​Political views on Thailand’s soft power

The four-year wait was over and last Sunday Thai citizens went to the poll to decide what’s next for Thailand in the next four years. As always, while political parties’ policies on economy are relatively clear and even highly specific like the reduction of gas price, those on arts and culture are quite the opposite.

Earlier this month, Contemporary Arts and Culture Industry Promotion Trade Association (CAPT) in collaboration with Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC), Thai Animation and Computer Graphics Association (TACGA) and King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi’s (KMUTT) Edutainment and Socio-Interaction Computing Laboratory (ESIC Lab) organized the debate titled “Political Parties’ Policies on Contemporary Arts and Culture” at BACC’s multi-function room. It should be noted that four years ago 10 parties joined the similar debate at the same venue; there were only four this time—namely Bhumjaithai (BJT), Move Forward (MFP), Pheu Thai (PTP) and Thai Sang Thai (TST) represented by, respectively, Sakulrat Thipwanngam, PhD; Apisit Laistrooglai, former director of Thailand Creative and Design Center (TCDC) and Creative Economy Agency (CEA); Surapong Suebwonglee, MD, former deputy prime minister, finance and ICT minister; and Melisa Mahapol, PhD.

“We sent our invitation to the total of 10 parties and four have agreed to join this debate,” noted the moderator Chaiwat Anutrakulchai. “Yesterday afternoon the fifth one showed their interest but later that evening they opted out. Maybe we should hold another debate and see if there’s more interest.”

The debate was in three parts, with the last one opening questions from the floor both on-site and online. In the first one, party representatives answered four general questions. For the first one on freedom of expression, for example, it’s a fact that, given the political climate in the past nine years, contemporary Thai artists have been self-censoring their work to make sure that they can convey certain messages to their audience and to be eligible for support from the government whose grants are usually tagged with the clause “the work must not be political”—in other words, must not be critical of the government.

MFP’s Apisit said, “Freedom and diversity are in fact essential for all creative workers and so our party has given much importance to them.” He then cited a recent example of how a Thai film was affected by the Film Censorship Act and ended up being released in two versions with 18 and 20 ratings and wondered, “How is it possible that the 18-year-old people who can vote in the election are not allowed to watch certain films?”

Instead of the current system which relies on the censorship board comprising representatives from related public and private sectors, MFP is proposing that filmmakers censor themselves and be fully responsible for their work, the same way many countries around the world are practicing, such as South Korea and Italy the latter of which started this because of political reasons.

BJT’s Sakulrat noted that as Thailand differs from other countries there needs to be a central authority who sets the common standard, saying “I’m also serving as an associate judge for the Central Juvenile and Family Court and I’ve come across many youths and children who’ve seen and inspired bad examples from [uncensored] online contents.”

PTP’s Surapong commented, “Hard power is robust in the hands of authoritarian power; soft power flourishes in those of democratic one. It’s important to give everyone an opportunity to express themselves. How can we make contemporary arts an engine for people to express their opinions as well as an economic engine to steer our country forward? We need to revise the relevant laws. We need to make sure that government agencies are not there just to supervise but to support and promote contemporary arts.”

TST’s Melisa, an artist herself, added, “Works by the young generation are different from what we’re used to. Our party promotes freedom of expression as it’s an important basis of human rights. Having been brought up in a society rich with cultures, we should be able to speak and do what we want so that the world can witness our art works as they truly are without any blockage.”    

In the debate’s second part, questions from creative workers and members of the organizers were addressed to specific party representatives.

As PTP has proposed its “One Family, One Soft Power” (OFOSP) and the establishment of Thailand Creative Content Agency (THACCA), many are wondering how this would operate with, or replace, the existing CEA, a public organization founded by the previous government and operating under the Office of the Prime Minister.  

Surapong replied, “As a public organization, CEA doesn’t have its full power to enforce other organizations. For example, it’s not entitled to demand a certain organization submit information as required. What we need is an inclusive organization like THACCA which is fully authorized by law. It'll be able to provide the so-called ‘One-Stop Service’, as opposed to, for example, in the past when, organizing a festival, it needed approvals from the police, local authority and so on. THACCA will also be substantially budgeted with clearly defined strategies.”

“THACCA promotes the cooperation between private and public sectors, drives all kinds of soft power and pushes forward contemporary arts and culture both nationally and into the world market. We’ll then of course need to discuss task division and coordination [with existing agencies]. Take South Korea for example. Before Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) was founded, their Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) had been tasked with many operations. With their task division and coordination, KOCCA is now responsible for promoting soft power, including all disciplines of arts. Here in Thailand, our Ministry of Tourism and Sports is not flexible enough to promote Thai boxing as a soft power, and so THACCA, with its executive committee comprising representatives from both public and private sectors, can come right into the picture and effectively implement this strategy.”

The former deputy prime minister added, “THACCA, with offices in major cities around the world, will also cooperate with Ministry of Foreign Affairs in promoting cultural diplomacy making sure that art works are not just for local spectatorship but for the world.”

Another party who’s proposing structural change is Move Forward Party who plans to change, or upgrade, our Ministry of Culture into Ministry of Culture and Creative Economy. In response, some artists and cultural workers are afraid that their works which are not deemed as part of creative economy would then not be supported.

Apisit replied, “We’re putting creative economy into five groups—creative content industry, skilled-based arts and culture, functional works [such as design and architecture], CreaTech [Creative plus Technology] and crossovers with such fields as healthcare and transport. The newly named ministry will retain their existing missions and take on new ones through the newly established Office of Creative Economy Policy and Fund which will work with existing agencies such as CEA and Digital Economy Promotion Agency (DEPA).”   

“We see that culture is culture and if we add creative economy onto it our contemporary arts and culture can enter the world market. Cultural works that are part of creative economy can then prosper internationally.”

It’s noteworthy that throughout this two-hour-plus debate, there’s very small amount of disagreement among the four party representatives. In addition, little was mentioned about the audience—one of the three main components of any arts ecosystem, other than the artist and the patron—and how to develop it. That’s quite alarming given the current situation where most people believe that in order to enjoy arts as part of their life one need to be either trained in arts, or well-off and well-educated.      

Anyhow, change is clearly in the air and we’ll, without any mobile phone application, soon find out its quality. To watch the full debate, visit www.facebook.com/CAPTThailandOfficial

 

Pawit Mahasarinand