Thailand Never Colonised !

[Thomas_Merton]

in thailand, you can trace back events in thailand over 1000 years ago.

in the philippines, you can't even trace back things a couple of hundred years ago.

can you imagine not having a recorded history for your nation.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

...and then there are those who have no national land: Armenians, Kurds, Palestinians etc.; or those nations who were slaughtered and forced to live on reservations in the USA; or Jews who lived without a nation for 1000's of years; or Italy that has only been a nation since 1867...

My point is, the "nation", its definition and history is a very complex subject. We must be clear in our head what we mean by nation, what our relationship to this concept is, and beware of the over use of nationalism as the first step on the road to wars and fascism.

Like the discussion in this thread, on which I do not profess to be qualified to contribute, one should question the reasons behind the need to profess Thailand has never been occupied, just as one should suspect the motives of those who try to prove the opposite.

[danbkk1]

Like the discussion in this thread, on which I do not profess to be qualified to contribute, one should question the reasons behind the need to profess Thailand has never been occupied, just as one should suspect the motives of those who try to prove the opposite.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

For me, The fact that Thailand has never been colonize by Western Power is often used by Thais to express the feeling of national pride. However, this also bring a disgraceful feeling toward Thai Politicians. We could have achieved many thing after the end of WW II, Had they cared for the well being of the country one bit. Instead, Thailand just stand still for 2-3 decades without much progess.

As for the one try to prove the opposite, I think that individual, first and formost try to incite arguments and controversial. Although, he/she might just want a lively intellectual disscussion about it