Utter nonsense of an article. What kurnell posted I reckon is bang on.

It going to be disastrous and quite sad witnessing how badly Thailand deals with competition.

Thailand doesn't understand competition. Only monopoly, cronyism and nepotism.

And now they are going to face the realty of it all and somehow will correct itself in the future.

I know you are being sarcastic, but if Thailand was opened up things would adjust. History has shown that if you bust a cartel or monopoly people adapt rather quickly. Though I'll let you return to your dismissive attitude.

Utter nonsense of an article. What kurnell posted I reckon is bang on.

It going to be disastrous and quite sad witnessing how badly Thailand deals with competition.

Thailand doesn't understand competition. Only monopoly, cronyism and nepotism.

And now they are going to face the realty of it all and somehow will correct itself in the future.

I know you are being sarcastic, but if Thailand was opened up things would adjust. History has shown that if you bust a cartel or monopoly people adapt rather quickly. Though I'll let you return to your dismissive attitude.

Let's watch this space then

So are the Philippines, Indonesia etc gonna hire Thais? I think the traffic will be all one way, ending with a lot of Thais outa work

I agree. But will this scenario, if plaid out, wake Thailand up? Will Thais ever realize how their "system" impacts individuals? The bottom line - for me - is the end product. If any "system" results in higher levels of functioning etc. then by all means "embrace" it to the fullest. If however a particular "system" results in a dismal product then only a fool would opt to remain and not latch onto another way of doing things.

What year is this? And when was this study completed?

Once again, it shows how totally and utterly unprepared Thailand is for what is coming. Sad.

"Mai penrai" Thats why

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Yea... and let's put paper bags over our head to "save face."

"They also urged the government to promote foreign language skills. . . "

Oh, dear - look at the time! Less than 18 months to brush up our English - or lose out to other ASEAN nations which have a far better command of the language!

It need not have been like this. Thailand was one of the original members of ASEAN and actually hosted the event when the trading bloc was formed way back in 1967.

From the very start, it was no secret that English would be the language of business and commerce between the member countries, even though it was not officially endorsed by the five founding states - which all had different mother tongues.

Malaysia made an unsuccessful early bid for their bahasa language to be accepted as the group's lingua franca. A Chulalongkorn university professor who bizarrely suggested that Thai should replace English was greeted with a bunch of fives from the other members (i.e. 5555 = ha ha ha ha!).

Former British possessions such as Myanmar, Malaysia and Singapore, where English has been widely used for many years, had a head start, as did the Philippines, where generations grew up under US colonial rule speaking American English as well as Filipino.

As usual in Thailand, where sanuk, sanuk rules, a pretty laid back attitude was taken to ensuring the population was armed with the language they would need to gain a trading edge on their ASEAN partners.

Four years ago so little progress had been made that a Reuters report warned: "Officials and citizens alike should be very, very concerned about Thais' dismal English proficiency". Thailand was then ranked 54th of 56 countries globally for English proficiency - the second lowest in Asia.

Little has changed in the overall picture. While big strides have been made in other countries, notably Malaysia which recently carried off the top prize in a major Asian English competition, most Thai children leave school after seven years of compulsory English knowning only a smattering of the official second language.

It is doubtful whether Thais will be able to compete favourably with their Indonesian and Vietnamese counterparts, let alone against those countries where English is already endemic.

Come December 31 next year, when ASEAN becomes a trading reality, Thailand will find itself playing catch-up - and rueing all those wasted years.

People understand that's the AEC is NOT modeled on the EU, and other nationals cannot just cross borders and start work, right?