Stop" Mai Pen Rai"

[PattayaMale]

The authorities had warring Uthen Thawai and Pathumwan students shaking hands in front of the cameras, promising peace and harmony. Less than a couple of weeks later the rival students turned Mahboonkrong into a battlefield. Embarrassing?

 

Children are drinking low quality milk because the suppliers are using imported powdered milk and over diluting it, while Thai farmers, encouraged by the authorities to adopt dairy farming as Thailand is always short of milk end up having to dump their (real) milk in protest because there’s no market for it. Ridiculous?

 

The authorities say some plants are deemed hazardous, hence farmers have to use chemical products instead, while studies by the Health Ministry say that between 1998 and 2003, more than 2,000 farmers each year fell sick because of agricultural chemicals, with 30 deaths in 1999 alone. Absurd?

 

The Cabinet approved a film rating system, with categories including ‘‘General Audience’’, ‘‘13’’, ‘‘15’’ and ‘‘18’’. More interesting is a category that will ban films the authorities deem to offend the monarchy, threaten national security, hamper national unity, insult faiths, disrespect honourable figures, challenge morals or contain explicit sex scenes. Which means the new rating system will further legitimise state power to ban and censor anything arbitrarily. Nauseating?

 

General Chaiyasith Shinawatra is reportedly performing black magic rituals against the Democrat-led government, while Post Book, a division of Post Publishing Plc, has just published Lub Luang Prang, a book about the rampant use of black magic in Thai politics (pick it up, it’s a riveting read). Scary?

 

Incompetence. Corruption. More corruption. Repression. Black magic. The incidents cited above are from this month alone (and it’s not over yet).

 

It seems that regardless of who is in power, whether the ‘‘Thaksinistas’’ or the ‘‘elitists’’, sadly the one constant in the Kingdom is ... mediocrity.

 

Look around, sure we have fancy hotels and shopping malls, but as a society we have only achieved mediocrity. In terms of political and social enlightenment, in terms of cultural and educational advancement, in terms of Thailand as a single, sovereign entity, we are quite mediocre, especially given the high capacity of our human and natural resources.

 

We are mediocre because the authorities have worked hard in keeping us ignorant, shallow and docile, and we let them. We are mediocre because we let the greedy oppressors get away with their corruption, repression and ineptitude.

 

We don’t speak out enough. We don’t protest enough. We don’t march enough. Ironically, when we do those things, we end up putting on a yellow or a red shirt at the behest of one greedy oppressor or another — manipulated into risking life and limb to serve their personal agendas.

 

That’s why things are as they are in Thailand — stale and stagnant, a perpetual black hole of mediocrity, while other countries race past us by. We have excellent human and natural resources, but we simply waste them away through greed, envy and narrowmindedness. I would like to naively ask my fellow countrymen: How long are we going to let these people get away with corrupting and repressing Thailand? How long do we let them keep us dumb and docile?

 

How long can we hide in the dressing room of a fancy shopping mall, or at the bottom of a cocktail glass at a society event? How long can we bury our heads in TV soap operas and gossip rags, or mask ourselves behind 6cm of skin whitening cream? How long until we surgically remove the tattoo on our foreheads that says ‘‘ mai pen rai’’? How long before we get off our behinds and do something about this beloved country of ours?

The answer is we can put up with all the incompetence, corruption and repression for a very, very long time. We don’t mind being kept ignorant and docile for a very, very long time. Why? Because of three little words that spell out the attitude of our society. Mai pen rai. The attitude that says: It doesn’t matter. No big deal. It hasn’t anything to do with me. This is Thailand. It’s just the way it is.

 

As long as the vanity of the rich is fed by their glamorous lifestyles, the ignorance of the poor maintained by keeping their eyes glued to television screens and the middle class kept busy paying bills and financing homes, cars and debts and panicking over an economic crisis that occurs every few years — it’s mai pen rai to the social and political ills of this country.

 

Sure, at times we might cry and whine about it. Some of us may even write newspaper commentaries about it. But afterwards everything goes back to the status quo. Mai pen rai.

 

Two schools brawling and killing each other for over 30 years? Mai pen rai — these are just poor, workingclass students who couldn’t get into top colleges.

 

Children drinking poor quality milk while industry and bureacracy get rich on their milk monopoly? Mai pen rai — only poor kids have to drink school milk.

 

Organic herbs get banned because big business lobbyists have more money than government officials have morals? Mai pen rai — the Academy Fantasia all-stars reunion is on TV. Priorities, don’t you know?

 

Censorship? Repression? Mai pen rai — we’ll just by the DVDs on Silom.

 

Black magic? Well, this is Thailand, so that stuff is real. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

 

That seems to be our attitude. We don’t express outrage. We don’t demand justice. We don’t monitor action. We just sit back and let the authorities pay lip service to having an investigation, then a few months later everyone forgets about it. Mai pen rai.

 

We Thais have it easy. There’s fish in the sea and rice in the fields. When we run out of fish in our sea, we just fish in other people’s seas and either get kidnapped by Somali pirates or thrown into prison by Burmese authorities. But that’s okay, mai pen rai. They are just poor people.

 

Mind you, this attitude of mai pen rai, this cancer of apathy isn’t just confined to just Thailand. It’s a worldwide plague. However, at least to my knowledge, no other country has ever used ‘‘mai pen rai’’ (or the apathy of a culture) as a proud tourist attraction. There are even books written about the beauty of the ‘‘mai pen rai attitude’’.

 

 

[Guest fountainhall]

'Bravo' to the author of that article and to the Bangkok Post! It takes guts to write and publish something like that. I just wish it could be published in an influential Thai language newspaper.

 

Those of us who have lived or worked here for any length of time will have seen endless examples of ths "mai pen rai culture of apathy". But I believe there's something more, and it's hinted at in the first paragraphs. There's a deeply ingrained culture of respecting ones elders, regardless of who they are, how much they know, how qualified they are etc..

 

When I was young, I was constantly hearing the phrase "elders and betters". I kind of assumed that must be true until I myself knew better. Here in Thailand there is an automatic assumption that stays with people all their lives - that those who are older or in more senior positions must be respected and their judgement must be accepted - even though you know perfectly well that that judgement is wrong. You just keep your mouth shut. I have seen that in so many situations. "We can't do anything about it, so we don't - mai pen rai."

 

Even when given the opportunity to show initiative and learn, many do not. I once saw some senior officials from a government department on an overseas trip suppposedly to inspect facilities and learn more about things related to their jobs (specialist jobs they actually knew little about!). What happened? The officials arrived, spent much of the first day saying how impressed they were, making notes, taking photos . . . and then disappeared on days 2 and 3 because shopping was more important. Those in the overseas country whom they were supposed to meet were appalled at this lack of courtesy - to say nothing of the lack of professionalism. I know, because I helped organise the trip.

 

This respect for elders is also to be found in Chinese, Japanese and other cultures. But nowhere in my experience to the extent it is here in Thailand. Japan is, I believe, slowly emerging from the samurai "I do as you command" and "the group is more important than the individual" culture, although it still has a long way to go. The dreadful Cultural Revolution played a major part in helping change things in China. So far I have seen absolutely nothing change here. And I cannot see it changing until the education system is revamped so that young people are taught to think for themselves and, as a result, get away from this "elders and better" mentality.

 

As long as I have some work in Thailand, I will continue to get infuriated by the mai pen rai culture. Yet, I am aware that in my home country there are other aspects of daily life that equally madden me. And as I plan to stay here a lot longer, I know that for me Thailand is really not so bad after all.

 

Maybe that's why I look forward to the Academy Fantasia All Stars. Some of those boys are just so cute!