Category: Society + Environment

Coming back from his short trip to Thailand, Cheehoi shared some of his experiences with us. He concluded that Thai Buddhist architecture is probably the most spectacular of all religious architectures in the world. It’s hard to find reasons to disagree with him.

I bought an interesting book when I went back in 2002 — Thai Ways by Denis Segaller (ISBN 974-202-006-X). It provides a lot of insights to this wonderful culture and its graceful people. I wish I knew about this book when I was still living in Thailand. I liked this book so much that I even wrote a review on Amazon.com!

Even though most political analysts say that the King of Thailand has no direct power and serves only as a symbol of culture and religious figure, I’d say just the opposite is true. During the 1992 bloodless coup (gotta give it to the Thais to have a series of “bloodless coups), the country was in such a disarray that it took the words of the King to bring peace to the land. Even the macho coup leaders had to bow in front of His Excellency and submit to his power. I doubt George Bush Jr., supposedly the most powerful leader in the world, can command that kind of respect from its people with gun barrows.

On a similar note, there was a big controversy in 2002 when an American opened a restaurant using a poster of the King on its advertising campaigns in local papers. The poster depicted the King as a hip-hop punk with highlighted hair bands. Americans see it as something funny and a sign of freedom of speech. But in the eyes of the Thais, who are serious about their King, they see it as an insult. It’s as serious as if someone says to your face, “Your mother is a dirty whore. I had a good time with her.”

Boonsom Watanapanee, deputy counsul general of the Royal Thai Consulate in New York, puts it best, “… I know you can make jokes with the president, with Queen Elizabeth, but not with my king.”

This international incident developed to a point where the government of Thailand threatened to break all diplomatic relations with the United States unless the poster was never used again and that the owner apologized to His Excellency the King. Being culturally insensitive, the expected result was, of course, the owner’s refusal. She still thought that was just a harmless joke and planned to run the ad again! It only took an insensitive American to get on the local radio show to mock the King some more. Even I, a non-Thai national, got very offended about the King of Thailand being mocked as such.

Yeah, freedom of speech is sacred. But so is respect and a little sensitivity.