Bangkokian: One Village, One Einstein Project

[george]

BANGKOKIAN: One Village, One Einstein project

Bangkokian is a big fan of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, arguably the brainiest head of government that Thailand has ever had. What prime minister would have thought of so many clever ideas in so quick a succession that touch virtually all aspects of people’s lives?

Dead ex-prime ministers turned in their graves wondering why they had not thought of those smart policies earlier, while living ones are resigned to the fact that they will have to live out the rest of their lives in the shadow of Thaksin, the politician’s politician.

Not only do all politicians only pale beside our dearly beloved leader, but they also look amateurish and even childish compared to Thaksin. Opposition politicians lurk in the background, griping about life being unfair.

No doubt, the kind of public adulation and consistently high approval ratings that Thaksin has enjoyed since Day One of coming to power are unprecedented.

It is easy to see why current opposition politicians are green with envy. They never had it so good. The problem is they never really asked themselves why.

To these green-eyed monsters, Bangkokian has a valuable and original piece of advice to give: Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country, which is what motivated our current leader.

Only smart people like Bangkokian understand the working of highly complex and sharp mind of the prime minister. Great minds think alike, or so they say.

Britney Spears was paid a hefty sum to ask Thai consumers: What do you want? And a lot of them took the cue and went out in droves to buy small Toyota cars.

Our all-seeing, all-knowing prime minister doesn’t even have to ask. He just knows what people want. Thai voters made the right decision in the 2000 general election.

Thaksin Shinawatra is a gift that keeps on giving. A goose that lays golden eggs.

The prime minister knows that people want to have money to spend, so he has given them village funds, debt moratoriums, easy loans and whatnot. He knows they want universal healthcare, and they got Bt30 per visit to the doctor.

People who have money to burn, also gotta live in a cheap cardboard house, own a cheap computer they can play silly games on, a licence to ride a motorcycle taxi or a real taxicab to earn a living, take out a cheap life insurance so their children will get a windfall in case they are squished by heavy trucks while riding their motorcycles. They also need to watch government-controlled TV so they can appreciate the government more.

The Thaksin administration offered them all: cash, loans, low-cost housing, cheap insurance, cheap computers, cheap television sets. The government will get them anything just to make sure that they spend the last satang of their disposable income buying things they don’t really need in order to get the economy roaring into double-digit growth like the good old pre-1997 days.

One Tambon, One Product (OTOP) was promoted to encourage community-based industries and boost entrepreneurial skills among villagers. A good programme, actually.

Every village wants to produce cheap traditional booze they can get drunk on and export to other communities. Life is beautiful in the romantic countryside.

With a huge marketing budget, the government promoted and declared OTOP a success. Even Japan, where the One Village, One Product scheme originated, is said to be sending officials to learn from Thailand’s success. Thailand teaching Japan a lesson on how to do business! What about that? It makes Bangkokian shiver with pride and a not small dose of jingoism bordering on arrogance.

Any lesser prime minister would have stopped and rested on his laurels. But our leader is not renowned for being brainy for nothing.

To top it all, at least for now, is: the latest project to promote One Village, One Einstein project. The assumption being that in every village there is one genius waiting to be discovered.

That is followed by One Slum, One Top Gun. Again the assumption is simple but keeps overlooked by lesser leaders: in every slum community there is one would-be airline pilot waiting to be discovered.

As a professional journalist Bangkokian always judges politicians and what they do with a grain of salt and a healthy dose of scepticism. But Bangkokian must admit to being bowled over by such stellar achievements unparalleled by any other government in Thailand’s modern history.

Now Bangkokian understands why none of the government’s critics are worthy of holding a candle to our prime minister who has taken the world by storm. Haven’t we been told lately that even Lee Kuan Yew has stepped aside to make way for Thaksin? Today Thailand, tomorrow the world.

--"Bangkokian", The Nation 2003-12-27