Where is the dream we can all share?

Human beings live in hope and countries live through dreams, it’s been said. Yet the people of this country appear to be foregoing both hope and dreams. And the junta in charge could be robbing us of any dreams we might have in the future.

Individual citizens strive to maintain some level of hope in their lives. No one can survive without hope. Children hope for a good education, and then to graduate and find a good job. 

Political leaders hold dreams of a better future for the country, and we rely on them to share those dreams so that we can help make them come true.

Thais have often shared the dreams of visionary leaders. More than a century ago we embraced modernity at the guidance of King Rama V. 

He gave us electricity, running water and a railway network. Siam, as Thailand was known at the time, swiftly reached the same development level as Japan.

In the mid-1980s Thailand retained dreams of becoming much more advanced as a “newly industrialised country”. It sought to catch up with South Korea and Singapore. We might well have achieved that dream, too, had it not been for a variety of factors, led by the political unrest of the early 1990s and the global economic downturn. Still, history recorded that this country used to have a dream.

Nor have ambitions faded of becoming the most advanced nation in this region. 

Most governments in the past decade shared this dream, pledging to make Thailand the biggest economy in Southeast Asia, if not a world leader. This year Thailand joins its neighbours in putting the final touches on the Asian Economic Community, which will bind Southeast Asia economically, politically and socially. 

Our formidable trading bloc, Asean, has a vision of member-countries sharing the same values and identity, a “community” in the real sense of the term, even if it’s not as fully integrated as Europe. 

Given the region’s strategic importance in terms of regional security, it will have a significant say in world affairs.

Unfortunately, Thailand’s voice under the ruling junta has been the weakest in the group. 

The May 22 coup did not bring us visionary leadership. 

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, the coup leader, might have personal dreams, but he has thus far proved unable to create a national dream for the future that we can all share. 

He talks only about conflict, security, law and order.

As to the “reformers” appointed to shape the Kingdom’s future, almost all are too old to have any dreams for the future. 

More than half the members of the National Reform Council are – like the premier himself – past 60, and people at that age are more inclined to look backward. 

In their personal and public lives they are preparing for a soft landing. If any dream remains, it’s a dream of days gone by. 

As much as they might care about the country, they lack the vigour to be creative. 

The plan for reform they are mapping out offers no fresh dream, merely a simple plan for survival.