Tuesday 25 March 2008

Self-Sufficiency Economy

Perhaps Economists in the 'developmentalism' school are not, or do not want to, understand the economic system (if it is a system) called 'self-sufficiency economy'.

No, I am not talking about superficial trend most Thais are adopting. Last year, I am amazed by the billboard-size advertisement at the toll way terminal to Muang-Thong Thani. It was a polo shirts ad. saying [in Thai] "Do good for the father[which means, I think, the king], wear self-sufficiency economy polo shirts."

I don't mind the fact that they are selling things, but they're 'taking advantage of the moment' very unfairly. We know how effective advertisements to the people today. Instead of encouraging people to spend less, this company told people to spend money (in order to) be good!
Many works on economic developments tend to aviod talking about self-sufficiency economy. This is because it doesn't effect growth. Right now the 'greenness' becomes the world's biggest trend. You have to have a cloth bag. You have to have a hybrid car. You have to consume organic food. etc. etc.

It fell into another superficiality calls 'enoughism'.

At the end of the day, people are buying 'green' stuff just to show others that they are conscious about climate change. It becomes 'fashion'.

I'm not trying to confuse you by mixing climate change and self-sufficiency economy together. They are related.

When we spend less, we create less pollution, don't we?

I have a story for you:

A businessman went on a vacation at the beach. As dusk almost fell in his first day, he saw an old man sitting by the sea, staring at the sky for a long time until it got dark.
He carried his curiosity to his sleep. Then the next day, around the same time he saw the same old man again. This time he walked to that old man. He began to ask.
"Sir, why are you sitting here doing nothing?"
"I am enjoying the view, young man." the old man replied.
"Aren't you suppose to be working?" the businessman continued.
The old an smiled, looked at him without any answer. He replied with a question;
"What do we get from working?"
A young businessman was surprised, he replied;
"money?"
"And what do you after that?" the old man asked further.
"Umm...find more money?"
"And?"
"Then I'll buy a house, a car...I don't know" he began to hesitate.
"Then when you get older, say, retired. What would you do?" the old man did not stop smiling.
"Well, I might take a rest, find happiness, I suppose."
The old man stood up, held his hands and said;

"That's what I am doing right now, my friend"
----

ps. I don't mean that you should stop working, don't get me wrong!

Sunday 23 March 2008

The Killing Fields


I have watched "The Killing Field" during the past weekend. It has been so long since I wanted to watch it. It is based on true story about a freindship between an American and Cambodian journalists, Sidney Schanberg and Dith Pran. The movie covers the Khmer Rouge era(1975-1979), when innocent Cambodians were slaughtered. It shows how Pran could survive the killings during his hardest years as a captive.

I like this movie though it's quite depressing. But who can deny that Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge period was not the most depressing one?

Cambodia took an agony it didn't cause. It was a changing international circumstances, especially major powers' conflict, that put Cambodia into that position. A new phase of the Cold War; U.S.-China rapprochement; Beijing and Moscow tension over Southeast Asia, brought about naive people's agony.

I just don't want the movie to end happy.

Because there was no happy ending in Cambodia.

Saturday 22 March 2008

Do Southeast Asians have entrepreneurial mind?

While I am working on my assignment about the connection of Southeast Asia to the world economy in the ninteenth century. A question came up; Do Southeast Asians have an entrepreneurial mind?

World capitalist system arrived in the region in many ways; An expansion of colonial empires from Britain, Dutch, Spain, France, and the U.S. Also, the Chinese and Indians came to the region for their economic activities.

Colonial powers as well as the Chinese and Indians were major forces in transforming the region to become a part of world's market.

Had natives initiated their own businesses?

One theory suggests that Southeast Asian farmers were formally self-sufficient. Then, after an arrival of colonial powers, they were drawn into the market economy.

Another theory shows that Southeast Asia was already part of World market (like Tony Reid's SEA in the Age of Commerce) but not in the perfect form, not consistence.

I argue that SEAsians do have entrepreneurial mind.

King Rama III of Siam had de-monopolized some economic activities even before the arrival of Sir. John Bowring. Furthermore, Burmese smallholders themselves were the intermidiaries for the selling/buying of goods to the British. In Java, after communal land system was demolished, Javanese competed to own land for cultivation.

Let's discuss.


Ps. Irawaddi's slide show on Burma's road to independence. Nice pictures.

Tuesday 18 March 2008

"Morality" and Thai politics

There are many disscussions about 'morality' and Thai politics today. I have watched Chu-Pitch TV in Prachatai.com the other day, Ajarn Pitch talked about the role of morality and Thai politics.

Ajarn Pitch focused on morality(Sin-la-tham) in democracy. He says that democracy is the system to manage 'selfishness' of the people(I agree with this Hobbsian approache) and to tell whether there is any morality in domocracy, we have to see how much can the elected represent the need of the people. He concluded that, in this regard, it is possible only to see morality 'inside' or 'outside' politics.

Morality in Buddhist notion will not be discussed in this context.

Just like Ajarn Somsak's article on the lastest Matichon Weekly about Pridi's project to legalize and set up casinos at Thai's border in 1938. Because the state had demolished some kind of tax, which would cost a big loss. Therefore, Pridi decided to build casinos to generate income for the state.

Ajarn Somsak also argue that talking about morality in Buddhist notion in present context is not pragmatic.

Nowadays, so many people are talking about morality(Buddhist notion) in politics. Which is a very subjective topic to find the ground.

Let's stick to something touchable.

Monday 17 March 2008

Thai Studies

1st point
It is interesting reading Ajarn Kasien's Article (I'm sorry, it's in Thai) about "democracy". It has been many decades since scholars, both Southeast Asians and non-Southeast Asians, are trying to answer the question: Are Southeast Asian countries suitable for democracy?

I think there are several questions we need to ask in order to answer such a question;

- What is democracy?

- Is there anything called 'relativism of democracy'?

- What does it take to be a democratic country?

- etc. etc.

2nd point

New Mandala has posted a summary from the International Conference on Thai Studies on Handley panel. Very interesting.

But, what is 'network monarchy'?

Is it a contemporary phenomenon or kings set up this kind of network before?

Ajarn McCargo's phrase got so famous!

I think it's the 2oth-21st century phenomenon. If you don't count King Chula's family network against the Bunnags.


Wednesday 12 March 2008

The Rise of Vietnam

I don't think there were that many people in 1975 who thought that Vietnam will become like it is today.
Vietnam's GDP grows around 7% annually for the past decade.

Through the end of last year, Viet Nam's growth rate exceeded that of Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea and even India, its closest rival.

Mega-projects are also on their ways; main roads, infrastructers, etc.

The important thing is that, 'education' is the first priority for the government.

Such a hot spot.

But, don't forget that Thailand was also in this position before.

Don't forget that economic growth isn't the only thing people need.

Don't make the same mistake like your neighbors.

Tuesday 11 March 2008

Which road it leads to?


The election result from Malaysia makes me think of what's going on in Indonesia.
If anyone can remember, in Nov 2007, Indonesia won the Democracy Awards from International Association of Political Consultants (IAPC) for its progress toward democracy for the past nine years. An interesting thing is, usually this award will be given to individuals e.g.Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi, etc. But this time, it is given to the entire nation!

Yeah, since its independence in 1945, this might be the time that can be called the 'calmest' period so far. But the diversity and, especially, the uneaqual policies from the state could possibly lead to a grave situation.

In Indonesia, Shariah Law could create fractions among the people. Even though 90 per cent of the population is muslims, but the majority of people are moderate, not fundamental. Is it a time to reconsider since not that many poeple are recieving a benefit form it?

In Malaysia, Bhumi-Putra policy stemmed from biases against the other races. But it was understandable from the context in history.
But at present, isn't it the time to reconsider? Isn't the election result starting to prove something?
So, what are these policies lead to?
I hope the answer is peace.
Ps. Irawaddy magazine had an interview with "Ad Carabao", a famouse Thai singer, on his support to free Shan State here.

Monday 10 March 2008

Malaysia Election Result


Here is the election result in Malaysia, 8 March 2008 :

The Barisan Nasional (BN) has lost 2/3 majority in parliament. It recieved less votes; 137 out of 222 seats, less than 62 per cent.

Despite that, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi says that he will not resign. Instaed, he will try to strengthen UMNO again. Today he has sworn as PM.

It is interesting that, this is the worst election result for UMNO since Malaysia's independence in 1957. It shows that Malaysians want something new for the country.

The result shows that the people from periphery are feeling upset with UMNO, which I think its priority is on central area of the peninsular.

Maybe this is a turn of Malaysia politics. And the decline of UMNO as the dominate party.

What about the minorities?


Sunday 9 March 2008

'Niras' Bangkok


"Niras" is one kind of Thai poem. It is composed when a poet has left the place where he belongs.

I wonder if Khun Thaksin writes a niras, what will he put into each line?

Grief, Sorrow, Anger, Pitiness, Forgive, Unforgive, etc.

His action at Suvarnabhumi airport was interpreted into a thousand ways. Scholars, Sympathizers, Supporters, opponents, etc. shared their opinions in many places including newspapers, TV, radios, and websites.

A family reunion after a year and six months.

After this, he will spend times fighting in courts. Meanwhile, Thai politics will be more and more interesting.

Gosh, I still wanna know who killed the people in the New Year bombing 2006!
Ps. I saw this in Asia Portal, it's about the 2006 coup and beyond. Interesting.

Saturday 8 March 2008

Protest in Kuala Lumpur




Of course, unrest in Kuala Lumpur at the moment is not surprising. If Furnivall's 'Plural Society' is something applicable for this situation, I would say that we can expect a lot more protest like this across the region.

'People at the interstices' became a hot topic in many Southeast Asian countries, regardless whether they were colonized or not. As far as democarcy concerns, voices from the margin has to be put into focus for every "elected" governments in the region.

For example, the growing strength of civil societies in Thailand indicates that 'small- people' have gained more attention from policy makers and they can form a strong front to negotiate with the state. I argue that analyses from some scholars that Thai democracy went backward to the pre-1932 era are not fully correct. This is because the fruit from the development of democracy is the formation of strong civil societies as we can see today.

Malaysian politics is more or less shaped by the British rule since the 19th century. The division of races is a result of how the colonial administration managed its colony. This perception was inherited to many Malay politicians. The most apparent can be seen in Mahatir's The Malay Dilemma.
My purpose is not to find someone to blame. Instead, if we try to understand the cause of certain social phenomena in history, we might find a chance not to step on our own footprint again,
even though it happens all the time.