What hope for Thai democracy when tyranny rules at university?

[webfact]

OPINION
What hope for Thai democracy when tyranny rules at university?
TITIPOL PHAKDEEWANICH
Special to The Nation

Outdated hazing rituals expose Thailand's abiding societal schism

BANGKOK: -- These first few weeks of the new Thai university year again bring into focus the euphemistically titled tradition of "rub nong" - (welcoming the newcomer). These rituals, with a well-established format that plays on the naivete of first-year students, are a thoroughly dehumanising group induction into university life.

Year after year, rub nong and its various hazing-style practices leave their unwitting victims psychologically and sometimes physically scarred. Serious injuries have resulted - and still it goes on, under the noses of university authorities.

Despite this, many former and current university students regard these rituals with surprising affection as part of a Thai cultural tradition of social bonding, where everyone gets to become your "brother" or "sister".

A standard argument is that older and more worldly students can help support their younger and inexperienced counterparts - which, in principle, sounds like a reasonable claim.

But for several generations of students, rub nong has been a calculated enforcement of a rigid social hierarchy on campus that they must endure.

A reality of obedience and subordination outweighs the ideal of friendship and equality, and the practices adopted by senior students who implement these rituals are well-honed and ruthlessly enacted. Over recent years, veiled threats and coercive group psychology have been the trend, though outright violence still takes place on occasion.

The latter help ramp up an overbearing pressure to conform to the norms of this menacing regime.

Fear over who might be singled-out next for displeasing those who run this mini-mafia means most students simply keep their heads down. And so this often fanatical effort to boss student life prevails unchallenged, aided by the indifference (or ambivalence) of university and government authorities.

Advocates often justify the practice by claiming rub nong prepares students for the harsh world waiting for them after graduation. In reality, this claim is an attempt to rationalise their own unthinking authoritarian approach to life.

Do the legions of university seniors already implicated - whether from actions this week or 20 years ago - share any secret sense of shame at their part in the dehumanisation of their innocent fellows, even while they publicly remain shameless and defiant in their advocacy for it? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But either way, rub nong and the cultural climate it helps engender remains as Thailand's shame, regardless of how much we continue to avoid the issue.

"Life on campus is not what I expected. I thought I would have freedom, but I don't think that I have it at all. Seniority is extremely embedded here, and it is secretly supported by the university executive, who believe in this kind of authoritarian system. I don't think that I have any hope for a better student life here, because my rights do not mean anything to the university."

These are the words of a student currently based at a northern university, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It is clear that concerns about rub nong and the welfare of students are not a priority for the authorities, despite lip service paid by the Education Ministry and university authorities in recent years.

Although human rights now often get a mention at the start of the new academic year, this is still largely a token effort. Rub nong's perpetrators can disregard the official platitudes, safe in the knowledge that serious action is seldom taken.

For those of us who once had such high hopes for Thailand's development, it is dismaying to note that rituals which violate basic norms of universal human rights still retain a semblance of legitimacy.

Worse still, rub nong - along with other similarly absurd authoritarian propositions continually spouted by talking heads, street-level wannabes and every totalitarian enforcer - excite those Thais who regard such things as actually worth fighting for.

All this, of course, is taking place at a time when Thailand is subject to increasingly severe scrutiny by much of the international community over its abandonment of democracy.

And the country's already damaged international standing is now being even further undermined by a focus on the broader question of human rights violations. In this context, it is disturbing that the prevalence of rub nong evidences a strong generational desire to disavow basic democratic and human rights tenets. And this, while Thailand is in the midst of a prolonged and worrisome dynamic of social-political disintegration. Such ingrained authoritarianism bodes ill for both our future domestic prospects and our reputation abroad.

Even if a semblance of democracy is re-established in the country, then the ongoing prevalence of pernicious and divisive university rituals that help enshrine the Thai patronage system will inform the much-vaunted and idealised "Thai-style" democracy to come.

Future generations will gain little solace from denouncing the authorities of today. For those generations will, by then, surely be forced to do some soul-searching over the part they played in defending authoritarian norms.

Without a far more determined effort to question the prevailing Thai mentality - and especially its most damaging aspects, which are already penetrating the minds of yet another generation - why should anyone who claims to be serious about the current process of Thai reform expect things to change for the better?

TITIPOL PHAKDEEWANICH is a visiting fellow at the Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation at the University of Warwick, in the UK. He is based at Ubon Ratchathani University.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/What-hope-for-Thai-democracy-when-tyranny-rules-at-30266453.html

-- The Nation 2015-08-13

[Lunchbob]

The wai is at the heart of it.

[PatOngo]

"Without a far more determined effort to question the prevailing Thai mentality - and especially its most damaging aspects, which are already penetrating the minds of yet another generation - why should anyone who claims to be serious about the current process of Thai reform expect things to change for the better?"

Sums it up perfectly.

[DavisH]

TITIPOL PHAKDEEWANICH is a visiting fellow at the Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation at the University of Warwick, in the UK. He is based at Ubon Ratchathani University.

Another enlightened Thai who sees how the rest of the world operates. But this is Thai culture and his bleatings mean nothing here. Democracy...equality? forget it...

[scorecard]

Welcoming the new students - why not.

There is also a case to say that much of this stuff reinforces very childish behaviors and childish thinking.

In many Thai universities the focus for all their years in bachelor studies is on fun and very little more, and behaving like 16 year olds.

Many lecturers wring their hands at the lack of even a slightly serious focus on studies, plus poor attendance, come 1 hour / 3 hours late for lectures and for exams, never hand in assignments etc., get a C or D for a course then expect their lecturer to give them 'extra assignments' to improve their grade.

From time to time lecturers have situations like: 'but professor I can't wake up early to get here at 9.00 o'clock, so can you please teach me the morning class at lunch time'. etc. Not even adult thinking.

Most lecturers refuse which is met with shock 'but why won't you help me, this is not fair'.

[bamnutsak]

If it ain't broke why fix it?

Making sure everyone knows their place is key to keeping the whole thing wobbling along.

Without a strict, understood hierarchy the whole thing might fall apart.

[h90]

make the exams harder till at least 50% or at the current quality better 80% fail and all these silly games will end.

[h90]

If it ain't broke why fix it?

Making sure everyone knows their place is key to keeping the whole thing wobbling along.

Without a strict, understood hierarchy the whole thing might fall apart.

Thai universities don't work, the quality of education is very poor....

[tuanku]

University society holding up a mirror to the larger society.

[Briggsy]

Well-written piece.

[Oziex1]

If it ain't broke why fix it?

Making sure everyone knows their place is key to keeping the whole thing wobbling along.

Without a strict, understood hierarchy the whole thing might fall apart.

I think it has fallen apart. or was it ever together in the first place?

[Ulic]

Not much different than North American universities when pledging a fraternity.

[chainarong]

This is just an add on from the Elites running Thailand, everything rotates around rituals , rank and a bloody uniform, you then have a mixture called elite - ness, one wonders if a bus drivers son or daughter would be welcome in such an elite company at a Thai Uni , basicly everything in Thai live in yesteryear, but want the 21 Century trimmings, eventually something has to give.

[bamnutsak]

Not much different than North American universities when pledging a fraternity.

in 1965 maybe.

Fraternities are optional, the hazing here, whether it be at universities, schools, voke, military... is universal, institutionalized and all about reinforcing the hierarchy, and maintaining the social contract whereby everyone knows their place, and never, ever questions authority out of reverence to the ones above you.

Without this structured reinforcement all heck would break loose. People would start asking questions, and that just can't be done.

Edited August 13, 2015 by bamnutsak

[LannaGuy]

very good piece of honest writing

this 'deferential' BS is ingrained at an early age, sustained through Uni then, once you get 'somewhere' in life is repeated as 'you had to go though it so why not the next generation'?

squash it, kill it and grow up!

[roblgs]

Seems a little strange doesn't it, in a land with little to no regard for the law, and almost as little enforcement, that adherence to juvenile rules should be viewed as important and in many cases enforced through bullying, coercion and even with penalties applied in one for or another for non-conformance!

Surely 'conformance' should be complete anathema to students.

[dageurreotype]

Not much different than North American universities when pledging a fraternity.

Bizarrely, given that the US is oft touted as Thailand's most vocal critic, I've come across many similarities between Thailand and the US. Ultra patriotic, ignorance of other cultures, geography etc. I'm truly not having a go at our American cousins, but the similarities cannot be denied.

[dageurreotype]

Seems a little strange doesn't it, in a land with little to no regard for the law, and almost as little enforcement, that adherence to juvenile rules should be viewed as important and in many cases enforced through bullying, coercion and even with penalties applied in one for or another for non-conformance!

Surely 'conformance' should be complete anathema to students.

Ah well, there's the 'Law' and 'The Law of The Jungle'. Draw your own conclusions

[Briggsy]

Seems a little strange doesn't it, in a land with little to no regard for the law, and almost as little enforcement, that adherence to juvenile rules should be viewed as important and in many cases enforced through bullying, coercion and even with penalties applied in one for or another for non-conformance!

Surely 'conformance' should be complete anathema to students.

Your post is more pertinent than you imagined.

It is the patronage system with its rigid hierarchy of status that ensures the rule of law and justice never puts down any deep roots. You cannot have, by definition, 2 parallel power systems. One must be in the ascendancy.

Edited August 13, 2015 by Briggsy

[user82374298374]

'Over recent years, veiled threats and coercive group psychology have been the trend, though outright violence still takes place on occasion.'

I don't see the problem - this sounds like perfect preparation for facing the reality of Thai society!

[lildragon]

While I can't deny that certainly the Thai education system and the peerage system as a whole is crippling this country, having a go at 'rub nong' culture is not really fair. Such practices are widely done in campuses in our home nations.

[Chao Lao Beach]

"Without a far more determined effort to question the prevailing Thai mentality - and especially its most damaging aspects, which are already penetrating the minds of yet another generation - why should anyone who claims to be serious about the current process of Thai reform expect things to change for the better?"

Sums it up perfectly.

Thainess

[MrJohnson]

Thai universities are simply a microcosm of the rest of Thailand. Be obedient, compliant and docile.

Do what you are told, don't rock the boat. Next!

[Fat Haggis]

If it ain't broke why fix it?

Making sure everyone knows their place is key to keeping the whole thing wobbling along.

Without a strict, understood hierarchy the whole thing might fall apart.

Thai universities don't work, the quality of education is very poor....

Not according to an article here on TVF several months ago about one of the prestigious Thai universities ranking very high in the top 5 of the world or something like that!!

[ddavidovsky]

This sort of behaviour is found in compact, confined, competitive groups like army boot camps and UK public schools. Hard to see how it works at a university.

Sounds like universities in Thailand are deliberately designed to form little societies, as if part of a university's function is to teach one's place in the group. Perhaps it is to let the elites practice their superiority skills.

[rijb]

Not much different than North American universities when pledging a fraternity.

How would you know? Do you have first-hand information or comparison data? Or are you just trolling?

[elgordo38]

Welcoming the new students - why not.

There is also a case to say that much of this stuff reinforces very childish behaviors and childish thinking.

In many Thai universities the focus for all their years in bachelor studies is on fun and very little more, and behaving like 16 year olds.

Many lecturers wring their hands at the lack of even a slightly serious focus on studies, plus poor attendance, come 1 hour / 3 hours late for lectures and for exams, never hand in assignments etc., get a C or D for a course then expect their lecturer to give them 'extra assignments' to improve their grade.

From time to time lecturers have situations like: 'but professor I can't wake up early to get here at 9.00 o'clock, so can you please teach me the morning class at lunch time'. etc. Not even adult thinking.

Most lecturers refuse which is met with shock 'but why won't you help me, this is not fair'.

Things are definitely coming apart at the seams here on planet Earth. Just wait till this generation reaches adulthood.

[selftaopath]

The headline could have stooped after the first 5 words.

[Jonmarleesco]

Hazing is, unfortunately, not peculiar to Thailand; though it is obviously the Thai version that should be the object of this article's rightful censure.

[apetley]

If it ain't broke why fix it?

Making sure everyone knows their place is key to keeping the whole thing wobbling along.

Without a strict, understood hierarchy the whole thing might fall apart.

Thai universities don't work, the quality of education is very poor....

Not according to an article here on TVF several months ago about one of the prestigious Thai universities ranking very high in the top 5 of the world or something like that!!

I don't think any Thai Uni has made it into a world top 100 let alone the top 5.

Here's the most recent world rankings.

https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/world-ranking#/sort/0/direction/asc

Edit. Thailand at 50 in Asia.

https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/regional-ranking#/sort/0/direction/asc

Edited August 13, 2015 by apetley