Thai exceptionalism - a myth or reality?: Opinion

[webfact]

Thai exceptionalism - a myth or reality?

BANGKOK: -- An important part of education is how we teach about our own country in a balanced in-depth way. When I studied US history in school, I never learned about President Roosevelt's executive order 9066 of 1942, which incarcerated innocent Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast.

With the Asean Economic Community (AEC) era starting in 2015, it is important for Thailand to rethink its rather ultra-nationalistic curriculum and related teaching.

In recent years and months, I have given numerous presentations on the controversial concept of Thai exceptionalism. Many western scholars take issue with this notion, which they consider elitist and argue that it contributes to Thais felling superior to their neighbours in Asia.

A major principle in cross-cultural teaching and training is that you must understand your own culture before you can begin to understand others.

This discussion of Thai exceptionalism hopefully may help Thais to appreciate their own culture even more and the essence of Thainess. At the same time, it can help those in other Asean nations better understand Thailand.

Unfortunately, there is confusion about the meaning of the term exceptionalism. It does not mean superiority, though it can contribute to feeling superior and promoting ultra-nationalism. Its actual meaning is uniqueness; something that one country has that is distinctive, which no other country has.

Defined in this way, I have identified a number of examples of Thai exceptionalism. Some are quite important, while others are fascinating but rather trivial.

The first and most important is Thailand's royal system and how most Thais across the political spectrum cherish this institution. There will be a picture in every school of the king. Though many countries have monarchies, there is none in which all students graduating from public universities receive their degrees from a member of the royal family. Many families proudly display pictures of their children receiving degrees from a member of the Royal Family.

His Majesty the King is the longest-serving monarch in the world. Between the years 1968-1993, he never travelled abroad but instead visited all the districts of his nation.

Second is the Thai language. There are over 500 Thai heart (jai) compound words showing how incredibly nuanced the Thai language is in conveying complex emotions. There is a special language (rachasap) which is used in communications with high-ranking royals and monks.

Though the Thai language has tone marks, many tones are implicit not indicated by a tone mark (unlike Vietnamese where tones are totally explicit or Chinese where tones are not shown). Also Thai has a karan symbol to indicate when not to pronounce a letter. Lao, once had the same mark, but no longer. Also Thai has a huge number of acronyms often with only the last letter of the acronym followed by a period. I have a 243-page dictionary of Thai acronyms.

Third, Thai has a remarkably sophisticated and complex naming system with all kinds of diverse titles. Also all Thais, even prime ministers, have nicknames such as "Bu" and "Mark".

Fourth, despite negative international stereotypes about Thai women, they have been remarkably successful particularly in the business sector. Some 49 per cent of chief executive officers in Thailand are women, the highest proportion in the world.

Fifth, Thailand is unusual among developing nations in that it imports little food and often is a major food exporter, frequently being the world's number one exporter of rice. For this reason, Thailand rightly deserves the title of "kitchen of the world" and there is even a published directory of Thai restaurants in Africa.

Sixth, while many nations are known for having friendly people, Thais in general are super friendly, especially toward outsiders. Only in Thailand have I had a taxi driver offer me food. Seeing that I had respect for the Thai Royal Family, one stranger gave me a copy of a book of photographs taken by HM King Bhumibol, a gift that I really cherish.

Seventh, despite current intense political polarisation and conflict, throughout its modern history Thailand (with the exception of persistent problems in the Deep South), has been remarkably peaceful. As the result of its highly effective bamboo diplomacy, Thailand suffered the least during World War II. During the war in Vietnam, Thailand suffered far less than Cambodia, Laos, or Vietnam. Though it has had many military coups since 1932, just one, on October 6, 1976, was seriously violent. In the six months of recent political turmoil there have been only about 23 deaths, far less than in other countries currently suffering political conflict.

Eighth, though some Western scholars argue that Thailand was a "semi-colony", Thailand is rare among developing countries in never having been colonised and is the only country in Southeast Asia with this unique status.

Ninth and this is a negative, Mechai Viravaidya, the Condom King, has called Thailand a nation of "lawbreakers". Various laws are continually being broken in Thailand. Civic and citizenship education needs to be improved to deal with this problem.

Tenth there are several fascinating but trivial examples of exceptionalism: In Thailand the zoo and Parliament are in close proximity (again noted by Mechai). There is a golf course in the middle of Don Mueang International Airport. Bangkok is one of the hottest cities in the world and has traffic jams and congestion at 2am in the morning in the Sukhumvit area.

In learning about its AEC neighbours, Thais need to think about what is exceptional about each of them. For Cambodia, it would be magnificent Angkor Wat, the largest religious complex in world. For Laos, it might well be the awesome Lipi waterfalls and the approximately 4,000 islands in the Mekong River there.

Each AEC nation and its citizens can take pride in what makes them exceptional without feeling superior and becoming ultra-nationalist.

Gerald W Fry, Distinguished International Professor,
Department of Organisational Leadership, Policy, and Development
College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota


-- The Nation 2014-05-19

[saakura]

Wondering if this is a research or write up funded by the thai government?

[Tokay]

Many western scholars take issue with this notion, which they consider elitist and argue that it contributes to Thais felling superior to their neighbours in Asia.

May I be the first to laugh.

Thai exceptionalism is like being a legend in your own mind.

[zydeco]

Distinguished professor? Ah, school of education. That explains it. This sounds like the sort of anecdotal/sloganeering common in America's educational system today. Probably not the best model for Thailand to follow.

An important part of education is how we teach about our own country in a balanced in-depth way. When I studied US history in school, I never learned about President Roosevelt's executive order 9066 of 1942, which incarcerated innocent Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast.

Where did you learn it, then? Watching 60 Minutes? And just wondering how Crystal City and Springtown fit into this anecdote about missed events in the US history of the Second World War?

[Thaiberius]

Victors in wars write the history which leads to omissions and lies.

Why should nationalism be a dirty word?

[JeremyBowskill]

Reads like a TAT piece without made up numbers.

[englishoak]

excuse me.

[kalbo123]

never seen so much nonsense combined into one article.

and that is also an achievement.

[kurnell]

For me the highlight was the table tennis player bitch slapping his partner. And that's what Thais think of each other!

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Jimmu]

Unfortunately much of this nonsense is inaccurate!

[Guest]

I liked the article. It's good to remind what makes Thais think they are special. We don't have to agree with all the point, but we do need to understand what are the reasons behind of the thinking.

This applies to any country in the world. I'll include the great start speech of The Newsroom tv-show. This is US related, but could be modified to suit for Thailand or for example my own little home country.

Listen specially what comes after "But it could be".

[chotthee]

"A major principle in cross-cultural teaching and training is that you must understand your own culture before you can begin to understand others."

Not just culture, but language too.

No Thais should be allowed to start learning a foreign language unless they have proven mastery in their own.

[Utley]

"Thailand is rare among developing countries in never having been colonised and is the only country in Southeast Asia with this unique status."

And this is significant..............why?

[Utley]

And Thailand is the only country in WWII to declare war on the U.S. and its allies and to never deliver the actual declaration of war document.

And Thailand is the only county in the world to build a monument to itself for sending one medical unit to Europe during WWI.

Need I go on?

[noitom]

Preposterous litany.

[northernjohn]

I liked the article.

It does not make being exceptional mean being superior. Each Nation is exceptional in one way or another.

The problem arises when they take there exceptionalism to mean better than rather than just different.

this is one of the complete failings in the education system. They teach them that they are not different they are superior to others.

[ABCer]

never seen so much nonsense combined into one article.

and that is also an achievement.

I wouldn't term all article as nonsense.

There is a feature of Thai life described which is reflected in reality. But described too little. It is about Thai women.

Long time back, when I came to Thailand I started noticing facts which I consider ominous:

- more female drivers on the roads than males;

- more female students at the Uni's than males;

- more female vendors, shop owners, attendants than males;

- if you need help with English/Thai translation 9 out of 10 cases a female is more helpful than a male;

... and this is in a Buddhist country!..

As to the rest of the article - it is an achievement in kalbo123 sense.

And, please, do not forget that EVERYTHING changes. Can't say more within the constrains of this post.

The OP is also forgetting one dominant feature of Thai Education: THOU MUST NOT QUESTION! In other words it is not Education - it is indoctrination! Brainwashing!

[noitom]

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I liked the article.
It does not make being exceptional mean being superior. Each Nation is exceptional in one way or another.
The problem arises when they take there exceptionalism to mean better than rather than just different.

this is one of the complete failings in the education system. They teach them that they are not different they are superior to others.

This is generally true of most nations that I can think of that they embed the "better than" in the subject matter.

[madmitch]

I was fully expecting some negatives to balance out this article, then it finished, which was quite unbelievable given the opening paragraphs.

Maybe there's a part two coming.

[PatOngo]

I would agree that they are exceptionally...............................no, I won't go there.

[Halion]

Lost for words at such a load of garbage in a nation which is so susceptible to manipulation that it can hold two completely opposing opinions simultaneously. The Thai end game looks no further than personal gain at all levels of society. The learned gentleman who wrote this has gleamed his research from TOT.

[ppmacready]

"Thailand is rare among developing countries in never having been colonised and is the only country in Southeast Asia with this unique status."

And this is significant..............why?

The reason why no one colonised Thailand is, nobody wanted too!

[ABCer]

And Thailand is the only country in WWII to declare war on the U.S. and its allies and to never deliver the actual declaration of war document.

And Thailand is the only county in the world to build a monument to itself for sending one medical unit to Europe during WWI.

Need I go on?

Please, do go on... you got me interested.

BTW, who built the famous Kwai River Bridge and the railway? POW? And where did Thais capture these prisoners? Give us some facts. Thanks in advance.

[dluek]

When I studied US history in school, I never learned about President Roosevelt's executive order 9066 of 1942, which incarcerated innocent Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast.

For the record, when I studied US history in the '90s my teacher taught all about this.

[Utley]

When I studied US history in school, I never learned about President Roosevelt's executive order 9066 of 1942, which incarcerated innocent Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast.

For the record, when I studied US history in the '90s my teacher taught all about this.

Also for the record, this black mark on America's history has been well documented. The U.S. is one of the few countries in the world that airs its dirty laundry in public in order to encourage self reflection and learn from its mistakes. Not the only country, but one of the few.

[binjalin]

what a BS article on Thai nationalism which teaches Thais from a young age they are superior in every way when, in fact, I can't think of any scientific, artistic, technological or medical world-class contributions from Thailand... and, no, Pattaya Walking Street doesn't count

[Emster23]

Burma railway was built mainly by Asians, contrary to claptrap fantasy flick "Bridge on the River Kwai". More than 100,000 Asians died on that project, only 6 in marked graves. Workers came from all over Asia to be worked to death. Bridge was taken out with early smart bomb, not blown up as per flick (Shot in Sri Lanka, btw).

[dluek]

And where did Thais capture these prisoners? Give us some facts. Thanks in advance.

Thais didn't capture any prisoners during WW2, the Japanese caught them in Singapore and elsewhere and sent them to work on the transport line to Burma (aka Death Railway). Thailand was occupied by the Japanese Imperial Army during WW2, and officially allied with Japan, but very few Thais took part in either of the world wars. The article is correct in that, compared to many other parts of Asia, Thailand endured few hardships during the war. The building of the railway was by far the worst thing that happened in Thailand, but Allied POWs and forced laborers from Malaysia, India, Burma and elsewhere bore the brunt of it. Thais were basically bystanders.

[Thait Spot]

anybody who thinks that "I have a 243-page dictionary of Thai acronyms" is one of the nations top ten acheivements is clearly MTB *

* Mai Tem Baht (not the full shilling)

[heybuz]

my thoughts is thailand rides on the back of its female population the true workers in this country

Edited May 19, 2014 by heybuz