Decency drowns ....

[barrys]

I think this is one of the best articles I've ever read as an observation of current developments and attitudes here.....

Voranai Vanijaka certainly does write some brave articles (from today's Bangkok Post):


Opinion

COMMENTARY
Decency drowns in a culture without a sense of shame

Published: 10/04/2011 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News

Can't get through the front door because of the flood? No problem. Paddle your boat to the side, climb up to the roof, remove the tiles, make a hole and drop down into the bedroom.

Perhaps tie a rope around your waist, then drop down like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible, playing the theme music in your head while you're at it. It's exciting stuff.

Once inside, steal everything.

That's one of the many looting stories from the southern provinces that have been experiencing heavy flooding.

One Japanese rubber factory offered a reward for its missing goods that were carried away by floodwaters. But that's not good enough. Locals who found the goods haggled with the factory, wanting more cash. After all, it's hard work finding other people's stuff.

The flood perhaps drowned any sense of shame they might have had.

Meanwhile, in tsunami and earthquake ravaged Japan, when locals find goods that don't belong to them, they go to the trouble of creating a makeshift lost and found.

Cultural difference? You tell me.

On a visit down south last Sunday, Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn told flood victims to look to the people of Japan as a model for how to cope with hardship.

No one can disagree with the sentiment, but it's disconcerting nonetheless.

Why do we, citizens of a proud nation, have to look to another people and another culture to find a role model for such seemingly basic human traits as discipline and common decency? Does this mean we shouldn't be so proud of ourselves?

Of course, the typical haughty middle or upper class Bangkokian might scoff: ''It's just those chao ban [you know, prai or peasants]. That's what they are, what can we expect of them?''

But that's a bit too convenient, isn't it? Can we really blame social class, a matter of ''breeding''? For the life of me, the only difference I see between the poor looting in times of natural disaster and the well-to-do cheating in business and in politics is that the latter is a more lucrative practice, year-round.

If poverty makes the poor steal thousands, then does wealth makes the rich steal millions? We don't steal out of necessity; we steal out of greed, whether we are princes or paupers.

And then we are able to live with ourselves, because we lack shame.

It's doubly baffling for a culture that puts ''image'' on a golden pedestal to be so thick-skinned when it comes to lying and cheating _ even rounding it all off with a staunch denial. But that too is because of the lack of shame.

Before we go on, let me make something clear. It is because I love my country so dearly that I criticise her so passionately. It is because I want the best for her so sincerely that I champion her cause so resolutely.

But too often when we criticise Thailand, we become targets for the anger of those who love this country so superficially and defend her so blindly. Consequently they allow her to drown in her flaws so helplessly.

Is that fair enough?

I teach fourth-year students at one of the country's top universities. A couple of weeks ago, we discussed the international workplace and different work cultures. I asked them to list the traits of the Thai work culture.

Lazy was the first description sung out, followed by guilty giggles. Then they had a bit of problem, not knowing what else to say. So I encouraged them by saying that none of them had ever actually worked before, so they probably wouldn't know. But I told them to think of it this way: In a society, the classroom reflects the workplace. The workplace reflects politics. Politics reflects culture. Culture reflects family. Family reflects classroom.

It's the circle of life; the values are all the same. We are who we were raised to be. We retire as who we strived to be. And then we go to the cremation vault _ ashes to ashes, dust to dust _ leaving a legacy of what we were for later generations to either enjoy or suffer, most likely a bit of both.

So, I said, whoever you are in the classroom, dear students, is pretty much who you will be in the workplace, and what you will leave for your children later in life.

That made things easier and the descriptions started to flow: never on time, missing deadlines, afraid of speaking out, taking the easy way out even if it's the wrong way - and all the rest of the usual suspects we have heard of before. Guilty giggles all around, until I had to cry out: By the gods, is there not one good thing you can say?

Guilty giggles once again, and the word ''family'' finally came up. In the classroom, in the workplace, in society and yes, even in politics, we treat each other like a family. We look after each other and we take care of each other. We are pi and we are nong.

It's a warm and fuzzy feeling of brotherly love and stability, of knowing there's always someone you can depend on who will stand up for you. It's a cultural trait that we displayed honourably on a national level after the 2004 tsunami when the people _ from the rich to the poor _ united to help the ravaged provinces.

But it's a double-edged sword. Because we also tend to cheat and be corrupt together like a family, because how could we not spread the grades and the wealth among family?

The ''guilty giggles'' are key to this story. If we are to look at cheating and corruption as the disease, thick skin and denial as the pigheaded symptoms, then perhaps the cure is a sense of shame.

Those guilty giggles show that the students have a sense of shame, which should be fostered. Those who are thick of skin and dense in the head can only see Thailand as it is portrayed in tourist brochures and refuse to accept any other version. Well, I don't write tourist brochures.

I'm no stranger to the disease and the symptoms. There was a time when this writer was young and foolish, as opposed to being in his thirties and foolish.

On one occasion, I was pulled over by a traffic cop for a violation. He asked for my driver's licence. I shrugged and dropped the rank of ''my father, the general''. The traffic cop shrugged, saluted and waved me to drive on.

For the first few seconds, I felt big and proud. But a few seconds later, I was overcome by a sense of shame. The general didn't raise his son to be like this, to be so shameless.

Ever since, a traffic ticket is something that must be taken like a man, which means dragging my lazy behind to whichever precinct and paying the fine.

A sense of shame is something the rich and poor can and should have in common, and it can be fostered at any age.

To put things into perspective, generally speaking we are no better or worse than other cultures. The Japanese triple disaster is definitely a unique case. Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans in 2005, showed that even citizens of one of the most advanced countries are capable of widespread looting. And of course, like haughty Bangkokians, there were haughty Americans pointing at the race and social background of the looters, instead of taking responsibility collectively as a united people, as neighbours and countrymen.

From the most developed of democracies to the staunchest bastions of authoritarianism, corruption in business, in politics and in society exists.

Everywhere in the world, the sense of shame could use some fostering.

But there's a reason why _ from scientific surveys and polls to gossips and rumours _ Thailand has a reputation as one of the more corrupt countries in terms of business, politics and society. And we have to take responsibility for our country.

What we need in this society is to foster the sense of shame, to admit wrong, to develop the courage to speak out and condemn what is wrong and to love one's country sincerely enough to make things right.

[HHADFan]

Thanks for posting this. I make it a point to read his column each Sunday morning. This one is particularly good.

[margaretcarnes]

Good stuff Barry - I've noticed a change in BP journalism over the last few years and hope this trend for more outspoken - and realistic - views will continue to grow.
Whether it will have any effect on Thai society as a whole remains to be seen. Hopefully it will. But that IMO will depend ultimately upon whether the Powers That Be are willing to take notice of what will always be a farang founded newspaper.

[hhfarang]

Great read. Thanks for posting it Barry. That guy truly makes you think.

[cookmanchef]

Excellent article, maybe we should all ask the Thai person closest to our hearts to read it and then give us their opinion.