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"Thailand is unique among the countries of Southeast Asia in that it has never been a European colony....Thais, unlike most other Southeast Asians, are untouched by a trace of what the psychiatrists call trauma where European are concerned. They treat visitors with neither resentment nor exaggerated respect but rather with a gracious air of quiet curiosity, which makes their guests feel flattered and at ease. More important than its effects upon contemporary tourists have been the consequences of this attitude towards visitors upon Thailand's own colourful history, both early and contemporary." |
SPECIAL COVID-19 FLIGHT
BACK TO THAILAND
by Fai-Napasanun Chatchayaladasiri
การเดินทางกลับของคนไทยที่อยู่อเมริกา
โดย นภัสนันท์ ฉัตรชยาลดาศิริ
BACK TO THAILAND
by Fai-Napasanun Chatchayaladasiri
การเดินทางกลับของคนไทยที่อยู่อเมริกา
โดย นภัสนันท์ ฉัตรชยาลดาศิริ
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ไม่รู้ว่าไทยทำอะไรได้ถูกต้องบ้าง แต่เท่าที่เห็นก็ใช้ได้เลย
กองบรรณาธิการ New York Times (16 July 2020) ยกเรื่องประเทศไทยจัดการปัญหา COVID-19 ได้เป็นอย่างดี ขึ้นหน้า 1 เป็นเรื่องที่เห็นว่าต้องแนะนำให้คนอเมริกันอ่าน
▶️ THE NEW YORK TIMES FULL STORY
▶️ THE NEW YORK TIMES FULL STORY
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No One Knows What Thailand Is Doing Right,
but So Far, It's Working By Hannah Beech Photographs by Adam Dean THE NEW YORK TIMES July 16, 2020Updated 12:55 p.m. ET BANGKOK "No one knows exactly why Thailand has been spared.
▶️ THE NEW YORK TIMES + 18 PICTURES |
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ไม่รู้ว่าประเทศไทยทำอะไรได้ถูกต้องบ้าง
แต่เท่าที่เห็นก็ใช้ได้เลย By Hannah Beech Photographs by Adam Dean THE NEW YORK TIMES July 16, 2020Updated 12:55 p.m. ET BANGKOK "ไม่รู้ว่าด้วยเหตุผลอันใดประเทศไทยจึงรอดพ้นภัยCOVID-19 ไปได้.
▶️ อ่านต้นฉบับเต็ม+18 ภาพ ที่ THE NEW YORK TIMES |
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Thailand: An Introduction to Modern Siam
A rare book on Thailand by Noel F. Busch, published in 1959 by D. Van Norstrand Company, Inc., Princeton, New Jersey, 161 pages. 
Noel F. Busch Thailand: An Introduction to Modern Siam, D. Van Norstrand Company, Inc., Princeton, New Jersey, 1959, 161 pages
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Chapter 2 - The People Noel F. Busch worked for the Asia Foundation in Thailand from 1954 to 1959. Before joining the Asia Foundation he worked for Time and Life Magazines as editor and writer, also a contributing writer to The New Yorker, the Saturday Evening Post, The Atlantic Monthly, and many other leading US magazines. |
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This article is taken from the Washington Post, 11 July 2020
Failing to renew VOA foreign staffers’ visas
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A NOTE FROM THIS SUBSCRIBER The Economist (11 July 2020), attempted to figure out the reason why Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam had surprisingly succeeded in fighting off the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of infected cases and fatality rates have been extraordinarily low in these countries. It could have been because of degrees of authoritarianism in their systems of government which may have effectively helped push the population in the direction desired to contain the virus. Or it could have also been the Buddhist way of life which helps contribute to a healthier lifestyle, together with more open-space living in rural communities. Only small number of people in Thailand live in flats or apartments where they would be cooped up between four walls. The Economist, however, did not have much to say about the Buddhist factor other than giving it an enticing headline and a mentioning of a Thai word 'Wai', a Thai (as well as Hindu) greeting with two enclosed palms, thus avoiding the western-style physical handshake. (It could not be called ‘Wai-five’ as suggested by The Economist since it uses two hands - ten fingers. A ‘Wai-ten’ will not be fashionable either. A plain ‘Wai’ would be just fine.) The focus is more on various governments' effective measures and the population's willingness to comply with government directives. Their proximities to China, in terms of physical borders and flow of tourists, somehow keep the countries well informed and better prepared. As for Thailand, in spite of a 'sham democracy overseen by generals', The Economist attributes Thailand's success to 'the quality of its health care' that 'makes Thailand a popular destination for medical tourism', and that the Thai 'government was quick to set up a vigorous covid-fighting task-force'. It's nice to hear good news about Thailand from The Economist once in a while. I'm sure those generals will be happy to allow the circulation of this current issue of The Economist in their 'sham democracy'. By the way, The Economist Intelligence Unit categorizes Thailand in 2019 as a 'flawed democracy'. Now in 2020 it probably is downgraded to a 'flawed democracy in shamble'. It's OK with me, as long as I get my weekly printed copy of The Economist on time! Somkiat Onwimon Pak Chong 12 July 2020 
Asia Edition / 11 July 2020
Banyan Why has the pandemic spared the Buddhist parts of South-East Asia? Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam have had only tiny outbreaks 
Asia Edition / 11 July 2020
Banyan Why has the pandemic spared the Buddhist parts of South-East Asia? Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam have had only tiny outbreaks Asia Jul 11th 2020 edition Editor’s note: Some of our covid-19 coverage is free for readers of The Economist Today, our daily newsletter. For more stories and our pandemic tracker, see our hub One of the bigger riddles of the global pandemic lies in South-East Asia. Despite being close to the source of covid-19, in China, and to one of the current hotspots of the outbreak, India, the partly or largely Buddhist countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam have scarcely sneezed. Vietnam is the standout: with 97m people, it claims no deaths from covid-19. Thailand, with 70m, has seen just 58 fatalities and no local transmission in over 40 days. Impoverished Myanmar claims just six deaths from 317 cases, while Cambodia (141 confirmed cases) and tiny Laos (19 cases) also have no deaths apiece and no local transmission since April. Compare that with the nearby archipelagic nations of Indonesia (some 68,100 cases and 3,400 deaths) and the Philippines (50,400 cases and 1,300 deaths), where the pandemic still rages. Set aside karmic grace as an explanation, especially given that Vietnam’s communist dictatorship is atheist. Vietnam’s success, indeed, is easiest to explain. The country has a suspicion of its big northern neighbour, China, rooted in millennia of historical interaction. At the start of the year it instinctively distrusted China’s reassurances about the disease and even launched cyber-attacks to get better information on the epidemic’s course. It closed its border and used authoritarian powers to lock down the population and trace and isolate cases. That, in essence, is what China’s communist authorities were also doing. Few governments have both the overweening power and effective health systems needed to emulate China and Vietnam, but Thailand, a sham democracy overseen by generals, perhaps comes closest. The quality of its health care makes Thailand a popular destination for medical tourism. Moreover, the government was quick to set up a vigorous covid-fighting task-force. Thailand’s success comes despite close ties with China. Plenty of people-to-people exchanges might have been expected to spread infection. But that has not happened in Laos, which is too small to resist China’s blandishments, Myanmar, which is awash with Chinese traders and smugglers, or Cambodia, whose strongman, Hun Sen, is the region’s biggest cheerleader for China. Chinese construction is reshaping these countries, which all came under pressure not to close borders with China even as the pandemic spread. Mr Hun Sen pointedly travelled to Beijing in February, at the height of the Chinese epidemic. Thailand was welcoming Chinese visitors well into March. Myanmar’s border with China is extremely porous. Why did visitors from China not seed more South-East Asian outbreaks? One widespread suspicion is that they did, but these were not reported. Testing is severely limited in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. Yet, says Frank Smithuis of Medical Action Myanmar, a charity with several clinics around the country, if there had been large-scale transmission, his organisation would have noticed. It is not possible, he says, to hide a covid-19 outbreak—especially in Myanmar, the world’s “gossip country number one”. Experts in Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam see no evidence of widespread transmission, such as people showing up at hospitals. Even the poorest countries adopted measures that must have helped check the spread of the coronavirus. Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok reports that migrant workers returning from Thailand to their villages in Myanmar often had to quarantine for 14 days in a shack outside their village. Other factors that may have helped, say health experts, include high numbers of people living in the countryside rather than in crowded cities; people more likely to live with fans and open windows than air-conditioning; the relative youth of the region; and a pre-existing proclivity for masks. There may be a religious element, too. The wai, a Buddhist greeting of palms pressed together, helps with social distancing. The question now is whether South-East Asia’s Buddhist successes can weather second or third waves. Perhaps, Mr Thitinan suggests, low transmission from China was not the miracle some divine—the giant neighbour, after all, quickly got on top of its epidemic. Now, transmission routes are changing. Across Asia, infections are being imported from all round the world, seeding local transmission, most recently in Hong Kong. The crowds this week in South-East Asian temples celebrating the start of Buddhist lent are a reminder of how easy it is to let covid guards fall. This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline "Wai-five" ▶️ THE ECONOMIST ▶️ THAILAND COVID-19 ▶️ THE ECONOMIST: Why has the pandemic spared the Buddhist parts of South-East Asia? Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam have had only tiny outbreaks. |
