Buying Grades, Selling Souls

Bought grades, sold souls an all-access pass through the halls of higher learning
Published: 2/01/2011 at 12:00 AM Bangkok Post
Voranai Vanijaka

Want a bachelor's degree? One can be had for between 37,000 to 90,000 baht, depending on the institution. There's a service that will hack into a university's computer, insert your name on a degree and voila, you can even join the graduation ceremony.

Want a 3.5 GPA? No problem. A hacker can arrange it. Want to be on the honour roll? Just pay a little more.
In fact, your kids can even obtain a primary school certificate; that's only 5,000 to 8,000 baht.
Too dumb to do an MBA thesis? No problem. For anywhere between 120,000 and 280,000 baht, someone will write one for you.

A friend of mine owns a learning institute (one of the many in the country) that caters specifically to rich little boys and girls who are too stupid to write their own theses, but whose parents nevertheless love them very much. Business is always brisk. Want to have the title ''Dr'' precede your name? A doctoral thesis will cost you just a bit more.

Don't want to cheat too blatantly? Want to at least make the effort of pretending to go to school? No problem, a few Thai institutes of higher learning offer ''pay and pass'' programmes. As long as you pay your tuition, you will graduate.

Unofficial, but highly popular, eight- year programmes are also available so that they can milk as much money from parents as possible.

A colleague of mine, who I refer to as ''the walking encyclopaedia'', is currently writing doctoral theses for a few of the 111 banned politicians. They plan to make their return to politics with a PhD because it will look good to the voters. Business is brisk.

Pay to pass is old news. Hiring a ghost writer to complete a thesis is common, so is the straight-up purchase of a a degree. It's the same old story. The emergence of computer hackers who can give you a degree and put you on the honour roll is just a new twist.

In all of these cases, it is not the sons and daughters who are paying for the grades and degrees. It's the parents. It's not the students who sell the grades and degrees, it's the adults. And oftentimes, it's the teachers, the administrators and the institutions themselves making the profits.

Put all that together with the news in recent months that teachers are failing exams in basic subjects like maths and science, and that they are coming up with substandard questions for the O-Net exam, and what do we get?
Cheating and corruption is the norm at all levels of society, and incompetency is the sum of our failings.

Consequently, both the government and private sectors are replete with executives and ministers, managers and bureaucrats with snazzy overseas degrees on their walls and little of anything in their brains.

It is no wonder then that we are not ready to open our industries to foreign competition. We just don't have the skills or knowledge to compete, even with the fancy degrees. Of course, there are many genuinely brilliant and honest minds in Thailand. But we have to compete as a whole, not by the handful.

I recently finished my first semester of lecturing at a university. There are those students who are brilliant and meticulous. It was a joy to teach them. There are those students who are very creative, but bored to death with education. Give them a project that challenges them and gets their creative juices flowing, and they will dazzle. Give them an assignment or an exam that requires researches and study, and witness an exercise in mediocrity. It is then the job of the educator to find a way to stimulate them.

There are also those students who couldn't care less; those who cheat without batting an eye.
Why?

There's an old but true answer to that question, one that has no boundaries and is not specific to any culture.
From Bangkok to Timbuktu, we know that leaders need to set an example for their followers, that adults must provide an exemplary model that the young can emulate.

Ladies and gentlemen, a typical classroom is simply a mirror-image of the society at large.
Should we be surprised that the young prefer cheating, when the parents are only too eager to help them do so? Should we be shocked that students don't care about education, when teachers aren't qualified to educate?
Constitution Court judges vehemently deny (allegedly) being caught on tape (allegedly) involving them in an (alleged) exam leak scandal, and there's no investigation, no repercussions. Doctors, who have sworn an oath to heal without discrimination, declare that they will refuse to treat patients if a bill that will allow them to be sued for medical malpractice is passed.

Should we be baffled that students display no guilt or remorse when caught cheating?
Cheating politicians are allowed to run in by-elections and return to their posts. Half of the country supports a former prime minister who was found guilty of corruption and who fled the country. The other half supports a prime minister who condones the rampant corruption in his government.

Should we then be perplexed that students believe they could and should get away with cheating?
If, according to an Abac poll, 76.1% of Thais believe that corruption is OK, as long as the country prospers, does that mean adults and parents believe students' cheating is OK, as long as they pass and graduate?

If 16-year-old Orachorn Thephasadin Na Ayudhya (who now claims she is 17) believes that she should get away with hitting a van on the tollway and causing the deaths of nine people, should we only blame the girl and her well-connected family? Or should we recognise the fact that this is how society works _ and that is because we, the Thai people, work it that way?

If we want to solve Thailand's woes, overcome our failings and progress into the brave new world, we need to stop pointing fingers at others and start accepting responsibility for the things we do each and every day of our lives. There can't be a crisis among the younger generation unless the old generation instigates it.
No doubt, there will be those holier-than-thous who will insist, ''Not me! I'm not responsible for any of this! It's all of you! But not me!'' Well, fine.

As for the rest of us, we all have done things we wish we hadn't.
Just last week, I woke up thinking to myself of a deed (or misdeed) that occurred the previous night. I thought, ''Blast it, I hope there wasn't any CCTV around.''
The young will aspire to be whatever the adults show them they could or should be. We adults have set a very poor example.

There will be more mistakes, more failings, but at the end of it all, there are better things that we can do in life.
It's the second decade of the second millennium, and we could and should give the future of the Thai society a second chance by setting a better example for our children, stumbling along the way as we might.

Contact Voranai Vanijaka via email atvoranaiv@bangkokpost.co.th

Opinion > Opinion
POST BAG
Thai women work better than Thai men
Published: 16/12/2010 at 12:00 AM
Bangkok Post

In answer to Sethaput Suthiwart-Narueput's question, ''Where have all the men gone...?'' (Bangkok Post, Dec 14) may I humbly suggest that, in order to find answers to this question, he simply visit any school in the kingdom.

Amongst others, I teach two Mathayom 2 classes. One class, predominantly boys, the other, predominantly girls. Both classes suffer from the usual Thai student diseases _ OBD (Obsessive Blackberry Disorder), narcolepsy, chronic copying, creativity deficiency syndrome, and aural disagreement with oral overload _ but, despite these generic (genetic?) afflictions, the girls still manage to find a way to do their classwork, do their homework, ask intelligent questions, keep their books and the classroom clean, and generally be interesting, respectful and, most importantly, responsible human beings.

The boys, well, not so much. They like pretending to be kung-fu masters, spinning their pens, making ''miaow'' noises, jabbing sharpened straws up each other's derriers, and generally doing all the things that your average Western kindergartener is already starting to think a little juvenile.

I have a friend who runs a factory in Thailand. In their first year, they had so many problems that they nearly went under. The staff were constantly absent, constantly hung over (or drunk), constantly sneaking off for naps, constantly delivering the kind of shoddy work that you see everywhere, and constantly demanding more money be cause, as they put it, ''I want it!'' He then discovered a pattern. The problem staff were all Thai men. In fact, it was fair to say that the Thai men were all problem staff.

The factory now has a policy. For any job where it is even remotely possible to employ a woman, even if that woman is initially less qualified than the male applicants, they will employ her. The factory is now doing very nicely, thank you (and the place smells much nicer, too).

Now, I could tell you what the root cause of this is, what the root cause of pretty much all of Thailand's woes is, but the only people who would agree are those Westerners who don't have ''some lovely Thai people at work who sort all that stuff out for me'' and the odd Thai who doesn't adhere to the Kasit Piromya school of how to deal with constructive criticism, i.e. ''No... you are!''

So, what can be done about this? Well, I would say, please don't do anything about this. Let the trend continue. Actively encourage it! The sooner Thailand is run by responsible, intelligent, diligent, mature and reasonable Thai women, the better for Thailand.

Thai men are welcome to rebut, though I imagine most of them will be either too lazy to do so, too busy jabbing sharpened things where sharpened things have no business being, or too incapable of even reading this in the first place.

Let me stress that I am not a feminist. I like my girlfriend to wear her hair long and her skirts short. She does the ironing, cooking and cleaning way better than I ever would see the need to. And I expect her to give up work and take care of any sprogs we might fashion in the future.

But then I don't have to give her all my wages every month because I can't be trusted to not spend it all the first week on Regency with my buddies at the marble checkers table outside the local shop; I don't think it's okay to have women on the side; I don't exist in a perpetual state of grumpiness and aloof disinterest with her; and I would employ her before I would employ myself any day of the week. I am, after all, a man as well.

MICHAEL PHILLIPS

Making Thailand a medical hub is "evil" and "crazy" policy

I'm glad someone of a high stature in Thai academic circles, like Dr. Ammar Siamwalla, has finally had the guts to speak up on this issue. But why has he waited so long? Was he intimidated during the time of Mr. Taksin? I for one who have to rely on "prakan sangkom" (social insurance) knows first hand the great difference in service in ordinary hospitals and hospitals catering for foreigners. I get the cheapest medicine and the doctors I see are overwhelmed by exceedingly long queues that they don't even have time to establish eye contact. How much more for poor people who have to rely on the "30 baht scheme" or whatever its new reincarnation in the Abhisit government? Never mind (mai pen rai). Thais have a high regard for doctors.








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Economist calls plan to attract foreign patients 'evil' and 'crazy'

Published on October 30, 2010

Prominent economist Ammar Siamwala yesterday called for the government to stop its plan to become a medical hub. He said the policy had already adversely affected the public health system by diverting resources, including physicians, from public hospitals to treat foreign patients instead of the poor in rural areas.

Being a medical hub "is the worst policy that the government could ever think up", he said.


Ammar was speaking at the 2010 Thailand Pharmaceutical Summit organised by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PReMA).


The medicalhub project, initiated in 2003 by the Thaksin Shinawatra government, included three facets: sickness prevention, spa services and Thai massage. It also promoted Thai herbalmedicine products.


Ammar said the policy had induced a lot of medical workers and physicians to quit public hospitals for private ones, where they can get higher salaries and benefits, causing a shortage of doctors and staff at rural hospitals.


He said the Public Health Ministry, which oversees public hospitals, could not compete with private hospitals.


"The ministry has already increased monthly salaries for medical workers and doctors at state hospitals but they still ask it to increase their salaries again and again. Never enough," he said. "How could the ministry compete with the private sector to attract medical workers?"


If the ministry decided to increase salaries enough to satisfy the medical workers, it would affect the National Health Security Fund and the Social Security Fund, as these two funds have to seek financial resources to support the salaries and allowances for medical workers.


"I would not suggest to the government the best way to go ahead with the plan. Instead I want the government to change its mind and stop this evil plan," he said.


He said some medical schools, such as the one at Siriraj Hospital, were seeking ways to increase the monthly salary for doctors to keep them in the publichealth system but also training them to provide premium medical services to foreign patients.


"Why should we welcome ill, rich foreign patients? This is so crazy," he said.


However, if the government is so stubborn as to go ahead with its medicalhub plan, he said it should collect fees from foreign patients to support the special fund for more medical workers and doctors at rural hospitals, which face a shortage of practitioners.


The Health Support Services Department, which oversees the government's medicalhub policy, is to conduct a public hearing on the idea. Ammar suggested that the department invite a patient network to participate in the public hearing.


Ammar also expressed concern over the high cost of treatment, especially among elderly people who suffer from chronic diseases such as diabetes.


He said most pharmaceutical companies were focusing on creating new technology and medicines to treat elderly patients who suffer from chronic diseases and selling these at high prices.




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November 7, 2010 09:38 am (Thai local time)
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Development without Modernization

If I seem to have lost interest in my blog, it isn't so. It's just that as a foreigner, discretion is the better part of valor after witnessing how the Thai government ordered the "blunt hammer" of the Thai Army to shoot demonstrators. The subsequent handling of the government as shown by their ridiculous attempts at "reconciliation" has only ended in what may have been subconciously the Abhisit's government intention in the first place - to forget and deny. The Reds are a non-entity. The Reds are terrorists.

I am more and more convinced that in any society, the kind of education (indoctrination) will be an important indicator of its degree of democratization and determine the length of time it will take for the country to narrow that gap between the first and last scenario asserted by Abraham Lincoln: "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."

By 2050, 40 years from now, when it is predicted that parts of Bangkok will suffer from innundation from the combination of a 100 year cycle rainfall, and high tides, I am convinced that Thai education system will advance very little. I hope to be proven wrong.
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http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/10/21/opinion/This-quick-fix-for-schools-is-failing-our-children-30140544.html

This quick fix for schools is failing our children
By The Nation, Published on October 21, 2010

Plan to declare English as second language in classroom ignores real problem: huge class sizes and outdated teaching methods

The debate on whether the Education Ministry should declare English as the second language in schools does not address the root cause of the problems in Thai schools. The real issue is the quality of teaching, not just of English but of all the subjects that students need to learn to be equipped for the future. Thai students already spend several hours on each subject per week in the classroom. What remains highly debatable, however, is whether schools give their students the quality time essential to learning.

The attempt to declare English as the second language in the classroom is an admirable thing and shows we are concerned over the low quality of learning. Knowledge of English undoubtedly broadens students' opportunities for learning. But it does not take a grand ambition to place English as the second language to solve the problem. Educators can tackle the issue effectively if they themselves are willing to learn and remain open-minded.


Every Thai student already studies English, but the average level of proficiency is highly questionable. Many teachers have not received training to improve their skills, or access to new knowledge. Some simply don't have the language skills to teach English. This means that many of our students are stuck with unqualified teachers day in, day out.


Although educators often claim they want to prepare students for the fast-changing world, most Thai schools still operate in the same way as their predecessors half a century ago. Typically, up to 50 students are crammed into one classroom and subjected to robotic learning by rote. Teaching methods have barely changed over the years. One change we can expect to see, though, is a drop in the quality of teachers, as their low pay means that teaching is no longer a coveted profession.


The authorities are scrambling for a quick fix. Instead of getting to the root of the problem, they prefer to announce a big-budget programme under a "sexy" title. But spending money alone will not guarantee satisfactory results. It is a shame that money is being lavished on education but producing nothing for our kids.


Rather than debating the terms of our English teaching, educators should take a direct route to improving learning by, first, focusing on limiting the class size for each subject. This puts the priority on ensuring every student receives sufficient attention from teachers. The method of learning by rote does not inspire students to excel at subjects for which they show aptitude. The current classroom environment fails when it comes to promoting either multidimensional learning or students' self-esteem. Students are often judged simply on their ability to memorise lessons, meaning that those with other talents can feel discouraged and left out.


Teachers should also receive constant training, because we owe it to our students to provide them with the best possible schooling. Improvements could also be made if public schools drew more on the resources of progressive or international schools, which are more up to date with techniques.


Meanwhile, an open-minded attitude is essential among teachers and school principals; learning is a never-ending process. Efforts to get retiree native English-speakers to assist in Thai schools have been unsuccessful largely because of the cold reception from teachers who are more concerned about their turf and ego than their students. These teachers should be sacked.


Teaching our children to become good "global citizens" should also be on the agenda. For instance, they should be taught about conserving energy and the impact they can have on the environment. But responsibility and citizenship are not sufficiently addressed. Instead, youngsters only hear adults asking for their rights but refusing to be accountable.


And most importantly, students should be given belief in their capacity and ability. Rather than promoting youngsters' self-actualisation, schools tend to punish students who don't perform well in the robotic model of learning. Meaningful knowledge is sidelined in favour of teaching students to fit into a mould by achieving good grades.


Thai students need to learn more about their geography and history to see how this physical and cultural background has shaped them. This will then enable them to understand themselves better. In contrast, currently they are usually forced merely to memorise information without learning how to think with it.

The day I became a Red Shirt

Since I have never attended any public demonstration of either yellow PAD or red shirts throughout the political turmoil that has descended on Bangkok’s political scene starting from the 2006 coup, I decided to witness the passing of the red caravan today, Saturday, March 20th, 2010. My interest was piqued not only by the unpopular status of the red shirts (the underdogs) as portrayed by the Bangkok Press but also that the Governor of Bangkok, M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, in his infinite wisdom (the M.R. does not stand for Mister, but an honorific title that indicates close consanguinity to royal blood lines) had advised city residents to stay at home Saturday as red-shirt demonstrators are to march through the capital (The Nation, March 19, 2010). I’ve asked myself, is the Governor anti-Red or anti-business or both? Imagine voluntarily staying at home on a Saturday?

I started taking pictures at 10:30AM as I arrived at the Phayathai intersection in Petchburi Road. I noticed that no one was allowed to use the overpass (by what looked like Red security personnel) and the Red convoy used both sides of the Petchburi Road intersection. The flow at the intersection was controlled by the time interval of the traffic lights enforced by a few policemen, as a result of which, the heavy volume of the persistent and noisy red convoy caused crossing traffic along Phayathai Road from both Siam Square and Victory Monument to back up. However, the flow of reds was going quite smoothly with all kinds of vehicles from SUVs bearing Bangkok plates, countless motorcycles, assorted pickups, rented taxis, provincial rot tu, to an occasional but out of place tuktuk.

Contrary to nagging feelings that I was putting myself needlessly in danger (as a foreigner) amidst the “mob” of red shirts who recently committed the shocking blood pouring protest in front of the government and PM houses, a sensation made worse by the enervating vapours emanating from the heat island effect of downtown Bangkok – instead, I was swept by the cathartic experience of witnessing the so called carabaos (khwai), unspohisticated and brainless rural people, the poor and neglected people of this country assert their rights to protest, to be different, disagree with the present government legitimacy and insist on its dissolution. As only Thais are capable of, this was not a sullen crowd, rather a crowd patiently demonstrating to Bangkokians that they were here and willing to sacrifice to camp out in the scorching heat of the nation's capital, its seat of power, to make their voices and discontents heard whether city folks like us welcome them or not. But also more importantly, in that unique Thai celebratory way of “sanuk”, not getting too caught up with the seriousness of intentions or implications of their actions. Horns from a variety of vehicles plus plastic horns (reminiscent of birthday parties or new year's celebrations) were blown in a staccato beat to the cadence of “ook pai” - about the only thing I could make out. I pitied those who were riding at the back of open pickups and trucks, directly exposed to the merciless sun of summer. But they didn’t look dejected or discouraged. Some were dancing unself-consciously gay to the music blared by loudspeakers from trucks and pickups, and shaking vigorously the clappers shaped in the form of white and red hearts or feet as if in a puny way, they could imitate the trumpets of Joshua's Israelite army and bring down the walls of Jericho - the government of Abhisit Vejajiva with the resonant maddeningly cricket-like sounds of these innocuous plastic clappers. I noticed a crowd of bystanders cheering them up, responding with the same clappers to signal their support and encouragement, while others waved their welcome or gave the “thumbs up” gesture.

Tears fell involuntarily – perhaps in a mixture of pity, the underdogs fighting the established wealthy elites and powerful in Bangkok, what chance do they have? And perhaps of hope too sent their way in silent testimony, that the injustices that they have laid bare and the demands for social justice claimed and social wrongs redressed from the uneven development produced by the headlong rush of Thailand and its controlling elites to take advantage of globalization. That at long last, in their own small way, the reds are protesting this monster we call “globalization”.

I should make it clear that seeing through this catharsis, the red cause is wrought with a lot of confusion and contradictions. It must clear itself from association with Mr. Taksin, which in this case is only a means to an end, as a galvanizing issue. But beyond that, it is for the reds to correct the political process in this country with its extreme urban bias that lives off the surplus and the sweat equity of the agricultural sector. Although it may appear that this magnificent convoy of red protest is a masterful strategy to counter the anti-red Thai press by showing Bangkokians first hand the depth of the discontent and anger through sheer numbers, had been subsidized by powers that be who want to manipulate it for their own purposes, I doubt if many red shirts have been completely seduced by the same old patronage tactics. Not in the heat of summer, not when there is no chance of winning, when they are not fighting in their own territory but in the dazzling capital where the inhabitants look down on them as less than human. I am sure that many of them see the complex issue of social change as inextricably tied up to the ebbing influence, power and significance of the monarchy in this day and age and the absence of countervailing democratic institutions that will improve their life chances. One of the nagging problems, as the recent Economist article notes (http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15718981) is precisely the absence of discussion that would allay the deep anxieties of a people long brainwashed by the ideology of indigenous power elites bent on its preservation (no matter how anachronistic), that at least could have prepared the people of eventualities by considering the alternatives. I observed only one vehicle that displayed the photo of HM the King on its window. In terms of symbolism, the Thai flag amidst red banners were much more in common, something that I found truly amazing in a country that without a monarchy is still unthinkable to many.

Tired, exhausted and probably carcinogized by the exhaust of a thousand polluting vehicles, now backed up predictably to a standstill as the convoy head winded its way probably to the traffic choked streets of Lardprao road, I took my last photo at 12:26 PM. Looking in the direction of Yommarat intersection, I would have guessed the tail end of the convoy was at least still another fantastic kilometer away.

Godspeed red shirts!

The Hegemonic Ways of the Western Scientific Community

I haven’t attended this blog for some time feeling fearful after the unchallenged ascendance of the PAD yellow shirts, who flouted the law with impunity in the occupation of government house and siege of the Suvanabhumi airport and, up till now, with nary a single PAD person arrested, then the case of Harry Nicolaides, who was fortunately released, and more recently, the flight of Giles Ungpakorn to England to escape lese majeste charges.

I recently attended a conference to build adaptive capacity for managing change in Asia’s coastal megacities given the increasing frequency of intense weather patterns (drought, rains, typhoons) in combination with land subsidence and sea level rise. The conference was supported by prestigious scientific groups, well endowed academic institutions and a multilateral bank.

The situation among Asia’s megacities was counterposed to those of small island nations who have made their voices heard in the debate on global warming being under threat of permanent submersion when sea levels rise. On the contrary, Asia’s megacities are found wanting in coming up with an agenda to increase awareness among its citizens and prepare themselves for the worst to come as well as building networks to share expertise and experience in dealing with climate change with other similar cities.

The case of Bangkok was highlighted in one of the first sessions by a representative of the World Bank (WB) who declared that a recent study reported a study that by the year 2050, “30 to 35% of Bangkok will be inundated”. In response to a question from the floor about whether this state would be permanent or temporary, the answer was that it was going to be a permanent state. On the second day, a representative of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) involved in this WB study as well as the technical advisor to the WB study from the Asian Institute of Technology pointed out that the dire scenario assumptions were based on a combination of both high precipitation in the north swelling river volumes, continuing land subsidence in Bangkok and a storm surge. The worst scenarios were divided into two as is usual in planning forecasts, those with no mitigation measures and with mitigation measures in place. There was nothing specific in the presentation about the role of deforestation in the north in increasing runoff in the Chao Phraya river nor an indication that the sea front Amphurs (districts) of Samut Sakhon and Samut Prakarn would be permanently inundated, although maps showed these to be the most vulnerable to flooding.

The message from the organizers appeared ambiguous for the simple reason that present level scientific data of what it is exactly to expect is imprecise since modeling data is based on global/regional variables. In other words, in the case of Bangkok, it is difficult to imagine the worst possible scenario (the big event) in much the same way that no one before 2004 would have believed that a tsunami would hit Thailand (except Smith Dharmasaroj who was called a “mad dog” for his warnings since 1998). Therefore, the ability to persuade Bangkokians to prepare for the worst unseen and perhaps has never yet been experienced before on the shock scale of a “Katrina” will be a major challenge. Bangkok is fortunate enough not to be on the typhoon zone, unlike the case of Manila where flooding risks are exacerbated by the presence of densely occupied slum and squatter settlements and the higher frequency of typhoons. The previous deputy governor of the BMA optimistically described the flood infrastructure improvements of Bangkok such as its network of pumping stations and existing dikes that can protect the city up to a sea level rise of 2.5 meters. The study appears to show that the worst case scenario for Bangkok would be manageable, and would not be in the order of a catastrophic or permanent inundation. Still, it is worth bearing in mind the assumptions of the study which is a combination of high precipitation from the north, land subsidence, and a storm surge. A Japanese expert explained in a conversation that the greatest danger to Bangkok would be a storm surge that would hit close to Bangkok from the western side that would then raise sea levels to more dangerous levels. Projected sea level rise by 2050 (from global warming effects) according to a Thai professor is expected to be within 30 to 35 centimeters from the present mean. The worst case scenario of ice sheets in Greenland melting completely raises that amount to (permanent) 7 meters sea level rise, with Thailand’s coastal population at greatest risk (already at 5 meter sea level rise) compared to other countries.

It seemed apparent from the scientific panel discussing the science of climate change that research agendas are primarily determined by an exclusive club of rich Western countries (including Japan, China and Taiwan). There is no mystery in that; not only was global warming given impetus by the great industrial revolution of the West and the consequent large ecological footprints of its expanding system of cities by virtue of first arrival in the high stakes game of economic development, but the West has also developed the most advanced scientific research infrastructure. The immediate issue that came to mind is whether or not the state of preparedness (and awareness) of these developing countries’ coastal megacities would be better if there had been local scientific validation of western data and determination of specificity of threat to individual coastal cities. Clearly the status quo in the unequal distribution of research infrastructures cannot produce finer scientific data specific to these Asian megacities at present, and as such these megacities are dependent on macro data that may lead to inaccurate or even costly decisions. Asian megacities need to double check the assumptions and question the models used so that a more detailed range of worst case scenarios can be specified with the associated appropriate responses utilizing more efficiently scarce resources.

In sum, the key issue for planners is not to contribute to the denial about global warming. On the contrary, planners need to find ways to communicate these threats to the public without necessarily sounding alarmist (and putting one’s mental state on the line) in terms of the degree of imaginary renderings of calamities that could or could not happen to an equally ignorant public. The agenda of the scientific community remains in my view unclear. Is the purpose to raise general awareness so that more resources are brought to bear in predicting and preparing adequately for these scenarios? In times of economic recession, scarce resources must be utilized efficiently such that anticipatory building of new expensive infrastructure must be appropriate to the specific threat (i.e., not blindly aping the 8 meter sea wall around Tokyo) and will not further hurt the chances for long term economic recovery for these megacities that serve as engines of growth for the country. Perish the thought that infrastructure building than what would be necessary (via loans) could surpass the Obama stimulus package. Alternatively, governance structures of these coastal cities that have not been included in the discussion need to be explored in varying country situations that range from severe organizational weakness to some level of sophistication. Finally, the focus on megacities seemed biased against equally vulnerable smaller cities that by far would have even fewer resources to cope than megacities. There seemed to be an underlying assumption that the burden of coping with migration of people from smaller cities as a result of climate related calamities would fall on megacities, a rather defeatist and irresponsible approach to communities that may very well be able to fashion their own solutions (by starting right now) to mitigate the effects of global warming through careful land use planning.

Reliving early culture shocks

As my life in Thailand accumulates more memories as the distance between the first discomfiting culture shock of arrival and the present moment increases, I feel more confident, adept, and at home in Thai culture. Although one does not truly feel at home and experience recurring bouts of living the sentence of a perpetual outsider, it is the growing familiarity with predictable patterns and responding to those patterns in a predictably acceptable manner that make life in my adopted country a somewhat satisfying experience. This sense of predictability, despite little grasp of meaning, is the key to navigating the lived life in Thailand with relative ease. Part of the experience of exile is the acute sense of displacement that stems from a realization that by living in the interstices of a foreign culture one cannot share or completely understand the underpinning values or logic of the Thai way of life.

Of course one makes mistakes, and during those times of blunder the strangeness of life reappears with a vengeance acutely felt with deep regrets and strident questioning again about why Thailand is Thailand.

In the reporting of the on-going “civil coup” to overthrow the existing government, I felt a palpable sense of déjà vu of my experience in the first unsettling months upon arrival in the early 90s. When reading the English newspaper Bangkok Post, I was completely shocked by the incomprehensibly shallow and sometimes sheer nonsense that pass for news such as a reductionist quotation attributed to politicians, or high ranking civil servants or a description of what transpired. That sense of déjà vu returned when I read newspaper accounts of the PAD led “civil coup” to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Samak.

Here are some reports based on the Bangkok Post, August 30th, 2008 edition (the only hard copy edition that I could obtain from my wife's office) that once again pushed the limits of my credulity on the nature of Thai reality in the unfolding drama between PAD’s stubborn struggle for the moral high ground (in their continuing occupation of the Government House) and the Prime Minister, who is forced to muster all his cunning and experience so as not to lose any of his tenuous credibility in this fight between “good” versus “evil”, depending on where you stand in the political spectrum.

1. Headlines: Violence erupts – wait a minute.... the accompanying photo only shows demonstrators outside the Metropolitan Police Bureau lying prone on the ground as they tried to take cover from tear gas on Friday evening, August 29th. “Police denied firing the tear gas”. Not a single policeman is shown amidst the puff of tear gas smoke beating up the demonstrators.

NOTE: Lying prone on the ground is the worst possible method of protecting oneself against tear gas especially when there is no wind to dissipate the high concentration. The best possible way is to run away as far as possible from the cloud of smoke. According to Wikipedia, CS gas (tear gas) is generally accepted as “non-lethal”. “The chemical reacts with moisture on the skin and in the eyes causing a burning sensation and the immediate forceful and uncontrollable shutting of the eyes. Reported effects can include tears streaming from the eyes, running nose full of mucus, burning in the nose and throat areas, disorientation, dizziness and restricted breathing. In highly concentrated doses it can also induce severe coughing and vomiting. Almost all of the immediate effects wear off in a matter of minutes.”

If we read the Note inside the box “Day of Scuffles” it reads: “A total of 25 PAD supporters and one police officer were injured during clashes at the Makhawan bridge and Government House. About 20 people sustained minor injuries during the scuffle at Metropolitan headquarters ”. (bold font added)
In my opinion, even if the police fired the teargas, they had every right to disperse the big crowd who could have over run the police headquarters - see below 1a.

1a. in the back page 14, inside the box “Day of Scuffles”, we read that at 7PM “About one thousand PAD supporters rally in front of Metropolitan Police headquarters demanding police return their belongings seized during the Makkhawan bridge raids".

Why were PAD demonstrators so insistent about the return of their belongings when they were indeed blocking Makkhawan bridge for more than 90 days? Huh? This is unbelievable in the annals of demonstration behavior! The demonstrators are acting like spoiled children whose main concern is retrieval of their trivial belongings! Have they forgotten all of a sudden their avowed purpose to overthrow the government? Could it be that their seized belongings cost more than the amount claimed by rumors paid to (some) them to join the demonstrations?

2. Still in the back page 14, is a photo that is described as “Golf clubs, Molotov cocktails, pepper spray and slingshots are among items police seized from the anti-government protest site near Makkhawan bridge yesterday (photo taken by Natthiti Ampriwan). The photo shows at least 50 to 60 golf clubs. Considering that golf is a hobby for the upper middle class to the very rich, are we to conclude that PAD demonstrators are avid golfers on the side, and that perhaps the idea for toppling the Samak government was first broached in a round of golf? It would even be more incredulous to imagine that PAD specifically bought second hand golf clubs from KlongThom as defensive weapons. Or perhaps, the riot police planted these golf clubs, as riot police are also fond of playing golf during off demonstration season.

3. Still in the back page 14, the main (largest photo by Apichit Jinakul) shows a group of police, one shown with his right foot stepping on the back of the neck area of an injured demonstrator. None show carrying guns on their holsters. Two other policemen are pointing their batons on the demonstrator who appears to be bloodied. But there is no anger in their faces. Did the demonstrator charge the police? Or did the police beat up the demonstrator unprovoked? We have no way of knowing the context of this dramatic picture that suggests police brutality!

4. "The Civil Court suspended its injunction to evict the PAD from Government House, saying execution of the order might inflict further damage."
Why the wishy washy stance of the Court? In Thailand, the law can apparently be arbitrarily applied. I don’t recall any magnanimous scruples by the authorities during the 1976 Thammasat clash, 1991 put down of demonstrations in Democracy Monument, Tak Bai, and Krue Sue Mosque incidents. If the decision of the court is affected by outside pressure and therefore shifts to wiggle its way out of firm enforcement, then we may as well forget the rule of law in this country.

5. On page 2, “Electric shocks, sparks, drainage lids deter police” is another piece of incomprehensibly illogical reporting.
This refers to the story of PAD’s use of various kinds of weapons to ward off police from entering Government House.

5a. “At Gate 7 of Government House, where hundreds of police were deployed and prepared to break into the compound, PAD guards tied a long wire to the metal gate and charged it with electricity from a portable battery. When police moved closer, they charged the electricity to generate electric sparks at the gate. ‘Police were scared of the sparks and immediately backed off’, a PAD guard said proudly.

This shows that police have not been trained in disarming the simplest improvised weapon. Do they have no basic equipment like gloves, ropes to dismantle the wiring by pulling at the wire? Thai policemen have no basic understanding of principles of electricity? How much training did this contingent of riot control police receive?

5b. “PAD protesters covered a section of Phitsanulok road with tarpaulins and poured liquid detergent on it to make the surface slippery”.

And the police did not use their sense of smell to determine it was detergent? Why did the police not pull the tarpaulin off the road?

5c. “Rumours about a police crackdown on the PAD had spread every day. Other protesters collected old sewage shaft lids left inside government compounds to use as shield against police batons or rubber bullets”.

A sewage shaft lid probably weighs approximately 10 kilograms (22 lbs). With a nifty trick of knots from a relatively big diameter rope, the lid can be transformed into a makeshift shield indeed. But how long can an Asian sized body carry a 22 lbs shield, much less, use it effectively to parry a baton charge without being hindered by its sheer weight?

5d. “Police reported that various kinds of weapons – machetes, bullets, golf clubs, iron bars, and batons – were found at the PAD’s demonstration sites. They could not confirm if the weapons belonged to PAD. Even if they did, the PAD protesters would not be troubled by their loss, as they believe they can always find other ingenuous ways to protect themselves.”

Did these weapons materialize (Star Trek style) in the PAD’s demonstrations sites? If the police planted them surely that would have been quite an effort not only in terms of collecting these weapons, but also carrying them to the sites. I find the logic totally incomprehensible. If the Americans found WMD in Iraq, would they stupidly dither and say there was no proof that the WMD were Saddam’s?

6. Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag’s damage control. On page 12 “the week in Review” Tej Bunnag in explaining to the international community the invasions of the PAD starting on August 22nd till their seizure of the Government House: “What happened definitely affected Thailand’s tourism and economy, but we would like other countries to understand that this situation is part of the progress on democratic growth in Thailand. We will have to wait and see what will happen next”, Mr. Tej said”.

Progress on democratic growth in Thailand? A civil coup is progress??? Immediately below “the week in Review” is a half page block article “In Print” by Kamol Hengkietisak “PAD’s aggressive move condemned” ends his report on PAD’s tactics: by quoting Matichon ‘The PAD’s long demonstration – more than 90 days now – may have weakened its members and made them want to finish the game early. But the uncivilized use of force not only alienates the general public, it makes it hard for the PAD leaders to find a graceful way out.’ What’s more, concluded Matichon, the misstep cheapens the PAD image to that of an ordinary violent mob.

Can the actions of a violent mob be considered 'progress'?

7. Page 3, at the bottom: “Protesters say police attack proves PM can’t be trusted”
“Mr. Anont, who has no right hand…. Asked police not to use force, but was pushed to the ground. When he fell, police trampled on him and hit him in the head with batons, said Mr. Anont, who comes from Yala.”

"Napat Pitiworawong, 42, said she pleaded with police not to dismantle the PAD stage, but was pushed to the ground and beaten. She covered the back of her neck with her hands while police beat her on the back. They did not care that they were hurting women. They also used pepper spray that burned me and me me choke for a long time. Police saw the demonstrators as criminals, but this violent act makes the demonstrators angry and now they hate the police and the government” she said.

If you are supposedly fighting for a cause with ahimsa, then you must be ready to receive the blows from the police batons and the blood flowing from your cracked skulls as your badge of courage and moral superiority. You were already warned that the stage has been blocking the road for 90 days. A people who want to be treated kindly by the police after they have disobeyed the rule of law and flaunt that disobedience for 90 days or more, are not practicing ahimsa but opportunistic provocation, pure and simple.

The kid gloves (super lenient) approach by the government was extended even further on Sept 1, when Pol Col Jongrak Chuthanon, deputy police commissioner-general ordered metropolitan police to carry only shields and refrain from carrying batons or any other arms when dealing with protesters. This act has stretch disbelef beyond all bounds. Yes, this may help reduce tensions, but how can police carry out their role if they have nothing to defend themselves? This is another amazing first in the annals of demonstration history, unarmed police trying to control a potentially serious riot situation.

Be that as it may, an alien reading the news and following the continuing saga here in Thailand will be hard put to comprehend the nature of Thai behavior and the logic of recent events that can be described as an array of incomprehensible displays of stupidity, arrogance, incompetence, obstinacy, heavy manipulation, unbelievable leniency by the authorities, undemocratic and childish behavior of certain groups who claim to represent the majority of Thais, arbitrary application of the rule of law by wishy washy courts and confusing media reporting. Orwell's mouth would have opened in approval by the word construction of the Thai media.

Perhaps, in our own struggle to make sense of this dire situation that will have long lasting effects on the “progress of democracy” in Thailand we should always remind ourselves that behind all this stupendous absurdity is the constant threat of real violence, a blood thirst of unsatisfiable proportions based on simmering resentments, unresolved injustices and fear of an uncertain future as the country’s most important symbols and institutions are found wanting in defining its role in leading a "modern" Thailand into the 21st century. These recent events are not disconnected to the way Thailand has "plugged in" to the glorious promises of wealth and prosperity in the era of globalization. They are in fact a direct result of the contradictions of capitalist growth, traditional authority and growing democratic sentiments. Those who feel threatened by the loss of control, influence, and power are not wont to let go.

The point of no return perhaps has already been crossed. Thailand may have to go through another violent period so that anachronistic structures may be cleansed. Whatever will unfold in the coming days unfortunately may not necessarily be helping the cause of democratic progress in Thailand because of the divisive angry mood, the spatial polarization in loyalties, the muddled issues, and the strong conservative impulse to retain traditional aspects of authority and ways of resolving conflict. May the Buddha quench all the anger in men’s hearts so that everyone can find a way out of this impasse.