COMMENTARY
THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THAILAND IS ED

By: VORANAI VANIJAKA
Published: 22/03/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News

I live maybe 200 metres from a police station, and roughly the same distance from a public park where every night prostitutes openly work the streets.

Huh? What? Why? How? Something's wrong with this picture.

I watched the censure debate - a gathering of the country's brightest and ... Whoa! Sorry, my fingers slipped off the keyboard ... noblest, those whom we elect to govern us - and saw one politician flip-off another. I heard curses and name-calling. I listened to gibberish, nonsense. I watched two female MPs ripping into each other like jealous little schoolgirls.

Huh? What? Why? How? Something's wrong with this picture.

I read in the Bangkok Post that the opposition barely made a dent in the government, while Post Today said the government was battered and bruised.

Huh? What? Why? How? I'm not saying which paper is correct, my question is: Are we watching the same censure debate? Something's wrong with this picture.

While watching opposition leader Chalerm Yubamrung, I thought hmm ... Thaksin Shinawatra, to many he's the greatest leader, the saviour, the embodiment of democracy - but his hand-picked predecessors included a right-wing militant and chef who denies historical facts such as the Oct 1973 massacre, his own brother-in-law and now, frankly, someone who many perceived as a common thug.

Huh? What? Why? How? Something's wrong with this picture.

Then there's a banned politician, Newin Chidchob, so influential in the current government - and a foreign minister who took the airport hostage. Huh? What? Why? How? Something's wrong with this picture.

You see, being a Thai is no easy thing. On a daily basis, one is bombarded by questions (whether posed by others or posed by oneself) that makes one thinks to oneself: "Huh? What? Why? How? Bah! To hell with this, I'm going to pack my bags and move to Dubai."

Below the belt jab aside, from going "Huh? What? Why? How?" for about a day, a Bangkok Post reader up in Chiang Mai incidentally helped to answer my dilemma by emailing me to ask me to help answer one of her own dilemmas.

Here's what she sent in:

"Why does the 21-year-old reasonably intelligent, educated boy who lives with us not know the name of the head of Cambodia ... or why does he think Hungary is next to Canada? And why, after his ignorance being revealed, does he have absolutely no interest in finding out? My four-year-old shot straight upstairs to get the globe of the world so I could show him. Ed [the Thai boy] went back to the lottery numbers, the soapie stars and the football pages but still thinks the government should pay him to 'learn', as he puts it."

That is the answer - the answer to the unbearable lightness of being clueless in Thailand. It's Ed's fault. Ed just doesn't care. Ed is the embodiment of the majority of us Thais - we just don't care. Rotten politics? Social illnesses? Country falling apart? The people responsible are getting away with it. Ed just doesn't care.

There will always be people lying, cheating, abusing, exploiting and tearing a country apart. But for Thailand, and many countries like ours, they get away with it. They get away with it, because Ed lets them get away with it. Ed lets them get away with it, because Ed just doesn't care.

Ed isn't just some 21-year-old kid who lives with the family of a Bangkok Post reader up in Chiang Mai. We all know Ed. Ed exists in every family, ever office and every circle of friends. Ed is everywhere ... and Ed just doesn't care.

Which is exactly why Thailand has always been slow to progress, moving like a pregnant yak. Which is why Thai democracy struggles, crawling on its belly. For democracy to work, Ed has to care. Ed has to get involved. Ed has to participate. Democracy is a government by the people, a government by Ed.

Why should the police care, if Ed doesn't care? Why should politicians care, if Ed doesn't care? Why should the military care, if Ed doesn't care? Why should the "elite" care, life for them is already wonderful. Democracy is the government by Ed and for Ed, not by the police, the politicians, the military or the elite.

But Ed doesn't care. Ed may wake up one morning every four years and go to vote. But other than that, Ed just doesn't care. It is no surprise that Ed often ends up voting for the wrong people. Ed is clueless. How could anyone expect him to be an informed voter.

Because of Ed, Voranai too is clueless, muttering "Huh? What? Why? How?" when he watches the censure debate and when he simply looks around at his country and society in general.

Cluelessness is quite contagious.

To solve the cluelessness of Ed, the exploitation of Thai democracy and the abuse of Thailand - the first step we Thais have to take is to learn to care - and don't believe everything that's printed in the newspaper.

How to get Ed to care? Someone has to provoke Ed's interests, to capture Ed's attention and to tickle Ed's brain. Since Ed doesn't like to read, but loves watching TV, perhaps someone should give me a TV show. We can call it The Ego has Landed, since my nickname is Go, not Ed, and I care that Ed doesn't care.

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Abhisit har efter min mening den dynamik og karisma der skal til for at komme ud over kanten, og ja jeg fulgte også de 2 dages censurdebat i TV - der blev langet lussinger ud, og politikere i Thailand er ikke alle lige pæne i munden for at sige det mildt, men jeg mener nu heller ikke at oppositionen evnede at føre en politisk debat, og det er jo det der skaber usikkerhed, hvis politikken vakler - eller politikerne ikke selv tror på politikken de fører, og Abhisit virker faktisk meget sikker på at det han (og regeringen) gør, er det rigtige og den rette vej frem (og jeg er ikke nødvendigvis uenig)...