What is praise worth when criticism is forbidden?

[Bruce551]

What is praise worth when criticism is forbidden?

? Published: 30/09/2009 at 12:00 AM

? Newspaper section: Database

Some people seem to have this idea that the structure of Thai society is so weak, liable to crumbling at the slightest wind of change, that we need to protect it by closing our eyes, ears and then, as a precautionary measure, putting our head into the sand.

Yet, there are some corners of society, some children who, having grown up in a connected world, see things so very differently from the ancients who are trying to protect us from ourselves.

Take the topic of language. Closing our eyes and ears all started in the communist era when studying in a foreign language (as opposed to studying a foreign language itself) was made illegal to prevent separatism and force racial integration. Today, things are much more liberal and people fear that the Thai language will wither away and die, to be replaced by a generation of English speakers who spend their days online in an English-denominated Internet polluted and corrupted by Western culture. Of course, it was possible to find some poor soul who had lost his way online and become an Internet zombie to prove that point, but by and large, Thailand survived and showed the world that it was not to be a pushover.

Perhaps the best example is the way any girls (and it seems to be more the women than the men) ending sentences in ka, a Thai word with no particular meaning in itself except to show respect and politeness. This happens a lot on email as well as on IM or Twitter. More rare is the guy who also ends his otherwise English language email sentences in the masculine form, krab. Far from Thai culture being washed away by the tide of Western globalisation, the new generation of Digital Natives (Gartner) or Screenagers (IDC) has found a way to accommodate Thai cultural norms in a language that is devoid of such constructs by using these words in a pidgin, ad-hoc style way.

Ending every sentences with the words "with respect and politeness", would be so cumbersome compared to the elegance of simply adding ka, albeit at the cost of making every foreigner wonder what on earth a ka is.

Earlier this year I sat down with some high school students to discuss the whys and wherefores of what happens when cyberspace meets the ancients in their traditional Thai silk dresses and carbon-intensive piles of paperwork and what they had to say was eye-opening; a real balance without any absolutes but yet with a trust in what we can do given the chance to be left to ourselves. The above example of language was one example of what our new generation think, the other being censorship.

These international school pupils, who asked not to be named for fear of being grounded by their parents more than anything else, had recently returned from their national service army training.

Being from an international school and with a perfect command of the English language (I am a bit biased here, as I also graduated from that same school), I was told that on one occasion, one of the students had fallen ill and, after taking him back, rather than returning to training, the teacher instead took them to a computer lab where they were told to search the Internet for sites that violated the monarchy and should be censored.

Yes, I was told by a few 18-year olds that they were taken to a secret room in an army training camp where, as part of their military training, they had to scour the Internet for sites and comments in English that had to be censored.

Obviously English is still too hard a language for normal Thai recruits to effectively work in.

The room itself was full of posters of His Majesty doing good things, as if to encourage the workers on with their task of defending the Crown. The system had a database with a hard-coded local IP address where entries for sites, forum postings and media such as YouTube clips were listed. Each page had 20 entries and the database was over 100 pages long.

I tried being cheeky. I asked what we had to do if they said bad things about government. The government isn't the King, right? The Sergeant said that this Government is representing the King and if you insult the government, you are indirectly insulting the King, the first kid told me. WOW!!!!

In an hour I found four or five such sites, but only submitted two. The guys were really stupid. The others were more balanced critical comment rather than verbal thrashing, a second kid said.

I've got 10 more friends who are able to confirm this story, the first kid told me after I started to wonder if this was all for real.

Of course, they would be nothing sinister in the army compiling a list for forwarding to the MICT to submit to the courts for a court order to block them.

However, my young friends had thought of that and told me that some of the links on the database had already been blocked, some as fresh as two days old, which would not have been enough time to go through the official procedure of getting a court order to censor the site.

That said, the young men in front of me seemed to be ambivalent about the need for censorship.

Some of the really stupid ones need to be censored, but the type that present a credible argument need to be shown and we need to balance our reasons as to why we love the King. If you censor it, we can't defend it, one said.

But who decides on what is right? Whether this website is destructive or whatever? This leads to the whole idea of a big brother government in control of our lives, another argued.

I think society draws the line. With forums, you have posts and comments. People can click on a plus of minus and the Internet will decide for itself what is on view, the first responded.

I am sure these arguments will resonate in the hearts of many, as we have been reluctant to speak our minds and ask why the Emperor has no clothes on. As Jedi Master Yoda once said, truly wonderful, the mind of a child is.

About the author

Writer: Don Sambandaraksa

Position: Reporter

[PJack]

Don is a hoot.

This issue is nothing to laugh about, of course.

Do you suppose TF was one of the websites examined by the Big Brother Committee?

[Bruce551]

I like Don too. I think it's a big mistake to censor "Red Shirts" websites. That just alienates them more and reenforce the idea of a Government just for the Bangkok elite.

This kind censorship hurts Abhisit politically, he needs to be seen as being fair to all Thai people, not the Tyranny of the majority kind of stuff.

Finally, the Thai Army is in violation of the constitution, unless the National Security Act is turned on.

[Neo]

I think it's a big mistake to censor "Red Shirts" websites. That just alienates them more and reenforce the idea of a Government just for the Bangkok elite.

This kind censorship hurts Abhisit politically, he needs to be seen as being fair to all Thai people, not the Tyranny of the majority kind of stuff.

Good point.

Do you think he has much of a say over that?

Finally, the Thai Army is in violation of the constitution, unless the National Security Act is turned on.

hahahaha... i think that should read:

Finally, the constitution is in violation of the Thai Army, unless the National Security Act is turned on.

[Bruce551]

Do you think he has much of a say over that?

I think Abhisit needs Cabinet approval to take action on an issue such as censorship of Thai websites. He doesn't have the final say like Obama does, "Commander & Chief" type of power.

I believe that Abhisit and the Cabinet should have absolute authority over the Thai Army.

And the Thai Army would have to request permission to censor websites from the Cabinet. Submit a list of websites to be censored "before" any action can be taken.

The Thai people need to develop a consensus about what kind of country they want and what direction to take in the future.

For Thai citizens right of freedom of expression is fundamental, without this the country is paralyzed.

Abhisit should encourage debate of the issues facing Thailand by all sides all over Thailand.

He needs separate himself from the perception that he is controlled by the aristocracy.

[Neo]

He needs separate himself from the perception that he is controlled by the aristocracy.

That's just a perception? I would love to think that Abhisit was truly in charge, but I think recent events have shown it's not the case. This country still seems to be run by the Army, the Police, a bunch of corrupt politicians (most of whom are supposed to be banned from politics) and "the aristocracy".

[Bruce551]

He needs separate himself from the perception that he is controlled by the aristocracy.

That's just a perception? I would love to think that Abhisit was truly in charge, but I think recent events have shown it's not the case. This country still seems to be run by the Army, the Police, a bunch of corrupt politicians (most of whom are supposed to be banned from politics) and "the aristocracy".

Good point. Abhisit needs to do something decisive that the majority of Thai will people support.

POLICE REFORM!! Band the national police board and decentralize the police force. Make it so the Majors of the cities have the authority to fire the police chiefs who are not doing their job properly. Most Thais every where in Thailand are thoroughly degusted with the police.

Second, strengthen the DSI and National Counter Corruption Commission. Thai people are tired of people stealing the government's (their) money.

Abhisit needs to show that he can & will effect real change in the government for the benefit of all Thai people.

No more Tom Jai.