Reunion thoughts in the aftermath

Bill Batt, March 24, 2003

My fourth trip to Thailand this year came on the heels of a three week trip to South India, sponsored by TOES ("The Other Economic Summit," ). That focused on problems created by India's globalization after fifty years fostering its own internal development. We ten were academics, NGO leaders, and journalists. In the aftermath of those overwhelming three weeks, I came now to Thailand to contemplate its changes for four weeks, eleven years since my last visit, and 40 years since my first arrival as a young Peace Corps Volunteer. I shared my expertise on fiscal policy in lectures to professional associations, university classes and the Ministry of Finance. But mostly, I listened to the news, talked with people, and observed.

I come away with lots of mixed feelings. Of course it's good to see greater prosperity, a more conscientious public service, better health and education. But this I balance against the influx of so much I find offensive: what DeGaulle called the "coca-colinization of the world." Is the arrival of McDonalds, Dunkin' Donuts, KFC, and 7-Eleven really an improvement? As nice as it is to see and ride Bangkok's Skytrain, the roads still move at about 2 mph, the world record for slowness. Urban environments are thoroughly hostile to walkers: sidewalks are virtually absent, and major road overpasses make travel for the disabled essentially impossible. Billboards are rampant, and land use configurations reflect rampant and thoughtless rapacity. Bangkok is a swinging city for some, but it is offensive to others, me among them. Under the gracious veneer of Thai hospitality and gentility is a covetous exploitation of anything and anyone that can be had. The plane loads of foreign men coming for sex trips enrich the tourism trade, but lead a million young Thai girls (and some boys) into wanton depravity. Even some middle class youngsters, caught up in the competition for consumption of status goods, sell themselves for the moment.

More importantly the nation is increasingly hooked on fossil fuels, essentially all imported, and it seems totally oblivious of the looming crisis the world faces in peaking supply of such energy in ten or so years. So does US, of course, but it in contrast may have the wealth to compete for that dwindling supply even as the prices rise. What will Thailand do once it is hooked? Can it turn back its clock to dependence on its internal resources? Or will it face a die-off that loss of that energy portends? The backdrop to this perspective is presented best at the website, dieoff.org.

But once outside of Bangkok, it is still a wonderful country, and I have a fond love for the north where I served. The little town of Phayao is now a city, a provincial capital with two hospitals, large hotels, and a four-lane highway serving it. The little teakwood school at which I taught is now four concrete buildings, each three stories high. The house where I lived close by Lake Phayao is now a line of restaurants and stores. There is a two-year business college now established. And cell phones and satellite dishes seem everywhere. Fortunately the north maintains its leisurely pace and its gentle polite demeanor. The beautiful women still answer in mellifluous tones when asked a question or a bid for help. Economic prosperity seems spread more evenly here than in Bangkok, or perhaps any differences are less visible and offensive.

My friends, however, are mostly all gone, even though the woman who runs the restaurant close to where my house stood remembers me as a child. One of my former students is now a teacher at my old school. But some people have moved away because they say that there is "nothing to do" in Phayao. What they likely mean is that there is too little to entertain them, for Thai people, never themselves self-starters, are very much dependent on external stimuli for their diversion. And with increased leisure time, they now look to the big cities for fun. My best friends are now retired former directors of the provincial hospital, but they elected to stay in Chiengrai after moving to be the directors of that hospital, despite having a beautiful home in Phayao. And two women teachers, now in their sixties, enjoy their retirement by traveling around visiting friends.

What bodes for Thailand's future, as measured by my town, makes one ponder. There is little long-term investment; people are consuming and living for the moment. People more likely will buy a visibly expensive car and home than invest in their children's future. There are no bookstores in town, and few people have computers. But TVs are ubiquitous. Many people are overweight, something I seldom saw forty years ago. Although the government is moving concertedly toward democracy, a genuine civic culture has yet to develop; following so many of America's worst practices, one sees private affluence and public squalor. Taxes are insufficient to support a strong public realm. Tourism and manufacturing are supplanting agriculture as the country's staple, but they may be just as ephemeral a basis of prosperity; and with the free-wheeling economy thrust upon it by the IMF and the World Bank, Thailand may weather future storms with greater difficulty than it does the mild spring monsoons it has known for centuries.