Time for Thailand to develop smart power

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REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Time for Thailand to develop smart power
Kavi Chongkittavorn
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- At the Blitz Megaplex Grand Indonesia in Jakarta early this month, local fans thronged the "standing room only" waiting area for their Thai heartthrobs - Juthawut Pathakamphol, Thanaphop Leerattakajorn and Supasssara Thanachai - from the blockbuster horror Thai film, The Swimmer (Fark wai nai kay ther). Indonesian fans of such movies are increasing rapidly.

They like Thai horror films because the Thai ghosts are very beautiful and feisty; they can be also very human at the same time.

"The Swimmer" is scheduled to be shown in theatres in all Asean member nations in weeks ahead, making it one of the most popular films ever as the region moves toward the Asean Community. The director, Sophon Sakdapisit, told the author that in future he would like to make a movie with a theme that touches on the Asean community and spirit.

Apart from films, Thai television series also have a strong showing on foreign tubes. Young adolescent-theme series such as "Hormone" and "ATM-2" are popular among Indonesian teens.

Discounting neighbours with common borders, Thai 'soft power' is highly visible in Indonesia through every-day encounters such as consumer products, entertainment, fashions, food and fruits, to name but a few.

In recent years, Thai films, especially in horror and avant-garde categories, have been praised for originality and storylines.

Apichartpong Weerasetapong's "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Life" won the much coveted prize of the Palme d'Or in 2010. Other Thai films and directors have also received numerous international awards from the region's film industry.

Somehow, Thai authorities who are promoting the country's smart power have no idea of utilising this popular and neutral medium. Instead, the government agencies have put up extra funds for period films accentuating nationalistic feeling, building on myths. Indeed, Thailand could have followed South Korea's example in early 2000, which spent hundreds of millions of dollars to promote Korean culture overseas that subsequently led to a proliferation of the "Korean Wave" around the world. The country's smart power is no longer confined to the so-called "kimchi" making campaign.

To be fair, for the past decade, tremendous efforts have been made to promote other Thai cultural assets globally such as Thai cuisine, boxing, takraw, amulets, herbal medicine and classical dance. Except for Thai food, there were no continued and systematic promotions of other cultural aspects. The absence of long-term strategies on branding and marketing Thailand's culture is the biggest stumbling block.

In Europe, the energy-driven sport known as Thai boxing is gaining popularity thanks to Czech entrepreneurs who have popularised the sport among young Europeans. Red Bull, known locally as krating daeng, is a big global brand because of its effective long-term marketing and communication strategies.

In the case of Thai cuisine, billions of baht were spent on this campaign which started in earnest in 1998 after the country was hit by the tom-yum crisis. At the time, literally anything that would boost the economy further was not spared. Now Thai cuisine has been ranked among the top five of the world's best loved food.

Processed food of famous Thai dishes have earned the country huge amounts of foreign exchange. For example, bottled Thai chicken chilli sauce is a multi-billion baht export.

Besides the food, the government of former prime minister Chuan Leekpai also promoted human rights and democracy as a foreign policy tool - a far cry from today's situation.

Although the economy was down after the economic crisis, the country's standing on freedom of expression and political openness was still ahead of the region.

Interestingly, at the time, the Foreign Ministry came up with a project to establish Thai cultural centres in neighbouring countries. The first pilot centre was built in Ho Chi Minh City, because of Vietnam's vibrant economy and close proximity to Thailand. Relations with Vietnam followed the economic crisis and its admission into Asean in 1995 provided the backdrop to further engagement with this neighbour. Somehow, the project was subsequently aborted due to the lack of interest in intra-government agencies.

As a non-colonised nation, Thailand's domestic and international politics are closely interlinked more than Thai leaders would like to admit.

We are extremely sensitive to foreign reaction and pressure in one form or another.

Thailand wants to be loved and often views itself as a country without an enemy.

At this juncture, Thailand is in a deep pit. We need to convince the world that this nation will recover from the current political transition and shine again.

We need to develop "smart power" - a combination of soft power and public diplomacy - using our cultural assets and good practices that will promote better understanding and friendship with the outside world.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Time-for-Thailand-to-develop-smart-power-30244320.html


-- The Nation 2014-09-29

[chainarong]

Good piece of drivel if I have ever read one , quiet obviously if the Nation wishes to fill space, just use topless beauties from those countries mentioned in Kavi's drivel , one thing is for sure the article was as boring as watching bat sh!!t dry , watching a Thai movie or frothing at a soapy. Verdict: Terrible.

[WitawatWatawit]

Kavi? Is that you?

[IamNoone88]

There is little creativity or invention and that boils down to education and motivation and little funding to get ideas off the ground. Until that changes it will be fruit, horror movies and rubber dog crap. The whole system is warped and big ideas simply do not exist. And Korea is far more advanced in all of this.....

[givenall]

First develop smart people, the rest will be ok

[jpeg]

Firstly, I do agree Thai films are in general, very well made, I've watched 'Shutter' on YT more than twice. 'Uncle Boonmee' however, whilst being cinematic I found a tad dull and was taken aback by the fact the film maker had directly copied a character from a film about Diane Arbus. Much like they pilfered Khmer culture, boxing/dancing/temples, but happily, not Khmer cuisine

[SPB65]

Gotta love The Nation. Outstanding journalism.

[Suradit69]

First develop smart people, the rest will be ok

Everyone can only hope to rise to the intellectual standard you've set with this post.

[rickirs]

Talk about "soft."

The author is obviously very aware of the Junta's martial law and viewpoint towards criticisms such that he carefully sidesteps around the whole issue of media suppression and control of creative thought becoming prevalent under Thailand's "new management." Given time and success of the Thai government to turn its culture inward, it will become outwardly irrelevant and only an international curiousity on par with North Korea.

[Suradit69]

Good piece of drivel if I have ever read one , quiet obviously if the Nation wishes to fill space, just use topless beauties from those countries mentioned in Kavi's drivel , one thing is for sure the article was as boring as watching bat sh!!t dry , watching a Thai movie or frothing at a soapy. Verdict: Terrible.

"one thing is for sure the article was as boring as watching bat sh!!t dry "

You appear to speak from a position of unimpeachable authority.

As to using topless beauties to fill space, I thought that was a specialty of British tabloids, reflecting an admirable understanding of their readership-demographic.

[Plutojames88]

Educate them on edicts first and they might be better equipped to keep work.

I sacked my two Thai staff after these murders were not taken seriously .

I fear many Thais will become Targets of retribution soon

Making innocent Thais the victim of unemployment , dumping girlfriends who are Thai , stop eating Thai , don't drink Thai , visit Thai , travel Thai.

This is all unfolding everywhere I see.

I heard of many Thai people getting caught up in this until justice is served .

Why did I sack my staff ?

They found the comments about Bikinis to be fine.

I waited a week then said times were tough ....goodbye

Simply not drinking a Thai beer or staying in a Thai hotel chain or eating Thai food will help get the message across in educating them

Edited September 29, 2014 by Plutojames88

[belg]

and i tought the article would be about education or solar panels

[Emster23]

Did they put this title mistakenly on wrong article? Smart power? Huh? "Thailand wants to be loved and often views itself as a country without an enemy." Thailand at times is it's own worst enemy. Don't need externals, especially as "We are extremely sensitive to foreign reaction and pressure in one form or another." Usually manifested similar to petulant teenager being reprimanded by sensible adult over misbehavior, whining about "face" and "Thainess".

[Brian Corrigan]

Perhaps smart people before smart power would be a good idea?

[powerkick]

From the topic headline I thought they were going to talk about solar/wind/thermal/fission/hydrogen power. What a crock of s**t.