Whether we’re Sa-lim, Saam-geeb, or everyone else in between, we all want to live in a developed Thailand.
Quality of life. Advanced education. Robust economy. Minimal corruption. Etc. Etc. Etc. Lavender field from northernmost Chiang Rai to southernmost Su-gai Kolok.
The question isn’t what we want. We all want a developed Thailand. The question is how to achieve it. The answer is everywhere.
Everything we want to achieve has before been achieved in other countries. Before COVID-19 and after, government ministers and bureaucratic officials all do “travel studies” to developed countries and cities at taxpayers’ expense.
The purpose is to learn, copy, and adapt their successes to Thailand’s context. All the good stuff? Other countries have been doing them since the last century.
The question then becomes, why hasn’t it be done in Thailand? Other than the military coups which derail progresses, the answer is in the vision, character, and capability of leadership, which begs the following questions:
How can warlords of the Cold War era understand soft power?
How can political mafia godfathers comprehend creative/innovative economy?
Why would political tycoons provide equity when they feed off monopolies?
Those leaders are in power to feed their patronage network, not to serve the people.
The proof is, they have been running Thailand for the past decades. The evidence is the sad state of the country that we live with every day.
The next question is, how do we move away from these types of leadership? The answer is in the hand of the people.
When elections come around (whether provincial, Bangkok, or national), the answer to what, how, and why is in the people’s hand, 250 senators notwithstanding.
We all know who are the warlords, mafias, and tycoons.
But there are also others, and there will be more unveiling themselves in the coming months.
Our votes matter.
2021-09-23