without the prerequisite course "intro to general awareness" it doesn't seem the advance democracy awareness course will be effective

Explain please!

You want to teach kids about democracy after the army committed a coup and took a hold of the country with rights abolished.

How are you going to explain that to the kids. I can't.

And the janitor, most probable a foreigner, should be a rollmodel. Yeez....

"

(1) Love the country, religions, and the king (monarchy), which currently is the main institution of the country

(2) Be loyal, be altruist, be patient, and be equipped with ideology for public good

(3) Be grateful to parents, guardians, and teachers

(4) Keep on acquiring knowledge and learning both directly and indirectly

(5) Maintain Thai good cultures

(6) Be virtuous, loyal, friendly, and charitable

(7) Correctly understand and learn what democratic form of government with the King as Head of State is

(8) Be well-disciplined/ respect the laws/ youths respect elders (It implies that one with lower social rank respect another whose rank is higher)

(9) Be conscious, be mindful/ know what to do according to the king's words

(10) Know how to live in harmony with the philosophy/principle of Sufficiency Economy (of the king)

(11) Be strong both physically and mentally/ don't succumb to evil sides or to passions/ be afraid or ashamed when commit evil acts

(12) Public interest comes before self interest"

No doubt being turned in to a hit song and musical?

Of course this all falls down when little Somchai says,

Teacher, do you follow all of these rules?

...or can you name the two you do?

Bla bla bla......zzzzzzz......NEXT !

Democracy Awareness. I'm sure my students are very aware their democratic voice has been taken away from them. Of course, as foreign teacher here, I am in the enviable role of subverting whatever gets dictated to me.

Democracy is horrible. At least that's what history teaches us. The Greek City States disaster, mob rule and representative fakery in which two parties, both owned by the same people, slug it out in the media, guaranteeing the continuity of policy, which is contrary to the interests of the majority of people.

And one more thing...democracy leads to oligarchy.

Edited December 3, 201411 yr by Christie Paul

I believe these are the 12 principles they refer to:

(1) Love the country, religions, and the king (monarchy), which currently is the main institution of the country

(2) Be loyal, be altruist, be patient, and be equipped with ideology for public good

(3) Be grateful to parents, guardians, and teachers

(4) Keep on acquiring knowledge and learning both directly and indirectly

(5) Maintain Thai good cultures

(6) Be virtuous, loyal, friendly, and charitable

(7) Correctly understand and learn what democratic form of government with the King as Head of State is

(8) Be well-disciplined/ respect the laws/ youths respect elders (It implies that one with lower social rank respect another whose rank is higher)

(9) Be conscious, be mindful/ know what to do according to the king's words

(10) Know how to live in harmony with the philosophy/principle of Sufficiency Economy (of the king)

(11) Be strong both physically and mentally/ don't succumb to evil sides or to passions/ be afraid or ashamed when commit evil acts

(12) Public interest comes before self interest

Would someone (pleeeze anyone!) care to explain to me what these have in common with democracy.

One thing that I have noticed is on the Thai lit. I have seen it doesn't seem to use the word "democracy". It says more along the lines of social,religious,cultural understanding.

It find it rather irksome that they may have used the word democracy to make it more palatable to an international audience. In which case this is not a proper translation!

I might be wrong on this as I have read limited items on the details.

I cant see one democratic principle there.

Then again no one should be surprised like everything else even the word democracy and its principles has been corrupted to suit...

Some trolling nonsense posts have been removed.

No, not possible to teach what you do not know !

May as well just go back to Royal rule tbh. Might actually be better off.

"

(1) Love the country, religions, and the king (monarchy), which currently is the main institution of the country

(2) Be loyal, be altruist, be patient, and be equipped with ideology for public good

(3) Be grateful to parents, guardians, and teachers

(4) Keep on acquiring knowledge and learning both directly and indirectly

(5) Maintain Thai good cultures

(6) Be virtuous, loyal, friendly, and charitable

(7) Correctly understand and learn what democratic form of government with the King as Head of State is

(8) Be well-disciplined/ respect the laws/ youths respect elders (It implies that one with lower social rank respect another whose rank is higher)

(9) Be conscious, be mindful/ know what to do according to the king's words

(10) Know how to live in harmony with the philosophy/principle of Sufficiency Economy (of the king)

(11) Be strong both physically and mentally/ don't succumb to evil sides or to passions/ be afraid or ashamed when commit evil acts

(12) Public interest comes before self interest"

No doubt being turned in to a hit song and musical?

Of course this all falls down when little Somchai says,

Teacher, do you follow all of these rules?

...or can you name the two you do?

I am not allowed to enter. I am not Thai and I have no vote.....

Education is important, and the point of the schools is education. And yes, Thais must be educated to know and understand democracy. The schools have a vital role in this. Actually, teaching about democracy in schools is more important than teaching them how to speak English, and read and write English.

Talk about ASEAN and AEC. Thailand should be proud that Thailand's democracy is better than most of the ASEAN countries. We must bear in mind that Vietnam,Laos and Burma, are NOT democracies. Since when can Burma claim to be more democratic than Thailand ?
And little Singapore, it's officially a democracy, but people who know about Singapore, they know that Singapore in reality is not. In reality, Singapore is as democratic as Hong Kong ! If you're a Singaporean, your right to protest, demonstrate and speak out against the government is not that much different to the people of Hong Kong !

And as for Malaysia, is Malaysia really a democracy ? In the real sense of the word ?

So, let's get real, ASEAN or AEC might learn a thing or two from Thailand regarding democracy. Oddly enough, ASEAN might result in "events in Thailand spreading to the other countries". Democracy, after all, tends to spread itself. When one of them is a democracy (or at least a place where democracy works better), well, it causes or forces non-democratic governments to justify themselves. Get real, Burma (and Laos and Vietnam) is scared of ASEAN, they know that ASEAN highlights the fact that they're not democracies.

Yes-yes....democracy dear leader style

12 principles? I'm sure I read somewhere there were 14!

A _ictatorship to promote democracy awareness

Seems their democracy assignment appears to be to rig the political system so allies of former Prime Minister can never take power again, even if they win elections.

Among the methods under discussion is a permanent ban on Thaksin-affiliated politicians from holding office. Another is a Senate appointed by the royalist elite. These would make a mockery of democracy and provoke violent protests by the pro-Thaksin majority of the population.

That might be part of the military’s plan. Since the Thaksin forces have won the last five elections, unrest that makes a return to democracy impossible could be a convenient excuse for Gen. Prayuth to hang on to power.?

No thinking person with political interest believe the elections ahead or for that matter democracy will be free and fair

Convenient link for the ThaiVisa boo-birds:

Thailand's democracy is more than Burma, Laos and Vietnam combined ! And Cambodia can't claim it has more democracy than Thailand. And nor can Singapore.

Yes, Thailand IS a hub for democracy in South-East Asia ! Thailand can be a launch-pad for democracy in ASEAN !

But the Thais are too selfish to export it to their neighbours. They know that if their neighbours carry on NOT being democracies, well, it means Thailand will probably carry on getting the lion's share of foreign investments. One man's gain is another man's loss. Thailand is actually praying that Burma will carry on being a dictatorship. The Thais, not so dumb when YOU think about.

Promote democracy but probably only the parts Prayuth approves of