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.
[Noel F. Busch, Thailand: An Introduction to Modern Siam, D. Van Norstrand Company, Inc., Princeton, New Jersey, 1959, p.22]
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TO BAN, OR NOT TO BAN,
THAT IS THE QUESTION FOR A FLAWED DEMOCRACY LIKE THAILAND 
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In their own words: "The Economist has been published since September 1843 to take part 'in a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress'. This mission continues to guide our coverage: we publish it every week in the newspaper."
The Economist is neither left nor right in political leaning while reporting the truth. Their classic liberalism is more appropriately called 'radical centre' throughout their 177 years of publication from their London headquarters. Their reports on Thailand, particularly the monarchy, have always been straight forward and thoroughly objective, but not to the taste of those Thai authoritarians in power. This has resulted in many of the weekly printed issues being banned from distribution in Thailand. Thanks to the internet, subscribers, like myself, can still have digital access, anytime, anywhere. Thailand is a flawed democracy, or a "half-empty democracy", as the Thai media prefer to call it. In the name of national security, sensitive issues must not be discussed and published for public consumption, or they will be banned. However, the decision to ban or not to ban certain articles or publications is left to the discretion of the authority concerned. This will soon make a flawed democracy like Thailand slide down to the level of 'authoritarian regime' in the EIU Democracy Index. The decision to ban or not to ban the recent issues is case in point. As a printed and digital subscriber, I have not been affected much by this unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress. But as a Thai citizen, this shameful and sad state of democracy in Thailand makes me less proud of my country but more determined to press Thailand forward on the road towards complete all-institutions-political reform in the immediate future. |
❌ This 26th September printed issue of the Economist is banned in Thailand because of an article about the monarchy. Subscribers in Thailand will be compensated and can still have unlimited digital access. The Economist is the only international news magazine that diligently covers Thailand and its political institutions truthfully and fairly. I have been a long-time subscriber of The Economist and I have read all their reports on Thailand. I keep all their printed issues in my personal library. As for the banned issues as the result of their faithful reports on Thailand's sensitive subjects I also have full digital access anytime and anywhere. I will continue to read The Economist with immense pleasure and satisfaction. Asia used to have its own regional magazines like Far Eastern Economic Review and Asia Week. Both have long been discontinued. The Nikkei Asian Review, recently renamed "Nikkei Asia", is the only choice for Asian readers as of now. Its economic reports are excellent, while the political reports are probably not their main staple.
▶️ SUBSCRIBE TO THE ECONOMIST |
✔️ This 5th September issue with the article on young Thais' protest for reform of the monarchy was not banned. In a flawed democracy like Thailand (rankling 68th on Economist Intelligence Unit's 2019 World Democracy Index) it is risky to express one's opinion freely without fear of repercussion. The definition of freedom of the press does not follow an internationally recognized practice. Democracy in the world has been eroding steadily for the past few decades but in Thailand it is yet to find its true meaning in spite of its 88 years experiment. My generation has failed miserably to give democracy a foothold. And now it is time for the new generation to give it a try. Political reform is urgently needed in all Thai political institutions and its citizens. Authoritarian-imposed reform will not work. True and long-lasting reform will have to be inclusive with full people's participation.
▶️ READ ON |
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MAKE THAILAND A CONSTITUTION AGAIN!
In 1997 I was elected to represent my province, Suphanburi, as one of the 99 members of Thailand's Constitution Drafting Assembly. I was elected chairman of the Assembly's Public Relations Committee tasked to lay out strategies to involve nation-wide people's participation and helped produced various PR materials including the one on the left. It was Thailand's 16th constitution that the people help drafted via local town halls and national public surveys. Military interventions throughout history keep us stuck with the present 20th constitution and the people demand a new one. Of course, sooner or later, we will have a new constitution, and then a military intervention, and then the people's protest demanding political reform and a new constitution. It seems like a new normal in our every day political life. This infinite "POlitical VIrus Disease" can be named "POVID∞" (Read "POVID Infinity") The pandemic began in 1932 and no end in sight....... Will the circle be unbroken? Will the (vicious) circle be unbroken? / By and by Lord, by and by There's a better home awaiting / In the sky Lord, in the sky ..... ("Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" is a popular Christian hymn written in 1907 by Ada R. Habershon with music by Charles H. Gabriel.) Somkiat Onwimon Pak Chong, Thailand, 30 September 2020 |
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SPECIAL COVID-19 FLIGHT
BACK TO THAILAND by Fai-Napasanun Chatchayaladasiri การเดินทางกลับของคนไทยที่อยู่อเมริกา โดย นภัสนันท์ ฉัตรชยาลดาศิริ |
A VISIT TO A HOSPITAL
IN BANGKOK IN THE ERA OF COVID-19 I am 72, a regular visitor at Ramathibodi Hospital in Bangkok. As a two-year bladder cancer survivor with a few other health issues common to an elderly person I find my hospital visit a norm of life. That is until the arrival of the Novel Corona Virus Diseases in 2019. I have happily retired from a long, exciting, active, and fulfilling public life as a political scientist, television journalist, documentary producer, a drafter of the 1997 constitution, and a one-term senator. During the two years following my bladder cancer operation in 2018 I am required to undergo update check-ups every 3 to 4 months. These involve blood and urine tests, ultrasound, x-ray, and cystoscopy. I also have prostatitis which requires regular administration of a drug called Uroflo. My hernia inflammation now needs an operation. Not to be outdone, in 2015 I met with a deadly car accident where I came out with all kinds of broken bones and one full year of convalescence. All these medical issues combined make my visit to the hospital in the era of COVID-19 all the more challenging. ▶️ FULL STORY |
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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 |
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. 
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 |
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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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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
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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