‘Greng jai’ at the core of problems besetting Thailand

In last Sunday’s Bangkok Post, columnist Voranai Vanijaka is back to his old theme of how to make Thais more questioning of their society and its cultural mores, and how to allow the nation to become more developed and competitive.

When, during a lecture to some master’s degree students at an unnamed university, whom he believes to be “some of the brighter minds in the Kingdom,” he finds they don’t know the name of the governor of Bangkok, Khun Voranai feigns shock. It is obvious that these are not master’s degree students in political science, however, he doesn’t seem to appreciate that there is no logical link between being bright and knowing the name of Bangkok’s governor.

Likewise, there is no logical link between not knowing a governor’s name and not asking questions of teachers, so consequently his subsequent argument that students don’t know anything because they aren’t taught to question (and that this is manifested in the slowly developing, problem-ridden Thai society) collapses on a false premise.

Next, he pompously seems to delight in relating how a professor of economics ‘from a prestigious university’ became ‘heated and agitated’ because Khun Voranai ‘asked him questions that were contrary to his beliefs and made him stumble and become lost for words; questions that questioned his authority’. Voranai surmises that the professor didn’t like to be challenged by somebody younger and was displaying behaviour symptomatic of the problem besetting development in Thailand.

It would be useful to know what Khun Voranai asked or suggested in the interview; it is highly likely that the professor was dismayed by Khun Voranai’s lack of knowledge and understanding and responded appropriately. For example, as a political commentator, Khun Voranai’s musings in the Bangkok Post over the past few months shows he has a very limited understanding of the concept of democracy. And without any information to the contrary, we can only presume that he has no real knowledge of economics, either.

Yet using his two examples, Khun Voranai writes hundreds of words arguing how the problems besetting Thailand’s political and economic development have their roots in the core belief and cultural superstructure of Thai society – greng jai.

Amazingly, however, Khun Voranai relates proudly how the passive ‘wide-eyed and silent’ (and ill-informed) master’s students, by the end of his mesmerizing performance, were actually able to pose questions and voice opinions. What an amazing feat after just one lecture!

You can, it seems, resolve the manifestations and implications of greng jai in Thailand and fix all the problems besetting Thailand if you simply “allow opportunities for everyone around you, everyone that you meet, to express themselves and question everything around them.”

Really this is a recipe for anarchism, but it certainly is in keeping with Voranai Vanijaka’s earlier published anarchistic views on democracy.