anyway,  everyone knows that it's durian, not mangoes, that is the true king of Thai fruit, the embodiment of Thainess most honestly fragrant. The pitching of durian is the true path to serious soft power for Thainess on the international stage. Who, after all, could withstand a well-pitched durian spiky with truths and pervasively redolent of the people's dreams for their nation to move forward to modern values?  

 Felix Qui

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The above letter to the editor is the text as submitted by Felix Qui to the Bangkok Post.

The text as edited was published in PostBag on April 28, 2022, under the title "Bearing fruit" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2301634/bearing-fruit