Thai political system reflects Thai culture of patronage
Re: “Future Forward’s boisterous youngsters giving Thanathorn growing headaches”, Have Your Say, yesterday.
There is no excuse for the Future Forward Party (FFP) candidate who called an Angthong province MP a “low-level representative” who only won the election through frequent attendance at weddings and funerals in the constituency. However, FFP chief Thanathorn’s timely apology for the remark further underlines his mature political leadership.
Thai society is full of patronage, nepotism and cronyism. The “you scratch my back and I scratch yours” attitude is deep-rooted and cultivates corruption at the core. That core should be founded on the principles and ideology of Thai Buddhism, but this has unfortunately become infected with superstitious beliefs. Such beliefs were denied by Lord Buddha himself. Meanwhile, plagiarism in the education system is rampant and learning is based on memorising without any critical analysis and challenge.
Justice, in some cases, is not being equally imposed among the population. Also, much of the population is addicted to the daily TV soap operas, which are mindless and sensationalistic melodramas full of screaming, shouting and jealous lovers. The stars are always rich, powerful and idle, lording it over underprivileged characters who are stereotyped as grateful for any free handouts. This reflects and also helps sustain a Thai mindset that worships and honours the giver without questioning how he derived his fortune. It comes as no surprise, then, that political candidates have to give, give and give again to win the mandate from voters, meaning there is no opportunity to educate them on the principle of good government.
The Insider
