To the interested onlooker, it would seem Thailand is caught in a self induced quagmire. A ploy once used to provide passive control over the masses is now coming back to haunt Thailand’s elite and be employed by the highest bidder to take control of all.
Thailand is a country where life is laid back and the stresses of day to day life are for the most part ignored and replaced with happy thoughts. However that was the Thailand of the past that seemed to cease to exist in 2009. The Thailand of today is a place one can hardly avoid getting wrapped up in one way or the other in the Thai’s political struggles. Even if you are a non Thai you will find Thai politics creeping into your conversations if you are in Thailand. Unfortunate as it is, this is simply fallout from the highest bidder seeking to take control of the country. That can only happen if there is an absence of understanding.
Comparatively there are politicians who use their own wealth to get into public office and the city of New York is one such place. However if that politician fails to perform the chances of a second term are slim to none as educated people simply connect the dots themselves and vote said politician out of office. The key word in this paragraph is educated.
An educated person can figure out for themselves the steps needed to make their lives better when it comes to electing someone. They spend significant time logically thinking and weighing what person will best fit their needs. Once that process is completed a ballot is cast for that person. This is the key to social and political advancement of a country. However if that voting person is not educated an entirely different process takes place.
In the absence of education, there is also absence of dots to come to a sound conclusion, and this was the ploy used to lead voters like cattle to vote for the desired candidates. As with cattle they can be just as easily be lead to a green pasture or a slaughter house. All that needs be done is the leader holds the tempting treats that the cattle will follow. There is no logic or reason other than someone is dangling temptations in their face and they will simply follow as instinctively as a moth will fly into a flame.
This issue was recognized and became the primary platform plank for the ‘New Politics Party’ (NPP) that was made from Yellow shirt leaders. They wished to limit the voting ability of the cattle, but little or no mention was made to address the underlying cause of lack of education. So in sense dealing with the effect and not the cause.
To deal with the cause it will take at least a decade to start the fix, and perhaps 25 years to saturate Thailand with enough education to stop the cattle herding of uneducated voters.
So in the sense of letting education and lack of education be the controlling factors in the Achilleas heel that keeps Thailand from advancing socially and politically, another Achilleas heel is coming into play as well. The other Achilleas heel is not thinking things out to conclusion, but admittedly this one may have gotten past many Thais that do not show that Thai trait. That unconsidered possible outcome was simply the hijacking of the cattle that once kept the Thai elite comfortably seated at the top.
In this particular case it is Thaksin Shinawatra that has hijacked the heard of cattle with treats. His vast wealth has for the most part left the elite out of the loop during his time as Prime Minister. So in short the uneducated will follow whoever can give them what they want. There is no sense of loyalty or even patriotism when it comes to this. Many of the uneducated Thais are unwittingly being anti Royal because they simply do not have the education to see what they are doing. They simply do not understand and this will keep Thailand from advancing. Anyone with wealth can buy Thailand and do what they want with it. The uneducated Thais will not realize what they have done until it is too late, and the next round of problems will begin as they work desperately to undo their super size blunder. However unfortunately to do that requires an education or another coup, and that is why Thailand will not advance very much if at all.
