Toxically un-Thai

re: "Wissanu rejects dumping Thai numbers" (BP, May 31, 2022) 

Dear editor,

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam has his priorities right as he rightly rejects out of hand the impertinent suggestion that Thai numerals be dropped in place of Arabic numerals, which the Western world adopted centuries ago merely for their practical convenience. As the subsequent performance of Western nations shows, when you reform antiquated systems to make them more responsive to the needs of those they are supposed to serve, the people of the nation, putting mere convenience, efficiency and effectiveness above hoary tradition allegedly bestowed by the gods or even more superior beings, you can only get the abject failure and severely limited influence that has characterized Western civilization these past centuries since it increasingly embraced such new fangled notions as science, reason and humanism some 500 years ago. Could there be any better example of what must come from falling into the error of putting sensible reform in the direction of a more flourishing society over zealous adherence to the ways of the ancestors?

Thai numerals are a pillar of Thai culture, both its globally potent soft power and its battle-tested real-world influence. To suggest reform of that pillar of the Thai nation's pride and joy for centuries is clearly to seek to overthrow it. Such an assault must be met with the full weight of the law, lest Thailand be dragged into something as unimaginably unThai as the 20th century, or even the 21st. Could a 15 year prison sentence for each instance of daring to suggest open discussion to reform such a revered Thai institution as its anciently venerated number system, a true pillar of the nation's culture and essence, be deemed remotely draconian?

To further ensure the enshrined exceptionalism of Thailand's most anciently venerated ways, efforts must also be made to halt and reverse other Western, foreign, that is, encroachments already taken root. An obvious example is the invasion of motor cars, motorbikes, BTS trains and such like that have, in the name of mere convenience, efficiency and thriving growth, long made Bangkok and every Thai city, town and village places cursed by the ensuing evils of Western civilization that they inevitably bring, which curses of better living are indeed the very reason for their popularity with the Thai people. The Thai people deserve to be freed from all these modern boons by a return to the ancestors' duly revered buffalo-drawn carts so that rather than the ever diminishing exhaust fumes, the streets will once more be redolent of buffalo droppings swirling in the unmitigated waters freed from Western-style drainage. 

As reported, the promotion of Arabic numerals is likely "part of a wider scheme to bring about a radical change to how the country is governed." As such, it must be rejected. 

Has there ever been a case where the adoption of Arabic numerals, so wickedly Western, was not immediately followed by the imposition of sharia law and all the other cultural baggage that comes with them? 

 

Felix Qui

_______________________________

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 June 2, 2022, under the title "Toxically un-Thai" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2319694/tone-deaf