No More "mai Pen Rai"

[jbowman1993]

NO MORE 'MAI PEN RAI'

By: VORANAI VANIJAKA

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?

continued here: http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion...ore-mai-pen-rai

[jbowman1993]

One of the best columnists writing today in Bangkok, Mr. Voranai hits another point home with this piece.

[dumball]

Very good reading , but this writing will just be passed off for the very reasons the article was penned in the first place , Thai like everything to be Sanook , things get passed over because they like and enjoy thier easy , laid back life-style . They , like too many posters on this forum , come up with so many excuses WHY the old ways and practises are adhered to when the truth comes down to the FACT that they are too lazy to change both thier attitude and working methods . There is a constant diatribe about what 'Could be done' about 'What should be done' to get Thailand on its feet , oh , people know the problems , they face them on a daily basis , they complain and protest , but me THINKETH THEY DO COMPLAIN TOO MUCH , pointing fingers in ten different directions at once , proclaiming who should be doing what and why .As I have mentioned before on this forum , people should get off thier fannies and do what needs to be done for thier own good and advancement in thier lives .

Wait and read , the defenders will be out in all of thier glory in thier normal pontificating manner , they should get off thier a==s--s es and lead the way in thier chosen section of jungle , that is provided of course IF they can get any of these poor hard done by people to LISTEN about ways forward . Maipenrai !!!!!!!!

[PeaceBlondie]

Thanks to jbowman for letting us read a Thai's advice to fellow Thais. Not a farang viewpoint. Lots of good points.

The scary thing is, that I believe that Thais should fix Thailand.

[grandpops]

Thanks to jbowman for letting us read a Thai's advice to fellow Thais. Not a farang viewpoint. Lots of good points.

The scary thing is, that I believe that Thais should fix Thailand.

Hear hear. Not holding my breath mind you!

[sabaijai]

Am guessing Khun Voranai received his education outside of Thailand.

[Chang Nawn Lap]

milk is one of the most UN healthy substances one can put in their body to begin with..... whether its powder, pasteurized, or organic..... Anyone who consumes this should not expect positive results to begin with. The governments of the world have spent millions of dollars to convince the average joe that "it does a body good" ........ do your research - get a juicer and give your kids organic carrot juice instead. this is a no brainer

[skiman1]

Am guessing Khun Voranai received his education outside of Thailand.

Are you saying Thai people educated in Thailand are incapable of thought?

[JUDAS]

An excellent and thought provoking read. With hindsight I must admit this "mai pen rai" attitude may well have been one of the initial things that made Thailand a refreshing change, an escape from the stresses of daily western life. After a few years here though it becomes quite obvious that "mai pen rai" certainly does hold the country back......

[gregb]

This is an extremely insightful article, but does anyone believe it will really change anything? I mean, this attitude begins in school and percolates all the way throughout society. It is one thing to recognize the harm it is doing to society, but it is quite another to propose a meaningful way to fix it.

If you push it too much the other direction, you get a group of people who believe they are entitled to anything they want, just because they want it. Look at any country in the West for an example of a culture that has veered too far off in the other direction. The world isn't fair, and sometimes you just have to accept that.

What we need is a middle path in the Buddhist tradition. One where "mai pen rai" stays, but there are limits on what it applies to. Unfortunately, I simply don't see a practical way of getting there. So while reading this column can make us all feel good and appreciate the logic, it will remain a work of fiction.

[JimsKnight]

If Thailand loses the Mai Pen Rai style it would not be the same country.

MPR is here it stay

[Scott]

Absolutely excellent piece of journalism. It's the attainment of mediocrity that I see almost daily. Wanting more, but doing less seems to be the motto of a lot of people.

[Chaimai]

Am guessing Khun Voranai received his education outside of Thailand.

Are you saying Thai people educated in Thailand are incapable of thought?

I would say that he would not have gained his sense of perspective had he not received external education.

[teletiger]

Don't worry about things you cannot change(or words to that effect). Very popular in the western word.

Applied to other cultures, it becomes unacceptable. mai pen rai, 'innit

Regards

[girlx]

very good article

[sabaijai]

Am guessing Khun Voranai received his education outside of Thailand.

Are you saying Thai people educated in Thailand are incapable of thought?

Implying that the line of thought expressed in the editorial is one you hear Westerners spout every day in Thailand. Nothing new, except that it comes from a Thai (who happened to have graduated from the University of Texas).

Will the message mean anything to Thais? Will it even reach many Thais, written in English for the BKK Post? Obviously not. Even a hundred essays like this will have little effect other than to have Western readers bobbing their heads vigorously. In the meantime only Thais rich enough to study aboard will, generally speaking, follow this line of thought. Or rather many will follow it perfectly, but after they put it down, say 'mai pen rai., this is Thailand.'

[edwardmoulton]

What a great article and how true that so many people get into this apathetic attitude thinking it is the only way here. It is not as we will see increasingly mroe in the coming months as times get hard....

Just don't tell the intellectually challenged farang that live in Hua Hin and post on a certain forum there thpugh as they shoot down anything that talks of change or trying to bring change! Check it out.....

[dumball]

Absolutely excellent piece of journalism. It's the attainment of mediocrity that I see almost daily. Wanting more, but doing less seems to be the motto of a lot of people.

Scott , I think you put my post in a nutshell in a succint manner , don't do today that which can be done tomorrow (Which never comes ) .

[teletiger]

One of the first articles I read in the Bangkok Post was a piece about the hypocracy of Thai masters who murdered their Burmese staff (mostly house-girls) and then went to temple, praying, making donations etc. The article concentrated on the hypocracy. The fate of these poor girls was just an aside. mai pen rai.

I did wonder at that point, what sort of a country I'd come to.

Regards

[tropo]

milk is one of the most UN healthy substances one can put in their body to begin with..... whether its powder, pasteurized, or organic..... Anyone who consumes this should not expect positive results to begin with. The governments of the world have spent millions of dollars to convince the average joe that "it does a body good" ........ do your research - get a juicer and give your kids organic carrot juice instead. this is a no brainer

You'll end up with orange kids from carotenemia. I've had that myself from carrot juice.

[parryhandy]

One of the first articles I read in the Bangkok Post was a piece about the hypocracy of Thai masters who murdered their Burmese staff (mostly house-girls) and then went to temple, praying, making donations etc. The article concentrated on the hypocracy. The fate of these poor girls was just an aside. mai pen rai.

I did wonder at that point, what sort of a country I'd come to.

Regards

That's what religions all about isn't it ? Do good people need it ?

[PeaceBlondie]

Scott daily sees the same mediocrity in a private school in BKK that I saw in good govt. schools up north. No high standards that are actually enforced, either for students, or teachers (or parents). Cheating is encouraged, everybody passes, very large classes that hinder learning, antiquated methods that never worked after primary school, bad top-down administrations, etc. You put students through 12 years of that and they cannot be expected to think hard or even work smart. For the rest of their life.

Let the Thais fix Thailand....well, let's see...will the Thais in charge of Thailand make effective changes?

[PhilHarries]

Unfortunately the majority of the Thai populace are products of the education system controlled by the minority elitists in whose interest it is to keep the population dumbed down.

A great article but even if it were translated into Thai and made compulsory reading for all Thai people it would have no effect at all purely because the concept is totally alien to them.

Mind you mediocrity is creeping in worldwide. Instead of eliminating failure by raising education standards they merely lower the bar thereby devaluing all qualifications. They do it that way because it's an easy fix and everybody like easy fixes.

[Jupiter99]

accept the things I cannot change

courage to change the things I can

and the wisdom to know the difference

W/O mai pen rai thailand would be just another mundane robotic society.

I come to thailand to escape that.

[PETERTHEEATER]

milk is one of the most UN healthy substances one can put in their body to begin with..... whether its powder, pasteurized, or organic..... Anyone who consumes this should not expect positive results to begin with. The governments of the world have spent millions of dollars to convince the average joe that "it does a body good" ........ do your research - get a juicer and give your kids organic carrot juice instead. this is a no brainer

The United Nations promote dairy products?

[phuketkenny]

Am guessing Khun Voranai received his education outside of Thailand.

Are you saying Thai people educated in Thailand are incapable of thought?

The REAL reason for the attitudes of mai pen rai is the education system ( or lack of it ) in this country. As long as those that hold power want to control the people, they will never undertake to educate their own people, especially the masses, the poor. If they did, those educated students would never stand for the type of government and the type of system that makes Thailand what it is today as indicated by the editorial. Thai schools, even private schools, fail to teach students how to think, how to solve problems, how to be creative. Instead, it is a system of rote learing, following instructions and doing what one is directed to do. And if those students that do make it to institutions of higher education and undertake for themselves to try and effect change they only need look at their own history of past efforts to do so, coil up in horror at the result of those past efforts and fall into step with the system.

[Plus]

the majority of the Thai populace are products of the education system controlled by the minority elitists in whose interest it is to keep the population dumbed down

The REAL reason for the attitudes of mai pen rai is the education system ( or lack of it ) in this country. As long as those that hold power want to control the people, they will never undertake to educate their own people, especially the masses

These are such boring stereotypes.

School teachers are not minority elitists in any sense and no one gives a fuc_k what they do in the classrooms, no one gives them orders to sit in the corner with a microphone and read books aloud, they do it all by themselves. In fact they are required to use "student centered approach", whatever that means, they just can't be arsed, and I don't see how any minority elitists have any hand in this.

[junkofdavid2]

NO MORE 'MAI PEN RAI'

By: VORANAI VANIJAKA

http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion...ore-mai-pen-rai

Read the article. Sounds like Mr. Voranai has got a lot of chips on his shoulder!

Well, Thaivisa would be a good place for him to find readers I guess.

[sbk]

I sent this article to my husband and he agrees pretty much with everything that the author writes. He said that the main problem with Thailand is that more people don't think this way. He didn't go so far as to say "This is Thailand, Mai pen rai" tho

[Lancelot]

I wonder how Mr. Voranai keeps his job at the BKK Post?!?