Thailand notes

Welcome to Prathet Thai,
a.k.a. Thailand! Now, you
will read my comments
about the diehard kingdom.

I'll never "visit" Thailand anytime (or until the next life) because there's a lese-majeste provision in their penal code and i badmouthed their monarchy several times. I urge non-Thais who badmouth their monarchy: to stay away from Thailand. The concept of lese majeste has an extremely broad scope how it is committed and who are the perpetrators. It is easy to imprison people using the lese majeste provision. Lese majeste is also used as a weapon of personal caprices.

We may assume that we're very harsh bashers, but we can notice that Thais are harsher bashers. Criticism from Thais is vitriolic: severe and very personal, sometimes to the point that the criticism concerned appears designed to demoralize. If a Thai lambasts us, just let them do so... Freedom of expression is severely limited in Thailand. Harry Roque said:

"I think because there are many things they cannot criticize in Thailand, they opted to criticize us. Let’s try to understand the situation. Here in the Philippines, we know the value of free speech. Let’s accept this as an input on the free market of ideas."

With limited freedom of expression, more emotions accumulate. More emotions translate into harsher criticisms. This may explain why Thais criticize so harshly. While discussing anything related to Thailand, especially as a non-Thai, expect vitriol from Thais.

If our republic's families have strong bonds, Thai families have stronger bonds. Someone theorized of platonic love between Thai relatives or friends. Compared to Thais, Filipinos may appear to be halfway between collectivists and individualists. Psst! Some of us even challenge the "sanctity" of the family.

Thailand a has lese majeste law. It duplicates standard defamation law, but it's aimed at protecting the monarchy's reputation. Criticizing the monarchy lands you in prison for 3–15 years. Truth is rarely a defense. In the Philippines, badmouthing the president, including pure defamation aimed at them, is part of freedom of expression. There's a standard defamation law, and it's enough for a president.

In Thailand, the government can threaten a broadcaster's freedom of expression. In the Philippines, a broadcaster can threaten the government's freedom of expression, by invoking copyright as an excuse.

Thailand is a constitutional monarchy; the Philippines is a presidential republic. Monarchies are expected to be stabler than republics. Paradoxically, the Philippines is politically stabler than Thailand. In Thailand, overthorws cover the whole government. In the Philippines, overthorws cover only the Congress (the House of Representatives and the Senate).

As Thailand relies so much on tourism, the concept of tourist price is strongly observed to help their kingdom's economy. There's rarely a tourist price in the Philippines. A concern can be that tourist prices can escalate into extorting from visitors.

From 2020 to 2021, Thai students demanded reforms to their education system. They call for an education that better prepares them for the real world. Thais have very high academic expctations. In the Philippines, students are demanding an academic freeze. Online learning is useless because Internet service is still indecent: costly and sluggish, and many areas have neither cell signals nor fiber-optic cables. Several students killed themselves over the disadvantages of online or modular learning.

As most of Thailand is in mainland Asia, Thais strongly observe the Asian identity. They're also cautious of western presence in their kingdom. For us Filipinos, being Asian is just a matter of geography, as we are more interested in western culture. We're Asian, but not so Asian... We're also Pacific Islanders, since our republic is a group of islands in the Pacific. Mong Palatino said that we're happier of our western aspect than of our Asian aspect.

"By not being involved with the numerous squabbles in Indochina, the Philippines could have played the role of objective arbiter in the various regional conflicts and disagreements. But Filipinos seem to be more interested in political events in the West. Instead of ignoring their neighbours, Filipinos should embrace their connection with Southeast Asia."

Since the release of one Thai program by a component of a major entertainment organization, the genre of boys love (or yaoi) became trending in Southeast Asia. The actors who played the program's main characters became some of Southeast Asia's most powerful people who aren't politicians.

Speaking of terrorism, media in the Philippines describes terrorist acts in detail, including showcasing violent images. While it creates the impression that the Philippines is rife with terrorism, terrorism in the Philippines itself is sharply limited. In an island country with many unique local cultures, everyday transactions require significant manual navigation between geographic and cultural aspects. For example, one locality consists of plains; right next to it is mountainous. Meanwhile, Thailand has a vulnerable position. Being a contiguous landmass and a huge valley with a homogeneous Bangkok-centered culture, mastering life in a valley and the Bangkok-based culture is what's needed to exert significant influence in Thai society. As terrorists can have easy access, Thailand must invest heavily in its defense and law enforcement.

"Conversely, the Philippine press exposes terrorist acts in all their gory glory and in minute detail making it seem as if the country is in imminent peril of being overrun by terrorist factions. The truth is that the terrorists in Thailand have a very good foothold in the South and are constantly inching further north. It is one landmass, one language and it is easy to see it eventually creeping over the entire landmass of this beautiful country."

I find it fascinating that many Thai actors in their 20s also own brands or free-standing business organizations. MARK PAKIN KUNAANUWIT has Kunagi Studios. POND NARAVIT LERTRATKOSUM has Apollo Clothing. FORCE JIRATCHAPONG SRISANG has Efsec. BOOK KASIDET PLOOKPHOL has Plutoyesterday. In a more spectacular development, NEO TRAI NIMTAWAT has So-Chili Snack and So-En Style. In an even more thrilling twist, UP POOMPAT IAM-SAMANG co-owns JustUp Co. Ltd. Top one of the shining thrill is BRIGHT VACHIRAWIT CHIVAAREE, who has two rising business organizations under his command: Astro Stuffs and Cloud9 Incorporation Co. Ltd.

The issue of suicide in Thailand is worthy of international attention, as Southeast Asia is associated with low suicide prevalence. On the Facebook group Filipino Monarchy, i posted a question about Thailand's relatively high suicide prevalence, a commenter explained, and i would like to paraphrase the explanation as follows:

"Thais have high expectations. Their mindset about success is similar to the Japanese: when you failed, you failed."

Adding to the suicide issue is the fact that Thais are not used to discomfort in general. Giving them stressful situations equivalent to floods, storms, or earthquakes is a big no-no. An anthropologist working for Thai education stated that as for their warrior-oriented mindset, Thais tend to die for their cause.

I love Thai culture. I love Thai people. I love Thailand. But I'll never set foot on Thai soil.