re: "Paetongtarn must avoid past trends" (BP, Opinion, October 30, 2023)
Dear editor,
Veera Prateepchaikul describes him as acting "graciously" when Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin kissed the extended hand of Paetongtarn Shinawatra, duly "groomed by her handlers" as he can't help but put it. PM Srettha has clearly been equally well groomed.
What role should such cute displays of choreographed submission have in a modern Thailand? Shows of dictated submission are part of the legacy of the previous PM, Prayut Chan-o-cha, who would stop at nothing to entrench his vision of Thailand in the 21st century, Thailand 4.0 as he boasted. But should they be?
Back the late 19th century, a truly wise Thai said of another traditional show of forced submission that "Since [its] abolition, those countries have become more prosperous. In Siam, the practice of prostration reaffirms the existence of oppression which is unjust." That wise man is rightly famous for his efforts to move his nation forward to take its place as both a respectable and respected modern Thailand in his own day and beyond.
Unlike Veera speaking of a "graciously bowed" prime minister, who is supposed to represent a proud people, this eminently wise Thai leader of old spoke of traditional customs that reinforced notions of intrinsic inequality between citizens as being "severely oppressive". He sought to abolish once and for all such "harsh" practices that could only demean Thailand in the eyes of developed nations.
That wise Thai was the great King Chulalongkorn, Rama V, to whom Thailand owes much. The quoted words are from the Royal Siamese Government Gazette, 1873, as translated by the well-known Thai academic that Veera also cites in his opinion piece. Perhaps it is time the Thai people listened to those wise words from a king who had a vision of his nation getting stuck not back in Prayut's Thailand 4.0, but of genuinely moving forward to a future worth having for all Thais. To conclude in the words of the great King: "Powerful countries which have been successful in refraining from oppressing their own peoples are now enjoying prosperity."
Is Thailand enjoying the prosperity its people have deserved these many decades past?
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 November 2, 2023, under the title "Gracious talk" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2676533/gracious-talk
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